Pokemon Silver Version

"Pokemayhem!"

The Pokemon franchise has been going strong for some time now and this is a bit of a surprise to everyone. When Pokemon Red first came out, everyone was into it, kids, teens, adults, everyone. The thought was it would die out soon enough, but for some reason it still hasn't. Pokemon Silver is one of the two games in the 2nd generation of Pokemon gaming. First there was Red, Blue, and Yellow. Then Silver, Gold, and Crystal. Next was Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, and I hear more are on the way. Silver just like Gold, is nearly identical in game play and story, with just a few minor changes here and there. Silver was the third Pokemon game that I owned, and one of my favorites, only second to Crystal. Silver/Gold/Crystal have the largest amount of obtainable Pokemon in it and is possibly the best of all the Pokemon series released.

Gameplay

The game play is centered around traveling the world and battling opponents with Pokemon. The more you fight with your Pokemon, the more experience you gain for them, which in turn gains them levels, and at certain points allows them to learn more moves. Each Pokemon has their own type (such as grass, lightning, fire) of up to over 10 different kinds. With that being said each Pokemon has it's weakness and strengths to certain other types. This creates strategy and allows the game to be more interesting. As the Poke dueler you are able to carry up to 6 Pokemon at once to use in battle, while any others are stored in a computer transferable complex. Capturing Pokemon is done through throwing Poke Balls at wild Pokemon, the better they are, the stronger the balls you'll need. These are the basics of the game.

8/10

Story

The story in Pokemon Silver is a simple and fun one. You take control of a kid at the beginning of the game who wishes to be a Pokemon Master and travel the world. As you travel from city to city, you must confront gym leaders and challenge them for badges. Badges act as a certification of how good you are as a Poke dueler. Once you've obtained all the badges you may earn the right to battle the ultimate Pokemon masters, the Elite Four. Aside from this long adventure to conquer the lands, you are constantly trying to outdo your rival (a kid from the same town as you). The race is on, and the objective is clear may the best one win. To make this game even better both worlds were included in this game. That's twice the game play, and twice the fun.

7/10

Graphics and Sound

The graphics all depend on what you played it on. This is a game boy color game. That simple, but with the backwards compatibility of the game boy advance, you were able to transfer the game over, which would add in better color and better game play. The graphics however and design of things were done nicely enough, and are easy on the eyes. The mono sound of the game I don't much care for. I never really used the sound in any Pokemon games. Instead I would turn it down and watch TV while playing or listen to some music. Not to say that the Pokemon music is bad, but in my opinion it's dull and boring.

7/10

Playtime/Re-playability

The game has tons of hours worth of play in it, due to it being very RPG like with it's leveling up and battle system. In other words you can spend up to 40 hours just beating the regular game. Aside from that there's capturing all the Pokemon (some of which can only be obtained through trading with Pokemon Gold) and leveling them up to the max level, plus bonus places to battle. You can also combine this with Pokemon Stadium 2 and have an even deeper game experience. Well over a 100 hours of playtime. Re-playing is decent enough too, reliving the adventure is good for about three tries before becoming tedious and boring.

10/10

Final Verdict

If you have a Gameboy Advance then just go and pick this up from a local Gamestop or other gaming outlet and purchase this. It shouldn't be too much money, and if you're new to Pokemon this is a great place to start. Final score 8.5/10.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/20/06