Where our problems limit themselves to simple things like the economic crisis or hunger in Africa, the people in Sinnoh fight for their miserable existence every day. Even a simple walk in the fresh air can end up in a bloody fight to the death. Pokémon know no mercy! Hidden in the bushes the hellspawn waits for the ideal moment to jump on innocent bypassers. Then they molest children and elders with attacks that in even sadomasochtistic circles are seen as a disgrace. No, life is Sinnoh certainly isn't laughter.

Still Nintendo finds it necessary to organise trips to this pernicious place. And if you see how many people do look for a ticket you probably understand why. Several millions of tough blokes have dared to take the trip to Sinnoh with Diamond and Pearl and most even returned satisfied. Therefore it should come as no surprise that Nintendo for their platinum edition hardly adjusted the travel formula.

Disaster tourists of the first hour will notice that Sinnoh looks better here and there. Some trees have a bit of dust on their leeves, we get some snow and storms now and then, and certain trainers have an animated dance up their sleeve for you. Great! For the rest there are some new areas to be discovered, some new characters to meet and especially some new, excuse me, old pokémon to catch. Yes, old and as such familiar pokémon. But don't despair, some do arrive in an unseen and brand new form. Almost as good as new so to speak. Still not convinced? On offer are also some extra functions for your pokémon watch, a seemingly threedimensional Distortion World and a pretty impressive online support.

Whether all this is enough to justify a second trip to Sinnoh I'll leave in the middle. Of course we would have preferred a completely new experience, but that's not Nintendo's style these days. On the other hand I did bake some cakes, kicked ass with the gym leaders and even made the ugly beast on the cover meet my pokéballs. Oh well, it just remains a cool, deep and most of all extremely addictive formula, that has never been worked out so well as in this Platinum Edition.