As I entered the forest, I had a feeling that something, or someone would be waiting for me. Walking through the trees I entered into what they call ‘Eterna Forest’. Turns out my suspicions were right - there was someone waiting for me. This nice young lady named Cheryl asks if I know anything about Team Galaxy, apparently they just went through here. I told her I had met one of the members before but she changed the subject. Cheryl went on to tell me that she was too scared to walk through the forest by herself because of the mass amounts of Pokemon around. I agreed to travel with her through the forest of eternity - ‘perhaps the name is a comment on the time it takes to get to the other side’ I thought to myself. As we proceeded through the woods I couldn’t help but wonder why there were several other adventurers constantly standing, waiting for… something, or someone to come by them. Cheryl and I decided to just walk pass those oddly dressed loiterers, it was a bad move however because as soon as they saw us they couldn’t help but walk up and demand we had a Pokemon battle. Cheryl looked at me smirking, we didn’t really want to do this but if it was the only way to bypass these guys it had to be done. We both threw down our Pokemon, her Chansey and my Luxio. We had a lot of fun that day, running through the forest battling other trainers - I wonder where she went to…

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are the latest in the series of multi-million selling titles from Nintendo Japan. The franchise effectively started more than ten years ago when the Green and Red Versions were released for the original Game Boy to a country ripe and ready to catch all the Pocket Monsters they could possibly find. When the games were finally released in America and Europe towards the end of the twentieth century - the Pokemon phenomenon had well and truly begun. Ever since, the so called ‘fad’ has spawned numerous video games, a trading card game, clothing, TV shows and films as well as hundreds of other things that we don’t really need (in the words of Willy Mason anyway). Yes by the very dawn of the twenty first century the world was obsessed with a hundred and fifty monsters small enough to fit in your pocket - in the form of a small games console anyway, no need to inform animal rights. Sadly, ever since the hype died down with the release of the sequels Gold and Silver, many people believed that the Pokemon phenomenon was well and truly dead - boy were they wrong.

Skip forward to the year 2007, a lot has happened since the first Pokemon games arrived; several countries invaded Iraq and had Saddam Hussein murdered, we discovered a planet far away from us that could potentially maintain human life and Tony Blair is still the prime minister of England - much to the scorn of many. As well as these more important things, video games have advanced a lot since the late nineties. The Pokemon games now include around five hundred different monsters each customizable with many different ways to attack your opponents and hundreds of different items they can hold onto for safe keeping. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are the culmination of over ten years worth of building on the same core idea, the idea of collecting monsters spawned in the mind of a young Satoshi Tajiri back in the seventies. As a little boy Tajiri used to collect bugs in his local fields and forests, when they were destroyed by industrialisation he felt it incredibly sad that other children could not collect creatures and look after them anymore. This idea stayed with him until he and some friends formed a gaming magazine ‘Game Freak’ which happened to later become funded by game publishers ‘Creatures’. When Tajiri first saw the link cable for the original Game Boy he imagined little monsters crawling along that wire between friends and the dream was made into reality. Lots of people including myself owe a lot to Mr. Tajiri’s creative vision. His dream has helped entertain millions of children (and adults!) all around the world for over ten years… as well as making lots of money I imagine.

The latest games in the series are perhaps the most anticipated games on the Nintendo DS, gamers knew they have been in development for a while now and it is great news that they are finally here. I personally was extremely happy to see the game (I bought the Pearl version on import) drop through the letterbox this time last week and I proceeded to launch myself into the land of Sinnoh as soon as it was out of its packaging.

Pokemon has always been about catching monsters and going on a quest to catch every little creature you can possibly get your mitts on. This latest adventure lives up to its predecessors and is surprisingly nothing groundbreaking. The game is pretty much exactly what you would expect from a primary title in the long running series. You start out by telling the professor if you are a male or female as well as your first name and the name of your rival (I called him Buck). When this is out of the way there is a brief introduction showing you how to battle with your pocket-worthy friends effectively and sets up the story (of which there is very little). From then on it’s a free country! You simply work your way around the land of Sinnoh collecting Pokemon, battling other trainers and working yourself up to become the best Pokemon trainer there ever was.

What’s that you say? We’ve been playing these games for nearly ten years and it still sounds the same? Well yeah, you’re right. The Pokemon games as a series haven’t really evolved much - Game Freaks must live by the mantra that after all, why fix something which isn’t broken right? There are however some large and new additions to Diamond and Pearl that weren’t around in previous generations.

One of the most noticeable introductions to the games is the inclusion of the DS touch screen as a way of navigating through the many menus and battle sequences. Whereas before the game took place all on one cluttered screen, this time around everything is spread across two appropriately sized and managed screens which really helps make the experience a whole lot more user friendly. The battles are controlled completely with the touch screen with massive thumb-friendly buttons. The new interactive element is a great way of introducing interaction with a game (as well as creating a lot of dirty fingerprints!) which previously was a lot more mechanical in its workings. When in the field and not battling however, the bottom screen is filled with the display of your watch (or Poketch for short) which has many functions including but not limited too; a map of the region, an overview of your Pokemons wellbeing, a pedometer and predictably, a time telling function. The Poketch does come in handy as a mini map and determining how much your little friends like you but it isn’t exactly revolutionary.

The second massive new feature in the games which is revolutionary is the inclusion of online game play. It is possible very early into your adventure to trade your monsters, not only with those located near to your console but far away as well. Without the need for a friend code the game has a ‘global trade system’ which allows you to swap Pokemon with anyone else in the world that is looking for the creatures you have to offer. The trading system is a great way to collect all of the Pokemon and is a great incentive to collect them all. Although not the most user friendly online experience available in a game, Diamond and Pearl also has a battle and trade function which works over the internet with anyone registered into your friends list (via laborious friend codes I might add). The idea of trading a battling with friends is perhaps the biggest reason why people still play this game after so long. It’s great fun to build up your own little team with its own strategies and show it off to your friends (and enemies!)

There are many other new features as well (you can import all your Pokemon from the GBA games) but I believe that the game still works incredibly well by itself without introducing many new functions and potentially breaking such an amazing formula. You’ve still got features that were introduced in previous games that made them great such as; changes depending on time of day, berry growing, contests to participate in (boosting your ego), many different Pokemon to catch as well as many many places to visit and check out.

Diamond and Pearl still incorporate many of the same old tricks from previous games in the series but manage to pull them all together to create a magnificent experience which people of all ages can respect and enjoy. Don’t believe what you hear, Pokemon isn’t just for children. If anything the series’ longevity shows that it is a hugely successful and entertaining franchise which is still capable of out selling everything else available for the console and becoming another must-have game for all fans of the series as well as those who left it behind years ago. I truly believe that with Diamond and Pearl - Nintendo are back on form with an excellent game which deserves more praise than a final evaluation can give it.

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