Hey Elise, don't you have an essay... or three... to write?
Well, it's English class time, and we actually have a lecture that's halfway decent, so rather than completely ignore it in an attempt to write some essays, I'm gonna do something that uses less brain power:
Review Pokémon!!!
I have SoulSilver, so that's that one I'm reviewing, but let's be honest, they're not exactly terribly different from one another.
1. Old v. New
Between my sister and I we own and have played every single version of every single Pokémon game that ever was or will be... but believe it or not I never played this game. It came out when I first moved to Toronto and I was sort of in a weird place then and never bothered booting it up, but my sister did and once her twice shared her thoughts with me. She disliked having Pikachu stalk her in game and would just deposit him in the PC to get rid of him, she always couldn't stand how ridiculously easy the Pokémon League was, but understood it was so they could have such an extensive second half where you go back to Kanto - which was rather cool in her opinion (and everyone else's. In fact, I've heard it called the best Pokémon game EVAR because of this fact).
So, having the Pokémon follow you around this time is five kinds of awesome, because it can be any Pokémon you want and it's really cute to see them all chibified. I especially like having an Unown follow me, because when you walk from side to side they appeard only as a line. How awesome is that? A 2-D character in a 3-D world???
2. Menu
Just comparing this to previous Pokémon releases (Pearl, Diamong and Platinum), this menu system wins by far. It is so easy to see and find everything in your bag or Pokédex, because now you see everything as icons. And... geez, not much else to say, just that the menu rocks my brain.
3. Control
I both like and hate the controls in this game. On one hand you can now do everything with they stylus... exactly for control walking. It's really a pain to use one hand for button mashing and another for stylus control, so I end up forgoing the stylus and just using the buttons, so I don't get to enjoy this awesome control system. They should have it so absolutely everything can be controlled by the stylus, that way it's not so awkward to hold.
4. Gameplay
The same as every other Pokémon game... so, perfect.
5. Voltorb Flip
I was unsure of this strange new game at first. There's always a little casino in every Pokémon game and all they offer are slot machines. I have no idea if Voltorb Flip was in the original Silver, but my god I am happy it is in SoulSilver. The slot machines were annoying and mindless. They made you think there was some skill to them by sometimes having a Pokémon point at which buttons to push, but it was just mindless button mashing and relied on boredom and luck to play. This time we have a game that's the love child between Sudoku and MineSweeper. Although there's a little luck to it, you really have to know how to play the game, and count. In fact, it's like the simplest form of card counting. A few more games and I'm off to Vegas to play Black Jack. I haven't made it past Level 5, but I only encountered it lack night. Best of all it costs nothing (except you time and dignity, but hey, you checked those at the door) to play.I love this mini game and I hope future Pokémon games take a cue and have casino games that are not mindless.
Well, that's all I have for now, if I have anymore thoughts I'll make another post. What do you guys think about HeartGold and SoulSilver? And how does it compare to the original?
-LS
Review Pokémon!!!
I have SoulSilver, so that's that one I'm reviewing, but let's be honest, they're not exactly terribly different from one another.
1. Old v. New
Between my sister and I we own and have played every single version of every single Pokémon game that ever was or will be... but believe it or not I never played this game. It came out when I first moved to Toronto and I was sort of in a weird place then and never bothered booting it up, but my sister did and once her twice shared her thoughts with me. She disliked having Pikachu stalk her in game and would just deposit him in the PC to get rid of him, she always couldn't stand how ridiculously easy the Pokémon League was, but understood it was so they could have such an extensive second half where you go back to Kanto - which was rather cool in her opinion (and everyone else's. In fact, I've heard it called the best Pokémon game EVAR because of this fact).
So, having the Pokémon follow you around this time is five kinds of awesome, because it can be any Pokémon you want and it's really cute to see them all chibified. I especially like having an Unown follow me, because when you walk from side to side they appeard only as a line. How awesome is that? A 2-D character in a 3-D world???
2. Menu
Just comparing this to previous Pokémon releases (Pearl, Diamong and Platinum), this menu system wins by far. It is so easy to see and find everything in your bag or Pokédex, because now you see everything as icons. And... geez, not much else to say, just that the menu rocks my brain.
3. Control
I both like and hate the controls in this game. On one hand you can now do everything with they stylus... exactly for control walking. It's really a pain to use one hand for button mashing and another for stylus control, so I end up forgoing the stylus and just using the buttons, so I don't get to enjoy this awesome control system. They should have it so absolutely everything can be controlled by the stylus, that way it's not so awkward to hold.
4. Gameplay
The same as every other Pokémon game... so, perfect.
5. Voltorb Flip
Click to viewI was unsure of this strange new game at first. There's always a little casino in every Pokémon game and all they offer are slot machines. I have no idea if Voltorb Flip was in the original Silver, but my god I am happy it is in SoulSilver. The slot machines were annoying and mindless. They made you think there was some skill to them by sometimes having a Pokémon point at which buttons to push, but it was just mindless button mashing and relied on boredom and luck to play. This time we have a game that's the love child between Sudoku and MineSweeper. Although there's a little luck to it, you really have to know how to play the game, and count. In fact, it's like the simplest form of card counting. A few more games and I'm off to Vegas to play Black Jack. I haven't made it past Level 5, but I only encountered it lack night. Best of all it costs nothing (except you time and dignity, but hey, you checked those at the door) to play.I love this mini game and I hope future Pokémon games take a cue and have casino games that are not mindless.
Well, that's all I have for now, if I have anymore thoughts I'll make another post. What do you guys think about HeartGold and SoulSilver? And how does it compare to the original?
-LS