Review: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
What makes a good Pokémon game? Is it the newly introduced Pokémon? The interesting and carefully designed plot? The new graphics and animations? Or maybe new battling mechanics? Well the answer to the first question is, all of the above! And Pokémon Diamond and Pearl brings everything to the table and more. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is an RPG (Role-Playing Game) where your goal is to catch and train all the Pokémon available in the game and complete your Pokédex. Diamond and Pearl is set in the mountainous Sinnoh region and is part of the 4th generation of Pokémon games. Each of the games' game box cover shows their version’s exclusive Legendary Pokémon. Diamond has the Temporal Pokémon Dialga and Pearl has the Spatial Pokémon Palkia. Both games' main storyline revolves around their respective Legendary Pokémon. Like most Pokémon games, your adventure starts in your hometown (Twinleaf Town), after watching a television report of a rare Pokémon sighting at a lake, you and your best friend travel to your local lake to see if the rare Pokémon is there. Upon reaching the lake you spot Professor Rowan (Diamond and Pearl’s Pokémon Professor) with his assistant. After a short discussion, the Professor and his assistant leave the lake leaving a briefcase behind. You and your best friend decide to check it out and walk into the wild grass that it is lying in. Suddenly you are both attacked by wild Pokémon. You both open the briefcase to find three Pokémon (Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup) inside. This is when you make your first Pokémon choice. After choosing, you use your newly obtained Pokémon to battle off the wild Pokémon and escape unscathed. The Professor’s assistant returns to pick up the briefcase and notices that both you and your best friend have forged a bond with your chosen Pokémon. The Professor then gives the Pokémon to you along with a Pokédex to record any new Pokémon that you might encounter on your adventure. Your goal from then on is to catch all the Pokémon and record it into your Pokedex, battle and defeat all eight Gym leaders and finally, defeat the Elite four and become Champion. Along the way you meet the antagonistic gang, Team Galactic, whose goal is to awaken the game’s Legendary Pokémon and use its powers for evil. You must then use everything you’ve got to stop them. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl introduces a total of 150 new Pokémon for you to catch and train. This brings the total number of Pokémon to 493. It also introduces double battles which allows two Pokémon to be used at once and a new game mechanic that splits all Pokémon moves into Special or Physical. The game uses the story along with the updated graphics and new Pokémon to create an extremely enjoyable and fun game to play, each element of the game works together in harmony to provide smooth yet action packed gameplay. This is a great game for anyone who wants to try out a game with a good long plot with twists and turns around every corner and just enough battles to balance out the intricate and complex storyline. This is an excellent game and any Pokéfan would love it as Diamond and Pearl is ranked as the third best Pokémon game of all time. So what are you waiting for? You’ve got 493 different Pokémon to catch! Game On! By Brian Tan Think you know all there is to Pokémon? Take the quiz below to find out! |