Pokemon Diamond Version

Before i write this, let me just say i own the American version of Pokemon Diamond, and by the time this comes out here, it would of been out for a few months, give or take

Well, first of all Pokemon Diamond/Pearl is based off the Anime counterpart in Japan, you journey using either a girl or a boy character, the girl goes by the name of Hikari, which means Dawn in English.

Also, this game has sold Millions, and i mean Millions in Japan alone, and has taken America by storm too!

Before saying anything else, just be careful because Pokemon Diamond or Pearl has game specific Pokemon so you may not be able to catch a pokemon you like because it wont be in the game, the only solution to this is to either trade with a friend with Pearl or Go Online..

The Game is Based in the land of Sinnoh, its a new Region

Without Spoiling, the game has a whole bunch of new features, like, well use of two screens for the journey, a clock feature, online, friend codes, trading, once you beat the elite four you can transfer Pokemon from the old Gameboy Advance games, but you have a limit of 6 per day so.... yeah.. not sure which gameboy advance games are compatable though since i havent tried..

Anyways this game has a new story that will keep you amused, new bad guys, new Pokemon, almost new everything, think of this as a hand held, masterpiece

its what you call a game with a ton of new Pokemon, and i mean loads, over a 100 new ones

also you can exchange friend codes and battle online, put Pokemon up for trade etc

This game is the next gen of pokemon (pocket monsters)
The brand new graphics for the game are wonderful and homecoming, brand new pokemon and an all new area to run around make this game a best pokemon game since for ever.
Boy and Girl options let you choose whether to be a boy or a girl and have fun and adventure as either!!

If you have never played Pokemon before then this game is 5/5 for you.
My first Pokemon game ever was Red. Ever since then I have played Pokemon Green, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Leaf Green and Fire Red; along with collecting the Pokemon cards of every series. As a result I feel confident that I have adequate knowledge over pokemon, and how a pokemon game should be.
This game fails to astonish and wow a gamer with previous Pokemon experiences but if you or your child has never played pokemon before then this is straight forwardly a must buy. I also reccommend buying Pokemon Fire Red or Leaf Green to accompany this game as there are many Pokemon you cannot get in Diamond which you can access in Fire Red or Leaf Green, so I can assure you it will enhance the pleasure you or your children derive from this game.
Gamers who have played Pokemon in the past may feel that this game is not up to scratch. Nintendo have failed to utilize their tools to create what potentially could have been the best pokemon game to date.
This game only stays in the one new area of Sinnoh. Nintendo could have made it so your avatar could travel to past areas Hoenn, Kanto and Johto collecting the pokemon there as your avatar goes along. Bearing this in mind Pokemon diamond doesn't feel up to scratch. even in the game boy colour game Pokemon Gold you could travel back to the map of the previous game and the nintendo DS is a bit more powerful (We assume) then the gameboy colour so surely it would not have been too much of a feat to accomplish?
Regardless of this, an old Pokemon player will still play this game with an odd sense of De Ja Vu due to the fact that this game continually borrows from past pokemon games shamelessly and sometimes recklessly.
The new pokemon look absurd and at times are just plain old embarrasing. Also with the inclusion of the new legendaries the old Pokemon Mewtwo (who is supposed to be the strongest Pokemon) is replaced by numerous Pokemon of higher status.
the online trading system has its up's and down's as you cannot trade for pokemon you have not yet sighted in your pokedex. This kind of defeats the object of trading to complete your pokedex, doesn't it? This system is, however, very easy to use although you can only put one pokemon up for trade at a time and cannot put another one up until you decline your offer or someone trades for your pokemon.
The microphone you can buy with this game has it's uses but don't be disillusioned into thinking you can enjoy countless battles online against strangers while talking to them as you can only talk to people on your friends list.
The adventure mode has a good life time taking me forty hours to complete before the additional things to do which will keep you engrossed for a long time, and while on the subject of time fights seem to commence slower then in past pokemon incarnations.
The biggest difference between this game and past games is the fighting, or rather, the moves used. Now each individual move is either a physical or special attack. For example, in pokemon ruby, 'grass' is a special type and thus 'grass' moves were special attacks and their damage was calculated by the user's special attack and the foe's special defence. 'Ground' was a physical type and thus 'ground' moves were physical attacks and their damage calculated by the user's attack and the foe's defence. Now in Pokemon Diamond you can have one 'grass' move, for example razor leaf, which is a physical attack, and a different grass move, for example solar beam, which is a special attack.
Overall, despite the negativity, this is a good game and is recommended to new and old players alike.

You would have thought that by now these pokemon games would be dead, i mean the only thing the critics say is that, it does exactly the same as the original red and blue did. Well i spose you could say they do that, but they have built on it and produced games that sell and keep on selling.

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl are great fun to play, they do take a while to get into it, but then again some of the best games released to date do that, games such as twilight princess for example, but once you are hooked you can say goodbye to the best part of 2-3 months of you're life.

With over 100+ new creatures this game is much bigger aswell, it has the biggest amount of pokemon you can catch with out trading, but to get them all you will need to trade and thats been made easier with the GTS system, this is amazing piece of technology and allows you to trade pokemon with anyone round the world via Wifi and makes completing that pokedex just that slightly bit easier.
Diamond and Pearl dont push the DS to it's limits lets be honest but then again im glad they stuck with the traditional image thats been around since Blue, the traditional 2d view in wich you can only move up,down,left,right lol.

All in all this game is an essential game for any Pokemon lover the underground is a lovely add on and a great place for mutliplayer fun, and the GTS and wifi battles all make this game stand above anyother pokemon game, i imported mine from America mainly because i couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

Overall 5*
A game that's well designed and well produced, an essential purchase for any pokemon fan and a purchase for any DS owner i feel. Happy training people, the world is waiting.

some reviews say this game is the same as the old pokemon games and they want more, personally i dont know what they expect. i found this game one of the best pokemon games out.
yes the game in general is the same, but this was obviously gonna be. however i found the story line of team galactica much better and more exciting that made you want to complete the game. the towns are bigger and more interesting with each gym also being more challanging and fun. going 'underground' was also i nice feature with your friends