A must for your your DS collection. The single player, multi-player, and everything is top notch.
The main game play is pretty long as it is. The trick they added to it this time around is after the game is over, you WON'T be done. Normally there aren't that many one of a kind pokemon other than 3 legendaries and the cover pokemon. In this version, as well as Pearl, they decided to throw in another 5 or so rare one time chance type pokemon. As well as being able to transfer your party from previous installments to the DS just after beating the story and connecting your GBA game to the bottom slot. A do it yourself transfer method with out needing friends to help you trade them over steps at a time.
Multi-player is where this game really shines. With the implication of wifi to the pokemon world, you now have the ability to connect, trade, battle, and with a headset chat with people from around the world. all you need is there friend code of coarse. A nice way to regulate the creepy people out of the mix as one plus. There is a Global Service Center where you can post a trade or search for a certain pokemon from random people with out needing a friend code. It is good for when you want a specific pokemon but this feature seems to be riddled with a lot of "not so much worth it" trades as well as some impossible trades that end up stunting this feature a bit. None the less there are very charitable people who will give you almost any pokemon for a simple easy to catch common pokemon out of generosity so it has it's bright points.
And then there is the non internet going multi-player. They packed this game full of goodies for those types. Although most aren't available right from the get go they come into play as you progress in the game. Eventually you can travel and mine together with a friend in the underground caverns of the Region. Leaving traps and having hidden bases underground. show off your bases and decorate as you see fit. Steal your friends base flag and unlock some goodies while doing it. It really came off as a lot of fun when you got to digging with a friend. Lots of fun discovering what you can uncover. Then if spelunking doesn't float your boat you can always do the Contest games. you compete in dressing up, a simon says type of game, then acting competition. Finally if all that doesn't grit your fancy then we have a simple mixing game. All you do is team up with some friends, throw some berries you picked in the pot and help each other mix it so you can make some great "poffins" which are used to boost the contest ability of certain things in the Contest mini games. A nice add on to the game if i say so myself.
As always they have the obvious close range multi-player options like battling, trading, and a few simple stuff like just drawing together. Mixing records is fun so you can even compare your stats to a friend then sometimes when you watch TV in the game you can hear reports about how they did when catching or failing to catch a pokemon. Fun to see when you find out your friend got frustrated trying to catch a pokemon and just knocked it unconscious.
Overall the game was extremely well made and is a must to put in your collection. Pokemon gamer or not. It is well rounded for all ages and your never to old to enjoy this solid RPG.