Pokemon Chaos Black Review by: Postman3 - 8.4/10
Ignite The Chaos With The Pokemon Black Before There Was A Real Black VersionSome differences between Pokémon Chaos Black and Pokémon Fire Red, you may notice right away.
Bulbasaur is now a Grass/Electric type Pokémon called Magid. His volt absorb ability will fully protect him from electricity damage while crediting him with one quarter the amount of his full HP.
Charmander is now a baby lion called Flaon. He has a mane so maybe he is not exactly a cub. He is cute though.
Caterpie is now an antennaed fat little green bug called Tase. He is part normal type. It will evolve into Podcoon. Podcoon is simply Bug type.
Pidgey is now a pokey appendaged red and yellow single horned reptile. Normal/Poison is its new type. It is now named Shizard and evolves into Shicoon. Shicoon is a Steel/Poison type.
Fearow seems to have changed in appearance and name only. It is now Minite and is shaped like a blue-eyed marshmallow with baby blue cotton candy attached.
Seel is now called Abel and looks like a cute little abominable snowman.
Cloyster is now called Graag and looks somewhat like a red/gold/brown Tyrannosaurus Rex. When you put it first in battle, it will not be visible. When switching to it in mid-battle, it will take the appearance of your previous Pokémon with the colour scheme of Graag.
Muk is now called Esplime. It looks more like a micro-organism than the pile of sludge it once was.
Any of the above plus Mankey, Rattata, Spearow and Weedle can be obtained before your second trainer battle.
The villages look about the same but the routes appear to be reformed as mazes. Cool!
The location indicator will activate for some of the routes, but will be blank for village names. It appears you need CUT to unlock all the secrets of route 2.
GRAPHICS
The new Pokémon images are not quite as high quality as Pokémon Fire Red images are, but they are spot-on as far as original creativity goes. They are all just simple drawings that are so basic and fundamental the "big brains" at Game Freak would pass on them instantly. For these reasons, the imagery retains a high rating by my standards.
SOUNDS
The Pokémon cries are the same even for the altered Pokémon. Apparently, no effort has been made make up new ones for the new Pokémon. The music is the same. I have nothing new to report.
DEPTH
I would not call this a quick game unless I had 30+ hours a week to devote to gaming, which I do not. To get from town to town takes extended periods because of maze-like routes patched with grass. Before you even beat the first Gym Leader, it is already time to make dinner. I would like to catch Esplime and Spearow before moving forward.
You may prefer to rush through the game catching very few Pokémon, training fewer powerhouses and taking on the Elite 4 with in 30 hours if you are one of those instant gratifiers who just wants to be the champion. I like to take my time, explore, train many strong fighters and generally go undefeated in my games. Even that does not matter much so long as I do not lose much unspent Yen.
DIFFICULTY
The main problem with this game is learning how to battle your Pokémon all over again. They look different, evolve into different types, and previous evolutions may not exist at all. A secondary irk presents itself in finding your way to the next town. Route 2 is like a Team Rocket hideout sans Team Rocket.
STORY
Catch Pokémon, battle trainers, win badges and defeat the Elite 4 and you will be the champion.
ADDICTIVE
Some games are only as good as their last play. If a game starts to bore you, start playing another game instead. The thing that keeps me playing this game is the new species discovery. Any creature you can imagine can be a Pokémon. We do not have to play only with the ones Nintendo minds thought up. I am finding new beasts on every route. I get a jolt of excitement when I see one I have not before.
In summary, if you look for what is new and exciting about Pokémon Chaos Black, you will probably find it. You would have to look for it though.
Graphics
8 Sound
6 Addictive
9 Depth
10 Story
7 Difficulty
10