The game’s general concept (catching Pokemon, battling Gym Leaders) primarily remains the same, but it’s the small tweaks that Game Freak has made to the formula that really stick out. For example, the new story involving “Team Plasma” and the liberation of all Pokemon really hits a plot hole that the series has never reached out to before. Why do Pokemon take abuse? Why do they let these trainers steal them from their natural habitat? This is mostly covered throughout the narrative thread.
This and many other clever changes have been made to better the overall experience, and the result speaks for itself. There’s no need to use HMs unless you specifically want to, TMs can be used over and over again, battling animations have been significantly improved, and the whole game runs much smoother. There’s even new battle types like rotation battles and 3-on-3 bouts. That’s not even mentioning the fact that you won’t see a single old Pokemon until you at least beat the end boss... 20 full hours into the main game.
Game Freak definitely hit a multitude of sweat-spots that fans have been craving for since the game’s transition to the Nintendo DS. The game world finally features an entire metropolis full of skyscrapers, businessmen running to work, and real traffic. Gym Leaders too have their own unique personalities and finally have a respectable reason for being in the game other than to battle. The game’s perspective alters quite a bit and shows off some of the more visual appealing environments throughout thee region.
Other presentational issues have mostly been solved in Black and White, too. Most the user-interface is easier to navigate and understand while the game’s audio and visual treatment remains largely the same—if not a bit sharper. Pokemon continually animate during battles, plus the attack effects look a bit better. The online interface has also been improved significantly over its predecessor. Remember how tedious and irritating it was to set up an online battle or trade through Pokemon Centers in Diamond/Pearl? Well, you can now do all of this on the fly with the new C-Gear with just a couple of touches of the bottom screen.
In addition, this generation has probably one of the ugliest crop of Pokemon yet. Sure, some of them definitely have unique type combos, like Dark/Dragon, or Ghost/Ground, but I never found many of them very appealing. Like, a floating ice-cream cone? A bull with an afro?... Really? I personally grew to adore some of my mainstays quite a bit, but I could never get past some of the odd designs. It’s almost comical in some situations.
Game Freak may not have completely done-away with what made the Pokemon series so successful in the first place, but the plethora of tweaks they have made to the primary formula will really click with Pokemon veterans and newcomers alike. The overarching narrative and the reliance on new Pokemon tells me that Game Freak will not shy away from making significant changes for the better. And while I still think the original titles are still the best the series has to offer, Game Freak’s acknowledgment for change really has me psyched to see where the series goes from here.