In the field of games, Kingdom Hearts: Dream, Drop, Distance (or Kingdom Hearts 3D) is already out in Japan and will be coming to the US on July 31st, something that Kingdom Hearts fans-myself included-are on the edge of their seats about. The next installment in the Assassin's Creed franchise, Assassin's Creed III, will be out this October, and our new tomahawk-brandishing hero, Connor, is looking to be just as epic as his predecessors. A brand new type of Pokemon DS game came out in Japan in March (which will be titled Pokemon Conquest for the North American release), a crossover with the Nobunaga's Ambition series. The first strategy-type combat game for Pokemon, the setting has a very feudal/warring states Japan feel (though Pokemon, not swords, are the weapons of war here), and those who have studied Japanese history will recognize names such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and, of course, Oda Nobunaga. Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2 are set to release for the DS in Japan in June, and I can hardly wait to see what these games bring to the table. Black and White 2 are the first titled sequel games in the main Pokemon series, and are said to take place two years after the events of Black and White, and features new towns and location. Different from past "tier" Pokemon games (Crystal for Gold and Silver, Emerald for Ruby and Sapphire, Platinum for Diamond and Pearl), the playable characters are different from in the first games, and I have to say that the girl's design is absolutely adorable:
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| Princess Leia buns and ruffly skirt-shorts! |
The boy is cute, too, with his long shorts, leggings, and oversized bag-but what is with that hair?:
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| Seriously, it's like Pence's hair from KH2 |
There is also a new rival, who looks like he just rolled out of bed:
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| Rufflet hair-don't tell me you're not thinking the same thing |
and a new professor-do I even need to say anything about this guy? Just take a look:
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| Looks like a throwback to Team Galactic |
But for all my harping on hairstyles, I am really excited for these games. After being disappointed by the jarring graphics style shift from the 3rd generation to the 4th and the lack of interesting or memorable characters and plot from the latter, I was extremely impressed with the storyline and characters of Black and White. Team Plasma, the game's villains, had a really interesting motivation (well, until Ghetsis destroys the cover of an original idea at the end), and I really found N's back story to be surprisingly deep and involved considering that it's Pokemon. I know a lot of people think that the designs (not to mention the names) for the new Pokemon are really unimaginative or are just touched-up designs of previous Pokemon, but I found myself liking at least half of the 5th generation Pokemon whereas in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum I only really like Lucario, Shinx, and maybe Buizel. All in all, I think that Black and White are great additions to the Pokemon series, and I'm eagerly anticipating the continuation of the story with Black 2 and White 2. Hopefully after they come out the Pokemon company will start working on another Mystery Dungeon game, and I'd like to hear news on the next Golden Sun game as well. With all these great games and systems being released, the future of gaming is looking pretty bright!
