Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (DS) Review

Gather around one and all, for it is time once again for the onset of the epidemic that is poke-mania. On June 21st Australians will be treated to the latest iterations of the Pokmon series, Diamon...

Its a whole new world to explore! (familiar isnt it?)
Gather around one and all, for it is time once again for the onset of the epidemic that is poke-mania. On June 21st Australians will be treated to the latest iterations of the Pokmon series, Diamond and Pearl. However, long time fans of the series were left wanting more from the advance generation of the games. While there is no doubt that Pokmon is as big a seller as it always was, does Diamond or Pearl do enough to make it worthy of purchase from anyone other than an eight year old? Are the new features an asset to the games or simply become fillers that effectively provide another watered down experience to leech cash from fans? Thankfully it seems that Diamond and Pearl, while still being the same formula at heart, have brought something new to the table. Welcome to the Sinnoh region.

Gotta Catch Em All!
Ive no doubt in my mind youre all very familiar with the concept of the Pokmon games, however to cover the bases and keep on the safe side Ill give a brief explanation. In the games, the world is inhabited by creatures called Pokmon and in this world you are a Pokmon trainer. Your goal is to catch all the many different kinds of Pokmon, each with their own unique traits, special abilities and weaknesses, then train and battle them all in an effort to become the best, otherwise known as a Pokmon master. Diamond and Pearl still stick to this formula. There are still eight gym leaders to defeat followed by the elite four and the league champion, and a legendary battle somewhere in between with whatever creature happens to be on the cover. Dont be fooled though. There are some new features of interest to veteran players that cant be overlooked.

The assignment of attack moves as physical or special has now been changed to be more realistic. When choosing whether an attack was physical or special in the previous games the selection was made based on type. Fire punch, since it is a fire type move, would have relied on the special attack stat and thus the opponents special defence. In Diamond or Pearl the same attack is now classified as physical, since punching someone, person or Pokmon alike, in the face is obviously a physical move. This has changed the balance from the previous games, meaning that players must now adopt new strategies to account for the game mechanics. Indeed, I found this to be a pretty good revision to the game, as it provided something new in the way that I was forced to build my team differently to be more competitive. That said, if you never bothered with the finer points of the games the first several times around, its unlikely this change will really float your boat that much.

As far as controls go, the touch screen usage of the game hits just the right spot. Fighting in a battle is now made a lot easier. Large buttons on the touch screen are very easy to use and navigate, and a command to your Pokmon can effectively be issued with a few simple clicks. However, items in the bag are not as easily organised by the touch screen and you cant use it at all to move Pokmon about in the PC! For many, such a feature would be extremely helpful and it seems to be difficult to see a good reason why it hasnt been done. There was a chance to do a lot with some of the games menus and interface design, but the game appears to have come up somewhat short. Coming to what is shown on your screen for the majority of time youre cruising around the Pokmon world; Diamond and Pearl introduce a neat little device called the Poketch, short for Pokmon Watch. Displayed on the bottom of the screen while on the world map, you can collect applications for your poketch throughout the game. While a lot of them are pretty useless, programs such as the day care tracker are actually very useful and actually go a surprisingly long way to making some of the more tedious aspects of Pokmon just that little bit less so.

Pokmon on the Internets!
Perhaps the biggest draw of Diamond and Pearl are the new ways in which players can interact with others. Provided youve reached the right stage in the game, players can trade and battle with both friends specifically and other players worldwide. You can even team up with a friend online to challenge other duos via the online matchmaking. This adds a whole new level of depth to the game and a reason to train your hard earned Pokmon to level 100 other than to beat your neighbour once. The system isnt perfect. The Global Trade Station (GTS) can sometimes be bogged down with people offering the equivalent of a rattata for a legendary. The online features of the game are still definitely the best revisions to the titles yet, as they add an unparalleled new level of competitive depth to the game. While its only over local wireless, players can now burrow underground. Here you can create a secret base, meet up with other players and dig for precious gems and fossils that can be used in the game, plus an interesting capture the flag style minigame. Without a doubt these versions of Pokmon have been designed with multiplayer in mind as the focus from the beginning.

I see Old, I see new
Visually Pokmon is pretty much the same as it has always been. Upon first look at the game youll see that the over world has been rendered in Animal Crossing-esque fashion with the environment rendered in semi- 3D. This is perfectly plausible for a Pokmon game and you cant really expect much more, however the battle animation feels like Nintendo have given us a kick in the pants. There is little to no difference from the advance generation. Pokmon pop out of their balls to do a short 2 second jig of sorts before remaining little more than a static image for the rest of the battle. Admittedly the moves have been refined to be a bit more visually impressive, but theyre still coming from a static set of pixels. Now Im not one to ask for a complete 3D Pokmon RPG, because that would be moronic. It would however have been much more reassuring to see a little bit more creativity when it comes to animation of the battle sprites. Gameplay over graphics is an argument that is thrown out when you simply recycle visuals.

Pikachu says beeeeeeeeeep whiiiiiiirrrrr boom boom!
In reference to the above title, the newer Pokmon in the game do have more realistic cries than theyve had in past versions. Birds actually sort of sound like birds and stuff, but all the old Pokmon keep their old cries. This isnt so much a criticism but something I just thought Id bring up out of interests sake. The cries are a bit of a nostalgia point for me. Anyway, the musical sound track for Diamond and Pearl has been put together pretty well. Its well suited and relevant to the location and what is happening. Sound effects are pretty much the usual again. Youll hear your fair share of onomatopoeic words like bam, whack, whoosh and boom. As far as sound goes its a Pokmon game. New people to the series dont have to worry about it and veteran trainers will know just what to expect.

Will you show me your pokemans?
Im going to go all out here and recommend Pokmon as one of the best DS games to own. Its the premier handheld title for Wi-Fi connection at the moment and has literally at least a hundred hours of game play stored up in that tiny little cart. If youre not a fan of RPGs in general or games that you cant just jump straight into, then Pokmon probably isnt the best choice. For anyone else Pokmon is just as good a franchise as it has always been. For honestys sake anyone who wants to turn this down for lack of originality should think about tossing out a good portion of their other games for the same reason. There has been a genuine amount of content added to make these games worth the purchase, and since you can upload your Pokmon from the advance generation games as well there really isnt too much to fault Diamond and Pearl on other than that the visuals could have been improved somewhat. Pokmon Diamond and Pearl are both premier titles that I can recommend for most peoples collections without a doubt.