Pokemon Pearl Review

You have reached the Pokemon Pearl Review page. If you have any questions read more about Pokemon Pearl Review below. Enjoy Pokemon Pearl Review. Tell your friends about our Pokemon Pearl Review page.

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl is a love letter to all of the misguided youth who blasted the games due to their supposed lack of visible innovation. Not that the claims had no basis whatsoever, sure. But check this:

Who really cares when the games are actually fun?

Innovation comes in all shapes and sizes, big or small. No doubt, it definitely is more prevalent when they are going to do something great with the touch screen, but the little things that the game play does make Pokemon Diamond and Pearl stand out leagues above the rest.

At its core, though, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are still the same Pokemon games that we all played ten years back. Granted, they may have completely new areas and Pokemon, but they do little to show that this is truly a different game. Right from the start, this is fully apparent. Choosing to play as either a boy or girl, the player sets out to become the greatest Pokemon trainer ever – a Pokemon Master. To do that, he or she will have to journey out into the darkest depths of the Sinnoh region, braving pitfalls and weird crooks. Eventually they'll meet their dream – if they are lucky – and gain a seat of honor among the idiots who've ventured before them.

Along the way, they'll have to capture the group of evolving beasts which we like to call Pokemon. The number of obtainable Pokemon in Diamond and Pearl skyrocketed by another 100, which is a sure to be a treat for any Pokemon fan. Those little beasts don't just show up in your back pocket for no reason whatsoever, though – there has to be something to initiate it. That's where the mainstay of Pokemon comes in, the battling. You send out your Pokemon to battle in a series of turn-based rounds that by the end will yield either victory or defeat.

Getting to that victory menu is no easy task however – it'll require you to be as tactical as possible. Pokemon boasts a grand total of 17+ types, covering the elemental spectrum, which all trump one another in a different way. Such guesses as water trumping fire or electricity beating water are all rudimentary, the fun part comes in when you have to figure out why some grass dude is beating you rock hard boulder beast to death with only vines. All in a day's work for a Poke fan, which is why Pokemon has such a great battle system – simple to learn, yet extremely deep for the people who would dare to venture any further than necessary.

Hinging a game on battling alone is dangerous to anything, though, and that's why the land of Sinnoh exists. It's a big place, let alone the fact that there are literally hundreds of people to talk to, places to see, Pokemon to battle, and contests to beat. There's also a team out to get you – or the Pokemon – while you're trekking about the world. They may not be the coolest people ever, but Team Galactic is here to ruin the show, cause a little havoc if you may. They never really are explained in the game due to a lack of text, but if you get the fact that they think that they are some blessed people harnessing the power of space and time, then you're on the right track.

Taking out the forces of evil may be a bit tiring for our fledging trainer, and that's why Pokemon Diamond and Pearl offer many different forms of entertainment that range from Pokemon Contests to capture the flag – underground style. Pokemon Contests involve you dressing up your Pokemon and then letting them loose on stage for the show of their life. Appealing to the judges through a series of move attributes ranging from beauty to cool, it'll be up to you if you want to take home that beautiful ribbon and have the ability to gloat at the oddly named Pokemon that will be sitting their with shame. There are also a couple of other mini games to chose from in Diamond and Pearl, such as the aforementioned capture the flag and newcomer poffin making. In Ruby and Sapphire – the games that made use of pokeblocks for contests – you used just that, the pokeblocks. In Diamond and Pearl, you use poffins. These little treats are actually a little bit annoying to make due to a revamped system of stylus gimmicks, but the same premise ultimately abides.

Out of everything that's been mentioned in the review thus far, however, nothing else impacts the Pokemon franchise more than the Wifi. Want a certain Pokemon that you can't seem to find in your game? Hook up with a guy across the country, heck across the world and find it through the GTS, or Global Trading Station. Although friend codes are needed for the serious battling (you'll still be able to bash up some unsuspecting idiot in the level 30 range), trades can be done faster than ever before because you're actually not waiting on someone to trade you the darn Pokemon. You put it up for trade, and when someone matches that request, it's automatically done without you ever having to do anything else.

If you can snag a friend code or two, then the possibilities for an endless Pokemon adventure are literally endless. The Sinnoh Underground – a place that's usually used in the main game for fossil digging – automatically becomes a war zone for people across the world as they scramble to find the other players flag in a game of capture the flag, or possibly chat a bit with the menus. Secret base building is also another key feature, as how you lay it out could reflect where the flag is hidden.

The advent of Pokemon to the DS also came with another couple of cool features other than Wifi. The graphics, for one, look excellent. Taking full advantage of the two screens, the developers of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl literally blew the house down with a solid usage of third dimensional graphics. Imagine walking through a park one day, a bird is chirping, a cloud is rolling by – you can actually picture that in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Never before has any game that I have played managed to meld so perfectly the visual enhancements that come with third dimensional gaming.

Another thing that was done solidly would have to be the music. There are a ton of different tracks present in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl – even more than many people thought possible. And they all play fantastically while retaining that cheery atmosphere that most people have come to simonize with Pokemon. Soft tunes in a soft village flickering with petals, fast tunes when you're storming the base of ghastly fashion rejects – for once they managed to hit the nail head on.

Even with all of those good things though, the game still has its problems. For one, repetition is now an incredibly large dilemma. Even if the intent to do it on purpose was there or not, the encounter ratio for Pokemon has been set to around every three or so seconds. That means you'll constantly be in for a drawn out battle every time you get around to walking in a patch of grass. I assure you, by the end of the game you'll most likely want to rip your hair out, if you can make it to the end, that is. As I stated in an earlier paragraph, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are the longest Pokemon games to date. That means it will take longer for access to the after-game freebies. That means it'll take longer for the Battle Towers (or whatever they call them) to become available. That also means that it will take longer for the ability to transfer Pokemon into the new games. Although in all technicalities you could get the National Dex before the Elite 4, they basically gave a small hint that “Since it requires you to see every Pokemon you'll have to sit there and wait like a good little boy”. Too bad I'm not very good.

Something else that may deter the prospective trainer may be the difficulty. While it may not present a challenge to anyone in particular, it definitely is a step up from the previous Pokemon Fire red and Leaf Green. The gyms are now a tad bit more challenging, while trainers in general now require you to think on your feet if you want to make it out in one piece. Oh, and just to tell you, the average level of a Pokemon by the time that you're done with the game will be around 60. Ouch.

While Pokemon Diamond and Pearl may not necessarily be the hubs of innovation that everyone wanted, they still are some of the best Pokemon games to date – if not the best in the first place. The music, graphics, and battling all received an almost complete make over, this time for the better. In the end, it truly is a love letter to all those who wanted to make fun of it.