A great game for women!
Customer Rating: 
The boys in my daughters' class think I'm a cool mum. Not because of my parenting skills but because I play Pokémon! Being able to tell them I picked Chimchar as my starter Pokémon ranks high in the scales of coolness. Funny thing is that my daughter is a bit ashamed of me, when I ask visiting classmates of the male kind what Pokémon game they loved the best.
Gaming friends from over the world had told me time and again that I should try a Pokémon game, and every time I said that wouldn't be my cup of tea. After all, I knew the kids' series from television, and no way I would be into that too. But then Pokémon Platinum was released, and I read in one of the gaming mags that this would be the super de luxe version, including everything from diamond and pearl plus some extra's. And as I was looking for a new challenge in games, I thought "oh well, let's give it a try. If I don't like it, I can at least make one of my nephews happy with it".
Lo and behold my surprise! After some initial getting used to the very small characters it turned out to be a lot of fun. Lucky for me the bigger screens of the DSi helped in finding the even smaller pokéballs that you can find in the high grass, and if necessary I can put on my the reading glasses too.
Most apparent is the battling element in the game. But as that is in a turn based way it can be done in your own pace. You learn pretty quick that some combinations are the key to success. For example, it's better to battle a water-type Pokémon with a grass-type Pokémon, then with a fire-type Pokémon. You can carry six different Pokémon around with you, so diversity is the key. While battling you level up your Pokémon, and you learn new battle moves to enhance your chance of winning. And you'll need good Pokémon in your party to be able to take on the Elite-4 near the end of the game!
What attracted me most though was the collecting aspect. There's a lot of Pokémon to collect, and some you can only get by hatching an egg at the Daycare center, or by trading you "old" Pokémon holding a certain item with another player.
You can collect and grow severall kinds of berries, and the berries can be made into poffins, to help the Pokémon in battle.
Under the world where you're roaming about, Sinnoh, there's a whole different world beneath full of burried treasure and fossils. And these fossils can be turned into yet more Pokémon.
In Sinnoh there are 210 Pokémon to be seen, and after beating the Elite 4 in a fearsome battle (in my case, after 5 tries!) you get access to the National Pokédex, or in other words, 491 Pokémon.
I thought the exploring part to be equally fun, it sometimes takes some puzzling insight to be able to progress. But after you've explored all of Sinnoh the game is still fun, not in the least because of the wifi possibility. ideal for trading rare Pokémon with your friends, or to bake even better poffins together.
This game has kept me occupied for 3 months straight, and still I haven't caught all Pokémon. I even purchased a large and hefty Strategy guide, and the book has been used a lot! How else can I keep track of all the ways to obtain new Pokémon!
10/10
Pokemon Platinum
Customer Rating: This game is great expansion to the pokemon franchise having played most games in whole series i know what to expect from this kind of the game & i wasn't dissapointted i got exactly what i was hoping for a great looking pokemon game that has all the fun as any other pokemon game would.
One of the best features of the game is the ability to use your pokemon from the DS game on your wii via wireless transfers which means you get to see your pokemon in full 3D and also you can test out your squad to see if it has the winning quality especially when playing people online via wi-fi on the wii.
I would comment on platinum online play but i can't get wi-fi to work on my DS so i can't reli talk much about online features of the game.
Here's the breakdown of the game in 5 catergories with overall rating included.
Visuals 8/10
Gameplay 10/10
sound 7/10
controls 10/10
lasting appeal 10/10
overall 9/10
If you want a great new pokemon game that's gunna keep you going than buy platinum.Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo DS)
