Game Review: Pokémon Brilliant Diamond

 

As far as traditional, turn-based RPG’s go; you can’t often beat Pokémon. Originally released on the year of my birth back in 1996 (God I feel old now), the series has bloomed into a multibillion-dollar franchise at this current point, having branched out into nearly every possible medium. I got hooked onto the series during the 3rd generation with Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and for the most part I have been playing every mainline entry since then. Despite my history and adoration for the franchise however, it’s hard not to feel notably irked by the latest addition to the franchise. This addition being the rather underwhelming 4th generation remakes; Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. 

The 4th generation of Pokémon titles came out originally back in 2006 for the Nintendo DS. They were the first of three mainline entries onto the DS hardware system and brought with them and new visual engine and refined battle system. Despite the new hardware and look, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and the 4th generation had a reputation in the community for being one of the weaker entries in the series. This isn’t to say the generation doesn’t have its fans, but I remember a lot of people seem to look back on these titles with less favour when compared to some of the older generations. For me, I am one of the fans who kind of sits in the middle with this generation. I neither love it nor hate it. I remember back when I played it originally, I really enjoyed the new visual style and I liked the new Pokémon designs but I do agree that it was a very slow game, both mechanically and narratively too.  The reason I’m bringing up a lot of the points made about the original versions of these games is because fundamentally they still all apply to the modern remakes we received for the titles this year. Unlike the prior generation remakes, I feel Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl don’t do enough to bring back these titles while taking advantage of the newer mechanics and landscape the latest iterations of the franchise have established.

The story of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl follows essentially the exact same plot beats as the original versions. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it’s not changing what isn’t broke here, but in past remakes we’ve seen them take the opportunity to refine and even add new elements to the story to make it fresh and more relevant to a modern audience; so it’s just a shame to not see it done in the same breadth here. The story takes place in the Sinnoh region, in which you play either a male or female Pokémon trainer who travels the land discovering new types of Pokémon to catch and train in order to fill out your Pokedex. On top of catching and training Pokémon you also find yourself on a personal journey to acquire all the gym badges from the gym leaders in the land in order to take on the Sinnoh Elite Four and beat the Pokémon League Champion. So far this all fits into the typical mould of a Pokémon game, where this game stands apart though is in its narrative.  The story of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is tailored around the legendary Pokémon of each respective version, Dialga the legendary Pokémon of Time and Palkia, the legendary Pokémon of Space. A villainous team called Team Galactic is in search of these legendary Pokémon in order to reset the universe and rebuild it in their own image. They see the current world as a lost cause and seek to define a better one which is layered in the principles of their leader Cyrus. As far as villainous teams go, I consider Galactic to be a bit more captivating in comparison to the others. Their style feels distinctly villainous and they actually have a solid presence in the story and do some actual terroristic actions in this game to justify their position as the bad guys. It’s just a shame the more fleshed out and defined plot they were given in Platinum isn’t encompassed at all here. As I said earlier, to its own detriment I feel this game tries to do nothing new with this narrative and simply copy and pastes it from the original games and doesn’t even bother to include any of the elements from Platinum’s story; it’s a real wasted opportunity.

 

In regards to visual scope it’s really hard not to feel let down by this game. I always try to judge a game based on what it is, as opposed to what it could be; but in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s case it’s really difficult not to see this game as a major blunder visually. Pokémon X and Y came out on the 3DS back in 2013 and those iterations stood as the first full 3D renditions of a Pokémon adventure. Since then, each release has continued to refine and improve the 3D world to a point where it feels truly distinct in Sword and Shield. To go from consistent 3D worlds and environments to a top-down, 2.5-D recreation of the original Diamond and Pearl games is nothing short of insulting. As I said, I’m not the biggest fan of generation 4 but I know it deserved just as substantial a remake as the prior generations and visually this just isn’t enough. In order to attribute itself to the original top-down and sprite-based design the game uses a chibi art style for its characters and it’s really hard not to feel this as a massive step back. When you look at what prior releases were capable of with environmental and character design you just feel like this game isn’t trying hard enough to justify being a modern-day Pokémon game on the Nintendo Switch. Hell in all honesty this feels like a game best placed on the 3DS as it’s obviously not using the full processing power of the Switch. I know I’m basing a lot of my negative points off the back of comparisons but honestly, it’s the only way to appreciate just how poor this visual presentation is. HD textures and colours are the bare minimum of what we get here and it’s just not enough. I’ve looked at fan concepts on YouTube that present what Diamond and Pearl could have looked like if given a proper 3D recreation and it just reinforces the tragedy of what this game truly is to me.

As for the gameplay, I honestly can’t find much to appreciate here either. Again, the prior releases in the series included major expansions to the combat mechanics behind fights. Pokémon X and Y has mega evolutions. Pokémon Sun and Moon has Z-moves. Pokémon Sword and Shield has Gigantamax. The point I’m trying to make here is each release of Pokémon in the modern landscape has done well in introducing new and impressive additions which change up the layout of your playstyle. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl chooses to include none of that and it’s downright bizarre. The lack of these key gameplay changers is just another example of how bare-bones this remake truly is. It does the very bare minimum in recreating the game mechanically. Fights feel stale and excruciatingly slow with lifeless Pokémon and move animations, hell I even felt Pokémon Black and White on the DS has more life in the animation department to fights. The pace to each fight makes the numerous amounts of them feel like a chore to endure rather than a challenge to seek as well. The only aspect of the gameplay that I will give a small inkling of praise towards is how they put HM moves into your Poketech watch as apposed to requiring you to carry around a HM slave Pokémon in your slot all the time but that’s a quality-of-life change which has been part of the series since Sun and Moon so I’m not giving the game any extra praise for doing a bare minimum expectation.

I hate that I have come out of this game with so much negativity. I wanted to relive a game from my childhood and see how it took advantage of the modern innovations of the series. Instead, what I got was a bare-boned remake which is so lacking in content that you honestly have no excuse to not just play the original games on your DS, it’s pretty much the same game. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl has no justified reason to exist when it puts in this little effort to redefine itself and in a world where the competition is constantly improving and innovating, to see the Pokémon Company charge us so much for so little, it’s making me really start to judge my fondness for the series going forward.