Review: Pokemon Pearl
Look out kids! It is the inevitable return of the Nintendo series that never seems to die! Will this incarnation on the Nintendo DS fix the many improvements needed to drastically improve the series? Or will Pokemon Pearl fall into the same pitfalls that made Sapphire and Ruby dull in comparison to the original games?
Story:
Once again you take the role of a youth out to make is way in the world of Pokemon, and become either the worlds greatest trainer of the worlds foremost Pokemon pageant champion, now with a new evil team to beat, and new gadgets to aid in your journey to greatness, for which ever path you choose.
Graphics:
Wow.... Talk about under whelmed; this game looks as good as its 2 GBA counterparts which wouldn't be a problem in and of it's self if it were not for the fact that the DS is capable of 3d graphics, and What use of the 3d graphics is poorly done in my mind (most of the buildings in the game are now in 3D). I would have been fine with the game world remaining 2d while making the fights 3D using the character models they have been using since the N64 days, which would have stood out a lot more than what seems like subtitle changes with 3d buildings that are almost unnoticeable in 3D when compared to the GBA versions. This is one of the definite cases where Nintendo dropped the ball in showing what this system can do with a flagship title (which Pokemon is for Nintendo handheld systems), and relegated the game to only being 2d with a few more sprites so show a little more motion with the Pokemon, and add a tiny amount more detail in the surrounding backgrounds. Other wise if you were expecting the same look you had with Pokemon sapphire and Ruby, then you will be perfectly happy here.
Music:
Another boring soundtrack from this Pokemon game.... It has gotten so bad that I just turn it off almost as soon as I boot the game up.... But at least the creature sounds are slightly better than they were in the previous incarnations of the series still some better music would have been nice.
Control:
If you have played a Pokemon game in the past than you know what to expect in this game for the most part, they made it easier to use the bike, and the fishing rod is more responsive than they were in previous games, but for the most part there isn't much new to report, except that the entire game can now be controlled by the touch screen. The game actually flows better when using the touch screen and actually makes some of the best uses of the touch screen of many of the games I have played on the DS since you can fully control the fights on with the touch screen, and the features of the new Poketch are actually fun and friendly to use using the touch screen and open up some new features of the game very nicely.
Design:
Pokemon fans will be please to know that what they love about the series still remains the same and is not lost in Pokemon Pearl, but will also be horrified that almost nothing has changed since the last real incarnation of the series on the GBA, it becomes quickly obvious where there developers time went, designing the interface for the touch screen which although awesome, doesn't really make up for what this game could, would and what I feel should have been: an all inclusive game with all available Pokemon available to be caught in the 2 versions of the game, lets face it the Pokemon world is huge now, so why cant we visit all of it yet? You could even justify releasing a 3rd version of the game to justify having all of the Pokemon available to be caught in one inclusive release of the series. Maybe have on version with the starting Pokemon form the original, one of the second game's starting Pokemon, and one from the 3rd game's Starting Pokemon, while letting the new starters be wild. The other place where the developers time went was into the new inclusion of WiFi connection, which is cool for the most part, but when the trading system is so unevenly balanced that no one in their right mind would want to look for a trade let alone be crazy enough to trade.... For instance it is common to see a low level common Pokemon, looking to be traded for a high level rare Pokemon.... And I swear that that makes up a good 4/5 of the available trades on Wifi.
Ok unless you are looking to get into the series fresh, or are a die hard Pokemon fan, steer away from this game, or rent before purchasing, because even Pokemon fans may have a hard time loving this game like you did the incarnations previous.
Graphics
7/10
Game play
9/10
Sound
5/10
Fun factor
7/10
Tilt
7/10
Average score
7.0
Pokemon Pearl:
Pros:
Same Great Pokemon game play we know and love
100 new Pokemon
Minor tweaks make game play a little smother
Battle online!
Great use of the touch screen
Cons:
Still can't "catch them all" in one generation of the series
Should have been in 3D battles
3d buildings don't stand out at all
No major changes to the series over the past 10 years
Wifi trade system is still in need of balancing