Pokémon Diamond and Pearl continues the main line of the Pokémon Gameboy series on the DS. For those who have somehow missed the craze, the main aim is to become the Pokémon champion by defeating all the Gym leaders in the region, to do this you have to guide your character around the region collecting and training Pokémon, its been the same since the original Red and Blue games on the Gameboy. Of course there is a lot more to the DS versions compared to the originals.
If you've played a Pokémon game before everything here will look pretty similar. It�s all been updated and everything looks fresh and colourful. The world has gained the most from the move to the DS, and the 3d Landscapes look better then the previous GBA games. Some of the special effects look pretty good too, the blizzard on the northern routes springs to mind. Nothing here that pushes the boundaries of DS visuals, but it looks plenty good enough.
The sound is really disappointing! A lot of the music has been brought over from previous games and received a little update but its still repetitive, mostly dull, and sounds really old. The Pokémon cries and battle sounds are barely changed from the original Gameboy games, the same basic beeps, tweets, and scratches. Some effort has been made to make use of the DS and there is one Pokémon who will copy a call recorded from the DS mic.
The main reason this series has been so popular is the game play, and these new versions keep it essentially unchanged. In fact apart from making use of the touch screen for menus, mini games and some of the new features its pretty much identical to the last GBA game! Leading your trainer around the world you must collect and train a team of 6 Pokémon. Collecting Pokémon involves finding them in the wild and capturing them using Pokéballs, there are a few new types in this game that make capturing easier if the conditions are right. Battles take the form of turn based attacks, you choose what you want your Pokémon to do, and then they attack in order based on their speeds. As Pokémon gain experience they improve, gain new skills, and may evolve into new types of Pokémon. It wasn't broke so they didn't fix it! I have happily spent hours wondering about looking for new Pokémon and leveling up the ones I have, but you're not required to do this and you'll find your team levels up at a nice pace with out making you stop to level grind.
There are loads of new bits added to this generation of the series, I won't go in to all of them as there are so many. Pokémon contests let you show off your Pokémon in front of judges in a show a bit like Crufts, gaining points for the display you put on with it. There is an underground section where you can find treasure and play a few mini games with other people. There is also the addition of WiFi, which lets you trade for Pokémon globally, a massive improvement for those who like to "catch them all"!
The WiFi also makes it easier to fight battle against other trainers, no longer needing to find a mate you also has the game. It also makes it a lot more competitive and gives a greater incentive to train the perfect Pokémon. There are still the massive breeding and training parts of the game, even greater now as the DS version have access to the largest number of Pokémon out of all the games, and its possible to bring you GBA Pokémon over to the DS version (although you have to finish the story section first!).
There are a few minor things that will get annoying, there are sections of text that you can't skip through, when collecting an item for example the game will pause to play a little tune for no real reason (I'm talking about generic items, not special quest type items). And having to watch the PokéCentre animations over and over gets boring. There are times when you'll need to back track, especially annoying in caves where battles occur quite frequently! These are very minor things and I probably only noticed them because I�ve been playing it for so long!
This game is massive, and very addictive, it will destroy months of your life! The series has been brought over to the new format well, except for the poor effort on the sound and few minor annoyances that still haven't been ironed out. The simple game play makes it perfect for younger gamers, but there is enough depth to all parts of the game to keep even hardcore RPGers busy for months, and the online competition is perfect for the more obsessive players.
