Pokemon Diamond Version & Pearl Version (Rated E, for Nintendo DS, **1/2)
You’d think sometime in the 11-year history of Pokemon, the Humane Society would’ve gotten involved. Here are these cute little creatures, roaming wild, and people attack them, capture them, confine them in small spherical cells that fit into the palm of your hand and force them to do battle in what are essentially cockfights. If that doesn’t scream animal cruelty, I don’t know what does. Every entry in the Pokemon series, regardless of arbitrary subtitle, has featured the exact same gameplay. It’s abusive, but even worse, it’s gotten old.
With Pearl and Diamond, the Pokemon slave trade has gone international. Now, courtesy of Nintendo’s wi-fi service, you can easily pit your Pokemon against players all over the world. But it’s essentially the same old, barebones, turn-based RPG combat that it was back in the days of Pokemon Red and Blue. So I say put a stop to Pokemon abuse! Release them back into the wild ... at least, until we get better incentives to keep playing.