Planet Sillicon

Pokemon – try a new game once in a while

By blog on Mar. 17, 2010.

The Pokemon series is about to ship two… well, not new, but two remade games for the DS.

I’m strongly of two minds about this. The Pokemon franchise is set to hit the DS again, now with Heartgold and Soulsilver. Two almost identical games – they only differ in the Legendary Pokemon that you’ll encounter at some point in the game. These ‘two’ games are set to ship later this month, and they’re also just remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver.

The game has been updated in terms of graphics and sound, and of course the DS capability, and you’ll be able to have a Pokemon walk around with you when you’re running around, which hasn’t been done in a very, very long time, but it all just feels a little shovelware-ish.

If you go out and pick this game up, and if you’re a ‘Gotta catch ‘em all’ freak then you might even get both games, and if you’re like that, then you probably picked up both Gold and Silver, too, then you’ve just forked out a lot of cash for Game Freak – the game’s developers – and Nintendo who’re publishing the game.

I don’t know if they really deserve our money for this one, folks. I mean, sure, you get a neat little peripheral, which is essentially a pedometer that actually gives you in-game cash and XP for walking around in real life. Now, this is fabulous incentive, especially for a hobby that’s usually quite sedentary, but it feels somewhat wasted on Heartgold and Soulsilver…

I suppose, though, that each and every one of these games that I’ve played has, essentially, felt the same as every other. Perhaps if I was able to see the new changes, see my pokemon walking around with me, then I’d be more inclined to feel like I’m actually playing a new game, but yeah. I don’t know, I’m just feeling that Nintendo are the kings of shovelware, and that makes me highly sceptical about whatever they’re putting on the shelves at the moment.