Diamond/Pearl are the first Pokemon games to be released on the DS and are a great step forward in the Pokemon series!
Ok, so it's Pokemon. We all know it and we all love it, but what does this game actually do to to improve on the already tried and tested formula? Well the most obvious bit is that there is over 100 new Pokemon to capture, an all new graphical overhaul and a whole new region to explore! This new region itself is called Sinnoh, and boy, what a great place it is! There are lots of towns in there, all of them with their own personality and trates. There is also a load of caverns and routes to explore, even some secret areas have been thrown in there for good measure. It's certainly safe to say that Pokemon Diamond/Pearl is a truly enourmous game with almost endless replay value. A lot of this replay value obviously come in the form of capturing and training new Pokemon to battle with, but along side this you have mini-games such as making making poffins (a food that increases your Pokemons stats) and the infamous Pokemon contests.
These contests are second only to battling. You choose a Pokemon to enter into the contest and go through 3 differnet stages. In the first stage you have to dress up your Pokemon in different attire in order to suit the theme being described. In the second stage you tap various colours on the touch screen in time to the music. You have a limited amount of moves you can do per turn and once you have done it your opponents have to try and copy it. Obviously this leads to people using unexpected times to move in order to catch their opponent out. The third and final event in the contest is like the one you see in the anime. A category is decided for each turn (Beauty, strength, cool. etc)
and you have do moves that impress the judge you choose. If you use a move that suits the category listed you will gain an extra point. If someone chooses a judge someone else has already chosen they will not get as much points as normal. However if someone is the 5th person to choose a judge and do well to that judge they will get a load of extra points. Once the whole event is over the points will all be racked up and whoever got the most points will win a prize and a ribbon. It all sounds very complicated on paper but once you actually get your hands on it it's extremely easy to get to grips with.
The story itself is just like any other handheld Pokemon game, you start is a small village meet a proffesor take a pokemon and go off to defeat the Pokemon League and eventually the Elite 4. Along the way you will meet Galactic. Essentially a cheap version of Team Rocket. Although their leader has his own story interwined with the games story itself, and there is also 3 appropriately named generals for you to take down along the way. The Gym Leader and Elite 4 all are as wacky and have as big a personality as any other character in the game and they are all extremely well shown as a completely new character of their own.
In Diamond/Pearl there is a online mode. A first for the series. This lets you battle, talk and trade with anyone from around the globe, on your friends list or just in the same room. It's a great feature that greatly increases the enjoyability and length of the game. Directly linked to the online mode is the underground. This is an extremely large area under sinnoh that you gain access to after completing a certain quest. You are able to deck it out with furniture and objects you get from the shops in Sinnoh and make it a room. In your room there is a coloured flag. This is where the multiplayer aspect comes in. You can join up with a group of people and try to discover someones base base flag and return it to your own. Once you do this your flag will go up a level and you will be able to remove a few of the boulder cluttering up you room. But, of course, that would be too easy. Any person in the group can use traps they have bought or found to guard their base and make it harder for someone to infiltrate it. An amatuer at this can hold them back for a bit. But this is all about strategy. If you think ahead about where the traps will lead or what they will do etc you could send themmiles away and immobilize them for ages. Allowing you time to capture their flag or defend your own. The traps all come in different form and are all extremely varied. Some trap the enemy for a short period of time, others send them backwards, some defend your base and some even confuse your opponent, watch out however as a careful person can find out where the traps are and get rid of them so they aren't triggered and give themselves a free trap in the process. The underground isn't just for multiplayer either. You can go down on your own and look for gems and fossils that you can use and sell. Yet more lifespan to the game!
On to the main aspect of any Pokemon game, the battling. Well, it's just the same as it was in the previous games. You use the Pokemon you have captured and trained and pit them against one another in turn based combat. There is a few new moves to dicover and a much needed graphical update but apart from that it's the same old Pokemon, the same thing counts for the open world sections. It can seem as if your playing the same game over again. It depends on your point of veiw if you will hate it for being the same or love it for the same reason.
Overall Pokemon Diamond/Pearl are both great games in their own right but perhaps a bit too much like their predeccesors. But is that really such a bad thing?
9/10