Pokemon Soul Silver Review

Are you ready to catch them all over again?

The battle experience hasn’t changed much if your last Pokémon quest was Diamond and Pearl. There aren’t any visual improvements or any new moves or any other battles elements to get used to. It’s still a simple approach, a JRPG that newcomers should be able to pick up with ease even with the addition of hold items and new Pokémon types introduced in past titles.

There isn’t much in Heart Gold and Soul Silver that really feels new or particularly fresh. In fact the only innovative feature is the bundled Pokewalker, a small tamagotchi-sized device with pedometer built in. Transfer a Pokémon onto the Pokewalker via an infra-red sensor and you can care for your Pokémon on the go.

It’s not as tacky as it might seem. You can fight other wild Pokémon, play minigames and gather items all of which are transferable back to your game save. It’s not exactly engaging; the battle system is basic at best and the mini games don’t require much thought but it’s pretty innovative to see the series implement this kind of functionality. Whether or not it will stay for future installments is yet to be seen; Nintendo have been struggling to work in some form of Pokémon tamagotchi like peripheral in the past and it’s nice to see it implemented quite well here.

It goes without saying that the price tag of Gold and Silver is justifiable by its length and replayability alone. Instead of the standard eight gym tour, Gold and Silver offers up Kanto, the region last seen in Pokémon Red & Blue, after completing the Johto region; that’s an additional eight gyms, more Pokémon to catch, and new towns to explore. Couple that with additional side quests and let’s not forget the 493 Pokémon to catch by trading with Diamond and Pear and I can say with much assurance that you won’t be finished with Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver for weeks.

My only qualm with Heart Gold and Soul Silver is that it sits as another example of how little the series has evolved since the release of the original Gold and Silver. The visuals are colorful and the mild 3D touch ups have been done before but it’s barely pushing the hardware regardless of how much content is packed into the cart. What’s more frustrating is that the Pokémon cries are still 8-bit wails and screeches which is a bit disappointing given the DS is capable of far better. The series is overdue for a serious overhaul and while the series has been in a comfortable spot for quite a while now, some age started to show in Diamond and Pearl and it’s still showing here.

It’s shocking that ten years later, Nintendo still manages to squeeze the Pokémon franchise in such a way that keeps a grown man like myself hooked; investing hours and hours into leveling up. Whilst nothing really quite matches that first adventure, Heart Gold and Soul Silver come at a close second bringing all the best elements of the sequels together in one of the best settings and stories to date. It is without a doubt the most complete Pokémon package.

If you’ve been holding back on hoping back into a Pokémon game, now is the time. Purists on the other hand might not be able to overlook the lack of evolving the series has done at this point but can you really resist the temptation to step up to the challenge again?