Pokemon Pearl Version

"Game Freak, you've done it again!"

Well hey. Here I am with my hopefully third review by now. Anyways, this is game is just beautiful! This franchise just keeps working it's magic on me! Another DS classic for for years to come! Anyways let's get to reviewing!

Gameplay/Controls: 9/10

It's as simple as it was in Red/Blue. D-pad for your handy dandy movement. A for action, B to cancel options or back to the previous prompt. For battle, you can now use the touch screen. Your bag now transformed into a black hole so you can have as many items as you want. (They were smart enough to do this but not a toggle to top/bottom of your bag which gets very tedious when you have lots of junk that you're too lazy to sell, like me.) So I bumped the score down for that. Contests are now fun. You can dress your little pokemon, make them dance, and the obvious move judging. Some new pokemon to catch and land to explore so that'll keep you busy exploring them then getting to know them like your own back yard. At heart it's still the same like a new dog with old tricks I guess. Day/Night makes it's return in this gen as well. That'll cover us for here.

Story: 7/10

The story is the same as in all the games. Some adult-baddies get cocky and try to do something stupid then a little 10-year old puts 'em in their place whilst simultaneously collecting 8 badges and showing the Elite Four Champion who's the boss. Same old same old.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics are greatly improved in the game and you can feel the difference if you go back to your gba/gbc game. The background environment is 3-D, and the sprites for characters/pokemon remain 2-D. You can really see the Day/Night in this game. Unlike G/S/C gens of the franchise, you can also see sunrise/sunset in the game as well. Nothing else has really been improved visually.

Sound: 8/10

About the same as the other games. Nothing really changed hear but the actual songs. You get the really catchy tunes in this one too! (Route 210, walking around the Elite Four field, and the Boss/E4 Members/Champion tunes are really great too! You still get a "Bloop" and a "Bleep" when selecting your commands. Nothing much here, as turning the volume off = no sound anyways.

Replayability: 4/10

Very, very replayable! If you do get bored you can always start a new game. But if you quit playing after beating the E4 you weren't born to play pogeymons! You could spend a good solid month making the best team for wi-fi and get creamed and make another to counter the team/ individual pokemon that owned you 'til you eventually make the best team in your opinion for wi-fi. Speaking of wi-fi yeah it was added to this game which is what made the series even better! Later on this month Pokemon Battle Revolution is coming out and there's connectivity between your ds to your wii to enhance your battling experience!

Rent or Buy?

Oh, this ones a keeper! You don't want to rent because A. What you work for in the end gets turned back in to your local Blockbuster so yea not a good idea if you actually plan on playing this game. Well I'm glad you read this review and I hope it helps you decide to buy this game or not!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/07/07