Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

Now that I've already done Pokemon Yellow/Red/Blue, I've decided not to go in order with the games, so I'm mixing it up a little. This time I will be taking a close look at the first main Pokemon games on the Nintendo DS: Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl. Let's see if it's better than the original!


CHARACTERS:

This time you have some different characters thrown into the mix of the previous ones who made it into these games. NPCs, like the gentleman trainers or hikers, still exist in the game. The new villain team, Team Galactic, including Mars, Jupiter, Cyrus, and more are NPCs also. The main character can either be a boy or a girl(depending on which you pick at the start. The female represents Dawn from the anime, while the boy is well, just some random boy I guess.). The new professor introduced in this game is Professor Rowan, who seems to be more serious than the other professors. Gym leaders and the Elite 4 still exist in this game, as does the Champion whom you have to beat after the Elite 4(All are different Elite 4 members and different gym leaders than the ones in previous games. Sorry for the confusion!). Finally, there are the Pokemon. Over 100, if I do recall(more or less), different Pokemon are added into the mix, as well as all the Pokemon from the other games(most require the National Dex, however). Perfect Score!

GAMEPLAY:

The gameplay hasn't really been touched, to tell you the truth. You still get running shoes, you still get a bike, you still get three different types of fishing rods throughout the game, and you still get to pick a starter Pokemon at the beginning of the game. The only differences that do exist is the Night/Day feature from Gold/Silver/Crystal is back, the Pokemon food(from the 3rd generation, I believe was known as 'Poke Blocks') are now called 'Poffins', and that's about it really. Why change perfection though?


STORYLINE:

Again with the simplifying: You are, once again, a young Pokemon trainer just starting out. Along the way you discover that Team Galactic have stolen three legendary Pokemon from the three lakes in the Sinnoh Region to awaken Diagla(Diamond) and Palkia(Pearl). The Pokemon trainer must save the day, along with collecting all 8 gym badges, beating the Elite 4, and becoming Pokemon Champion(Of the Sinnoh region, of course). Personally, my favorite storyline.

REPLAY VALUE:

Unlike my previous review for Yellow/Red/Blue, this generation of Pokemon games makes this section a little easier on me. With the original games, there was no National Pokedex, but with this game, there is a way better replay value due to over 490(only 490 are obtainable, with some left out that you need to go to a Pokemon event for, and some that you need to go to a Pokemon event for, but are counted in the 490. Confusing, I know.) different Pokemon. There is also a whole new system in which you can battle with friends or random people from all over the world, and even trade with them! Pretty cool! The only problem with trading is some of the Pokemon are hacked. Blah. Why are you going to give a hacked Pokemon for a Pokemon like Combee or something?! Really?! If you could hack a Pokemon, why not just go catch one!? Ok, enough of that rant. But seriously: you people are crazy. A lvl. 9 Aipom for a lvl. 100 Darkrai?! Really?! How'd you even see Darkrai!?!?


Overall Thoughts: Although I do like it's update, Pokemon Platinum, better, I think Pokemon Diamond/Pearl is single handedly the best game I've reviewed so far. So far......MUHAHAHAHA! Or at least until the crazy people who want a lvl. 100 Darkrai get me :/