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It’s finally here: the true killer-app that will likely cement Nintendo’s DS’ already dominant position in the handheld market. It doesn’t take the Amazing Kreskin to accurately predict that these two games will be the biggest portable titles of 2007, and possibly 2008.

But this is also a series that has mostly rested on its laurels ever since taking the original Game Boy crowd by storm over a decade ago. So the question remains: is this a new game? Or a warmed-over rehash with touch-screen controls grafted on?

Road More Traveled

And the answer is…yes. Focusing on the actual single-player quest, Pokefans will find themselves in familiar territory. You enter a world where everyone and everything seems to revolve around the catching, raising, breeding, and fighting of cute little animals called Pokemon. Think of it as a family friendly version of cockfighting.

You start out as a young lad or lass with a single Pokemon, the desire to “catch ’em all,” and the task of bettering a slightly nefarious team of other Pokemon trainers who, while they may be evil, are mostly harmless outside of their penchant for mischief.

While there are some interesting things to do outside of the main quest, and the whole time-of-day thing makes a return (certain Pokemon can only be caught in certain areas at certain times of the day), none of the single-player game really stands out beyond what we’ve played before in Red; Blue; Silver; Gold; Leaf Green; etc. That’s not to say the main quest is bad. It’s just that the adventure remains what it has always been – the means to an end. That end, of course, is building your team of beasties and pitting them against those of your friends. 
 

Fight ’em All

And as usual, the multiplayer bits are where these latest Pokemon games truly shine. The games take advantage of the DS hardware in the only way that could ever really matter to this series – the Wi-Fi connectivity. Gone are the days when you have to track down a friend face to face with a link cable to battle and trade your Pokemon. Diamond and Pearl do it all wirelessly.

First you’ve got the standard battle setup (which can be done via regular wireless connection or over the internet), and then you’ve got the global trading system. This is a Pokemon eBay of sorts, where you offer your Pokemon up for trade, state your terms, and wait for someone to bite. You don’t even need to be online for the actual trade to occur.

It’s a very functional, well thought-out system, and it makes all the difference in the world.

Global Community

Nintendo and Game Freak definitely took the safest route possible when bringing the franchise to the DS. Everything looks and feels familiar, and there’s very little touch-screen functionality of any consequence. In fact, it’s a tad disappointing the developers didn’t make better use of the second screen for the crazy amount of inventory management required in Pokemon.

If the single-player mode wasn’t so run-of-the-mill for something that requires so much time of the gamer, Diamond and Pearl would fare a bit better in the score department. But it’s still a kick-ass game once you slog through the first few hours it takes to build a well-rounded team and take them into battle against other Pokefreaks the world over.

Article by: Greg Sewart
Video produced by: Eric Acasio