That same old Pokémon game which is for some reason so addictive even though we know what to expect but keep coming back for more, seems to spark that childhood memory of the ‘good old days’ when we wanted to catch ‘em all. 

Pokémon Platinum is the “Director’s Cut” of Diamond & Pearl. It is grouped into the 4th Generation (sometimes called the 3-D Generation) of Pokémon games along with Diamond and Pearl due to the fact that it is a main series game (not a spin-off) and uses 3-D graphics. 

The games star Pokémon is of course a legendary one: Giratina, in a new Origin form. This Pokémon is featured in the newest Pokémon movie, “Giratina and the sky warrior”. The game’s main story line follows that of previous versions; you select your character, give him/her a name, walk around and battle. As always there is your antagonist character. In earlier versions of Pokémon (e.g. Red) the antagonist was your enemy and despised you. But since everything in Pokémon must be happy and adoring, in this version your antagonist is your best friend. Your Mission in this Pokémon world is to train your Pokémon, defeat all the gym leaders, the Elite four, Team Galactic and to catch the Legendary Pokémon Giratina who has been awakened and creates a portal into its own world called “The Distortion World” where physical laws do not apply. 

One of the new features of Platinum is the triumphant return of the Battle Frontier, which originated from Pokémon Emerald. There are five facilities in battle frontier:

• Battle Factory
• Battle Tower
• Battle Castle
• Battle Arcade
• Battle Hall
• Battle Shops

In Battle Factory you rent out Pokémon and battle fellow trainers, if you defeat the other trainer you get to trade Pokémon with him/her. Battles are done in sets of seven. In Battle Tower, you do essentially what the name says; battle people in three different modes.

• Single Battle
• Double Battle
• Multi-battle

Battle Castle is similar to Battle Tower except you cannot heal your Pokémon after fights; instead you earn points, which can be spent on items such as health. Battle Arcade is a single or multi battle game. You spin a wheel before each match to see what skill you lose or gain for that battle. In Battle Hall you pick one Pokémon if you are playing a single battle or two if you are playing a multi battle, you then select the type of Pokémon you want to face. Battles are done in sets of seven. Finally, Battle Shops is the place you would spend the points you earned from fighting in the Battle Frontier and the Battle Tower - here you can buy potions and other items of use.  

All these areas are accessible once you have defeated the elite four. You can also record and replay matches you have played using the VS Recorder once you have received it. 

There are mini-games, which are accessible through Wi-Fi and can be found at all the Pokémon centers. You can play with friends, trade Pokémon and play Battle Frontier as a group. This is important since some Pokémon will only evolve through trading.  

Starting out in the game, you begin in the land of Sinnoh – an island that is based on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Your hometown is called Twinleaf Town; this is the first time that there has not been a Pokémon lab in your starting hometown, excluding Diamond and Pearl since Platinum is based on them.  After talking with your overly hyper active Friend (antagonist) you venture off into the wilds where you are stopped by Professor Rowan and his grandkid. You get to choose a Pokémon to start off with, your choices are the usual in terms of variety:

• Chimchar: A monkey like Pokémon (Fire).
• Turtwig: A tortoise like Pokémon (Grass).
• Piplup: A Penguin like Pokémon (Water).

The game play is relatively easy, you may die a few times after just receiving your Pokémon but they level up extremely fast, after only an hour and a half my Chimchar was at level 20 and had evolved into a Monferno. I felt that parts of the game were too easy; 99% of the people I met on the road, or Pokémon I met in the wild, I could defeat with one attack which made it rather boring since there was no challenge. The only time I would have to use more than one move and maybe a health potion or two was when battling the gym leaders or a Team Galactic boss. One noticeable change from Diamond and Pearl is that when battling a gym leader just before the battle a close-up of the gym leader is shown. The image has been changed from an enlarged sprite to a higher quality drawing. This I felt was a nice touch-up. 

Once I had walked around a bit and battled Pokémon and trainers, I was pleasantly surprised to find that apart from all these new and oddly named Pokémon that everyone has, there are also the original Pokémon - the ones I grew up with, such as Pikachu, Clefairy, Geodude, Onix, and many others. 

One feature of the game play that I particularly liked – coming from someone who last played Pokémon Red- is that you can now run! And having two speeds on your bicycle really helps to get around quickly. (Until you learn the Fly ability)  

I personally found the interface and the controls of the game to be easy and a pleasure to use. Of course the main point of a DS game is to see how well the touch screen is implemented. When I first started the game I used the stylus. But after 5 minutes it was back in its holder. The only time I had to use the stylus was when choosing names for my character or Pokémon. I personally thought they tried to squeeze in too many letters and symbols into a single screen, which is why all my Pokémon where named after smiley faces. Since that was a one touch button. The response time from touching a button to it doing something is quick and responsive. 

When battling you get your normal display on the top screen; Pokémon, health, experience and a few minor animations for moves. On the bottom screen you get four nice big buttons, which show your current Pokémon’s moves. These buttons I liked since it takes away the need for the stylus since a good-old finger tap works well. There are three smaller buttons along the bottom edge of the touch screen, but not too small as to make a wrong finger tap. They are used to access your other Pokémon, your Bag, and to run when facing a wild Pokémon. 
 

Your Pokémon can only have four moves at a time. So anything learnt after that they have to forget or replace an existing move. This can be rather frustrating at times especially when your Pokémon get into the higher levels and they want to learn a new move but you can’t decide what to ‘forget’. One thing I learnt is that an HM move cannot be forgotten. This subsequently took up two slots of my main Pokémon’s moves. If I had to see a new feature in coming Pokémon games, it would be the ability to forget HM moves.  

Throughout the game you are given additional features to add to your Pokédex. While you are walking around, your Pokédex is displayed on the lower screen with two simple buttons; up and down. You use these two buttons to navigate through the different applications such as money counter, calculator, time, berry scanner, Pokémon health viewer and many others. I only really found use for it with displaying the time, since I would think I had only played for 2 hours when in fact it was 5. 
 

In Platinum the Artificial Intelligence of your opponent in battle has improved from Diamond and Pearl. The characters will use seals and health potions on their Pokémon if needed. Of course the further you get into the game the more intelligent the Pokémon and characters become. As I said earlier, because of this fact the first few hours of the game are boring and repetitive when battling, but defeat a few gym leaders and maybe you’ll be buying more health potions then you thought.  

The graphics in Platinum is of course one of the best so far, boasting its 3-D buildings and scenery. The towns are especially pleasant to walk around in especially ones with tall buildings, since when you walk past one that’s higher than your perspective the depth of field for the building is pulled off well as to bring out the 3-D of it all.  
 

One issue I have about Pokémon Platinum, as with all Pokémon games, is the music. Sure I thought it was great for the first 30 minutes. But after that I turned off the music of the DS and played my own. The repetitive sounds, and environmental effects can be a real irk when playing Pokémon. I hope to see a wider variety of music in the future Pokémon games, or at least more bearable ones.  

The most common thing in Platinum (apart from Pokémon) is the sheer amount of talking everyone does and not anything worth listening to either. Throughout the game you will inevitably be pulled into a game-set conversation where they talk and talk about Pokémon being stolen and bad things happening (which of course you have to help with, whether you like it or not) but if you want to get free items and free Pokémon as I did, you talk to everyone in the towns first time around. Of course you don’t read what they say since you only want what they have. But never the less you will be wishing there was a “skip” button when you enter a conversation just to get it over with. The only time I had to slow down my constant “A” button tapping is when the main story line comes into play and they tell you which town you need to go to and what has to be done. Other than that it’s like you’re in a hyperactive world where people only get to talk once in their digital lives and that happens to be when you arrive.  

One feature I appreciated in the game is that the “bag” that you carry everything in is infinite in space. Everything in the bag is nicely categorized for all your items, such as HM’S & TM’S, accessories and potions. You see that berry tree? Well go pick them all, don’t worry about planting them because somewhere along the way you can sell them for a high price or use them for your Pokémon. After a few battles when starting the game you won’t have to worry about your money since it seems to go into the Hundred Thousands rather quickly, especially if you give your leading Pokémon (the one you always fight with) a Amulet Coin, which doubles all winnings when that Pokémon fights. Just think you’re carrying around a platinum MasterCard all the time, that’s what I’ve started calling the Amulet Coin. 

I think looking at just Platinum as a single game; it is amazing, fun, and a solid game worth the title of Pokémon, especially with the addition of battle frontier and the Wi-Fi Plaza. But, Looking at it as a ‘Director’s cut’ of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, even though there were a lot of noticeable changes from those two, I think they could have made it a bit better with a few more up-front changes that we the player would notice instantly.  

Pokémon Platinum is a game for the fans; those who enjoy the world of the new Pokémon and that of the original golden oldies. It’s for us who remember the days of Charizard and the first Pokémon series on TV. So go buy the game and immerse yourself into the fantasy world that is Pokémon, because remember, We Gotta’ catch ‘em all.