Yet another installment in the Pokemon franchise? Well, we'll let you be the judge. But, die-hard Pokemon fans will want to own Pokemon Platinum to gather up the great, rare Pokemon that lurk here in this little Nintendo DS game.
I'm not sure how many Pokemon games have come out. I know they have pretty much worn out every color known to mankind. There has been Pokemon Red and Blue and Gold and Silver and now there is Pokemon Platinum. I think they are running out of things to name Pokemon games. What's next, Pokemon Tulips?
Disclaimer: This is my first Pokemon game besides Pokemon Stadium for the N64. I don't see the big deal.
Story
Rating 
In Pokemon Platinum you play as a boy/girl (you choose the gender of your character at the beginning of the game) whose best friend wants to get a pokemon. Since you have nothing better to do besides follow around your friend, you go along with him. You two meet a famous pokemon professor who gives you each a pokemon and wants you to help him fill out a pokedex, a list of all the pokemon in the world (he's so lazy he's trying to get kids to do his work for him. Shouldn't this violate child labor laws or something?). You agree and set off on a journey to fight random pokemon trainers, defeat pokemon gyms and catch wild pokemon.
I'm not sure why I should care about any of this, by the way. The game never really gives me a reason to care.
Gameplay
Rating 
I'm not sure how they've made so many Pokemon games. Sure, Pokemon Platinum is like a standard turn based RPG, except it sucks all the fun out of the genre. You can walk around and talk to people (who only really talk about pokemon anyway) but half the time the people are trainers who challenge you to battles without your say so. One word: annoying. Why can't I say if I want to fight the battle or not? Being attacked by wild pokemon is different, their wild! But a fellow person just throwing a monster at me? Come on!
The controls in Pokemon Platinum are mostly button oriented with movement controlled via d-pad and everything else is in the hands of the X,Y,A, and B buttons. It works, I guess.
The battles in Pokemon Platinum, which are supposed to be what pokemon games are about, are painfully slow and boring. It is some of the worst turn based combat I've ever experienced. It takes way too long for each attack to take place and once it does it is the same thing over and over (since pokemon can only store 4 moves). I dreaded every person I saw and every area of high grass for fear of another time consuming battle.
In order to catch more pokemon you have to buy pokeballs (at 200 whatever a piece!) but you can only use them once. If you fail to catch the pokemon, the pokeball disintegrates or catches on fire or something. Why can't I just pick it up and use it again? It makes no sense.
Graphics and Sound
Rating 
The graphics of Pokemon Platinum harken me back to the SNES or the GBA. They look okay, but I know the DS is capable more. Everything looks scrunched in and a little bit fuzzy. Actually, I take it back. SNES games have better graphics.
Sound wise I actually enjoyed Pokemon Platinum, but only because the music in the main character's home town reminded me of the music in Earthbound Zero. Overall, it is nice and upbeat and I liked it.
Fun
Rating
Um, no, I didn't have any. I felt like Pokemon Platinum was robbing me of precious moments of my life every minute I played it. The setting actually reminded me of a little of the Earthbound series, but with none of the offbeat humor that makes those two games so good. Or the fun that makes them worth playing. Or, you know, the engaging storyline. Pokemon Platinum has none of those.
Rating
If you like other Pokemon games you'll probably like Pokemon Platinum. Maybe I just didn't "get it" but I found this a worse than mediocre RPG. It is downright boring.
If you want to play a good turn based RPG play an old SNES game or Golden Sun. Don't play Pokemon Platinum.