Nintendo has had many polished games since its release on that November 21st in 2004 such as Harvest Moon DS and Advance Wars: Dual Strike. Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl are two more to add to its case of outstanding titles.

Which Pokeball Do I Want to Use?

Like in the beginning of any traditional Pokemon game you, the player, will run into a Pokemon professor, whose name is Rowan. In this game he leaves his briefcase in the nearby lake, Lake Verity, in the middle of some tall grass. You and your friend/rival try to see what's inside the case but as soon as you get it open you are swarmed by wild Pokemon. In the hasty situation you and your NPC counterpart each choose a Pokemon; you get the first pick of the three: Turtwig, a grass type; Chimchar, a fire type; and Piplup, a water type. The choice here doesn't affect your game play and your rival always chooses the weakness of the one you choose. Once you go back to the lab and tell the professor of this he asks you to keep them and help him on his research and gives you a Pokedex which you are asked to fill out. A Pokedex is like an encyclopedia of Pokemon.

Along your journey you will run into Team Galactic and eight gyms that each specialize in one type of Pokemon; you must beat all eight to get to the Elite Four. Collecting all the different Pokemon for the Sinnoh Pokedex is no easy task. The need to have different Pokemon games inserted in the bottom of your DS to get certain different Pokemon can be quite challenging.

Nintendo made sure to make good use of the Wi-Fi ability of the DS and has amazing Internet capabilities. You can trade or battle with some one on the other side of the world! Though that's not news for console gaming, but for handheld it makes the fun never-ending.

There is no tutorial in this game because it's quite self-explanatory how to play the game. While just standing still, ‘X’ opens the menu to your Pokedex, Pokemon, bag, trainer card, save option, and game options. You can conveniently set some item in the key item part of your bag to the ‘Y’ button. Walking is rather slow so in the first part of the game you get a pair of "running shoes" which can be activated by hitting and holing the ‘B’ button. ‘L’ and ‘R’ have no function whatsoever in any of the menus. The controls are so easy that a rock could figure it out.

New Sprites on the 3D World!

Running around in your sprite form all over the now-3D world is quite exhilarating. The graphics could have technically been better but that never stopped games before this one from being good. I enjoyed the pretty sights that this game brings.

I Forgot to Fight; I was Too Busy Dancing...

Each town and just about every important battle has its own unique music. The Midi mix of beats had me going for hours on end; sometimes I'd just hook up my DS to a sound system and let the tunes go. It may not be the original music from Red and Blue but it’s still something I don't mind hearing time after time. The quality is just about as good as one could get on a DS.

Having Fun for Days...Months...Years?

For the PlasmaFactor I would like to highlight the fact of how many hours you can get in replay from this game. With more things than I can count in extra effects or just little things to enjoy, this game can have you playing it for well past the money amount you bought it for. From the days of filling out your Pokedex to making sure that your Pokemon can beat the best in the world over Wi-Fi there's always something more to do.

Though there is one thing that I must include for all our old school Pokemon players: A big down side to this game is the inability to travel back to the other regions in Pokemon like Kanto and Johto. On the plus side however you can transfer Pokemon from the old GBA games though it's incredibly difficult to do so.

There will be special Pokemon events that will have exclusive Pokemon and items, and some of those Pokemon are ones that you must have to complete your Pokedex. So playing this game might just turn into your job to beat it. Personally I enjoyed the game play all in all.

The Final Say!

Pokemon Diamond or Pearl is a game that for Pokemon lovers and first-timers alike, it is well worth your money. If you need something to kill some time and enjoy that time spent this is the game for you.