Like any past Pokemon game, there are still plenty of secrets to uncover and plenty of Pokemon to go catch after you’ve beaten the core game. The Nintendo DS’ Wi-Fi capabilities, though, greatly expand the replay value by letting you trade or battle anyone else with a DS and a copy of the game. The game also has global Wi-Fi capabilities, as well as the ability to chat wirelessly over the Internet with the wireless DS headset attachment. The only downside is that those oh-so-annoying Friend Codes rear their heads once again, and you’ll need to use them in order to go global.
After years of slowly building and expanding the series, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl is the biggest leap forward that the Pokemon franchise has seen since Pokemon Gold and Silver. Perhaps it’s ironic that Gold and Silver were the last Pokemon games to really draw me in for hours at a time. While features like two-on-two battles and sensitivity to the time of day might not be new, Diamond/Pearl executes these features in a way that greatly improves upon their use. Even if the same basic storyline has been used since the first Pokemon games have come out, there’s no denying that Diamond/Pearl is the best Pokemon game to come out in quite a while.
Pokemon Pearl is rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB.
Article comments
1 - Deano
I throw out one other aspect of the pokemon games that, as a parent, I quite like - The game requires the players to read almost constantly. It is very text-heavy in comparison to most other video games with the focus on graphics, animations and sound. This is one reason I never object to my son cracking open his DS for some Pokemon time.
2 - cass
As a pokemon player myself, I think these games are quite educational because your character goes on missions to help the other characters on the game, the animation is great on the nintendo console.