Game Review - Pokemon Pearl/Diamond

By this point in time, if you've spent any time online or with games, you've likely at least heard of Pokemon. But just in case, I'll give you the quick-and-dirty rundown.

The Pokemon games take place in a world similar to ours but different at the same time. It is populated with hundreds of creatures known as Pokemon (name, by the way, is a portmanteau of Pocket Monster, which is what its called in Japan). These critters range from tiny (mouse sized) to gigantic (as big as a blue whale). They each have a "type" or two. Types can be elemental (Fire, Water, Air), paranormal (Psychic, Ghost, "Dark"), or just...random (Steel). Certain types have weaknesses and strengths (Water is weak to Electricity, Fire is weak to Water, etc).

You play a Pokemon trainer, someone who travels the world challenging gyms (dojos, basically) and collecting all the Pokemon you can. Inevitably, you come across some grand scheme by evil-doers and take part in taking them down.

Truth be told, it is kind of kiddy, but I feel it is a rather solid RPG. You have a set party you can swap around, you can set up the abilities your Pokemon have, and you raise stats. Sounds like an RPG to me.

Diamond in the Rough

Now that we have the basics squared away, a tiny bit of history. Pokemon has been around for quite a while (1996), starting on the old GameBoy. It has evolved as time has passed, adding bits of color with the GameBoy Color, adding full color and animation with the Gameboy Advance, and even adding in some 3-D with the Nintendo DS. Each "Generation," of which there are 4 (I'm not even going to factor in the games that exist outside the core ones), have a theme with their names.

The first generation is made up of Red, Blue (Green in Japan), and Yellow (which was released later from Red and Blue). The second generation is Gold and Silver, with Crystal being released later. Third gets expanded a bit, with Ruby and Sapphire. Emerald is, like Crystal and Yellow before it, is released later and is a slightly edited version of the ones of its generation. But the third generation also released FireRed and LeafGreen, Gameboy Advance versions of the originals.

This review is about two of the three games of the fourth generation, Pearl and Diamond (Platinum has been announced as the third of the generation. There are also expectations of a Gold and Silver remake, but there's only rumors for now).

Diamond and Pearl represent the current apex of the games. There's full color, an engaging story, a whopping number of Pokemon to catch (493).

Tired but True

The game plays almost exactly like the previous ones. You battle wild Pokemon to capture them, you battle trainers and gyms to earn money, you play through the storyline. Anyone who has played the previous games will know what to do, generally.

That, though, may be the problem. Though there are innovations, including the ability to trade Pokemon over the internet via WiFi, its all the same otherwise. New Pokemon aside, there isn't a great deal of change.

At four generations, Pokemon may be starting to get a little tiresome. I enjoy it, don't get me wrong, but I dearly hope the fifth generation, which I have heard some rumblings saying its not off for a long while, has some new component that changes things up. Even something like an "Active Time Battle" mode like one can see in Final Fantasy IV (basically, though turn-based, things continue to move, so if you aren't on your toes, you could get your team killed quickly).

There is one other problem I have. The Nintendo DS has two screens, the bottom of which is a touch screen. Diamond and Pearl make use of this to some degree, but it barely makes a difference in my experience. You don't even have to use it, in truth. In the future I hope they have it play a bigger part.

World Wide Community

I mentioned previously that you can trade over the internet with a WiFi connection. This is a great change from previous games, as previously you could only trade either via a cord or, at best, over a short-range signal.

However, though it is great to be able to trade with people from all over the world (I currently own Pokemon that were owned by people in Brazil, France, Thailand, and Japan), the problem is some people expect some absurdly stupid trades.

Some ask for an extremely rare and powerful Pokemon, and in exchange offer up one of the most common Pokemon. Or they ask for a level 100 version (hard to do unless you cheat, really).

When I trade over it, I generally just ask for a Pokemon of similar value, don't ask for a level requirement, and maybe occasionally ask for a specific gender (you can breed Pokemon in game). That's all.

But there's no accounting for the stupidity of people, so I don't really hold that against the developers.

Last Thoughts

Pokemon Pearl and Diamon are good games. They use a tired-but-true method, and if you're a Pokemon fan, you'll enjoy it. If you're new to the game, it'll be good for you too as everything'll be new. It could be a little daunting at times though, especially if you factor in being able to trade Pokemon from other generations. For stuff like that, I suggest Bulbapedia, the Pokemon Wikipedia.