Pokemon Diamond - Pearl

The Pokemon series has been around for a good 10 years now and it seems that Nintendo has no intention of letting it die. With countless games on their handhelds and spins offs on their home consoles, tied with its movies, television shows and collectable cards, it has been an extremely popular series. The first set of games on the extremely popular DS, Pokemon Diamond / Pearl provide its game with a refined and fun experience from start to finish.

The first thing to make aware is that the game is double sided. It offers a person familiar with Pokemon, nothing new. Everything you see in the game has been seen before. Now, the important thing is that this is nowhere near a bad thing. The pair of games brings together every feature that the series of games has seen and moulds it into an extensively exciting, involving game that is viciously addictive. The game receives their starting Pokemon and from then onward it’s all about getting the gym badges and levelling / catching all the different types of Pokemon.

A little disappointing is that there is not really any graphical leap forward. There are some slightly noticeable changes, making some 3D perspectives evident, but it seems on the visual front, Nintendo has just recycled the visuals and noticeably a lot of the sound effects. The touch screen is used a lot throughout the game. You can navigate all the menus via touch, in and outside of battle and once you are used to it, it speeds up the game and makes it very easy to use. There are mini-games using the touch screen facilities in the Pokemon contests which add a bit of fun to them.

The most interesting and exciting feature to be added to the newest pair of games is that of Wi-Fi Multiplayer. If you have a friend who has the game, you can add their friend code, and Wi-Fi willing, you can battle and trade across the globe. It’s a welcome addition and makes it easier to trade and catch them all. I would have liked to see that you could enter a lobby and chose to fight random people, but baby steps are fine for now. There are also voice communication possibilities when using Wi-Fi Multiplayer.

So all in all, the new Pokemon games for the DS are instantly familiar, but still as addictive as they were 10+ years ago. A must buy for any owner of a DS. I'd give it a solid, safe 7/10.