Heart & Soul

A look at the latest Pokemon offerings

Scoot: So Scoot has been playing Pokemon HeartGold and Mike has been playing Pokemon SoulSilver and thought we'd share our thoughts

Mike: I certainly Have Scootimus, I certainly have and what can I say...This is fan-fuckin'-tastic.

Graphics

S: One word for the new look here... Wow. The updated graphics and design makes the world of Johto nearly unrecognisable from the original Gold & Silver, but in the best way possible. Everything has been brought up to the graphical standards of the more recent pokemon games and some places (such as the gyms) have received a complete re-design. Overall the game looks amazing but still has that original Gold/Silver feel.

M: Really upped their game with this one. They don't differ drastically for the most part from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum but it's the little things, like the start menu. Or the first gym's 'access' system for lack of a better word. All the knew Pokemon/character sprites look much, much better in my opinion and the background world has really advanced. And battle effects, although much to my dismay still not updated to the stage of showing my Arcanine actually biting the Pidgey with burning fangs, it's all been juiced up. Looks good. All in all it is a great improvement.

Audio

S: Audio stills contains the same familiar songs and sounds, but updated to make the sounds clearer and higher quality... Not really much else to say here.

M: I concur with Scoot really. Much of the muchness. However the Radio songs are entertaining to listen to for a while.

Gameplay

S: Everyone is familiar with how a pokemon game works so i'll just point out the newer features and how they affect the game. Firstly, there is no start menu, everything you could ever need (and some stuff you don't need) all appears in easy to tap form on the touch screen, including a rather nifty auto run button that means the end of holding down B for hours on end. (M - Assuming you're as committed to Pokemon as we are)

M: Fun on the bun. Keep it simple. The new menu touch screen system is fast, efficent and cleaner than ever before. It makes life easier for the hard working trainer or breeder. Also the auto run button...Pure awesomeness. Once selected...Permanent. I could go into a battle, cut scene, conversation, building any thing and I'll always be running. Never have to worry again. Just brilliant.

Final Thoughts

S: Honestly, i am not a fan of Diamond/Pearl, so when i discovered that all the new pokemon would be available in this game it made me pretty unhappy, and i still don't agree with it, but the upgrades and new features make this game well worthwhile and the newer pokemon aren't necessary, more of a feature for newer fans i guess. All the general graphical updates and gameplay updates make this a far superior game to the original and the pokewalker is a nice little distraction. As much as i don't agree with the new pokedex and it's availability in this game, for those who DO want to collect 'em all, the amazing range in connectivity will make this easier and more enjoyable.

M: I don't mind there being EVERY Pokemon in the game that's been made so far, it just means I'll be hunting Pokemon for quite some time. And as Scoot said, the updates to the game outweigh anything bad you could find in this game easily. It's the same old Silver or Gold...Just...Better.