Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver (DS) Review

Posted by Justin Weinblatt on 03.20.2010

Make new friends, but keep the old. One is Silver, and the other Gold.


Title: Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Game Freak
Genre: RPG
Players: 1-4
Rated:

Way back in 1998, Pokémon came to American shores. While kids played the games, bought the cards, and watched the cartoons, parents everywhere waited for Pokémon to go the way of Pogs, Duncan Yo-yos, and Furby. Why hasn’t Pokémon died like all the other fads? Perhaps, it's because Pokémon is one of the strongest game designs ever conceived.

Note: This review is based on Pokémon Heart Gold. The differences between the two SKUs are very minor.

The focus of the Pokémon games is on collecting and battling various Pokémon, cute yet ferocious little creatures. At the start of the game you'll be given one Pokémon. When you walk through certain areas, such as grass or caves, Pokémon will pop up randomly. If you battle and defeat the wild Pokémon, your Pokémon will grow stronger. You can also catch the wild Pokémon, and add it to your collection. Catching a Pokémon is as simple as finding one in the wild, weakening it, and throwing a Pokéball. Once you catch a Pokémon you'll be able to use it whenever you want.

In addition to wild Pokémon, you'll also find Pokémon trainers. If a trainer spots you, they'll challenge you to a battle, which you can not decline. If you win, you'll gain money and move on. If you lose, you'll be sent back to the last town you visited, with a small monetary penalty. Your overall objective is to battle the 8 gym leaders, powerful trainers who will give you badges once defeated. Of course, you'll run into several obstacles along the way. You'll have to make your way through caves, cross vast bodies of water, and take on the nefarious Team Rocket. Once you've beaten all 8 gym leaders you can challenge the Elite Four, the world's strongest trainers. Defeat them and you become Pokémon champion, and the game's main quest is over (or is it?).


Go Cyndaquil!

The battle system is simple on the surface, yet it’s incredibly intricate and addicting. The trainer, that’s you, carries up to six Pokémon with him or her. Each Pokémon has a type, such as water, fire, or grass, and can learn up to four moves. Certain moves are effective or ineffective against certain types of Pokémon. For example, grass moves are effective against water Pokémon, but ineffective against fire Pokémon. Water moves are effective against fire Pokémon, but ineffective against grass Pokémon. Fire moves are effective against grass Pokémon, but ineffective against water Pokémon. The rock/paper/scissors system sounds simple at first, but there is a ton of depth in creating a balanced team, with balanced movesets. If you want to battle competitively, a great challenge awaits you. If you’re younger or a casual Pokémon fan, you can muscle through the game with just about any six Pokémon, as long as you're willing to level grind a bit.

There are very few changes to the gameplay compared to Pokémon Pearl and Diamond. You can now register more than one item for quick access, which is a welcome change. Your lead Pokémon will follow you around, like in Pokémon Yellow, which is a nice feature, although it doesn’t change gameplay at all.


Now that I'm out of my Pokéball, the first thing I'm going to do is call PETA.

The production values in Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver are a bit lacking. The games run on the same engine as Pokémon Pearl and Diamond. The engine is already about three years old, and even when it was new it wasn’t exactly state of the art. Everything looks clean and attractive, and some of the locales are nice, such as the autumnal scene you can see above. Other areas however, are flat out boring. The battles still involve two sprites which are mostly static. Attacks are illustrated by very minimal special effects. There are a few short cutscenes, but other than that nothing is particularly impressive.

The comments about the graphics apply to the audio package as well. Pokémon still talk in 8-bit screeches. Some of the tunes that play during your adventure are catchy, but they're hardly up to the DS’ modest capabilities. Some of the other tunes are pretty lame. At times I felt like I was listening to muzak. If you play with the sound off, you won't be missing much.

Where the game really shines is lasting appeal. There is A LOT to do in the world of Pokémon. The main quest is about double the length of the other Pokémon adventures. Once you’re done with that you can try to collect all of the 497 (by my last count) Pokémon. Incidentally, this is the first time you can actually “catch em all” without hacks since the original Gold and Silver. You can also access the Battle Frontier, in which you engage in a variety of battle types to gain battle points, which can unlock useful items. New to the series is the Pokeathalon, where you can engage in a variety of simple mini games with your Pokémon.

After you’re done with all this, you can battle or trade with friends. Since each version of the game contains different Pokémon, you'll have to trade with others to obtain all of the Pokémon. You can also battle against friends, either locally or through wi-fi. Unfortunately, you’ll need friend codes for the latter. Friend codes make sense for a game that caters to a younger audience, but they’re still annoying for older fans. There is a fairly large community of competitive Pokémon players, so if you're interested you'll be able to find trainers to exchange friend codes with.

Now that I’m done with the main game let’s talk about the Pokéwalker, an accessory that comes with the game. The Pokéwalker is a simple LCD device, similar to virtual pets or Sega’s VMU, combined with a pedometer. You can take a Pokémon from your game, transfer them to the Pokéwalker, and take it with you as you walk. Each step you take will earn exp for your Pokémon (unfortunately you can only go up one level per trip) and for every 20 steps or so you gain a watt. Watts can be used to play either an item finding mini game, or a Pokémon catching mini-game. Any items or Pokémon you find can be transferred back to the DS game. As you gain watts you’ll unlock new routes to walk along, which contain different items and Pokémon. The whole thing is pretty basic, and adult gamers probably will put the Pokéwalker aside after a few walks. Children however, will likely enjoy the device. My 9 year old little brother loves it. All in all, it’s worth the 5 bucks it adds to the game’s cost.


Somehow they managed to make Pokémon even more portable.

The 411

Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver are solid remakes of great titles. That being said, it’s hard to get too excited over a remake when the other Pokémon games were already so similar to the original Gold and Silver. Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver will be a lot of fun to newer gamers who have never explored Johto, and to older gamers who have fond memories of the originals. However, if you're looking for something new, you might want to wait for the next set of Pokémon games.

Graphics	7.0	Everything in the game looks good, but doesn't push the DS hardware at all.
Gameplay	8.5	Pokemon is an incredibly strong game design, but I had to take off some points for the lack of innovation. The Pokewalker is a fun addition.
Sound	6.5	While nothing will grate on your nerves, nothing will impress you either
Lasting Appeal	10.0	If there were something higher than a ten, these games would deserve it. Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver have nearly limitless replay value.
Fun Factor	9.0	Although the formula hasn't changed much, Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver will provide many hours of fun for fans of the series.
Overall	8.5   [ Very Good ]

Screenshots
All 8 Pokemon Heart Gold Screenshots