Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Reviews
If you’re a newcomer or an existing Gen 4 fan, you’ll still have plenty of fun with Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. There are noticeable quality-of-life improvements, the Grand Underground is enjoyable, battling against friends is always a joy and there remains an entertaining story. Personally, I just think there’s room for improvement.
For all the flack Game Freak gets nowadays, it’s hard not to say that ILCA’s Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl can feel like a plunge backward when compared to the franchise’s prior nostalgic re-outings.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl straddle the line between old and new by giving two beloved heirlooms a polish that avoids tarnishing treasured memories. These are buoyant, accessible RPGs for fans and newcomers alike.
Pokémon is back with two fantastic remakes that are sure to act as comfort food for newer and older fans alike.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are good remakes of an inherently flawed Pokemon game. The games lean a little hard into recapturing the experience of the originals, which is a detriment and somewhat negates the fantastic visual and quality-of-life improvements.
Pokémon Shining Pearl effortlessly captures the essence of the classic handheld titles. And while there is plenty of new content and Pokémon to discover, it can’t help but seem stuck in the past somewhat. Frequent random encounters, a bland story structure and a low level of difficulty can quickly drag down the experience.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is the return to a journey marked by happy memories, vivid colors and challenging battles. Combining the right mechanics with very well-designed graphics, it surprises and exceeds expectations. For the richness of content and the comfort it brings, it is more than recommended for old and new players alike.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are therefore slightly too faithful to the source remasters/remakes. They bring back the older game’s stories and modernize them for a nostalgic hardcore fanbase.
If you're a Pokemon fan and haven't played the original Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum then you're missing out. The Sinnoh region is an absolute joy to explore and it's super-fun trying to catch as many Pokémon as you can.
These gripes aside – and I realise that I’ve griped a lot in this review – Pokémon Pearl remains an excellent game, and the remake is of a very high quality. I’ve been able to reunite with Piplup, relive a very fondly-remembered adventure, and while there have been some tweaks that I’ve been less than amused by, on balance the developers have retained the qualities that made that game such a fondly remembered one.
I'm certainly not in a hurry to leave it any time soon; that's for sure. However, with Pokémon Legends on the horizon, this one-two punch of Pokémon titles could be a winning way to close out one year and welcome in another, with a blast from the past followed by something we haven't really seen before. That's a Jigglepuff double-slap I can get behind.
It's a great alternative to relive Sinnoh. It is possible to spend hours searching for rare Pokemon in the underground sections. But even as a new Pokemon game, it seems more logical to wait for Pokemon Legends: Arceus for a more old-fashioned, more eccentric experience.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Whether you’re a Pokémon fan who fondly remembers the original or a newcomer looking for a way in to the series, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond is easy to recommend. It may seem a little bit costly for a remake that stays fairly close to the source material aside from a snazzy new look, but there’s still a lot of game here. Even better, it’s enjoyable no matter your age, gender or skill level. Once you’ve started playing Pokémon Brilliant Diamond you really will feel the urge to catch ’em all. And the improvements here mean it’s never been as easy or enjoyable.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl refreshes the setting, eliminates some of the tiring elements, expands well-known systems, but... The time will come for revolutions. It's a nice, though far too easy, production.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Despite some rough edges, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are the best of modern and classic Pokemon.
As it stands, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are faithful remakes in terms of storyline and post-content material. However, there are real issues here with the game’s level balancing, pared down content and overall user experience that does not go unnoticed. There’s no denying that these games are still enjoyable, especially for youngsters that haven’t experienced the originals. But for veterans yearning for a polished remake, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are a beautiful disaster.
These remakes of DS-era classics offer another round of Pok'mon catching, but its gameplays feels a bit burned out.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
In the end, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl are remakes which are bound to pass without impact. They do a fine job at bringing the fourth generation of Pokémon into a new era, but fall short when it comes to being the definitive version of Sinnoh. It's fine that it's a faithful recreation, but I wish ILCA had gone the extra mile by daring to add things we saw in Platinum. After all, it's not a good thing that a remake leave us yearning for things that a 2009 game did.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
While the game does feel like almost a copy and paste, it was a good remake to revisit for the nostalgia. Though the roster could have done with a few changes the game still allows players to revisit the same challenges as before. It would have been nice to see a few new bells and whistles to spice up the game but overall it’s a great classic to relax and relive. ILCA did a fantastic job remodeling one of the most popular entries in the franchise and brought back Sinnoh in a touching reunion.
These remakes are totally serviceable and a very good time for any Pokémon fan out there. There is however a nagging sense that more perhaps could have been done, especially for fully priced releases. The Pokémon franchise is big, the company behind these games makes millions off of these and yet there is a feeling time and time again that we're not getting the full AAA experience that such selling numbers should warrant, and this is seen very plainly in how technically dated these games look, even if artistically speaking they are still super cute. We are pleased with these remakes for sure, they're jolly good fun... but we're not impressed and this has to change in the future for the franchise!