"How can a game be so fun and so disappointing at the same time?"

Ah, Pokemon. I remember back in the days of Red and Blue, trying to catch them all. I remember being frustrated with how terrible the battle system was back then, but overall the game was so fun. Then came Gold and Silver, which fixed all the problems of the original game, and is easily the biggest leap in quality the series has made. Ruby and Sapphire also improved the formula, but just felt...wrong. Instead of a huge evolution of the series, it looked like they just added a few new things and a new set of pokemon and just released it. Technically, it was superior to Gold and Silver, but they didn't bother to revitalize the series like GS did.

And now, Diamond and Pearl are released. Compared to Ruby and Sapphire, D/P is a much bigger step up for the series, but there is still so much wasted potential. However, it's (now) the best game in the Pokemon series, and I see no reason not to go out and get it.

D/P starts out the same way as all the other pokemon games. You're a young trainer, you get a starter, you want to defeat the 8 gym leaders and defeat the Elite 4, and save the world from an evil organization along the way. Right there, there's a problem. Why is Nintendo continuing to use this same storyline? Oh sure, all the gym leaders are "new" and Sinnoh is technically a different continent than Kanto, Johto, or Hoenn. But why couldn't Nintendo make the story feel fresh? There are plenty of options other than the now-cliche "small-town boy travels the world making it big". And despite that Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup aren't bad pokemon, why couldn't we do something else for the starters? I recall seeing a fake trio of Dark/Fighting/Psychic pokemon that would have been much more interesting than the repetitive Grass/Fire/Water we've had since the first days. We also have a new rival, and while I do approve of the main character always having a rival, this one isn't nearly as interesting. Gary and the red-haired guy from the first games were good rivals; they were arrogant, mean, and you WANTED to beat their ass in whenever you saw them. Now we get a wimpy, hyperactive kid who doesn't know anything about making a good team? Pass. Paul from the anime would have been a much better rival.

And the new gym leaders aren't very interesting, either. The first gym leader, Roark, uses Rock pokemon (As if Brock and Roxanne weren't enough), and his only redeeming factor is that he uses one of my new favorite pokemon. Most of the other gym leaders are rather bland and unoriginal, and the only decent gym leader in the game is Jasmine...who is from Johto and is just making a cameo appearance. The game's Elite 4 is also kind of dull, although the new Champion is decent. The new Team Galactic (not related to Team Rocket) has stupid-looking bowl haircuts, and really just feel dull. I remember how Team Rocket in GS was an extension of the RB team, and there were several references to the first game. Not anymore. There's no Team Rocket, Magma, or Aqua in DP, and Galactic just isn't that interesting.

So you've just read two paragraphs about why this game is lame, yet I still gave it a 9. Why?

For one, the new pokemon. While Ruby and Sapphire gave us pokemon like the almighty Nosepass, which is literally a piece of rock with a giant nose on it, the designers of the DP pokemon figured that maybe they aught to do something right this time. So, we get a bunch of new pokemon that not only look cool, but are quite useful, too. One might think that the Starly they find at the beginning of the game is nothing more than a lame Pidgey ripoff, but its evolution, Staraptor, is easily one of the strongest new pokemon in the game, and a huge chunk of DP players have Staraptor as one of the pokemon on their team when they go to fight the Elite 4. The electric-type Shinx and its evolutions are also welcome, and the number of new interesting pokemon has skyrocketed. Sure, there are a few duds (I'm looking at you, Pachirisu), but overall I'm thoroughly impressed with the new pokemon. Also, several older pokemon have gotten new evolutions, such as Rhydon and Electabuzz. There's a total of 493 pokemon now, and while some people may complain that that's too many pokemon, I don't see a problem when now you have more options for a team than ever before. (Oh wait, it's 490. Don't worry, once Nintendo bothers getting around to officially "revealing" the last three, this review will be accurate)

Another excellent point about this game is the battle system. While it hasn't been completely overhauled (you still have the basic 4 moves that you can choose), one new point is that now each move, regardless of type, can now be either physical or special. In the past, moves like Thunderpunch were special just because they were electric-type moves, but now that it's physical, you can give it to more physical attackers who will now have a decent electric move. It becomes much easier to make a team, because you can now focus on one attack set or another, depending on if you want a physical or special attacker, something the previous generations didn't do. Even better, once weak pokemon now have moves that complement them well. One example is Breloom, a Grass/Fighting type from RS. Breloom has a high physical attack stat, but since Grass moves were all special attacks, Breloom lost a bit of strength it could have had. But with Razor Leaf becoming physical, as well as Breloom earning the move Seed Bomb, it's become a much more usable pokemon.

I'm still a little disappointed that they didn't bother to add even more. Territorial fights would have helped innovate the battle system more. Are you surfing on water? Then you better have some water, flying, or levitating pokemon, because everything else is going to be severely slowed down or not capable of fighting at all. In a rocky area? Give Rock-types higher evasion. Make those gyms actually difficult! In a high-voltage area, pokemon should be more susceptible to paralysis from electric-type moves. Yes, the past pokemon games had this concept, with moves like Rain Dance and Sandstorm, but I still think it could have expanded more. Still, I don't want this review to be about what the game could have been (though it's probably too late for that).

The metagame (post-Elite 4) is as good as ever, giving you a difficult Battle Tower to play through, as well as the seemingly endless quest to "catch 'em all". Now, however, you can play online against other players! If you didn't know anyone else who played the games in the past (like me), now you can go online and find people to battle against, though it's a bit limited. You can only battle against people you've traded friend codes with, so you would have to go online and trade with random people in order to have a real 6-on-6 battle. However, you can download other player's teams into an area of the battle tower to fight, though it's not the same as actually playing them. Another great new feature is the Global Trading System. You can search for a specific pokemon, or put one of yours up for grabs in exchange for that particular one. I've filled a good portion of the pokedex this way, though I warn you that there are a lot of morons that try trading easy-to-find pokemon like Bidoof in exchange for high-level legendaries like Dialga. Fortunately, it's easy to weed out the idiots.

I could go on and on about this, but I would be surprised if someone followed this the whole way through. The point is, Diamond/Pearl are excellent games, and either one of them would be a great addition to your collection. The only reason I don't give it a 10 is because of so much wasted potential. Had it had a truly original storyline and even more revamped gameplay, I'd say this could be one of the best games of all time.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/07