Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum Version

The Short

Pros

- 107 new Pokemon, bringing the total at that point to 493

- Day/Night cycle is finally back

- Ability to import your pokemon from either of the GBA games if you have a DS with a GBA slot (DS or DS Lite; no DSi support)

- New world graphics are a mix between 2D and 3D and look pretty good

- Storyline is surprisingly epic for a Pokemon game

- The first female champion in the history of the series, which is good; finally some progression here

- Battle uses the touchscreen well, and color-codes the moves based on their elements, which is nice

- Wireless trading, thanks to the DS's wireless abilities, is great
- Also allows for battling over the internet, though the UI for this stuff isn't great

- One of the starters is f***ing Turtwig, which is the most adorable pokemon of all time

Cons

- Of all the Generations, this one provided the least number of changes, with the only notable inclusion being the awful "Super Contest."

- Menus, despite being on the DS, don't use the bottom touchscreen primarily. Why?

- While walkaround graphics are better, battle graphics are just as bland as the GBA versions

- New pokemon aren't as stupid as the Ruby/Sapphire generation, but they are certainly close

- Doesn't let you go to any new regions after you beat the game (why weren't we allowed back to the Ruby/Sapphire region?), though it still has stuff to do

- Music isn't particularly great, though there is one song that is surprisingly epic
- With the lack of new features, this version of Pokemon is noticeably stale

Generation IV, fools. 

Note: I will not be going over the basic mechanics of the Pokemon games in this review, as I have covered these mechanics extensively in my Pokemon Blue/Red review. Instead, all subsequent reviews will instead focus on the changes made to the formula in any particular iteration. 

The Long


So it's been almost thirteen years since Pokemon Red/Blue came out in the US. We've gone from the original Game Boy to the Game Boy color to the Game Boy Advance, and now Nintendo's latest handheld is kicking up a storm: The Nintendo DS. After a somewhat weak start the system picked up some serious steam, and before you knew it people were talking: what would the DS Pokemon game be like? Would it follow the same formula, or mix it up? Will the starters finally be swapped to a Dark/Psychic/Fighting trio, rather than the traditional Fire/Water/Grass? We hadn't seen any really radical changes to the series' mechanics or overall game structure since Pokemon Gold/Silver (though Ruby/Sapphire did add a little bit), so when Pokemon Diamand/Pearl finally showed up in 2007 we were all pumped. I actually pre-ordered this game, believe it or not, making it the only game in the history of games that I've actually pre-ordered from a physical outlet (I usually just pre-order games from Amazon now).

Well, I got my limited edition massive and ugly Pokemon stylus for my DS for pre-ordering, and then I busted this bad-boy out. I'd actually been off the Pokemon scene for a while; remember I completely skipped the Ruby/Sapphire generation until long after the fact. So truth be told, Diamond/Pearl was my first Pokemon games since freaking Crystal, so it had a lot to live up to.

And I can safely say it did not even come close to meeting my expectations.

Despite the DS having been out for a while, the touch screen gets little use

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl is the first in the main series I actually felt like they were just cashing it in. Yeah, sure, they'd been cashing it in with the brand constantly - the card game, awful spinoffs like Hey You, Pikachu!, enough toys to populate a small city - but I'd always felt they were at least trying with the games. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl isn't a bad Pokemon game. After all, the formula is still solid, there are a bunch of new Pokemon to catch, and all the same addictive systems are still in play. It's just a completely uninspired game. 

This is most clearly seen when you realize the only thing they really "added" in this game was the Pokemon Super Contest, which is like the stupid pageant from Ruby/Sapphire except mandatory. Yes, that is literally the only real new thing. A bunch of crappy minigames, some of which use the touchscreen poorly. Joy. 

They did slightly tweak how special attacks and regular attacks work, but that is so insignificant a casual Pokemon player won't even notice. 

That is the only actual gameplay change in the entirety of this generation (minus the usual balancing and new pokemon). So...what other things are new? This game is on a more powerful piece of hardware, and has two screens (one of them being a touchscreen). What did they use that for?

The touch screen battles are appreciated, but the graphics look like a GBA game

Well, let's start with the touch screen, since that is the DS's most unique feature. When it comes to this, I'm split: it does battles very well, and it does the rest of the game poorly. In battles (as you can see above), the bottom screen is now your command screen, with large, easy to touch buttons down there for you to navigate. Since you'll be using the d-pad and face buttons to play the game normally, I didn't actually use the touch screen much, but I'm glad it's there. The attacks are also now colored to their respective element (making it easier to know which to use against who), which is also very handy. The entire thing has been made to work with fingers rather than the stylus, which is also appreciated, because getting the stylus back out every two seconds is a pain.

But then they don't use it for anything after that. You get a sort of "Pokegear" thing on the bottom, which consists of that one huge red button on the side. You can swap between a clock, your current team (which shows health, but touching them does nothing but make their noise), and a few other useless features. You still have to hit a button to get to the menu, and when you do it starts on the top screen. Why? Why can't I just touch to get to the menu on bottom, and cycle through my pokemon there? Granted, after you pick a menu item it goes all touch screen, replacing it with unintuitive buttons with no text. This is bad UI design, guys.

I can only imagine that, for a newcomer, this would be completely overwhelming

Ok, so the touchscreen controls are implemented poorly, but so what? The old games didn't have the touchscreen, and they were fine? And here is where I have to sullenly give a hint of a nod, because I actually sort of agree. It doesn't really hurt the game to have crappy touchscreen use, it just doesn't help it any, either. This is a new generation of games. Why couldn't you have made it work better?

The graphics also have that polarizing effect for me, though my reactions are opposite. Out in the field, the graphics look really good. It has a sort of combination of a 3D rendered world with 2D sprites set on it, but fresh and crisp. It actually looks really good and, while not a powerhouse, fits the art style of the previous games very well.

And then you get into a battle. 

I'm glad the buttons are colored, but those graphics...ugh.

Well, the art looks better than Ruby/Sapphire, I guess. And it's clear there's a higher pixel count. But why are the backgrounds still so...boring? That seriously looks almost exactly like a screenshot from LeafGreen/FireRed. Seriously, look at it and tell me if Pearl/Diamond looks like it's on a system 2-3x as powerful, if not more. 

Yeah I am. 

Again, yeah, there's a slightly higher pixel density. That's it. Why aren't they rendered in 3D? Or at least animated? Or anything? I'd be willing to forgive if you'd done more things right with the rest of the game, but seriously? How is this next-gen Pokemon? 

Aside from me griping about that stuff, there really isn't much more to say about Pokemon Diamond/Pearl besides that it's the exact same Pokemon game you played on the GBA, which was in turn a marginally improved Pokemon game from the original GB ones. Which is fine, since the originals were so fantastic they keep holding the rest of this house of cards in place, but when you put one bad card up the rest of it starts crumbling. Many of those nagging issues from Blue/Red (insane level grinding, similar story, similar pokemon between generations) persist here, and they'd be easy to overlook if the game brought something new to the table. Hell, to be completely honest all LeafGreen/FireRed brought was updated visuals and mechanics and all my childhood nostalgia, and that was enough to carry it! Diamond/Pearl is unabashedly lazy, and because of that the whole game just leaves a sour taste. Sure, if you've never played Pokemon before you probably are fine with it, but if you have than this game seems bland and unoriginal.

But it does have one high point. 

FREAKING TURTWIG

Nobody ever picks grass types as starters, mostly because they're abundant and sort of underpowered. However, when I play these games I always pick Turtwig as my starter. Why? Because he's awesome. Look how freaking cute he is! He's like...a turtle (which is awesome) with a sick grin (which is awesome) and a little leaf...sprout thingy on his head (AWESOME). The rest of the pokemon this generation kind of suck, like the ones from Ruby/Sapphire, but Turtwig rules. I get him and never evolve him. I don't care if he sucks, he's cool.

Anyway, now that we've gotten off on that tangent...um...I'm kind of out of things to say, but for reals this time. Oh yeah, it has WiFi stuff now, which is great (makes trading way easier), but playing over the internet can kind of be a pain unless you have your friend's Friend Code and you both perfectly synchronize when you want to hang out. Also all the trades up for grabs online are horrible, so make sure you trade with someone you know.

You can also import all your pokemon in your pokemon storage from either Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald or LeafGreen/FireRed, but only if you have one of the DSes that is GBA backwards compatible, and only after you beat the game. Which is a cool touch. 

There are a few nice touches, like reflections and weather changes

The day/night cycle is also back (finally!) using the DS's internal clock to determine what time it is in the game world. Also the story in this game (despite starting off exactly the same as all other Pokemon games) is actually pretty interesting and ends in an epic clash between two god pokemon. I guess that's cool, even if it's still just "kill these evil guys, catch the best pokemon."

The music is mediocre. I can't think of any track that stands out, except one. But man...that song...is so good. So (tangent) the champion of this game (aka the final boss) is actually a girl this time, which is great because this world seems to be predominantly male when it comes to good trainers, and all the girls catch "cute" crap like Marills or Togapis and get crushed in battle. Cynthia (the champion) is one of the hardest in the series, and her final boss song is incredible. Seriously, it's probably my favorite battle song (maybe even my favorite song) in the entire series. Really good stuff. 

Seriously, this song deserved a better game. 

I'll say it again: this isn't a bad game. It's still fundamentally Pokemon, which means it's still addicting and very solid at its core. While the new pokemon look stupid there are a few unique type combinations among them, and the whole "Gotta Catch 'Em All" thing kicks in pretty quick despite me wanting to hate this game. It's just a disappointment because it could have been so much better. It's been thirteen years, Nintendo. It's time to do something crazy with this series.

Besides just adding a bunch more pokemon. 

I was going to give it two out of five stars, but after listening to Cynthia's song and looking at that picture of the ADORABLE Turtwig my hate-filled heart of darkness was filled with light and I decided three out of five was ok, I guess. But I will stil recommend any other Pokemon game in existence (except maybe Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald) over this one. It just...isn't the best. 

And yes, I own a plush Turtwig. Awww.