The phenomenon that is Pokémon returned to the DS in 2007.  This highly successful role-playing game (RPG) focuses on the character that you play catching and leveling up Pokémon in an attempt to win against the gym leaders across the region and eventually contend against the Elite Four and the reigning Champion.

          Pearl allows you all sorts of customization throughout the game.  As you begin, you have the option to change your character's name to something more suitable for you and pick their sex (an option that has existed since the second generation of Pokémon games - Gold, Silver and Crystal).

          Unlike, conventional RPGs where you customize your character, its the Pokémon you choose to catch and train which determines how you customize your party.  In the first stages of the game you are asked asked to pick 1 out of 3 types of Pokémon - fire (Chimchar), water (Piplup) and grass (Turtwig).  In this version if you don't choose the fire type you have only one other fire type in the game to catch if you wish the type to be in your party.  In my opinion this wasn’t a particularly great design choice.  Out of over 480 Pokémon they could include at least 5 more fire types and personally I thought that they should of included Growlithe or Vulpix instead of Ponyta, but hey-ho what’s done is done.

          In keeping with the previous versions the time changes still occur.  So as you progress throughout the day it will gradually get darker to become night.  And just as before, the wild Pokémon available to catch will depend on the time of day you try and catch them.  For example, Murkrow will be available to catch in the evenings but not in the day. This is another good feature that allows you to further customize your party because it makes you try even harder to catch the Pokémon you need.

          What I do love about this series of games is that it's extremely easy to use.  There's not even a difficult learning curve for younger or new players to the Pokémon series as you are introduced to the control system through a tutorial.  The tutorial unfortunately, is boring and a waste of time for experienced players but if you haven't used the DS version of the game, it will be useful to break you in slowly.  The control system has slightly changed to be adapted to the DS but once you get over the small learning curve of using the 'X' button to bring up the menu instead of the 'Start' button you'll be flying through.

          As I've stated earlier, the simple control system means Pearl is very easy to play.  You just need to train your Pokémon up, learn good combinations of items and which moves are effective against what types of opponents (all this you pick up through the game without even realizing).  My tip would be that if you find yourself lost, go to the last town you were in and talk to everyone.  There's a strong possibility that you'll have missed talking to someone with vital information each gym battle to succeed.

          This Elite Four and Champion Cynthia are by far the hardest set of opponents I've faced over the previous versions.  There was a vast amount of time I spent leveling up my Pokémon between defeating the eighth gym leader and facing the Elite Four and Cynthia.  With their Pokémon ranging from level 53 to 66, I found I needed to have my party at level 60 and a fully stocked medicine pack in order to win.            When you select your party, make sure they have a range of skills and aren't just focused on one type.  You’ll stand a better chance.

Hint: Try not to use any elixirs, ethers or max ethers through the game.  Save them until the Elite Four, they'll be invaluable and you can't buy them!

          After this series of games was released there have been a few copycats trying to capture the same amount of fan base that this game has attracted.  Also, with this game being the fourth generation and still using the same game structure, this game was hardly original in this sense.  But, with another new Pokémon game there is another new region for your character to explore.  Within this new region of Sinnoh, your character can travel to the eight new cities (and I mean cities – they’re huge!) and battle against all new, tough gym leaders.  

          107 new Pokémon have been created for this version.  Some may be entirely new species, however, some are new evolutionary forms of old faces that we know and love. For example, the two new forms of Eevee – Leafeon and Glaceon; Electabuzz can now also evolve into Electralizer and Magmar evolves into Magmortar.  Many new forms exist but I’ll let you find out yourself.

          Even with this new region to explore and Pokémon to catch, I believe it’s the new mini-games that help this version be quite original.  This version has a great range of mini games to keep players interested whenever they want to divert from the main story.  The ones that were favorites for me were the underground tunnels and the Poffin Corner.  In the underground tunnels, once you've carried out a few tasks by an NPC in Eterna city and receive your drilling kit, you’re dropped into the vast caverns of mines beneath the region. There you can dig for gems, fossils and treasures found in the wall.  The gems are small at first but if you bury them they'll grow and you can trade them for objects to decorate your Secret Base.  The Secret Base is an area underground that only you or people you invite can access.  You can place objects such as furniture, dolls and plants in your Secret Base to brighten it up.  With more people down in the tunnels you can set traps and play games down there (available via a wi-fi connection).  Its great fun and you can sit mining gems for days without getting bored.  

          In Pearl every Pokémon has a particular type of food that they prefer –spicy, sweet, dry etc.  Berries you pick from trees around Sinnoh can be made into Poffins.  You cook the poffins in the Poffin Corner at Hearthome City.  The Poffin Corner is part of the Pokémon contest mini game of Pearl where the best-groomed and accessorized Pokémon wins.  In order to start making poffins you will need a poffin case that you can obtain from the Chairman of Hearthome.  There is a skill to doing this so you have to be careful not to burn the poffins.  Once the poffins are cooked you feed them to which ever Pokémon likes them best for a chance to compete.

          Another new feature to this version is the Pokétch (short for Poké Watch).  By attaching any one of the 20 applications that fit into this device, it allows your character to utilize a number of useful pieces of information.  A few examples of the apps for the Pokétch are: the digital clock, step counter, item finder, berry checker, wireless search and type chart.  As you progress through the game and continue to return to the NPC that gave you your Pokétch in Jubilife City, you will be able to collect all 20 apps.  I particularly found the berry checker, digital clock and type chart very useful throughout this game.  There are a multitude of new and improved activities to do in this version that lead to hours of fun and adventure.  This is a definite improvement on previous versions.  

          I've already touched upon the small range of Pokémon used in the majority of this game and it's disappointing.  Out of over 480 Pokémon, you are only exposed to 150 up until you defeat the Elite Four.  A poor choice I think by the designers.  I believe this was to separate the primary goal of the game from the players who simply wanted to catch all 480+ Pokémon.  This limits the limited free roaming ability of the game.

          The moves that you teach to the Pokémon are fairly similar to the ones in previous versions only renamed or with different animations.  There are a few more which are quite impressive but overall there's nothing to shout about, they're just ok.

          This game begins in Twinleaf Town. After seeing a report on TV about the search for a Red Gyarados you travel to a nearby lake where you hope to find the mysterious creature.  You travel to the lake accompanied by your best friend. There you find Professor Rowan, an expert in Pokémon evolution and studies and his assistant, Dawn (girl) or Lucas (boy).            After the professor and his assistant leave the lake you notice they leave behind a briefcase. You're then attacked by wild Starly and look for a means to defend yourself.  You open up the briefcase and find pokéballs inside.  You are given the choice of three types Turtwig, Chimchar or Piplup to defeat the Starly with.   After beating the Starly, Dawn or Lucas retrieve and return the briefcase to Professor Rowan. Apparently a bond has begun to form between you and your Pokémon so the professor offers it to you and asks you to embark on a journey and fill your Pokédex.

          Every Pokémon game has their Team set to take over the world or some other masterminded scheme, so introducing Team Galactic.  You encounter Team Galactic several times throughout the game however there global domination intentions becomes clear when they capture rare Pokémon Uxie, Azelf and Mesprit, of Sinnoh’s three lakes. With these helpless Pokémon imprisoned, it is your job to free them. Once you've successfully released them, you travel to the sacred shrine above Mt. Coronet and enter the cave, where the leader of Team Galactic awakens Palkia. Palkia’s powers begin to overwhelm Sinnoh, causing the newly free Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit to attempt to stop it. It is then that you're able to engage Palkia in a battle.  Use this chance to capture this versions legendary Pokémon with your master ball, but with Palkia only at level 47 when you capture it, it may not be as useful to your party as you might have thought.  Having completed this, and after meeting requirements set by the Elite Four, the player is able to contend with them, fighting its members and then the Pokémon League Champion, Cynthia.  In my opinion, this story is easily forgettable.  I think they could have tried to tie the story into the game and gym battles more to fully integrate the player into this games story.

          The graphics sadly still resemble a slight upgrade to the leaf green or fire red versions that crossed our screens.  Although, there has been a slight upgrade to the graphical level of detail, but it hasn't advanced much in 13 years.  The only thing positive I can really say is that the individual Pokémon entrances in the wild and their move animations are definitely better.

          The music and sound effects, like the graphics, haven't evolved much since the previous versions.  Although there has been a slight upgrade in terms of sound, I thought for the fourth generation of Pokémon games we'd see a bit more depth to the sound.  I thought the sound effects were simple and I'm not pleased that the Pokémon don't speak their names when you encounter them in the wild or view them in your party or pokédex.

          Pearl has got that much content packed into this tiny cartridge, be it main story, mini games and side quests, leveling up or simply exploring the vast and quickly expanding world of Pokémon, you're sure to spend at least 40 + hours on this game.  The towns are much bigger and require a good 10 minutes to fully explore.            Personally I clocked up 90 + hours and I only defeated the Elite Four and spent a few hours trying the extra feature on the other smaller island but I had this crazy idea of trying to catch every Pokémon from the beginning and concurrently leveling them.  Needless to say, this was very time consuming.  My advice would be to obtain your six Pokémon, and focus on training them up.  At the end you have plenty of time to catch all the Pokémon you like in order to complete your pokédex.

          Overall, I think that a wider range of Pokémon to catch throughout the game would have made this new edition to the series even better and they shouldn’t have left this feature to the end.  

This game is well suited for boys and girls of every age because of the great content and has no unsuitable content.

          In my opinion, this game wouldn't be worth its price without its primary objective.  The motivation that players get to become the best trainer and catch as many Pokémon as they can push them forward and makes them want to continue.  The mini games were great additions to this game and complemented it very well giving you an alternative to the main story and help you socialize with Pokémon players worldwide via wi-fi.  A good thing since I feel that the story was quite forgettable lacked depth and the ability to draw the player into the story.  Quite a shame.

          This game is a great buy for people who like long adventures games or RPGs and is definitely worth a go.