[Review] Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl: Flawed but fun remakes of classic gems

The first Pokémon game I ever played was Pokémon Pearl, so I was beyond excited to revisit my original and favorite region. This was especially true after the last few Pokémon games did not bring back that same charm I felt when playing Pearl for the first time. However, all I found while traveling through the Sinnoh region was a mixed bag of a game that had amazing highs, but also multiple lows. Every Pokémon game is, of course, split between exploring the world and fighting grand battles. Unfortunately, the two parts of the game have never felt more unconnected than they do here.

The battle system is as brilliant as it has ever been, but the overworld shockingly lags behind in multiple ways that hurt the experience. Sometimes I felt like this was the best Pokémon game I have ever played, and other times it felt like a DS game with improved graphics to match the modern day. This review may seem split in its own opinion, but that’s simply because the games felt like two entirely different experiences wrapped up together. Overall, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are fun remakes of classic Pokémon adventures but are held back by a dramatic split in quality between the games’ battles and the overworld.

A brilliant battle system that is easy to understand, yet hard to master

The core of any Pokémon game is the combat, and luckily, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl offer what might be the best battle system Pokémon has had in years. I first approached this game the exact same way that I have played Pokémon since X and Y, spamming my strongest move and one-shoting almost every Pokémon.

However, this strategy quickly changed once I reached the fighting-type gym leader Maylene. Her Lucario easily shredded through all of my Pokémon and trashed my confidence. For the first time in years, I had to closely examine her moves, types, and advantages. I actually had to learn and improve at the game. After grinding out a few more levels, and learning her moves in and out I was easily able to go back and beat her.

It was a quick and early lesson that this game should not be taken lightly. It reminded me of the importance of stat-increasing moves, and how they can make or break a battle — a lesson I had long forgotten. Also, the reintroduction of held items impacting the battles was a nice additional layer of strategy. All of this made the battles in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl more difficult than any Pokémon game in generations, yet it was always rewarding to improve. Adding some of Pokémon’s best battle animations and some gorgeously detailed backgrounds on top of this makes each battle something to truly remember.

A potential source of controversy with the battle system, though, is how XP share is still a fixed feature rather than being optional. This feature rewards all your Pokémon with XP after a victory regardless of whether they fought in the battle or not. In past appearances, this has almost removed all difficulty, but it seems more balanced than ever in these remakes.

Typically, the Pokémon in my party would receive about half XP of the Pokémon who fought, which changed based on levels. It was enough XP that my party Pokémon never fell too far behind, yet it still required me to train each one so they could keep up with the pack. This was the first time I liked XP share in a Pokémon game, but it would still be nice to have the option to turn it off.

Overall, the battles in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are the best of any Pokémon game in recent memory. These vibrant and rewarding battles were most definitely the highlight of my Sinnoh adventure. Wanting to battle more and find tougher opponents kept me coming back to the game constantly over the playthrough. Sadly, the same cannot be said about the other major part of these games — the overworld.

A frustrating overworld that is lacking in many regards

In many ways, the battle system of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl was a strong return to form. It brought back many mechanics that have been missing for generations while improving what made the modern games strong as well. Likewise, the overworld was a return to the classic style in many respects. However, unlike the battles, the overworld undid any changes from the last 10 years with no regard to what worked in the modern titles.

This primarily sticks out in the return to random encounters in tall grass. One of the best parts of the Switch titles like Sword and Shield is how you can see Pokémon running about in the wild. It gives a new sense of life to the world and makes picking your battles more fun and easy. Finding wild Pokémon was no longer a dread, but something to look forward to. In fact, this transition away from random encounters has been a trend of RPGs even outside of Pokémon.

Yet, the Sinnoh remakes contain wild encounters that do not forgive. Oftentimes, all I had to do was merely step into tall grass for a Pokémon to jump out at me. It was easy to run away from each one, but it was very annoying and would slow the pace of the game to a crawl.

From here, there is a collection of small problems that may not be hugely detrimental to the game, but they just do not make sense. Things like how Hidden Move animations are always replayed or the noticeably old midi-based music files hurt the experience in small but constant ways. One such nit-pick is how your character will not automatically walk around small objects. A small detail I really appreciated about the recent Metroid Dread is how Samus would quickly run over a small obstacle that in previous games she would have to jump over. In fact, almost all modern 2D games do this. But Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl let you just get stuck behind a lamp post like it’s a brick wall.

It gets even worse on the bike, where it felt like playing pinball between any tiny object. After a bit, I resorted to not using a bike because it was frustrating. Little things like this really affect the pacing and make the games feel outright dated. It should also be noted that this is not a flaw of the controls themselves, which work perfectly fine. This issue is instead a problem with the game and the poorly-aged design of the region.

The visuals of the overworld are much the same as the rest of it. It mostly works and doesn’t break the game, but it is clearly unpolished in just enough ways to be frustrating. The cute toy-like art style typically works well, but these titles are lacking in a lot of detail that makes games with similar art styles stick out. Nothing about the visuals spews life or character at all. Even all of the NPCs move in a weird, blocky fashion as if they were still on a grid. Plus, half of the textures in the overworld are either blurry or look like simple jpegs, making most of the game look weird.

I openly expressed disgust at certain textures that looked bad on multiple occasions. And if a texture was not strictly bad, they were uninspired. It seems like the games were afraid to take any creative liberties with the designs and wanted to cover it up when they did. This is especially noticeable when put alongside the games’ vibrant, colorful, and animated battles.

The overworld of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is serviceable for what it needs to be. That being said, there are many points where it just lags behind and feels outdated in ways that should have been easily preventable. It is hard to attribute one particular thing wrong with the overworld, but simply put, it’s just not great to experience. Each of these problems becomes even more apparent when the rest of the game’s experience is so amazing and well crafted. It really seems like the least effort was put into this part of the game, which is a shame, as it takes up a large portion of your adventure. While it is never so bad as to break your immersion in the games, the overworld most certainly does hold them back.

A new grand adventure below the Sinnoh region

OK, but what if there was an area of the game that completely fixed most of those complaints from before? Well, luckily, the expanded Grand Underground does just that. The Grand Underground is a labyrinth below the Sinnoh region where trainers can fight and catch rare Pokémon, dig for gems, and play with their friends. While this area is visually uninteresting, it provides tons of new content in a better-designed area that kept me occupied for hours. Seriously, I almost did not beat the game because I was too busy just goofing off below Sinnoh.

The underground is split primarily between two types of areas that can be explored. First are the long underground tunnels where you can meet NPCs, dig for gems, or hunt for Diglets that drop little sparkly points. Second is the brand-new Pokémon Hideaways, which are miniature biomes where Pokémon roam free. That’s right, no random encounters. There is something about seeing Pokémon moving around and existing in natural environments that make the world feel much more alive.

Each hideaway was always a brilliant place to grind out some levels or catch a new Pokémon for my next gym badge. Plus, you can do so among fellow trainers when playing online. Thanks to the Grand Underground, it never felt like a dread to grind during my playthrough, because all I had to do was explore the underground, fight some Pokémon, and maybe dig up a few gems for fun.

The Grand Underground became one of the best parts of my journey and was always something I looked forward to exploring more. The digging game was just how I remembered it, the Pokémon Hideaways were brimming with life, and it was always fun to chase after Diglet. Now I will return to running around those tunnels, cause I heard that if you collect 40 Diglet points, shiny Pokémon will be more likely to appear.

Enjoying life in Sinnoh with an amazing story and multiple minigames

The Grand Underground may be amazing, but it would be nothing without the main game to back it up. The story of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is left largely untouched, letting the remakes be an extremely faithful retelling for new trainers. It is nothing more than the basic Pokémon fare of getting the eight gym badges, fighting the Pokémon League, and saving the world from a group of mad scientists. But the story of these games still stick out among the others in the Pokémon series thanks to a memorable cast of characters like Dawn, Rowan, and the leaders of Team Galatic.

Each character brings a certain level of charm to the game, whether it is companionship, a strong rival, or a weird villain to hate. Nothing may be new to the story, but returning players will definitely get nostalgic seeing their favorite characters, and new players will be able to enjoy a classic Pokémon tale for the first time.

On top of the main story, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl offer minigames and activities to keep players occupied. First of all, there are numerous small things to check out across the map. These include the footprint checker, name rater, poffin-making game, and a small park to take a stroll with your Pokémon. None of these activities are that in-depth but keep things interesting as you explore Sinnoh.

Second, the Super Contest has returned from the original games and functions much the same as it did in the past. You choose your difficulty and talent, complete a rhythm game, use a special move, and decorate a Pokéball. As in the originals, there is no real difference between each talent besides what stickers you should use on the Pokéball. This is one of those things where it will either be your cup of tea or not, and I personally was not crazy about the Super Contest as it felt too repetitive.

The main story and all the activities in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are as great as they have ever been. Each one provides a unique way to play the game or interact with your Pokémon. However, there is absolutely nothing new about any of them. All of the games function the exact same, and the story is completely unchanged. This is not really a bad problem, since they were all highlights of the original, but it would have been nice to have some new content as well. Especially the Super Contest could have used some more variety between its multiple talents, but I guess the approach of “if it’s not broken, then don’t fix it” was largely applied here.

Far from perfect, but still a good time

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are extremely faithful remakes that often performed like they were afraid to make any changes to the originals. This unwillingness to adapt to the times by removing random encounters, adding better music files, or preventing getting stuck behind tiny objects can make either game feel like an outdated mess for most of a playthrough.

However, at the end of the day, what has stuck with me is the amazing battle system that kept me coming back for more, the close bond I felt with all my Pokémon, and the exciting Grand Underground that I explored. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl may be far from perfect, but they still deliver an enjoyable and fun Pokémon adventure for all ages.

Score: 7.5/10