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PreviousPokémon Platinum Review
DS Review by Dan Pearson
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Whilst collecting Pokémon might not be as insanely addictive as the Pokémon company's marketing would love you to believe, it is an excellent hook to keep you interested, especially during the inevitable periods of grind. It's a tricky balance between compelling and compulsive, however, and it's easy to get swamped by the hundreds of varieties on offer, or to feel like you've missed a really top-quality ally by not spending eight hours running up and down each single patch of grass in every area. It's very possible that you have, but it's really not necessary to have a full roster in order to progress and enjoy yourself.
In terms of improvements over Diamond/Pearl, Platinum is a little lacking. There are the obvious advantages of new pokédex entries, including the traditional addition of the box-art legendary. If you're a big fan of Diamond/Pearl then you might also notice the slightly tweaked gym layouts and minor graphical improvements, but others probably will not.
The big draw for single-player is a new dungeon: the Distortion World in which new ghost/dragon legendary Giratina resides. As the only major change in the gameworld for players of Diamond/Pearl, it's not that great a prospect. Accessed roughly 80 per cent of the way through the single-player quest, just after achieving the status of Pokémon champion, the Distortion World is a 3D puzzle zone which has trainers traversing ceilings and walls in an attempt to guide a block to a switch. There are precious few battles here, and although the puzzle element is a welcome respite from the grind, there's a good reason that people will be playing Pokémon in the first place rather than say, echochrome.
The Distortion World. Like, totally distorted.
The real big improvements come in the form of new multiplayer features. Pokémon can still be traded both wirelessly and via a Wi-Fi internet connection, but now an automated email can be sent to your Wii to notify you that a trade has been accepted. The Wi-Fi club also now allows players to tackle the challenging Battle Front along with a buddy. Beyond this is the Platinum-only Wi-Fi plaza, an area stashed away in the basement of Pokémon centres across the world - allowing access to a carnival-based multiplayer arena featuring mini-games. It's casual and unrelated to the story in any meaningful way, but offers another break from the capture/kill progression of the main quest.
The Battle Recorder is another innovative feature, allowing you to crib on other players styles before battling them by watching archived footage of their fights, or pick up a few tips on beating the toughest opponents. Recording and uploading your own fights to friends and foes is simple to do and a satisfying way of rubbing the proverbial salt in after a particularly satisfying victory.
Fact: people are not this large.
Pokémon is not a particularly pretty, welcoming or original prospect, and there's not really a great deal here to recommend it to anyone who's played a significant portion of Diamond/Pearl. Nor will it convert anyone who really can't take the grind and repeat of much of the gameplay. However, it is a solid, and incredibly polished, RPG. It feels like a first-party Nintendo release, with all of the pleasing quirks and satisfying balance which that often entails. If you want a true DS RPG then you might be better off picking up Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest IV/V or one of the Final Fantasy remakes instead, but if you want to lose your Pokémon virginity, or re-ignite your passion for it, then Platinum is undoubtedly the definitive version to have. That is, until next time.
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Comments: 1-42 of 42 in total
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AphoticCosmos
12/05/09 @ 10:54
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Meh, newbies to Pokemon should wait til they remake Silver and Gold [now confirmed!]. They remain the best.
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AphoticCosmos
12/05/09 @ 11:12
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@nic
Yup: http://kotaku.com/5245005/pokemon-gold-a... There you have it. Can't wait! Dang when I were a boy Silver dominated my handheld life. |
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CitizenGeek
12/05/09 @ 11:28
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Pokémon is always going to be fun for me, I reckon, even if it's only because of how hugerly nostalgic the whole thing is. Pokémon Red was, more or less, my first ever videogame when I was about 7 or 8 and I basically grew up watching the anime, playing the games and swapping the cards. Besides, I think Pearl (which I'm playing atm) is actually pretty objectively fun, too.
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Pokemon has gone stale to me.
Red and Blue where by far the best, simple plot, easy to learn gameplay, and just plain fun to play. The forumla of having two games was a great idea I had Blue and my best friend had Red and we would trade and battle every day in the summer holidays. Silver and Gold, I'd say these where my second fav games, nice amount of new monsters, being able to go back to kanto was also a nice touch. Sapphire and Ruby. Was not keen on these I completed them but it felt like they were stuffing them with badly designed Pokemon, loads of gimmicks and not enough to make them truely great games. Diamond and Pearl - I had Pearl, got to the 7th Gym and got bored shitless. To many gimmicks and not enough substance again. The new Pokemon are shite as well. Let's be honest Nintendo are holding back what we all want deep down, a Pokemon MMO, that would be a step in the right direction. Or a Pokemon games with all the Pokemon split between two games, so you dont need older games to get them all. As well as all the different maps on one game. Less story and bring back Team Rocket. |
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Kazzahdrane
12/05/09 @ 12:09
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There aren't many reasons to buy a DS
I can only assume that you're a fanboy of the new "Boredom Box 5000" I've just invented if you think there aren't many reasons to buy a DS. Games. Games are the reason to buy a DS. |
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Pokemon's a tough series to rate. You can't really change the core mechanics in the same way you can't add terrain and weapons to chess without dramatically altering the basic system. And that's what Pokemon is, at its heart: the video game equivalent to those timeless strategy games.
The "RPG bit" is just an elongated tutorial. |
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@kazzahdrane:
Games. Games are the reason to buy a DS. And what games would they be? The only games that I would buy would be Final Fantasy 3 and 4. The rest don't intrest me at all. @Daryoon They don't have to change much, but if they did more to improve the feel of the game rather then pack it with badly designed Pokemon. A Pokemon MMO would be huge, it wouldnt be changing the gameplay, just making it different enough rather then just attaching more bells onto it as it is.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 12/05/09 @ 14:42
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"They are good games but they haven't really changed since the first ones."
They have - just not when it comes to the main adventure. The combat system has evolved a lot since the Red and Blue days. Anyway, this is just Nintendo's usual attempt to exploit the Pokemon fanbase by selling them the same game they bought for the same system not two years ago. As good as it may be, no amount of tweaks and enhancements can justify a purchase if you already own D/P. Yet it will sell millions. |
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Glad you're liking it Toonster, I'd have thought it be ideal for people like you that haven't played a Pokemon game. I am jealous you'll have those extra bits and pieces to play, but I'm not paying anoher Ł30 for them!
I've not even finished Diamond, I'm still grinding a lower level Pokemon to the same level as the rest of my team. Then I get easily distracted by a bit of Advance Wars, or a bit more of Suikoden, or tending plants in Animal Crossing, and before I know it I've forgotten my mission to as they say, "Catch 'Em All!". I'm not fussy about having all of them, just the ones that look awesome :) |
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'WOW! Something as powerful as the N64 with the graphics of a SNES!'
The game looks a lot better than an SNES game. Granted, the lay-out looks the same as all previous Pokemon RPGs, but the environment does use a lot of 3D, particularly for buildings. It's sort of like a cross between Animal Crossing and Advance wars DS in terms of the graphics department. |
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I still don't get the really deep stuff of Pokemon, like EV training. I get the concepts, but it's just a tad too far for my simple tastes. I go as far as making sure I've got the type advantage, and making sure I've grinded more, but there's a whole lot of depth past that like the stuff Skye listed, or making sure you know whether Physical or Special attacks are better suited for that opponent. It's good, is what I'm going for :)
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*Feels like a nerd pointing out they misspelled Togepi in the article.* Also, Platinum is pretty much the definitive version of Pokémon (as of yet, at least :D). Okay I'm a self-confessed PokéManiac, but I gladly paid out for it even after investing 400+ hours in Diamond and completing my dex. The changes to Plat may be minor, but there's so many of them it's a pleasure to play. Just little cosmetic things here and there, extra appearances from NPCs, the addition of more Pokémon to the Sinnoh dex. Why doesn't anyone ever mention the writing of Pokémon games? Especially Looker and some of the Galactic goons in this one, the script seems very tongue-in-cheek in places. I agree with some above posters too. For a 'kids' game, it's incredibly complex if you let it be.
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@varsas:
Please explain how that is "complete ignorance"? With the amount of crap games that have been released for the DS the last year or so there really isn't much to chose from, and it certainly doesn't motivate me to own a DS to play games on it. It's fine by me if you enjoy playing Cooking Mama, Pokemon or whatever else there is but I don't and I would hardly call that "ignorance" from my side. |
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Well, DS games wise I enjoyed "The World Ends With You" immensely. The aforementioned Zelda as well. Disgaea is another game I wasted too much time on. "Hotel Dusk" is also good imo and different from most games you see around these days.
Yes, there is plenty of dross for sale for it but there are also plenty of games I enjoyed. The major thing that annoys me is that you tend to find far more of the franchised cash-in dross than the small gems on the store shelves. |
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spacenugget
24/05/09 @ 04:05
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I bought Pearl after not playing Pokemon in many many years. I really enjoyed it and after getting hooked again I started diving into the deep aspects of it (effort values, EV training, breeding etc). The game isnt designed for kids, as once you delve deeper it gets rediculously complicated. I will pick this up tommorrow as its not full price as far as I can see. Its 25 euro cheaper than Pearl and Diamond in work :D, untill price changes on the older ones tommorrow Im guessing.
As someone said earlier changing the formula in Pokemon just wouldnt work, as for those who didnt enjoy it or traded it in afetr a few hours, I fear you will never enjoy the games, as the real joy comes from breeding and training a beast of a pokemon after reading into the mechanics of the game :) oh well Guess I need to think of an excuse when Im buying it again.... erm.. its for my little cousin ... I swear. Stil when some dude sees a 25 year old (me) playing Pokemon on the train its still a bit embarrassing. lol |
Comments: 1-42 of 42 in total
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