Pokemon Diamond or Pearl
Nintendo
Rated E for Everyone
Score: 5 out of 5
Players: 1-8 (1-4 in battle)

What can I say? I’m 37 and I love these pokemon games. I find them highly addictive. I played Ruby until I won, which took tens of hours. I’m well on my way towards logging that with Diamond. Today I noticed that I’ve played 10 hours to date. I don’t know what it is exactly, but the combination of exploration, puzzle solving, and turn based combat is fun. I also think that maybe the relationship between trainer and pokemon, in otherwords, my odd affection for my pokemon, is another thing that draws me in. I also love how everyone I battle says something like “prepare to lose” or “you’re so weak this isn’t even a challenge” and then I wipe the mat with them.

When you start your adventure in Sinnoh, you choose between 3 pokemon, Turtwig, Chimchar or Piplup. I chose a Turtwig and named him Turdwiggle. Today, he turned level 20 and between his Razor Leaf and Absorb he can beat the crap out of anyone. There are over 100 new pokemon such as Munchlax, Weavile, Lucario, Mime JR, Bonsly, and more. You pick whether you want your character to be a boy or a girl, then find and train pokemon, which really means you battle, earn experience, and teach new more effective moves to your pokemon. You travel from town to town and battle with Gym Leaders to advance. There’s also a storyline about Team Galactic who wants to control the universe.

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