Great, but flawed.
Pros: Graphics, game play, pokemon.
Cons: Game play, bosses, wireless/WiFi.
Many of you will be surprised to see game play listed twice. Explanation in a moment.
Overall, this package was excellent. The graphics surpassed all previous Pokemon games and quite a few DS games as well. Nintendo also did a decent job of intergrating the touch screen in, although sometimes it got in the way. Half the time the touch screen was useful, the other half useless. The new pokemon were original and decent, but the names needed some work. ("Turtwig?"). EV training took a whole new level in this one, and it was a nice addition. Importing of pokemon from previous versions was great. Original idea. =P.
The cons measure up to the pros only in quantity. Now I will explain the game play part. There really wasn't anything new in this package. Nothing stood out. Its the same story, but this time, no rival. It lost a point, so to speak. In my opinion, Gold was way better. I brought the Kanto and Johto together, an excellent combo. Pearl had the potential to be so much more, but lost it. It followed the same story line and game play - one a time, beat up the other guy. I would have liked a complete overhaul, kinda turning the fighting into a more turn-based one that a lot of Japanese RPGs have. WiFi also disappointed me. It was so slow and fragile. The options were only limited to those Pokemon that you've seen before. The internet in and of itself self was shabby. Same complaints for wireless.
All in all, a great game, flawed, but great.