Pokemon White Version 2 is part of the fifth generation of Pokemon games for the Nintendo DS. It is the third version that typically releases with additional content. However, for the first time ever, there are two “third versions” and they are both a direct sequel. The game is set two years after the events of Pokemon White and it still takes place in the Unova region. You’ll start in the western side of Unova, which we haven’t seen before. There is a fair amount of changes but it has all the same areas as White, so you’ll be exploring many of the same towns, same caves, and the same ruins for a big chunk of the game. It gives some familiarity but at the same time, you wish that there were more new things. To be fair, it has enough changes to still be enjoyable if you haven’t recently played the first.
In addition to the Pokemon Champion storyline, there is another subplot that involves your rival. He is hot headed and charges forward without thinking to save Pokemon that is currently being kidnapped by Team Plasma. Team Plasma shows up again as the villains with a new plan, despite being defeated two years ago in White. White 2 has a strong beginning but it starts to drag on by the time you get half the badges. This is because the pacing seems to slow down a lot as the towns/cities are spaced further apart, and the Team Plasma subplot has a limited amount of scenes. Like the previous game, most of the plot occurs right before you attempt to fight the Elite Four and it is over very soon. It involves the new legendary Kyurem but the motivation of Team Plasma feels similar to previous games so it doesn’t add anything new or interesting.
Unlike the original, you aren’t forced to encounter only Gen 5 Pokemon until you win against the Elite Four. Pokemon from all generations appear from the very beginning and it is definitely a lot more fun and engaging this way. The game plays in a top down view, not much has changed and it is effectively the same game with some new features. White 2 is a minor iteration to White, so it is still mainly 2D sprite-based graphics. While the environments are rendered in 3D and the game shows this off at times, it doesn’t add too much to the game. You walk around collecting eight badges by winning against gyms in each city in order to obtain the right to become the Pokemon Champion. You encounter Pokemon, catch them, level them up and evolve them in a bid to become stronger.
Pokemon battles uses a turn based battle system and you hold a party of up to six Pokemon. Each Pokemon can access up to four moves, annoyingly, you must forget and replace one if you wanted to learn something new. Each Pokemon is different, with typings that give them an advantage over another, and leveling them can allow them to evolve into stronger Pokemon. You’ll be encouraged to experiment and mix and match your way. You’ll definitely be swapping your Pokemon party around multiple times over your journey. The game is heavily menu based and thus can feel clunky. It takes a second or two to load each sub-menu after a button press. Type advantages continue to be the way to go and allow you to defeat opponents several levels higher than you. The game overall is fairly easy and if you don’t run away from every random encounter, then you don’t really need to grind, this includes the postgame content too.
There are new additions including the PokeStar Studio minigame, where you participate in creating a new Pokemon movie. It’s less exciting than it sounds since you just choose from selections to get an ending. White 2 tries to change things around compared to the first game so that players don’t get too bored from the similarity. Beating the game, and by that, meaning that you have cleared the Team Plasma subplot, defeated the Elite Four and the Champion to become the Champion yourself, will take around 25-30 hours. It depends how much time you spend on catching various Pokemon and changing your team around. However, there is a lot of postgame content.
The postgame content includes the rest of Unova, which is probably around one-third to one-half of what you had already traversed. Most of these are mainly areas from the original game. It is still a lot of fun to go through, plus there are a surprising amount of Legendaries to challenge and catch. Doing these will take 10+ hours at a fast pace. Perhaps the biggest addition is the Pokemon world Tournament which is there for you to test out your team and eventually battle all gym leaders from previous games! This alone is hours and hours of extra content, although it really depends how much you like battling. Overall, Pokemon White Version 2 improves a lot upon the original. The inclusion of all Pokemon from all previous generations from the very beginning gives it a completely different flavor. While the story is definitely weaker than the original, everything else is better (or at the very least, the same). It has more content than you would expect, especially the meaty postgame which is extremely impressive. Pokemon White Version 2 is definitely worth your time even if you have not yet played the original.
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