Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Grows on you"

After Pokemon Black and White, we were all expecting a Pokemon Grey as a third version. But, for our surprises, we got instead sequels for those games, a first for the series. So how do Black and White 2 compare to its amazing predecessors? Let's check.

GRAPHICS:
These games look exactaly like their predecessors, but with a few minor advances. Most notably, all trainers have some kind of animation in the begining of the battles, which is a feature sorely misssing from its predecessors, and very welcomed here. Besides that, sprites are still well made and animated, and the game is colorful and very nice looking. Just a shame it isn't on the 3DS so it could take advantage of the more advanced hardware. 4.5/5

SOUND:
The music uses new music, remixes from the previous game and reused music. The latter is still just as good as it was before, but the new stuff and the remixes are simply amazing. This is a game you will want to play with the sound on. An example is that every Gym has its own remix of the traditional theme, giving them more personality. Other remixes latter in the game are also really good and catchy, as is the soundtrack as a whole. 5/5

STORY:
This game takes place two years after the end of Black and White. As such, you are a new protagonist on a new town, set on his own quest to become a Pokemon Master. Along the way, you will encounter a new and revamped Team Plasma, who are trying to take over the world.

Most of the characters from the past game make a return. In fact, that is the best part of this story. Seeing Cheren as a Gym Leader and Bianca as Professor Juniper's assistant is quite interesting, as these are natural places for them to be. Seeing other characters like Brycen taking a new life as an actor (yeah, it makes sense in the game) and N's few but notable apearances as a still likeable character make this game quite enjoyable to see through.

The problem, however, is that these are sequels to the best stories that Pokemon has ever had. And as a whole, Black and White 2 may have the outright worst story ever in the series. Neo Team Plasma is about as bland as Team Galactic was, but without an interesting villain like that game had; Zinzolin and Ghetsis are not interesting. Your new Plasma rival, Colress, is not nearly as interesting as N, and overall, the story is extremely predictable and through the motions. It is not like its precessor which, despite having an obvious and disapoiting twist at the end, presented some interesting discussions and a lot of development for the characters. The only good new thing about this story is your rival, Hugh. Although not as interesting as Cheren and Bianca or N were, he feels how the character Barry from Gen IV should have been: reckless and hot headed, but also very kind, worrysome and relatable.

So, despite having good characters in general, the story doesn't move to any interesting places and just end up in a bland and uninteresting corner. 2/5

GAMEPLAY:
The game is a turn based RPG. Like other Pokemon games before, you have to build a team of 6 Pokemons and battle your way through six Gyms and beat the Elite Four and become the Champion; while kicking Neo Team Plasma's butt along the way.

Being a sequel, the game still takes place in Unova, with all the towns and cities from the previous game being here. There are some new aditions, though. Your starting town is new, as well as the two next towns, which give you two new Gyms to face. After that, you go from Castelia City onward like Black/White, with two new cities and another new Gym are waiting for you. For those at home wondering, you do not face Cilan/Cress/Chill, Lenora and Brycen in this game, having been replaced by a Normal, Poison and Water Gyms, not necessarily at the same place (i.e same badge as before) as the previous game. These new places add some variety to those who played a lot of the previous games, and even the older areas are not the exact same thing as the previous games.

One thing that is intriguing about this game is that it hold your hand more than any other Pokemon game before. All of the major items are just handed to you, and after almost every Gym there is someone to tell you what to do. In fact, this game has one of the things that anoy me quite a bit in gaming, sidetracking. Since you are always told what to do, you more often than not have to go in places that you were not expecting, and do story stuff until you are done. That way, it misses a lot of the freedom that, while diminishing from all the games in the series since Gen I, was still present.

Making your team is still just as fun as in any other Pokemon game, but what makes this game so good in this aspect are the Pokemon available itself. Not only you can get ones from Gen V, but also from every other generation previous. It makes it the most varied selection of Pokemon in the main quest, and probably the most replayable in the series. While Black and Whilte 1 were very replayable for all the new Pokemon available, after a few playthough I began wishing there were more ones available to use.

The dificulty feels also just right in general. Gym leaders are always a few levels ahead of you (considering you do not grind a lot), making it challenging while not cheap. Also, most because of the sidetracking, the main quest is also the longest in the series, taking a bit more than 20 hours to beat. Add to than the most exapansive post game stuff ever in the series, which includes tournaments with all past Gym Leaders, Pokestar Studios to make your own movies, which can be quite amusing, and the Battle Subway for even more challenges, and that can up the playtime to even more than 40 hours.

So, despite being told what to do way more often than not, Black/White 2 offer the most content a Pokemon game has ever offered, while keeping the gameplay just as fun as always. 5/5

OVERALL:
While presenting a much worse story which does not get you as into the game as it could be, Black/White 2 offer plenty of content to keep you busy. Add to that the high replay value due to the amount of creatures available, and you get games surely worthwhile for newcomers and oldfans alike.


The good:
-Graphics are still very pretty
-Music is quite fantastic
-It is cool to see older characters evolved
-High variety in the Pokemon available gives the game high replay value
-Plethora of post game content

The bad:
-Possibly the worst story ever in the series
-Way too much sidetracking