Pokemon Black is a Role-Playing (RPG) game developed by Game Freak, Inc. and published by Nintendo in 2011 for the DS.

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Overall 9.3    Graphics 8.8    Sound 9.2    Addictive 8.6    Story 8.4    Depth 8    Difficulty 6


Pokemon Black review   gamerforlifefor..
After the success of all the previous generations of Pokemon, Game Freak decided that it was time to make the 5th generation of Pokemon by releasing Pokemon Black and White on March 6, 2011 in North America. Both games were very successful, but were they as good as games from previous generations? I'm now going to explain my view on Pokemon Black by making this review. Graphics: 8/10 Pokemon Black has some graphical improvements over Diamond, Pearl and Platinum. Before Black and White, every area had a top down perspective. In Black, there are several areas in the game where you can look at certain areas in different angles, such as Skyarrow Bridge, which provides a number of different angles as you make your way across the bridge. Castelia City is another great example, where you can look at the city at a sideways view when you're on the outer edge of the city. Other than some new camera angles, there aren't a whole lot of graphical changes from gen 4, which isn't too surprising since both generations 4 and 5 were primarily for the DS. My only complaint as far as the graphics go are a lot of the Unova pokemon designs. There were some really strange looking pokemon from gen 5. Pokemon Black made me feel like Game Freak was starting to run out of good ideas for new pokemon. Despite the new pokemon not looking that great, the new camera angles are great and the different areas throughout the game look really nice, so I'm giving the graphics an 8. Sound: 8/10 Pokemon Black has one of the best soundtracks in the entire series. There's plenty of great music in the game such as all of the Team Plasma related battle themes, the Elite Four theme, Route 10, and the Subway battle theme. These themes are some of the best that the series has ever had. As great as that music is, there was also some music in the game that was very underwhelming and disappointing. Those themes are the gym leader theme, the rival theme, and Champion theme. The rival and champion themes in particular are unfortunately the worst that this series has ever had. The rival theme has no intensity at all and it was a pain to have to listen to because of how underwhelming it is, while the Champion theme is just flat out terrible. It doesn't make sense why Game Freak wanted to make a champion theme sound so terrible. The rest of the soundtrack is really good, but the fact that those 3 battle themes in particular are this disappointing makes me have to drop the sound score from a potential 10 down to an 8... Addictiveness: 8/10 Pokemon Black has a good amount of replay value. There's a whole new region to explore and there's the new battle subway, which is very similar to the battle frontier, except instead of there being different buildings to go and battle in, it's all in a subway. Other than that though, there isn't much that makes Pokemon Black different from the other games. Online multiplayer makes a return after being introduced in gen 4, there's 8 gyms to beat, there's the pokemon league to beat, and the region itself isn't as big as previous regions that the series has had. Overall, the gameplay is as addicting as it's ever been, but there isn't enough new content in the game for me to give this category a higher score. I'm giving the addictiveness an 8. Story: 10/10 Pokemon Black has the best storyline that any mainstream pokemon game has ever had. The game starts out the same way that many other games in the series have started. You get your first pokemon, go on a journey to capture pokemon, battle your "rivals" Cheren and Bianca, beat gym leaders, and eventually challenge the pokemon league. However, there is a new organization who you'll encounter along the way called Team Plasma. Their goal is to liberate pokemon from their trainers so that pokemon won't be used for selfish gain or as tools for battle. They are led by N, who was raised alongside pokemon and wishes to see them freed from their trainers, and then there's Ghetsis, N's father, he has a secret and different goal from N. What is this goal? You'll have to find out by playing the game. While I don't want to give away massive spoilers, I will say this game has the best storyline in the mainstream pokemon series, and because of that, I'm giving the story a 10. Depth: 7/10 Like the rest of the series, Pokemon Black has a good amount of depth but there should've been more content. For some reason, Game Freak decided instead of having some pokemon from previous generations be available to catch throughout your journey, they decided to only make the new Unova pokemon available before the pokemon league. I found thisdisappointing because even though gen 5 provides the most new pokemon that any generation of pokemon has ever provided, there still weren't asmany pokemon to catch before the pokemon league as there were in R/S/E and barely more than D/P/Plat. Also, I felt like the gen 5 starters are the worst selection of starters the series has ever had. Tepig, Oshawott, and Snivy are each very underwhelming and their evolutions don't provide any interesting type combinations. Oshawott is purely water and Snivy is purely grass, while tepig's evolution is the 3rd fire/fighting combo that a fire type pokemon has had. The region itself is smaller than previous regions in the series as well. These factors make me have to give this category a lower score than I've given other games in the series. I'm giving the depth a 7. Difficulty: 5/10 Leveling up is easier in Pokemon Black thanks to a certain pokemon known as Audino. Everytime you beat Audino you get much more exp than when you battle other pokemon. Abusing this can cause most of the game to go by much faster than previous games in the series. Also, a lot of the battles in this game aren't too difficult either, with an exception being the battle against Ghetsis, which is one of the most difficult battles in the series if you're underleveled. Besides the Ghetsis battle, the only other difficult aspect of Pokemon Black is the Battle Subway, where you and your opponents pokemon are at a set level and you must make it through a certain number of trainers before you can battle the subway master, which is the same as the frontier brain in the battle frontier. Since the battle subway and the Ghetsis battle are pretty tough, I'm giving the difficulty a 5. Overall Score: 8.5/10 Pokemon Black was a good way to start off gen 5. It has very nice graphics, a mostly stellar soundtrack, addictive gameplay, and the best storyline that any of the mainstream pokemon games have ever had, and the story's better than a lot of the spinoff games as well. If it hadn't been for the weak starters, the lack of pokemon from previous gens, and a region that doesn't look very big when using a map, I would've given Pokemon Black a higher score. Instead, I'm giving Pokemon Black an 8.5 out of 10. While it's a great game, it could've been better in a lot of ways. Fortunately, this game's sequel fixes a lot of these issues. I'll review that game at another time.
  Graphics 8   Sound 8   Addictive 8   Story 10   Depth 7   Difficulty 5
      Review Rating: 5/5     Submitted: 04-28-15     Updated: 03-21-19     Review Replies: 5


Pokémon Black Version   DeltaPlayz

  Graphics 9   Sound 9   Addictive 10   Story 8   Depth 7   Difficulty 6
      Review Rating: 4.7/5     Submitted: 05-29-15     Review Replies: 2


Review of Pokemon Black   IgorBird122
Here's a review on one of my most favorite Pokemon game in history, as well as my 2nd most favorite video game in history (only behind Super Mario Bros. 3) which happens to be Pokemon Black (& White)Pokemon Black (& White) was a new direction that the entire Pokemon franchise wanted to take to bring in newer fans toward the series. Pokemon Black was released on March 6th, 2011 in North America (as well as as March 4th, 2011 in Europe, March 10th, 2011 in Australia, and September 18th in Japan), these two pair of Pokemon games introduced a brand new Generation in the Pokemon franchise (the 5th Generation), which introduced 156 new Pokemon which happened to break Generation 1's record of 151 new Pokemon which is a whole lot of Pokemon introduced in a single Generation, and I'm not complaning, the more, the merrier.Pokemon Black (& White) has also introduced a brand new region called the "Unova" Region, and what makes the Unova region different from the Previous 4 regions (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh), that Unova didn't have anykind of connections towards those 4 regions, and let it be it's own stand alone region, other than some visitors that visit the Unova region from other regions. With Unova being it's own stand alone region, this is what brought that 156 different Pokemon introduced.Well, enough of me just simply talk about how much I always love about Generation V, especially with Pokemon Black (& White), I'm going to break everything down in this review to tell you why I absolutely love this game and why it's my most prefer Pokemon game in the entire franchise...--------------------Graphics...
With the graphical capabilities in Pokemon Black, it has changed that 45-degree birds-eye view that we have seen in previous entries, to having a lot more angle shots such as top-view, side views. Game Freak has basically pushed the graphical capabilities to the max that the Nintendo DS can performed. With having additional angles, gives a whole lot more creativity towards the game itself, which with the DS capabilities, this is quite impressive, like I can name a few examples such as the Skyarrow Bridge, the Driftveil Bridge, the Tubeline Bridge, Castella City, and a few other places where they didn't have that 45-degree birds-eye view.As for the sprite work, it was a huge huge change than we seen with the Generation IV entries, where in battles that all the Pokemon sprites are contentiously moving instead of slightly move at start and then become static for the remainder of the battle, this introduced the contentiously moving that we would see in future Pokemon entries. As for non-battle sprites, they look quite amped up than we had with the first Nintendo DS games (Generation IV entries).As for the Graphics, I give this a perfect 10 out of 10, Nintendo and Game Freak really pushed the Generation V games to the DS's maximum performance, and with Nintendo and Game Freak really put in a lot of effort towards the Graphical Capabilities, that is why I gave the Graphics that high score.--------------------Sound/Music...
Oh boy, how much I really love the music that is played in Pokemon Black (& White), I really love the Urban-type themes that Game Freak produced in the Gen V games. There's not even one track in Pokemon Black (& White) that I don't like. Like some examples of my favorite tunes is the Wild Pokemon encounter, Route 10, the Subway, the Driftveil Bridge, Opelucid City, Reshiram/Zekrom battle, and just to name a few. As for the Sound effects, although it seems weird on how the sound effects in the Pokemon franchise don't really have that much of an effect on a Pokemon title all within the franchise, but with the exception of the Generation V titles. Even with the simple sound effects, and heck, even selecting anything and all sounds unique as well. As for all the cries that all 649 Pokemon (at the time), they all sound fantastic.For the Sound & the Music, I would give this a perfect 10 out of 10, mostly because these all have quite clear and crisp sounds that I completely adore, I'm loving the whole Urban-inspired type of songs that were introduced in Black (& White), and combined with all the sound effects in the games as well, especially in the Pokemon franchise where the sound effects were more meh.--------------------Addiction Level...
Well, as you can obviously tell with some of my posts around the forums on how much I love Pokemon Black, the game is extremely addicting. With all of the battles you can do and all of the Pokemon that were introduced in this game, and how much you want to battle other trainers all within the game, no matter if they are normal trainers, gym leaders, Team Plasma, Elite Four, or the Champion, all of those challenges makes you want to want to restart your game over and over to beat them once again, and combined with that, all of the post-game content as well that also makes you play this game for lie days, weeks, months, and even years. Such as all the Subway battles, as well as all the Online battles (when it was still active), and wanting to get all 649 different Pokemon to fill out that National PokeDex.For the Addiction Level, I give this a perfect 10 out of 10, because of how much I'm quite addicted to Pokemon Black (& White), with all the Pokemon introduce, the Legendaries introduced, the Unova region itself, the gameplay, the soundtrack, the storyline. I think it's all makes it quite an acting game altogether.--------------------The Storyline...
Probably one of the best thing in the game itself, the outstanding storyline that was portrayed in Black (& White). The story goes which in typical Pokemon fashion where you start in your hometown, which in Black & White, that happens to be in Nuvema Town, which you will choose 1 of 3 Pokemon to start out with, and the best thing is that all 3 will be selected  in which both of your rivals selects the other 2, which is different from other entries where your rival selects only 1 other Pokemon. Once you choose your starter, you go on doing your typical Pokemon Adventures, traveling with your rivals, competing against other trainers, competing in gyms to earn badges which will give you a chance to take on the Elite Four and soon the Unova Pokemon Champion, which we have seen in other entries in the past.But what made Black & White stand out from the previous entries of the series is how the whole storyline portraits, you soon end up encountering the Antagonist group of the game named "Team Plasma", where their main goal is to force Trainers and Pokemon apart and claim that Trainers only used Pokemon to do their dirty work. Sometimes, you will meet with a mysterious, bizarre, and unpredictable leader of Team Plasma named "N", who is a young adult, who happens live and raised with the Pokemon after how dysfunctional his father was who was named Ghetsis, and after you meet N a few times here and there, the final time, you two find yourselves battling against each other with Legendaries.I could go on and on and on about the storyline of Pokemon Black (& White) like with Team Plasma and the game itself, but I don't want to tell the entire story of the game and basically ruin the whole game itself, I want people to experience this wonderful game. So, if you want to know the full story, play this game.I have to give this game a perfect 10 out of 10, and to be honest, if I was able to rate it higher, I would of because that's how great the storyline was. Between the whole typical Pokemon storyline, to Team Plasma, to the mysterious, Bizarre, and unpredictable N, and all the interesting Post-Game stuff.--------------------Depth...
As for the Depth of the game, Pokemon Black (& White) has introduced a whopping 156 Pokemon which made this game being the most diverse Pokemon game in history, and out of 156 of those Pokemon that was introduced in Black & White, and like I said in the intro, Generation V has broke the record of most Pokemon introduced with 156 different Pokemon, which beat Generation 1's 151 Pokemon by only 5 Pokemon), 4 of those Pokemon is in my top 10 most favorite Pokemon of all times (Reshiram, Zekrom, Zoroark, and Krookodile). Some might say that some of them aren't that good, I understand where you're coming from, all Pokemon Generations all have their personal best and personal worst. Not to be left out, the older 4 Generations of Pokemon also was introduced in the franchise, but they all occur in the post game though, and another thing you can do in the Post-game is to transfer all your Pokemon from the Generation IV games to use in Pokemon Black (& White).With Game Freak introduced 156 Pokemon, personally, this would of give gamer a chance to build their own Unova team, it might be tough for others that were used to the previous games until they get to that Poke Transfer Lab on Route 15 after they become champion, because there is others that wants to keep their teams and not start a new team which I do understand. At least with me on how much I love Generation V, this is really no effect on me, because half of the Pokemon I love is majority of Generation V Pokemon.As for the 3 starters, I personally think they were one of the best choices (at least to my opinion), and even know everytime I play any Generation V game, I always pick Snivy, but the other 2 starters are also as good as well.As for the region itself, The Unova region offers a whole lot of interesting and fun things to explore. Just like the other 4 regions prior to Unova, it has featured all sorts of different climates, like anywhere from a forest, to a desert, to mountain, to caves. It's not just the natural landscapes that makes up Unova, it's also all the shops and attractions that are featured in the game as well that will better your team.For the Depth, I give this a perfect 10 out of 10, with all new Pokemon introduced which most of them are my personal best, even with 4 of them in my top 10, plus that and all of the places that Unova has such as the natural landscapes, and all of the attractions, I just love them all. But even despite that the Unova region isn't really different than the other 4 regions prior when it comes to shops and attractions, but still, the Depths gets a perfect score.--------------------Difficulty/Gameplay...
The only thing that was keeping Pokemon Black (& White) from being my most favorite Video Game of all times was the Difficulty. Whenever I play Pokemon Black, they have been points where it seems like it's nearly impossible to even pass. (like don't get me started with the Nimbasa City Gym sure difficulty). Well, other than some of those extremely difficult parts of the game, the rest of the game also provided that good amount of challenge that would cause you to think and rethink on your strategy, it's not too easy where you would be done with the game in like 30 minutes, or too hard where it takes like years just to complete the entire game.As for the Gameplay itself, not really has changed from the Generation IV games, you still have the 4-directional movement from the d-pad, and the whole 2nd screen experience that you have in battle, but the thing that made Black (& White) stand out from previous titles, was the introduction of new features such as the C-Gear which works almost like the Poketch from the previous generation, but with additional features added such as the Xtransceiver which is the communication device you use to contact other trainers within the game and the Entralink which will teleport you to a place in Unova where you can obtain all of the Pokemon you have meet in the Dream World (which is a discontinued website as of this review).Also, a new thing that was introduced in Black (& White) is in-game seasons which last a real-life month, and these seasons can have huge effects on what Pokemon appears, the day/night cycle, what items you can buy in shops, what Trainers you battle, and even the map layout. Kinda like how real life works, things can change dramatically depending on the season.This is why I give Pokemon Black a 7 out of 10, The Difficulty could of been slightly easier, but I could get by with this though, there's always a saying "Practice makes perfect", even if it seems hard, just keep on trying, you'll soon get it, that and combined with the Gameplay, it's pretty great.--------------------Overall...
Overall, I got to say, Pokemon Black, even despite that the game is slightly harder than other entries in the Pokemon series (Took me a little longer to complete than any other core game in the entire series), it still has because one of my most favorite Pokemon game in the entire series (that and White). This game right here was a sure way to start a new Generation off in a brand new direction, which personally to my view, one of the best direction that Game Freak has taken when it comes to the entire franchise (although some might argue that it went in a wrong direction, everyone is titled to their own opinion).No matter if you love or hate Pokemon Black (& White), you got to agree that Pokemon Black (and White) brought a lot of new and interesting features that we would see continue in future entries in the Pokemon franchise to this day, and even know that some features were only featured in Generation V and disconnected, I felt like they should being some of them back once again.If you haven't played any Pokemon games in the past, and you want to start up right away with a challenge, but not too insanely difficult,, this would be the game to go with, it's fun, entertaining, interesting, sweet storyline. Give this game a try, no matter what anyone else says about this game.Now for the final grade, I give Pokemon Black (and White) a 9.7 out of 10. It's mostly the combination of all the great content that Black (& White) introduced, all the great looking Pokemon introduced, the beauty of the Unova region, the outstanding music that is played, and I even love all the sound effects that are played, it's what I liked in a Pokemon game.And this is why I always say that Pokemon Black (& White) are my most favorite Pokemon games in history, and if they make a remake, I'm immediately buying it.
  Graphics 10   Sound 10   Addictive 10   Story 10   Depth 10   Difficulty 7
      Review Rating: 4/5     Submitted: 07-26-18     Updated: 09-04-18     Review Replies: 2


Great installment in the franchise   Spicy
Hello imamonster here with an other review. So Pokemon X and Y are out i dont have a 3DS so i cant review that but i have played this one and i have beated it so think its the perfect time to submit a review about pokemon black. Let's goGraphics 8/10The graphics are pretty nice at times but the ds could handle much more it looks the way it is because it was created of the base of pokemon diamond and pearl Games like transformers are superiour in graphics because this one is still 2d however i still think they  did a darn good job.Sound 10/10Do i really have to talk about the sound its just awesome when your running through flowers the music feels calming but when you face the elite 4 the music gets you really pumped up 10 out of 10Addicteveness 8/10The addictive nature of the pokemon series is still there even though i thought this one was less addictive like sapphire and blue sometimes it makes no sense where you have to go but still training those little monsters never gets old 8 out of 10Now for the story its the classic cheesy pokemon storyline we know and love but i really think we have to look at the story like we look at the story when i review final fantasy. The story is about team plasma stealing all the pokemon and you have to save the world at the end theres an epic confrontation im not going to spoil it but you will be so pumped. 6 out of 10Depth 8 out of 10Now the depth  This game took me pretty long to beat and after you have beated the game you can still do a lot like beauty contests and much more Difficulty 6 out of 10I think you know how difficult pokemon is its not that special even though sometimes you can get stuck and you have to train your pokemon its not that hard 6 out of 10Overall i think this is a really good installment in the franchise not the best but still worth the try :) 8 OUT OF 10
  Graphics 8   Sound 10   Addictive 8   Story 6   Depth 8   Difficulty 6
      Review Rating: 3.3/5     Submitted: 10-18-13     Review Replies: 0


Pokemon Black Review   Eniitan
Pokémon Black ReviewStory 8 out of 10: Team Plasma as they call themselves takes the stage in this game. I am not really too familiar with them as I am with team rocket and other wannabe evil doers. I had the pleasure to painfully know them as in me teaching them a lesson and to also add in Lord N as they call him he's a very weird one that caught my curiosity when I ran into him the first time around. I had to be careful as in not to miss certain parts as it was my first time playing the game. Graphics 9 out of 10: The graphics in Pokémon games by the years have come a long way. Every time the producers continue to bring up something new and amazing to look at. Playing the game and seeing the new graphics I was unfamiliar about got me excited more to play and to site see as well. I will be looking forward to the other Pokémon games I have yet to play. Sound 9 out of 10: The soundtrack is really good. The first thing I found out was in a Pokémon battle if your Pokémon's health is low the music shifts and I was quite shocked when I heard it because it was something I did not expect at all. There are some catchy tunes of one's which can relax you when you get into a town or city. By far still Ns battle music is my favourite. Addictiveness 7 out of 10: I wasn't sure how addictive the game would be at first. I played the game... Pokémon black to some degree is addictive... But some areas in the game were not for me. I never got that feeling for some reason to go back and replay some parts in the game.Depth 8 out of 10: Team Plasma are really rude with their talks and the leaders are cunning as well I don't have a problem fighting them. But N however at times can sometimes be on my Pokémon levels and other times he is not. There was one time he almost beat me and I was like nope I won't allow that to happen. Anyways apart from that Pokémon black and white opens up new things within the game I haven't explored before I was at one of the city's which I can not remember and I went into a building that allows you to dress up your Pokémon and they go dancing? Lol I was very surprised as it was my first experience doing that and I wasn't sure what to think about it I had fun though. From playing this game I have seen differences from the other old previous Pokémon games that Pokémon black only has. Difficulty 6 out of 10: Training your Pokémon in the game is fairly easy. But that depends if you go into the lighter green grass to battle I had to test out the one cheren told me not to go into on route 3 my way to Nacrene city. My curiosity got the best of me and I saw what he meant. I didn't loose the battle I won. I just stayed away from that grass area until I was comfortable enough to battle more in it with my Pokémon so that was a nice surprise. Overall 7 out of 10: It was a really fun game to play I don't think I would go back to playing it lot. That depends though. If you are one of the few remaining that hasn't played the game I suggest by giving it a go! Who knows you might adore the gameI apologize for my lateness I am usually quick with my work I had to sort out things and whatnot.
  Graphics 9   Sound 9   Addictive 7   Story 8   Depth 8   Difficulty 6
      Review Rating: 3/5     Submitted: 03-21-19     Review Replies: 3

What are the true motives of Team Plasma and the mysterious N? What is the secret of the Legendary Pokémon? Adventure across the Unova region and discover all-new Pokémon!

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