Pros: A Bunch Of Stuff
Cons: Can't Catch Mewto, Articuno, Zapdos or Moltres; Takes A Looooooong Time
The bottom line: This is a great game. Buy it for ANYONE.
This game is great. I mean, whoever came up with the idea of Pokemon was a dang genius. This is what the Japanese are absolutely great at. I bought this game yesterday, witch was May 3. Now, you may be asking 'What does this guy know'. Well, FYI, I played this game 'till 2 o'clock in the morning. It is that fun. So what if you don't like Pokemon? I, myself, cannot stand the cartoon show. It's waaaay too cheesy. And the movies, to me, are little more than bankable. But, I find myself playing these games just like one of those small, 10-year old kid who trades the cards, eats, sleeps, and drinks Pokemon.

This game is good for young Pokemaniacs and old, grouchy animal haters. This is a simply brilliant RPG with so much to do, you'll be staring at your little screen for days upon days. The game starts in Johto, where the cartoon show is currently placed. You start off in a little old town, called New Bark Town. You then proceed to choose a Pokemon 'companion' to help you on your very large journey.

Now, for those of you who don't know what Pokemon are, I don't think you should be reading this, but, I'll give you an explanation. Pokemon are imaginary creatures that take the place of animals. In the game, you catch these creatures with special PokeBalls, designed to hold them. To beat the game, you must catch all 250 of them, which you have to do by trading. There are 17 types of Pokemon, with different attack and defense abilities. Certain types are stronger than some, and weaker than others. The types are: Normal
Fire
Water
Electric
Grass
Ice
Fighting
Poison
Ground
Flying
Psychic
Bug
Rock
Ghost
Dragon
Steel
Dark
Like I said, these types have diferent advantages and disadvantages against different types. Back to the game.

The game has all of these different types. Your 'objective', let us say, is to catch all of the different Pokemon. It is impossible, however, without trading. Trading means that you trade a Pokemon from one Game Boy with Gold/Silver, to another Game Boy with Gold/Silver. You can also trade Pokemon with Pokemon Red and Blue, which are older versionbut you cannot trade any new pokemon from Gold/Silver to an old Red/Blue cartrige.

Anyway, in the game, you take a Pokemon at the beginning, and start training and fighting Gym Battles. Once you do that, you become a 'trainer', a person who trains Pokemon for battle. Gym Battles, if you win them, provide you with Badges. You need Badges to beat the game. If you just hang around, not winning any badges, you won't get farther than 'two towns over'. Once you get all 8 Johto Badges, you go to the Pokemon Leauge, and the Elite Four Pokemon Trainers in the land. Once you beat them, you go on to the land of Kanto, where Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow took place. Once you go through there, you head toward Mt. Silver, where you fight the final master, a man with very powerful Pokemon. Now that you know the plot, I'll go on to the breakdown.


Pros:

1. 250 Pokemon. There are 250 Pokemon available to use in Gold/Silver. You have to trade from other cartriges to get them all, though.

2. 100 New Pokemon. 100 of the Pokemon in Gold/Silver are brand new, making it challenging for old and new players alike. There are also two new types: Steel and Dark.

3. Big Playing Maps. This game is huge, map wise. It has both the old land of Kanto, as well as the new Johto. They downsized the caves a little, but no one liked them, anyways.

4. One of the Best RPGs Ever. Now, this is more an opinion than anything, but Pokemon Gold/Silver is one of the best RPGs ever. It might not look as good as FF7 or something like that, but it beats almost everything else in the fun section.

5. Great Gameplay. Like I've said before, this game plays really well. I guarantee it, if you like this sort of game, you'll be playing it whenever you have free time.

6. Jigglypuff Gets Tackled In Opening Sequence. Ha! I just had to put this down, partly because another Epinions member put it down as a Con, and partly because I cannot stand this pokemon in the game. It has to be the weakest Pokemon ever. It sounds a little harsh, but...

7. Brainteasing Puzzles. No doubt about it, this game is not for the people with no problem solving capabilities. It is full of puzzles. You cannot get any more filled with puzzles if you tried. It makes the game much more interesting, though.

8. Time-Telling Feature. I talked to a kid at my school who played this game a few days before I bought it. He said he only played this game at night, when he was alone in his room, since only certain Pokemon came out at night. I looked at him like some kind of freak. Now, I finally understand what he meant. At the very beginning of the game, you are promted to tell the game what time of day it is. Once you put in the time, day, and if it is daylight savings or not, the game keeps time from there, wether it is on or off. It makes the game very unique. Certain Pokemon can only be found a certain place on a certain day at a certain time. It is the same way with certain events, also. Like, for exaple, the S.S. Aqua only leaves on it's ocean voyage on Fridays. If you come to its port on a Wednesday, you'll be told that it only leaves on Fridays. Cool, eh?

9. Multiplayer Battles. One of the coolest features in Pokemon is the ability to link 2 Game Boys with Pokemon games, and battle it out with friends for Pokemon supremacy. This adds much fun to an already great game. Also, it is pretty fun to beat the living crap out of your friends and laugh in their faces. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


Cons:

1. Cannot Catch Some Rare Pokemon. This was a big dissapointment for me. I don't like the fact that I can't catch Mewtwo, despite the fact that I can go to Kanto where I found him in Red/Blue. Also, Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres are absent. Darn.

2. Long Game. Yes, it's a long game. And that isn't always a good thing. I can guarantee you now that you'll be playing this game for about 60 or 70 hours. I guarantee it.


Bottom Line: This game is great. Buy it for your kid, buy it for your spouse. Heck, buy it for your parent. This game is a game for all ages, and all ages will enjoy it.