Review - PETA's Pokemon: Black and Blue
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is back with another video game parody in the form of Pokémon: Black and Blue. This free-to-play browser-based propaganda hopes to demonize the Pokémon franchise and help open the world’s eyes to animal abuse. Does this knock-off have what it takes to be a truly entertaining browser game?
Graphics
The sprites in this game are bastardizations of characters we know and love; seeing them beaten by psychotic humans and Pokémon alike is enough to make even the manliest of men shed a single tear. The overworld is littered with blood covered trees, barbed wire fences, and bear traps giving a generally depressing vibe to it all.
In battles, the flavor of the modern Pokémon generation is captured with the basic character animations and gradient backgrounds. The game even goes so far as to include a well done HUD, and pays attention to minor details like the gender icons.
The only real flaw in this section is the horrible attack animation. For some attacks, the Pokémon are only able to teleport around for melee attacks and the animation of the special attacks are extremely lackluster.
Sound
The musical tracks are surprisingly well done and are quite convincing as official Pokémon tunes. From the opening theme to the battles, fans of the Pokémon series can find themselves bobbing their heads to these repetitive, but catchy tracks.
The sound effects however are complete garbage. It seems like PETA was not even trying with their attack sounds, relying heavily on generic stock impact and laser effects.
Gameplay
I must commend PETA for their attention to detail and including complex mechanics like stats and type advantages, but the fights are extremely unbalanced. On one hand, your party’s damage-dealing moves deliver a huge amount of damage to your human opponents. On the other hand, your enemies deal very little damage. You can complete the entire game without a Pokémon fainting once. Regardless, this is a simplistic game that can get boring fast, just by being too easy.
As a whole, PETA got the atmosphere and tone of the Pokémon franchise all-wrong. The Pokémon are able to talk, the trainers are grossly misrepresented, and the moral of the series - love and friend making - is completely forgotten in favor of a general sense that the series promotes animal abuse and is tricking children into getting their parents to buy Pokémon products. However, the canon evidence has shown time and time again that the moral of the entire series is that the relationship between man and Pokémon is a strong one and both deeply care for and protect the other. In another sense, it is to love others, even if you are from different species.
Replayability
Pokémon: Black and Blue is an easy-to-beat game with no branching paths. Through your journey, you will find chests that contain “goodies”, a desktop background, a video of animals being abused, and printable trading cards. However, you can unlock all of these in a single play through if you choose not to ignore them.
Believe it or not, the developers really did their research on the Pokémon franchise and worked in some genuinely funny jokes such as a reference to the twist ending to Pokémon: Black and White and, the addition of the Pokémon that the internet loves to hate, Mudkip. These shout-outs and the sheer absurdity of the game’s premise and execution might actually bring some returning players back.
All in all, PETA’s take on Pokémon is perhaps their best parody game to date, which is not saying much. It's the equivalent of a bedazzled pile of cow shit. It's not as bad to look at, but it's still cow shit.
This game is not going to change anyone's mind about this beloved franchise and I am going to continue attempting to hit every cat I see with my car. However, I honestly think that this is a game people should play once. Its humor will give fans of the Pokémon series a couple of laughs, and it is always fun to see the newest bat-shit-insane creation that PETA throws out there.
Bad
(3s are problematic. Any potential it did have is lost from poor execution or design. Any entertainment found within is sporadic.)
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Drake McWhorter is ScrewAttack.com's editor of Hard News and the weekly video podcast, "SideScrollers". He also is the official video game trailer manager. Outside of video games, he is an avid fan of anime, tabletop gaming, voice acting, and is a connoisseur of the Internet. |
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» Tagged In: #Black and Blue, #PETA, #Pokemon, #review
g1 DISCUSSIONS
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The game even goes so far as to include a well done HUD, and pays attention to minor details like the gender icons.virus
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duyentrangr82
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is back with another video game parody in the form of Pokémon: Black and Blue. Chatrandom.com
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sao
You can beat this game in around three minutes, so obviously any replayability this game has comes from playing it multiple times in an attempt Daena
nicewanted
The game even goes so far as to include a well done HUD, and pays attention to minor details like the gender icons. dog allergies
BigMeanSqueeze
i hope nintendo sues them, i really do. peta really needs a king kong sized tampon
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KnightBlazer
I really wish there was a PETA parody where we can have Mario, some pokemon, ect beat the hell out of PETA, now that would be one hell of a fun game :)
lev186211
Noticed this line: "...I am going to continue attempting to hit every cat I see with my car..." You're a gimp.
Overloading Toaster
WTF PETA!! Do you really have to ruin my Pokemon Childhood? Do you think I go around and throw balls at animals just because I play Pokemon? FUCK YOU PETA I HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!
gameguy
i agree nintendo needs to take off the baby gloves and fight back. they need to think what would sega,microsoft, or sony do right now
mapware3640
You know the irony?Ok,so you have two groups of children for example,you give one of the group pokemon black and white and you give the other PETA's abomination,give the two days to play it then turn them loose outside.the group that played black and white are still busy trading while the ones that played black and blue are killing animals.This shows PETA's ignorance.
Godstrike
I've always wondered this can't PETA get sued for doing this kind of shit because Nintendo has their first party games completely copyrighted
Tymme
Parodies/etc. are considered fair use. It's what brings us stuff like Weird Al Yankovic. It just happens to be used for evil sometimes.
notsoavragejoe
I'm with PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals).
agie777
PETA gives animal activists the WORST name.
MagnumMagnus
Pokemon is a series with a bit of an overly simplistic plot, given that it's supposed to be targeted at a younger audience. I can see where PETA's coming from in their parody, but it simply misses the point.
As for PETA itself, I find that they're members typically posess the mental equivalency of teenagers; knowledgeable enough to see that there are things that need fixing, but not mature enough to quite understand how best to go about it, much less the consequences of their approach to the issue.
GaryCXJk
Wait, I thought the point of Pokémon Black and White was that "liberating" Pokémon from their owners was BAD and you should feel bad for thinking otherwise.
They Call Me The Fizz
I knew one of you guys were going to review this...
TheMaverickOne
Want proof people from PETA are hypocrites: Mary Beth Sweetland,A former Vice President of PETA is a type A diabetic who injects herself daily with insulin developed from medical testing using dogs while still working for Peta.
PETA hates the use of animals in medical research.
Omega Riddler
peta should just stick to what they do best
erotic photoshoots
solid_snake8403
Ok I played this while waiting for the data restore to finish after replacing the hard drive. It made me realize once again how idiotic PETA is. Also this will give you a better idea on the hypocrisy of PETA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inFtOMx8nDU
werdman24
Hit every cat you see Drake? Really? I can only imagine the fury Lauren unleashes on your soul should she read this review. [=)] As for the game, tried it, beat it, and it sucks. Moving on.
GhosX9
Funny thing is seeing Tepig named Bacon is kind of funny because I named mine Barbeque
Sidescroller Def
I will give them credit for joking with Black and White's ending with Ghetsis, but that's about it. I just freaking hate this "game."
dadajo
Peta here is something you will love! :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXPrk3XKwoo&feature=player_embedded
solid_snake8403
Is it wrong that I laughed through the trailer after this comment.
firehazard51
HAHAHAHAHAHA, I think PETA will faint if Mario and Pokemon give them that much grief.
dadajo
Peta here is something you will love! :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXPrk3XKwoo&feature=player_embedded
Se7enthMoon
Are they allowed to make such thing without being sued by Nintendo?
Tetsamaru
Parody's are legal. I mean, look at Weird Al for an example.
firehazard51
He always gets artist's consent and they also get money from the deal I think too.
Tetsamaru
I remember Weird Al making a statement saying he ask just to be polite, but the law word for word doesn't actually require him to ask. Although I would ask too if I was doing parody's for a living.
WeaponHunter X
ah PETA, the living joke of activism once prominent enough to get into the news on acts alone, now reduced to "look at us, we're still here" moves like these "parody" games, almost feel sorry for the poor bastards, then again that'd mean that I cared enough about them in the first place lol!
metaking64x
PETA: Making enemies enemies with gamers for no good reason, since Super Tofu Boy.
TheBardsSong
Long before Super Tofu Boy actually.
metal mustache
you know when they were doing parodies of other games like mario, all i could think about was, why aren't they attacking pokemon? I think this game has been long over due, especially since the black and white games never gave an answer to the very question they had their villians pose: is it ok to capture these pokemon and make them battle?... to which game freak then realized, oh shit, no we can't justify that... lets just pretend we never brought it up!
shadyas32
I don't think PETA can even take themselves seriously anymore.
Ash_Mavr
Good job with review Drake
deadite1288
lol PETA, what massive trolls they are.
CommanderZaktan
PeTA, the real version of the old Team Plasma.
MetalSmasher86
PETA - Psychotic Enemies To Art.
Little Crazy Gamer
Their best game parody yet? Wasn't Super Tofu Boy, like, a really solid browser game?
phoenix_44
New low PETA... As if you weren't a big enough joke to the world before you decided to slam Mario for some inane reason, you now go after a franchise that has been beloved by many generations of children.for over a decade... Where were all your concerns back in 1997? Just trying to garner some attention for yourselves again you whores.
NBIceman
People Eating Tasty Animals