In a lot of ways, I feel like this is what Diamond/Pearl/Platinum and Heart Gold/Soul Silver were test runs for. The first set tested the waters on the DS, and a lot of the ideas from the Gold/Silver remakes are still here, but moreso polished and refined. The protagonists are older now, not ten-year olds as they've traditionally been. There are also three this time, so you'll be facing both of the other starters, regardless of who you choose.

The 3D environments are back, and, as said, more polished. I've only been to smaller cities so far, I haven't seen what they do with the traditional big-city-city, but I'm looking forward to it. Traveling from the full world is a lot smoother, with no black two-second loading screen; Instead, now it zooms in on the environment around the door, which fades away to the inside environment. I don't remember the inside-to-out transition offhand, but I think it was something very similar.

The sound direction is also improved - Battles change the music to fit what's going on, instead of sticking with one theme over and over again. Plus, it's nice to hear some higher-quality music; D/P/P had a nice soundtrack, but like I said, I really feel Game Freak was testing the waters on the DS, it was essentially GBA music. Silver/Gold was higher-quality, and good music, but it was a remake, with redone versions of the old songs, so it wasn't really a fair judge. I've enjoyed wearing the headphones for White so far though - It may seem like a minor point, but as a musician, I both enjoy the soundtrack, and think it really helps set the atmosphere and mood of a game/movie/what-have-you, so this made me happy.

The battle system, as said, is very similar to the Gold/Silver remakes, but, to meet the rule of three, more polished, more refined. The battle animations are also a little more dynamic, but given it's shown potential just below what the N64 could do, and the N64 had the Pokemon Stadium games, it would've been nice to see a bit more movement in the actual pokemon, maybe even 3D.

Overall, I've only managed to get the first gym badge, so I'm not very far along, but I've been decently pleased with the game. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do on the 3DS though, hopefully we can get 3D pokemon sprites there, as that's probably the biggest let-down so far. On that note though, I know the release dates were months apart in Japan, but with the 3DS not even a month away, buying a game for a system that's this close to being outdated(A feeling that will no-doubt repeat when purchasing Okamiden, but Capcom's not the first-party, so they get a little more slack) feels a little silly. I know that a port of it to the 3DS would've just had gimmicky 3D effects on the attacks, especially if it's for the US version only, but you can turn off the 3D, so it wouldn't have all been bad.

Still though, all-in-all, it feels like a very natural progression for the series, and makes apparent the lessons learned both by players and publishers since the series' first foray onto the DS. The level of polish would've been nice earlier on, but the first transition with D/P/P was going to be awkward no matter what, and there's a certain charm in a remake that shares some of the original's quirky flaws, so they were passable in HG/SS. If you're a fan, you already have it. If you like the series but it's not big on your list, and you passed up either of the other DS games either because of the first's quirks or the second's remake status, this one should make you happy. If you hate the series, you're not going to like it anyway, no worries. If you want a first game, this is a pretty good one methinks, though as it's a remake of what was my first Pokemon game, I'd always vouch for HG/SS as starters first.

And on a final note, you finally get your set of five pokeballs before traveling route 1. I know I'm not the only person who hated backtracking to catch the ones I wanted that I missed on my way to town #3, only to find my now-level-12 starter is too powerful to fight without knocking them out, so this is very welcome in my book.

Also, to make others from my age group feel old, the next Pokemon remakes are going to be of Ruby and Saphire. How's that for freaky?