Poke Black White Mon Battle

Although they are technically role-playing games plot and backstory has never been very important to the Pokem games.
The premise in Poke Black White Mon Battle was a little more interesting than usual though,
with Team Plasma trying to convince people to give up owning Pokem because it was cruel.
It was hardly Fantasy levels of complexity but it did try to take things a bit more seriously than normal.
You’d think that as a direct sequel that Black/White would expand greatly on the story and characters,
but if anything it deemphasises them once again. Rather than the plot being continued it’s just rehashed,
except this time Plasma are obviously evil from the very start – and so there’s none of the moral uncertainty to their plans from last time.
It’s all very peculiar, especially because the game is intentionally a lot easier than any of the previous titles.
Again you’d assume a direct sequel was aimed at more committed Pokem fans,
who had already played the originals and wanted a tougher challenge for their team.
Instead it’s the opposite and the game’s awash with easy to beat Poke, from beginning to end.
The gyms in particular are pushovers that can often be beaten with just your starter Poke.
Even the complex puzzle elements in the lead-up to the gym leader battles have been greatly simplified,
and instead you now just breeze in past a few ineffectual underlings.
The basics are of course the same as always: each Poke you capture and train has a type (anything from grass to ghost)
and can learn four moves at a time. These also have similar alignments and often various side effects.
Matching attacks to the right Pokemn, and breeding and training ever more useful creatures,
becomes quickly obsessive and yet the turn-based combat is instantly accessible no matter your age or experience.
There are a few new features in Poke Black White Mon Battle 2,
but since it is a direct sequel that seems to have been used as an excuse not to add a new flood of 150+ new Pokemn.
Instead the draw here is meant to be the chance to capture rarer retro critters, rather than brand new ones.
Similarly the game is set in the same region, so although there are a few new towns and dungeons it’s all still uncomfortably similar to the last game.