Despite their lack of progression Diamond and Pearl are both great games and welcome additions to the Pokemon series.
You begin your adventure in a region known as Sinnoh and just like each of the games before it you’re required to make a vital decision between three starting Pokemon almost immediately. Unsurprisingly you have a choice between grass, fire or water and each one is pretty well balanced, although arguably Piplup the penguin has a slight advantage as it evolves into a Water/Steel type and a tough one at that. Soon after you bump into Professor Rowan who will give you the task of scouring the region in the hopes of completing his Pokedex, this isn’t necessarily as hard as it sounds but will require you to uncover every single area the game has to offer. Once that’s done and all 150 are logged safe and sound you’ll then be provided with the National Dex and that’s where the real challenge begins, well unless you don’t consider catching 493 Pokemon a challenge of course. Don’t fret though because if you still own a copy of Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Fire Red or Leaf Green and have it placed in your GBA slot you can trade all of your hard-earned Pokemon over via Pal Park, you are limited to trading just 6 a day but the good news is there’s a 100% catch rate with every one you encounter.
Aside from your Pokedex which can take literally 100’s upon 100’s of hours to complete you should finish the main story in around 40 hours, although most fans will tell you this is the point in which the true game begins. This is the point where you start team building in the quest for ultimate supremacy over your friends, just remember that finding the right balance between brute force and carefully marked tactics is most definitely the key to success.
Apart from a few new features the gameplay hasn’t seen a radical change, probably the most notable addition is the ability to battle and trade via Wi-Fi. Unfortunately though nothing can be done without the use of friend codes and if you can’t get your hands on them then your online experience is going to be pretty limiting. The game also implements a device called a PokeTech that fills the lower of your two DS screens as you play, these have several different add-ons which can be used in a multitude of ways. At first you will receive pretty basic applications such as a watch and a calculator but the further you progress the more useful they become, some of which include a step counter to help with the breeding and the hatching of eggs, a berry map to help you keep track of all your various plantations and a screen that indicates how content your party are which is sure to help with those pesky happiness evolutions.
The graphics do a solid enough job without ever really breaking the boundaries, yes the buildings look a whole lot more impressive than they once did but that’s only a small segment of what could have been achieved with the hardware available. The two-dimensional grid that you’re pinned to just doesn’t cut it anymore, neither do the cloned character models that you’re repeatedly bumping into around every corner. Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments for me personally though are the actual battle scenes themselves, while they have been improved they still feel like they’re stuck in the past.
The audio also leaves a lot to be desired, the individual calls for each Pokemon were fine a decade or so ago but now they feel horribly outdated, like they came from a time when Wham! were still cool and slipper socks were the ‘in’ thing. Thankfully the music holds steady and even though it can get a tad grating after prolonged periods of play it adds to the overall feel.
Despite their lack of progression Diamond and Pearl are both great games and welcome additions to the Pokemon series, with potentially 100’s of hours worth of Gameplay, over 100 new Pokemon and the added bonus of Wi-Fi they’re not only a must for fans of the series but also DS owners alike.
Gameplay - Apart from a few new features the gameplay hasn’t seen a radical change, probably the most notable addition is the ability to battle and trade via Wi-Fi.
Graphics - The graphics do a solid enough job without ever really breaking the boundaries.
Sound - Individual calls for each Pokemon are disappointing and outdated, the music does a good job but can become repetitive.
Value - Aside from your Pokedex which can take literally 100’s upon 100’s of hours to complete you should finish the main story in around 40 hours, although most fans will tell you this is the point in which the true game begins.