Genre: RPG
System: DS
Time to catch ‘em all… yet again! Poke’mon’s main RPG is back! After a few years, they’ve finally come up with a new pair of versions that include over a hundred new Poke’mon, which brings the grand total to 493. Personally, I played the Diamond version, but basically the same goes for the Pearl version…
The storyline is similar to previous games in that you play as a Trainer going on an adventure with creatures known as Poke’mon to collect eight badges, defeat the Elite Four, and become the most powerful trainer in the land. This time, the land is Sinnoh, a new island far away from the other worlds. There is a new evil team to get in your way, Team Galactic. They are bent on creating a new world for them, and all about them, by distorting the powers of time and space using the legendary Poke’mon. Which Poke’mon they intend to awake to do this depends on which version you are playing: Dialga (Diamond) or Palkia (Pearl).
You know the drill. Each category is rated from 1 to 10, the more the better, except for difficulty, where the more points, the harder the game is.
Graphics: 7/10
The appearance of the Poke’mon games just keeps getting better and better! Although the sprites themselves are only marginally better looking than in Ruby/Sapphire, the field itself is now 3D (somewhat, kind of like Super Mario RPG), a HUGE step for the Poke’mon RPGs on handheld systems. However, it lost a couple of points due to the battle graphics, which are really only slightly better than Ruby/Sapphire’s were.
The battle graphics are in no way bad, just a little disappointing compared to what I expected as well as other DS games, especially given the four-year gap between Ruby/Sapphire and this. One thing, though, that scores really high is that the things that are good-looking are REALLY good-looking – look at the cutscene of the awakening of Dialga/Palkia and you’ll see what I mean.
Sound/Music: 7/10
Decent music, not all of it is great though. The music has a distinct flavor to it, much like that of Colosseum and Ruby/Sapphire, but some of the sounds seem to be recycled from the previous games, as well as a few old sounds that are still retained. The songs in some of the cities are good, such as Sunyshore City and Canalave City. The Wild Poke’mon battle and Trainer Battle songs got repetitive after a while (these are the songs you hear the most, too), but the Galactic Commander battle music is a really good thumping soundtrack. I also liked the songs used for the battles against the various legendary Poke’mon. The Champion battle music stunk. It was one of the worst songs I’ve heard in a Poke’mon game to date.
One other thing I have to dock points for in this category (and I’ve ranted about this in the past) is the fact that the “cries” of the Poke’mon are still the Atari-like electronic sounds, although to give some credit, they seem to be slightly more detailed and better-sounding than those from the Red/Blue generation. The Poke’mon don’t make the cool vocalizations that they make on the anime. I don’t like that. That’s pathetic, really. I remember voting in an online poll at some point (can’t remember where) that this is an example of Nintendo being lazy. Still, technology has really moved on since the days of Poke’mon Red/Blue. Just let them talk.
Difficulty: 7/10
Poke’mon Diamond and Pearl are a lot harder to beat than Ruby and Sapphire were, that’s for sure. That means both getting through the game and getting all of the Poke’mon. The main storyline run through the eight Gyms isn’t too difficult, but as is the case with the other three installments of the main Pokemon RPG, the Elite Four battles are by far the hardest part. If you didn’t do much extra training during the storyline, your Poke’mon will only be about Level 48 by the time you get there, and these fights will be basically impossible.
I’d really recommend that your Poke’mon be at least Level 55 before attempting to fight the Elite Four and the Champion, and be sure to bring many items with you (support items like Max Revive and Max Potion are key!). Bring along at least one Pokemon with super-high Attack and Defense stats to take as well as dish out heavy hand-to-hand damage, and try to bring one that’s resistant to a lot of attack types as well (like a Spiritomb or a Bastiodon). The first two Trainers of the Elite Four are relatively simple, but the third and fourth are really tough. If you can make it to the Champion with all of your Poke’mon intact, you should be okay. Just use the tactics that you’ve (hopefully!) been using in Poke’mon games up to this point, and you’ll be watching the end credits in no time. But be warned, the game isn’t over just yet!
Controls: 10/10
It’s the same basic and easy methods for walking around, but selecting your attacks and using the menu is much easier due to the touch-screen of the DS. You can also perform most tasks with the traditional control pad and buttons if you prefer.
Gameplay: 7/10
The biggest new addition is a long-awaited feature – online Wi-Fi battling and trading!!! Finding someone to battle with is very easy once you’ve got online, and this means you can battle much more seeing as you don’t have to be physically near your friend to do this, as was the case in the past three installments of the handheld Poke’mon game. Another HUGE improvement is that you can either choose to battle with the Poke’mon at their original levels, or you can temporarily round the levels for the battle. No more obvious level disadvantages in battles! Full appreciation to Nintendo for putting this in.
The time-specific events are back in the game, which is a big plus, and the appearance of the world changes with the time just like in Gold/Silver. Once you get the National Dex, you can import any Poke’mon from the previous generation into Diamond/Pearl, and can thus complete your Poke’dex of all 493 Poke’mon and use them for the coming Poke’mon Battle Revolution game.
Of course there’s the fun gameplay experience as you’re going on your adventure.
I must also mention the Sinnoh Underground, which is a MASSIVE underground network of tunnels that you can enter after you get your second badge and earn the Explorer Kit. This is where you can build your secret base, as well as play a game where you capture the flag from your friend’s secret base. The main thing you do in this underground area, though, is dig in the walls for Spheres, which you can then trade in for decorations and traps (used in capture the flag). You can also find various items this way, as well as the fossils that you can revive into fossil Poke’mon at the Oreburgh Museum (I don’t think you can start getting fossils until after you have the National Dex though). You have a limited number of hammer and pickaxe strikes, so make them count! It’s actually really fun fooling around down here.
Sadly, my experience with this game was hampered by a few annoying odds and ends relating to the gameplay. It’s probably being picky, but the little things do add up. I’ll touch on a few of them here:
Pal Park becomes available after you’ve beaten the main storyline and obtained the National Dex. This is where you go to import Poke’mon from previous games. While I fully appreciate that, especially given that it allows me to experiment with old Poke’mon in this fourth-generation environment, there are a number of quirks about it. First, you can’t trade with these games, you can only import the Poke’mon from them. Second, you have to have six Poke’mon selected to transfer, or you can’t do it. Third, once you’ve selected them, you have to go out and find the six Poke’mon and capture them with a Park Ball, which, thankfully, works just like a Master Ball (100% capture rate). As you can probably tell, these things really hurt its versatility. And where were all the Park Balls in the rest of the world, and all these years ago? What Wendy once said about the fact that what you see in a game might not necessarily be what really happened, must be true with the Poke’mon games too…
The Poke’mon “Super” Contests have a misnomer, as they have sadly lost a lot of charm from the original contests in Ruby/Sapphire. Dressing up your Poke’mon for the initial appeal round does little other than make the contest take longer to go through. And the new dancing round? It’s stupid, and hard to do well in, to say the least. As for the moves round, you can perform for three different judges, but if you perform for one that somebody else has, you lose points, meaning the last person to go is almost always at a disadvantage. No, it was better with only one judge, thank you. One thing that I also liked, the “Jam” effect (aka, startling a Poke’mon with a move to make it lose points) has now been removed completely.
The Global Trading Station is really useful in that it allows you to instantly find and trade for a certain Poke’mon. There is a huge catch, however: you have to have seen the Poke’mon yourself already! This means you can’t trade for a Darkrai unless you’ve seen it in the Pokedex already! This automatically makes it less useful for Trainers everywhere. You want to be able to use it to complete your Pokedex, otherwise it’s not really worth it…
Size: 8/10
The game is a good bit longer than the previous games except for Gold/Silver, and it has a decent amount of additional areas after the game is complete. See “Replay Value” below for more info on this…
Replay Value: 8/10
After you stop Team Galactic, get eight badges, and beat the Elite Four, your next port of call will be to get the National Dex, which opens up another island filled with different Poke’mon (similar to the Sevii Islands from FireRed/LeafGreen). The initial Sinnoh Poke’dex does NOT include all of the new Poke’mon that are introduced in these games – many are evolved forms of previous Poke’mon, and these can only be obtained when you get the National Dex upgrade.
Other than that, there are a few sidequests along the way that are worth checking out. The Battle Park is another place to have fun with your teams as well, and like Ruby/Sapphire, it’s available after you beat the Elite Four, but it has a few more features and is thus more fun. The Tower Tycoon will battle you on a couple of occasions. He’s really tough, but if you manage to beat him, you’ll get 20BP. I won’t say more about him to avoid spoiling an important part of the story.
Fun Factor!: 7/10
The things I like and dislike about the game are stated above, mostly in the Gameplay category. So rather than repeat what I’ve already said above, let me state that this is definitely a fun Poke’mon RPG. There are some things that detract from it, but these aren’t enough to lower the score too much.
Recommendation: 9/10
If you’re a Poke’mon fan and you don’t have this game, I’m not sure what your reason is. If you’re joining in at this time, you’re in for a real treat, otherwise, this version of the game will be second nature to you, minus the amusing storyline and new things that Diamond/Pearl brought to the table.
Overall: 8/10
In the end, Poke’mon Diamond/Pearl fall slightly short of their predecessor, Ruby/Sapphire. The quirks I’ve touched upon above are for the most part minor, but they do add up, and they seem to be relatively easy fixes that could bring the game from an 8/10 to a 9/10 or a 10/10. Seriously, though, Diamond/Pearl was quite a ride, and there is no doubt that Nintendo have a real winner with this new installment of the Poke’mon series. I can’t wait to see some of these new Poke’mon in action on Battle Revolution and on the TV show!
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