Pokemon Diamond is an older game in the Pokemon series, and it's also the first Pokemon game I've played. The game marks the beginning of Generation IV. It takes place in the region of Sinnoh and the player's starting town is Twinleaf Town. Fulfill your dream to become the best Pokemon Master in the Sinnoh region and gather your dream Pokemon team. Its sister game, Pokemon Pearl, follows the same plot as Pokemon Diamond. The only differences are certain exclusive Pokemon (i.e. Murkrow can only be found in Diamond while Misdreavus can only be found in Pearl). No matter which version you play, you'll be able to get both Dialga and Palkia in the game, the only difference is whether you meet the legendary earlier or later in the game.
This is one of those games where the beginning can prove to be challenging but, as time goes on, it's often times quite repetitive, particularly if your Pokemon are at a much higher level than your opponent. You start the game off by playing as a ten-year-old kid that's absolutely exhilarated about getting his/her very first Pokemon to train. Since you're in the Sinnoh region, you'll get to choose from the Starter Pokemon Chimchar (Fire), Grotle (Grass), and Piplup (Water). However, you'll have to travel to Sandgem town first before Professor Rowan will entrust the Pokemon to you for the rest of the game. Your rival in this game will be none other than Barry, a kid who's super energetic and will shout random fines at you if you're late or something. His starting Pokemon will be have a Type Advantage over yours. For example, if you chose Grotle to be your starting Pokemon, then Barry will choose Chimchar, as a Grass-type is weak against Fire. He'll disappear for awhile but, don't worry, you'll see him again multiple times later in the game as he battles you to see how you've fared.
The game is quite addictive, though, as mentioned before, it can become rather repetitive. One thing that can be quite annoying is the frequency of wild Pokemon attacks or Trainer battles you meet along the way. It really slows the game down, especially when you only want to move from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. There is the option of using Repels that will completely stop wild Pokemon attacks for a certain number of steps, but these cost money in the game. The Cleanse Tag, which is said to lessen the number of Pokemon attacks when equipped to a Pokemon in your Party, hardly works at all. I equipped it to one of my Pokemon but the number of wild Pokemon attacks didn't even drop.
Another somewhat annoying thing is the limited amount of moves your Pokemon can learn. Each Pokemon can only learn four moves, and this often gets cut down to three because of the required HMs needed to be taught. HMs will allow your Pokemon to help you reach secret areas or continue the game (i.e. smashing boulders, cutting down trees, climbing mountains, or swimming across bodies of water). If you're like me, then you'll have trouble deciding which moves you want your Pokemon to learn and which ones you want your Pokemon to forget. There is a Move Learner in the game that can teach your Pokemon old moves, but this requires Heart Scales, which can be found in the digging minigames underground.
However, along the way, you can get quite a good selection of strong Pokemon. Some nice non-legendary are Roselia, Sneasel, Staraptor, and Luxray. There's even more options to choose from after you get the National Pokedex and is able to use the Pokeradar. You can even get a Lucario (after raising a hatched Riolu) and a Cresselia, let alone the legendary such as Dialga and Mesprit. Though one thing I've always complained is the fact that you're only limited to six Pokemon in your Party. This causes you to be particularly choosy about which Pokemon you want on your team. Also, it's impossible to have a Pokemon of every Type on your Team. I've tried figuring out how to (by having Pokemon with dual Types) but the most I've gotten was eleven, and there are seventeen types.
A nice thing in this game though is a little trick called Switch Training. Switch training involves switching to a more powerful Pokemon in the middle of the battle. After your foe faints, both the Pokemon you first started with in battle and the switched get full experiences point. This trick can be quite useful when you want to level up a weaker Pokemon as it doesn't require the Pokemon you want to train to actually battle. However, do note that switching in counts as a turn and therefore the Pokemon you just switched in will get attacked by the foe. This stands unless you use a move such as U-Turn and Baton Pass.
Another feature that can be both fun yet annoying at times is that the game follows real time. The time can affect the gameplay. For example, some places will only be opened during the day. Not only does it affect places, but it also affects Pokemon. In the wild, Pokemon will have different encounter rates during the Morning, Day, or Night. Some might only appear during Night while others will only appear during the Daytime. Also, the evolution of Pokemon is affected. Pokemon such as Budew can only evolve to a Roselia when it's happiness reaches maximum during the Day. If you want to evolve your Eevee into an Umbreon, you'll have to maximize its happiness during the Night or during the Day if you want an Espeon. This certainly adds a bit of a challenge to the game but I wish that there was a built-in button that you could use to automatically switch from Day to Night instead of you having to wait until after 8PM to play to get an Umbreon, Murkrow, Misdreavus, etc. It's almost one of those things that forces you to play the game all day if you want a particular Pokemon.
Besides Gym Battles, Pokemon Contests are a new feature to the game. Contests consist of three rounds. The first round is a Visual, in which you dress up your Pokemon to a particular theme from accessories gained along the way. The second round is a Dance competition. Pokemon try to mimic the moves of the leading Pokemon. Your Pokemon will also get to dance two rounds and have others follow. The last round consist of showing off your Pokemon's moves to judges. Depending on the type of Contest you entered (Cool, Beauty, Cute, Smart, or Tough), different moves will earn you different scores. For example, Peck in a Cool Contest will score you three points while it won't score you any in a Cute Contest. I never did like Pokemon Contests in the anime, but this was even worse in the game. The Appeals Round takes forever, and the Visual Contest doesn't even make any sense. How do random Pom Poms count toward "The Created" theme?? Thankfully, these Contests are not necessary to complete the game but if you want to evolve your Feebas into a Milotic I'm afraid you'll have to enter the Beauty Contest no matter what (and multiple times too!).
Trainers will also be allowed to use Poffins to increase their Pokemon's chances of winning the Contests. These poffins can be created by gathering berries as you travel. You can also grow berries and pick them later. Different berries will give you different results, some even with consequences.
As for movement, you get a pair of Running Shoes very early in the game. Running Shoes allow you to move at a faster pace when you press the B button. However, one thing that is not to like is the fact that you'll have to continuously press B in order to run. Later in the game you receive a Bike which can you can change gears to speed up your bike. This is much faster than the Running Shoes. However, you can't use your Bike in Swamp, Snow, or Tall Grass.
A nice thing about capturing new Pokemon is the types of Pokeballs offered. There's the normal Pokeball but there's also the Great Ball, the Ultra, and the Master Pokeballs. Each ball features a greater chance of capturing the target. For the normal Pokeball, you'll have to lower your opponent's health to a great extent while you only to have lower it a little with a Ultra Ball. For a Master Ball, you don't even have to lower the Pokemon's HP at all! However, there's only one in the entire game and you'll want to save it for capturing a legendary at the end. Along with these Pokeballs, there's also the Quick Ball, the Dusk Ball, and a Time Ball. A Quick Ball gives a greater chance of capturing a Pokemon at the start of a battle, the Dusk Ball at night, and a Time Ball giving a greater chance the more turns that pass.
Alas but not least there's also the antagonist to think about. The main antagonist in this game is Team Galactic, a team similar to Team Rocket but focuses more on domination of the entire universe (including space). The team members that will try to stop you are not that difficult to beat. Most of their Pokemon are Bug or Normal types (i.e. Beautifly and Glameow), which can be easily defeated by a Flying type (such as Staraptor). Their dialogue after you defeat them can be quite funny at times, particularly when they know that they have weak (comparatively low level) Pokemon.
Overall, this game is quite fun to play. It takes a very long time to finish, so it's quite a good buy if you're looking for a game that will last a long time. Even if you just zoom through the plot, it'll still take a long time, but I doubt that is the case. Most often times you'll spend a lot of time training and leveling up your Pokemon to get new moves or evolutions. The graphics are gorgeous, and the attack animations are rather interesting. Each Pokemon have their own sounds but they're rather limited and is often scratchy. The music is a nice touch, fits the mood, but is sort of simple if you take a closer hearing. Pokemon Diamond should be a definite addition to your DS Game Collection.
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