Rating

A-

Specific Ratings

GameplayA
GraphicsB+
Learning CurveA
Replay ValueA+
SoundB+

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Amazing replay value
  • Good fan following
  • Great amount of fun for the money
Cons
  • Same thing we've seen on other handhelds
  • Could use updated music
  • Could use updated story

Pokemon Diamond Version (Nintendo DS)

Reviewed by:
Reviewed on:

Summary

Gotta' Catch 'Em All....Again!

Images


Description

It's been a long time since I last played a Pokemon game (ahh the memories of my old GBA with Sapphire in it...good times, good times). With a plethora of Pokemon games plagueing us in the past couple years Nintendo has finally released one that gets back to the gameplay we all know and love.

Story:

The story in Diamond/Pearl (D/P for the rest of the review) is the same story we've heard since the original on the original GameBoy back in 1998. You are a novice Pokemon trainer who stumbles into recieving a free Pokemon from a professor (Rowan in D/P) you then embark on a quest to fill a thing called a Pokedex for the professor (hmm...sounds like free had some baggage with it) while simotaneously becoming the most powerful trainer in all the land. Along the way you will be stopped by various characters and asked to help them with their own problems before you can advance any furthur. Also along the way you meet your rival (who is you best friend in D/P) and battle with him/her. One more nusance in the game is the evil gang of Pokemon theives (Team Galaxy in D/P) whom you single handed defeat by the end of the game.

Well the story has never really been award winning material, but hey you aren't playing Pokemon and expect a Metal Gear Solid story-line. Even thought you finish the little "plot" about three-fouths through the game you never really feel like you accompolished much (except for catching *hopefully* a legendary creature).

My one hope for this series in the future is to mix up the story a bit more, give me characters to care about, give the characters some more feelings, flesh them out. I want to know why I live with only my mother, I want to know how I came to live in the smallest town in the region? These things are all just ideas for the future.

Gameplay:

The core gameplay for Pokemon hasn't changed throughout the series lifespan, and it's no different here. You will be walking (running) around, throwing balls, leveling up, gambling, collecting badges, fighting trainers, and all the other stuff you could do before. D/P does little to touch the gameplay that the series has come to adopt....and that doesn't bother me one bit....this game came packaged with nestalgia. Even though I knew I could have the same experience with one of the older games I stilled played D/P...and I still loved it like I have have in the past. They added a little bit of touch-screen functionality in the form of the Poketch, a watch that can be upgraded with new apps that you collect through the course of the game and range from a map to a daycare checker to a berry locator. Battles are played out on the top screen with you touching commands on the touch-screen (you can opt to play it OldSkOoL if you really desire to).

Another thing that they've added this time around is WiFi functionality. There are two ways you can go WiFi, one is with friends to battle (via friend codes), and the other is randomly to trade your hard earned Poke-critters with one another to truly Catch 'Em All. The one thing that would have been nice with the random trades would be the ability to battle randomly or aquire the trader's Friend Code, other than that the WiFi is pretty useful and fun.

One more way to have fun is in the new place called the Underground. You and several friends via wireless play (or you can go by yourself) go down here and do a couple of fun little things, there are mini-games, digging, and setting up hidden bases. This part of the game is really boring if you don't have anyone to play with because it spans the ENTIRE map, so if your alone it can get exreamly boring.

The only thing that I have to say that I miss (and I have missed it for a few of the past games now) is the ability to go back to the old regions and play there collecting gym badges and fighting their elite four. That addition to the old game gave it a lot more play time than any other Pokemon (maybe even Gameboy) game ever. I really wish that in the next one you can go back to ALL the old regions (just think how long of a game that would be ^_^). Overall though I am very satisfied with the gameplay offered here, they have a tried and true formula that they have followed for years and it still works great.

Technical:

Well I could split this up into sound and graphics, I decided to bunch them together so this review doesn't go on forever. The graphics of the Pokemon games have all been very, very, very similar over the years with little fine tunings here and there. Well this game tunes them a little more, but they are still basically the same 2D sprites running around that I played with a few years ago. The major upgrade this time is the environment you run around in, it is a mixture of 2D and 3D, or, as I like to call it, pseudo-3D. Another thing that they now have is differences between male and female Pokemon, be it one having more spikes on its back, or having a longer mane than the other. The sound that comes from Pokemon games has always been pretty good, the music is very recognizable and adds to the nestalgia I was talking about earlier. The Pokemon themselves still sound the same as they did 9 years ago, still as annoying as ever, but there is one specific Pokemon that mixes it up and lets you have a little fun at the same time. The Pokemon I speak of is called Chatot, it has a move that lets you record a saying and have it say that as its call (be it a little distorted). Overall the technical stuff really didn't bother me, but the one thing I would definatly change in the future would be the BGM, I'm not asking for a full orchestral score, but I would like something that at least doesn't sound like a computer made it (I don't care if it is the Pokemon 'style' I think it needs to be changed).

Value:

At close to 35$ for D/P, you can't really go wrong with picking up one of these, they will last you a VERY long time (I've logged in 50 hours and I just finished the elite four). There is just so much to do in this game that if you really wanted to you could play this for more than 200 hours and still find stuff to do (which I wouldn't recommend). Also a couple of months after you do finish playing it, you might feel like coming back and playing it all over again (I know it's a scary thought but it has happened to the best of us).

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Pokemon games have come and gone, and with the arrival of D/P many people will have their Pokemon pallets wettened. Hopefully they will make some much needed changes in future releases. All in all, this game is a Pokemon game through and through, from the battles, to the collecting, to the repetitive battles with little birds, and you will be enjoying every minute of it wether you are a veteran Pokemon player or a nOob who hasn't even touched a Cheri Berry before.

SCORE: A-

Review Page Hits: 0 today (762 total)