Pokemon White Version, along with Black Version, marks the beginning of the fifth generation of Pokemon, released for the Nintendo DS. It features 156 new Pokemon in the new region of Unova and the biggest difference between the two versions is a new area exclusive to each version. Unlike Pokemon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, which barely made any visual improvements compared to the Game Boy Advance games, Pokemon White makes some progress to showcase the DS's 3D graphics capability. It retains the same overhead view as previous games but the outside areas are 3D, it's just not too obvious. The inside of buildings are still 2D though and 2D sprites are still used during battles. The camera angles and cutscenes try to showcase the 3D world but it doesn't quite impress when most of the time, it still looks and plays the same as previous 2D games.
There are a bunch of new features but most feels incremental rather than revolutionary. There are now seasonal cycles which is based upon the current month, as well as day and night based on the DS' dates and clock. As the seasons change, so too does some of the scenery as well as areas you may be able to access (e.g. in winter, snow has piled on too thick and blocks an optional area). Two new types of battles are introduced. Rotation Battles and Triple Battles. Black Version has mostly rotation battles where you can rotate a trio of Pokemon at any time. White Version has the triple battles, where three Pokemon fights onscreen at once, with the twist being that each Pokemon can't target all three opponents depending on their position.
The game's premise is similar to all the previous games before it. You've just grown of age to be able to get your very first Pokemon and then travel the world. You're paired with two of your best friends as all three of you pick your starter Pokemon and then aim to battle the eight gym leaders scattered around Unova. The ultimate aim is to get all eight gym badges, challenge the Elite Four and take the title of Champion. You'll be battling your friends constantly on your travels. Mixed into all this is the usual villainous team, this time being Team Plasma. They are one of the oddest team yet and their schemes aren't as clear cut or obvious as previous villains. They work on the guise of freeing Pokemon... by stealing them from their trainers. As their theme music is somewhat creepy, you probably won't have the best impression of them.
Surprisingly, White isn't a cakewalk. The first gym is somewhat challenging and while after the second gym, it gets back to really easy, there are certain sections of the game that might give you a bit of trouble. However, the difficulty really depends on the type of Pokemon you end up using. Changing Pokemon often is necessary but adds to the grind because the Pokemon that gym trainers use are usually around 10 levels higher than the wild Pokemon. The experience gained by Pokemon has been changed somewhat. Your Pokemon gain experience for participation in battles, however, the bigger the level difference, the more experience they get. This means that they'll only get a measly amount if your levels are more than 1-3 levels higher, making it frustrating to level at times.
Running through caves and over grass will trigger encounters with wild Pokemon, of which you can either capture for your own use or to gain experience. The problem with using random encounters is that some areas have absurd encounter rates. This is not a joke, in some areas, you just want to run through it but are forced into a battle every SINGLE step. If you're lucky, you may be able to make it two steps before you hit a random battle. It's tedious, annoying and ridiculous. It severely hampers exploration and makes the game really hard to enjoy at times. Using a Max Repel to remove encounters is annoying even if you try and hotkey it to a button, requiring multiple layers of menu to use it and it doesn't even last long.
The other extremely annoying thing is that the AI spams status effects on you. When they use it, more often than not, it works in their favor (you missing an attack, hitting yourself during confusion etc), but when you use it against them, it feels like there is no effect. A good example is in the beginning of the game when you use sand-attack to lower the opponent's accuracy four times in a row yet they still never miss. Compared to them using it just once on you and you miss four times in a row. Compounding the issue is the way the game wastes your time with slow menu transitions, slow battles (even when you turn off animations) and the fact that the AI still keeps on spamming moves such as protect which just delays the inevitable.
Some of the cities and towns you get to explore are impressive and large, featuring plenty of optional things to find and get. Trainers are also scattered in the routes in between that force you to battle them. However, there is a tendency for these trainers in the same routes to use the same Pokemon, which can get really repetitive and stale. Unfortunately, the game has a few features that either rely heavily on wireless or with interacting with players of the other version (or if you just buy the game twice and have two DS's). Certain Legendary Pokemons are locked to wireless events or require you to catch Pokemon that is exclusive to Black. This includes certain Pokemon encounter rates too. This means that you cannot see everything the game has to offer with only one version of the game and you have no friends who are playing at the same time.
There are some 3D cutscenes that uses both screens at once which are pretty good and looks great. The difficulty ends up scaling well for the main story of beating the Elite Four, becoming the Unova Champion and foiling Team Plasma's plans. The final trainers that you battle against have levels that are close to your own if you did not end up grinding much for experience. Beating the game takes only 20-25 hours, but Pokemon White has a decent amount of postgame content, which brings with it a massive difficulty spike. This is because trainers now have Pokemon that are 10+ levels about the Elite Four! While with some strategy this is no issue, there's simply not enough to do to grind the 20+ levels required for a rematch against some of the tougher opponents and rematch against the Elite Four.
Overall, Pokemon White Version is what you'd expect of a Pokemon game. It makes a few changes and marginally improves the graphics and presentation of the series as a whole. The decision to limit the first part to only new Unova Pokemon is somewhat weird but gives a sense of cohesion to the game. There are some niggling issues such as the high encounter rate and random difficulty spikes though.
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