Pokemon Shield

 Switch
User Score
4.7

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 3465 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,154 out of 3465
  2. Mixed: 587 out of 3465
  3. Negative: 1,724 out of 3465
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  1. Danikyo-Inverso
    May 13, 2023
    10
    De lo mejor en toda la franquicia, y aunque no es tan bueno como la gloriosa 7ma generación, este juego supone un gran paso adelante en el aspecto gráfico y competitivo, con mas de 400 pokémon capturables, uno esta servido en cuanto a contenido se refiere, y aunque muchos digan lo contrario, las animaciones son de lo mejor en la saga
    Artísticamente hermoso.
  2. ChocolateCrane
    Nov 18, 2019
    4
    Let us address the elephant in the room first. The absence of the National Dex. Yes, it is terrible, lazy, blah blah blah. I am sure you've already heard this in hundreds of other reviews. So instead of me wasting your time by complaining about something you are already well aware of, I will focus on the rest of SwSh's shortcomings. For reference, I have played every mainline Pokemon gameLet us address the elephant in the room first. The absence of the National Dex. Yes, it is terrible, lazy, blah blah blah. I am sure you've already heard this in hundreds of other reviews. So instead of me wasting your time by complaining about something you are already well aware of, I will focus on the rest of SwSh's shortcomings. For reference, I have played every mainline Pokemon game to completion and have currently sunk 40 hours into Shield; I'd imagine my criticisms also apply to Sword. In the interest of brevity, I will be utilizing acronyms: (SwSh = Sword/Shield, S/M = Sun/Moon, etc).

    The most succinct way to put it is SwSh essentially feels like a 3DS game ported to the Switch. This applies to every facet of the game: from its gameplay features to its visual presentation, to its story/characters. I believe whether or not you enjoy SwSh depends entirely upon how you view the 7th Gen games. Contrary to what the devs promised us last year, SwSh is most assuredly NOT meant for the "core" Pokemon fans. As a veteran of the series myself, I can say with certainty the abysmally low level of difficulty in conjunction with the simplification and outright removal of many features is the exact opposite of what I'd want. SwSh is nearly as simplified as LGPE, which wouldn't be an issue if the devs addressed it as such, but somehow they seem to think this is what qualifies as a satisfying mainline game in 2019. Yes, Pokemon has always been a franchise aimed primarily at children. The games have never been truly difficult when compared to many of their JRPG contemporaries. Yet, for some reason Game Freak felt the need to crank that difficulty setting from "Easy" down to "Braindead". S/M may have been easy, but it was LEAGUES more challenging than Shield. Accessibility is one thing, but this is taking it to such an extreme it nearly removes all the fun. A "Hard Mode" option selectable from the outset would have worked wonders. And of course, as is common for the past several entries in the Pokemon series, the post-game content is practically non-existent.

    So, SwSh basically fails when viewed purely as a "game", but what of the other aspects I mentioned? After all, JRPGs with subpar gameplay can still be surprisingly enjoyable if the narrative holds enough merit. I am sad to report that SwSh also completely fails in this regard. The writing is oftentimes so atrocious I've found myself wishing to skip these scenes entirely. This is par for the course as none of the mainline games (barring the "attempts" made in B/W) have really delivered anything substantive in the way of competent storytelling. However, with the majority of other Pokemon games, they at least had good gameplay to compensate for the lackluster story; a factor which is completely absent from SwSh due to its inherent simplified nature and toddler-pandering difficulty.

    Well, there is only one thing left to discuss since delving into too much detail on the above points causes me to exceed the character limit. The final point of contention is the visual fidelity and graphical offerings SwSh brings to the table. This is after all, a game made for the Switch; a console/handheld hybrid with roughly 10x the computational power of Pokemon's former home, the 3DS. Let's get the pesky numbers out of the way first. SwSh runs at a dynamic resolution on both docked and portable modes. In docked mode, the resolution fluctuates from 1080p to 864p. Likewise, during portable play, the highest res is 720p which descends to 576p on frequent occasions. This is somewhat disappointing considering LGPE was capable of running at 1080p docked/720p portable at all times. The framerate target is 30fps, which exhibits frame pacing problems and severe drops in a variety of areas. The most evident manifestation of these issues can be seen in the Wild Area, wherein both pacing and framerate are pushed to their absolute worst. This is a massive problem considering the majority of your time, especially in post-game, will likely be spent in the Wild Area.

    Aside from the quantifiable metrics highlighted above, there are plenty of other visual shortcomings to boot. Terrible terrain detail, awful textures, constant pop-in, stilted animations, low polygon count for both the human character models as well as the Pokemon, and countless other issues such as these result in a game that resembles something released over a decade ago. Many detractors claim SwSh looks like a PS2/GC game, which is definitely an exaggeration, but what we got is by no means acceptable for a non-indie game released in 2019. And yes, many of the animations and ALL the returning Pokemon models have been copy-and-pasted with negligible improvements for SwSh.

    It's one thing to sacrifice content for a more polished, higher quality game, but that is very clearly not what happened here. I genuinely hope these issues can be sorted out in future releases; I am not ready to give up hope on Pokemon just yet.    … Expand
  3. Otonaburu
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    What should have been a giant leap to significantly stronger hardware feels more like a port from 3DS. New features and improvements come at way too high a price, both literally and figuratively (half of the Pokemon gone, for starters). Gamefreak continues to disappoint and Pokemon as a series stands out as a black sheep among other loved Nintendo franchises on Switch.
  4. Ringo00
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Reposting from my Pokémon Sword review, since they are the same game:

    Not worth your time. Aside from the National dex issues, this game is one more example of the "half a step forward, three steps back" that Gamefreak has had for quite a while now. The wild area, a selling point for the games, feels unfinished and buggy, far less polished graphically than the rest of the game, and with    Reposting from my Pokémon Sword review, since they are the same game:

    Not worth your time. Aside from the National dex issues, this game is one more example of the "half a step forward, three steps back" that Gamefreak has had for quite a while now. The wild area, a selling point for the games, feels unfinished and buggy, far less polished graphically than the rest of the game, and with big pop-in and lag issues. It is also extremely small, only really feeling as a couple of open routes rather than an "open world" experience. The rest of the routes are basically hallways that don't reward or encourage exploration whatsoever, a terrible thing when we are talking about a JRPG. It's sad to see Mario Kart having circuits more complex than this.

    The difficulty is abysmal, with no ability to turn off the global EXP. Share and way too much experience being given for doing anything. Unless you are constantly switching between 12-20 Pokémon, you will find yourself at least 4-5 levels over gym leaders. You might also have to avoid trainers and certain features, like Pokémon Camp, to try to make it a "fair" gameplay experience.
    Following that last point, this also includes another selling point of this games, the raid battles. You will find yourself able to one-shot a lot of the raid Pokémon, sometimes without even dynamaxing yourself.

    For the last big selling point, dynamax and gigantamax, you should also know that only a few Pokémon will be able to do so. The effect can not be passed down, so if you want a specific Pokémon to dyna/gigantamax you might spend hours to find it.

    Be warned: there is no post-game either. A small 1h chapter and Battle Tower 3.0 is all you will have left. Since the legendaries are all shiny locked, there are no legendaries from other regions, no GTS and the wild area is tremendously shallow, this game does not come close to having the shelf life that previous entries had. Even XY, one of the worst post-games the series had, is marginally better than this.

    As a final warning, the touch screen is not compatible with this game. This means that you will not be able to pet your Pokémon like you could in the 3DS entries. Pokémon Camp "replaces" this feature, but you can barely interact with your Pokémon, who will wander aimlessly.

    In conclusion, every single previous Pokémon entry, including the Let's Go games, has more to offer than this game. I would severely recommend replaying or revisiting older Pokémon games you might not have played if you want you nostalgia fix.    … Expand
  5. PAKBOY
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    10 routes
    Virtually no difficulty
    2 endgame battle tower game modes beatable in 1 hour Roughly 12 hour story No dungeons Below average graphics, world barely interacts with objects/pokemon(especially wild area) Of course the pokedex purge Some new pokemon designs leave alot to be desired, some designs are genuinely good we must not forget, but too many humanoid pokemon(every starter    10 routes
    Virtually no difficulty
    2 endgame battle tower game modes beatable in 1 hour
    Roughly 12 hour story
    No dungeons
    Below average graphics, world barely interacts with objects/pokemon(especially wild area)
    Of course the pokedex purge
    Some new pokemon designs leave alot to be desired, some designs are genuinely good we must not forget, but too many humanoid pokemon(every starter evolves into a humanoid) and too simple designs(Eiscue)
    and most importantly, the No Man's Sky level of damage control from GameFreak instead of listening to it's customer base who have been fans long enough to know what they generally want in Pokemon games, they only need to look at their masterpieces HG/SS to know which direction to follow(good endgame, pokemon following you) and to top it off I just WISH gamefreak would include difficulty options in their games, unlockable after the first clear, why do they not do it? We grew up, the games are no longer a challenge so why not add more difficult new game+?

    Big Disappointment, see you in gen 9 or Sinnoh remakes, because the "complete" SwSh will most likely be the same garbage.    … Expand
  6. Gamermangamer
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Was promised a game for "long time fans of the series" now my living dex will probably have to be locked in Pokemon jail (home) and half my competitive mons won't be usable until I pay for another game at the same price as smash ultimate or breath of the wild. My disappointment is immeasurable, and less than half my day is ruined, because the game is like 10 hours long, and if I wanted 10Was promised a game for "long time fans of the series" now my living dex will probably have to be locked in Pokemon jail (home) and half my competitive mons won't be usable until I pay for another game at the same price as smash ultimate or breath of the wild. My disappointment is immeasurable, and less than half my day is ruined, because the game is like 10 hours long, and if I wanted 10 hours of entertainment I would've bought the LoTR extended trilogy for half the price… Expand
  7. dasada
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Its the higher note i can give for an incomplete game. Feels like a joke, what happened with the catch em all. The rest isnt enough to balance the negative feeling.But maybe mediocre is the new normal.
  8. thvbh
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    After "it all comes together" and "ultra changes", generation 8 adds more lies to GameFreak's pile of shame. They promise a lot, and they again fail to deliver in almost every single aspect. This time, however, the technical shortcomings, lack of polish, and shortage of ambition is covered up by a veil of scam-level dishonesty from the developers themselves and a blanket of praise fromAfter "it all comes together" and "ultra changes", generation 8 adds more lies to GameFreak's pile of shame. They promise a lot, and they again fail to deliver in almost every single aspect. This time, however, the technical shortcomings, lack of polish, and shortage of ambition is covered up by a veil of scam-level dishonesty from the developers themselves and a blanket of praise from "unbiased" game critics, whose reviews sound more like advertisements than genuine reviews.

    The decision to cut over half the existing Pokémon from the game under the pretense of filling the game with content and quality animations wouldn't be so bad if the results could be seen in the game. However, the games are just as hollow as their predecessors, if not even more. Complete lack of difficulty, constant hand-holding, horrible plot, insufferable cutscenes and barely anything to do post-game is something that seems we will have to get used to, as it's apparently the new standard from now on, and any future games will probably be evaluated with regards to the bar set this laughably low.

    Pokémon is finally dead. As an avid fan since red and blue, I say it with a heavy heart. What started six years ago, with the release of Pokémon X and Y, finally came to fruition - a game so hollow and dumbed down, that even the awful past two generations look full of content compared to it. What was once a flawed, but ultimately fun franchise with a mediocre, but really passionate team of developers behind it, finally succumbed to the disease of brand-loyalty blinded fanbase that can see no wrong in the games as long as they have the Pokemon logo stamped on. This tremendous fall in quality is entirely their fault and no one else's - this is the best time for GameFreak to implement egregious monetization schemes in their next games, as not only will they evade any criticism from game critics, but will be largely praised for it by a large group of fans, which is truly asinine.

    What's left is to hope that a team of talented developers will see the growing disenchantment with the series and decide to step in, fill the void and dethrone the corrupted king of the monster catching genre.    … Expand
  9. Jaxks
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    But used, fun 5hour game but some how more lazy than past titles. Not clear That not all of the pokemon are in the game but not even a hint a moves being deleted.

    If they didn't allow you to transfer any pokemon over I would be more than happy but having just a select few seems wrong. After the 'story' there's No post game unlike in the ds games. All in all the character designs are good    But used, fun 5hour game but some how more lazy than past titles. Not clear That not all of the pokemon are in the game but not even a hint a moves being deleted.

    If they didn't allow you to transfer any pokemon over I would be more than happy but having just a select few seems wrong. After the 'story' there's No post game unlike in the ds games. All in all the character designs are good the style looks nice in some areas but it does not make up for the ugly new pokemon that where made to replace old ones and the lack of things to do in the game.    … Expand
  10. MikoloPulo
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This game is rushed and unfinished. No matter how many times they try and say otherwise, this game was rush out of the door, since Pokemon game releases are tied to merchandise and such (I mean, Pokemon is the highest grossing franchise for a reason). But because of this, we get a subpar entry, which lots of cut content, awful graphics, and a lot of decisions that will make you go: "What the ****
  11. SquirtleSquad
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This game made my daughter cry. Many of her favs are gone. I have noticed that the game is also rather ugly and glitchy. Do not buy.
  12. Conas
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The good about this game is the same that can be said about other Pokemon games. Exploring is fun, battling is fun, and training is fun. But the wild area was suppose to be a trade off for little routes, but the wild area is fairly small. Pokemon in the over-world don't interact with the over-world save for chasing after the trainer. The weather changes in the wild area are way too sudden. And have the bike become the hm replacer is bad, should've sticked to how SM and LGPE did it. The routes are fairly short and route 7 especially takes less than a minute to cross including trainers. The story is very bland. I don't expect much from Pokemon but after SM I at least wanted to interact with more personal stories characters had. There is no evil team in the game. Team Yell are just Marine fans who like to get in your way. Then turns out they are actually the gym trainers for the 7th gym, Piere's gym. Marine's older brother. It seemed Marine was gonna have a small story arc when we got to the seventh gym, but it was shafted after we beat Piere. The League got rid of the Elite Four and replaced it with a tournament. Not bad , it's execution in this game sucks because it's against Gym Leaders and characters you didn't really bond with. The twist in the game was Chairman Rose wanted to awaken a pokemon with infinite energy for dynamaxing. Dynamax energy runs out in 1000 years btw. He decides to awaken it during the tournament, we literally would've helped after the tournament. But he was too impatient to wait 1 day for a problem that wouldn't happen for 1000 years. The battle against Eternatus sucks, you don't fight whatsoever. The two box legionaries are the only one's that can damage him, and you don't even control them. You're just in the battle was picking whatever move, because it doesn't matter. YOU can't hurt him. After the battles the legionaries jump into the sunset, you don't get to catch one until post game. The game has so much potential, but it just fell flat for me. Also gamefreak, this is scummy releasing the same game so metacritic score is different… Expand
  13. Ok_Then
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    This game feels like a port from the 3DS, not a new game built for the system

    While many fans will enjoy these games, for me, it feels like the same game as the last 7 Generations with a Graphical upgrade that is Impressive compared to the past 3DS games but quite bad compared to other Switch games
  14. Aleph_0
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    The quality of this game REALLY does not justify the cuts that have been made. Graphics are severely dated with some awful resolutions and clipping. The world is so linear it feels like a hallway with a cutscene every few steps. The endgame is nonexistent. The battle animations are taken straight from the old games. And honestly, the new Pokémon designs are some of the worst I’ve everThe quality of this game REALLY does not justify the cuts that have been made. Graphics are severely dated with some awful resolutions and clipping. The world is so linear it feels like a hallway with a cutscene every few steps. The endgame is nonexistent. The battle animations are taken straight from the old games. And honestly, the new Pokémon designs are some of the worst I’ve ever seen. Most of them look like a couple overlapping shapes with a painted on face. GameFreak really phoned it in on this one. Time to give Pokémon to someone else.… Expand
  15. Wiki
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Bugs y mas bugs... No estan todos los Pokémon, fallos graficos, reutilizan modelos de 3DS... es ridículo y carisimo. NO HAY POSTGAME
  16. Magenta1991
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    5 horas con el juego y ya estoy por encima del nivel de todos los entrenadores del juego. La introducción tarda más de media hora por si sola y no haces más que caminar del punto a al punto b, mínimo tuviera musgo bonito para mirar como en Death Stranding pero no. Los gráficos parecen tomados del proyecto de Unity de algún fan con demasiado tiempo libre y no de una de una compañía5 horas con el juego y ya estoy por encima del nivel de todos los entrenadores del juego. La introducción tarda más de media hora por si sola y no haces más que caminar del punto a al punto b, mínimo tuviera musgo bonito para mirar como en Death Stranding pero no. Los gráficos parecen tomados del proyecto de Unity de algún fan con demasiado tiempo libre y no de una de una compañía multimillonaria con la franquicia de mayor renombre en el mundo de los videojuegos. Una vez que termina la introducción los personajes no dejan de interrumpir tu camino para llevarte de la mano y hablarte de lo genial que es ser un niño y atrapar Pokémon. Hop es Hau 1.0001 y no han tenido pena siquiera de reutilizar sus animaciones de la forma más descarada. Porcierto que los personajes se muevan por casillas y tengan que girarse para caminar a la Resident Evil 1 en pleno 2019 en una consola tan poderosa como la PS3 es para echarse a reír y llorar al mismo tiempo

    Las rutas son cortas, los escenarios poco inspirados, las ciudades son pasillos adornados con uno o dos personajes y todas las casas iguales, el área salvaje es una zona safari glorificada y vacía. El curry solo son pokepoffins con otro nombre (de todas las cosas que la gente pedía de vuelta han traído la única que a nadie le importa). Se nota el nulo interés hacia su trabajo y su deseo por querer ganar dinero estafando niños. Me da pena por los Pokémon que debutan en esta región pues no se merecen quedar atrapados en este juego paupérrimo (porque seguramente más de la mitad no vuelve para la próxima entrega). Tengo más diversión jugando Pokémon Go en mi casa girando el disco de la pokeparada que hay encima mío cada 5 minutos que lo que ganó jugando esta kusoge de juego. Planeaba regalarle el juego a mi sobrino está navidad para iniciarlo en el juego pero mejor será que le dé cualquier otra cosa. Nadie merece que este sea su introducción a la saga. La historia por cierto es peor que la de Sun/Moon y X/Y combinados. No entiendo por qué han sacado la GTS    … Expand
  17. Rardo
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    To be honest this game is disappointing, don’t get me wrong the game likes nice and all visually but this game just ain’t it. They used the exact same game models from the 3DS and they cut 455 Pokémon from the game for better animation and graphics even though it looks the exactly the same as it did for the past 7 years. I never thought GameFreak could get any lazier and incompetent thanTo be honest this game is disappointing, don’t get me wrong the game likes nice and all visually but this game just ain’t it. They used the exact same game models from the 3DS and they cut 455 Pokémon from the game for better animation and graphics even though it looks the exactly the same as it did for the past 7 years. I never thought GameFreak could get any lazier and incompetent than this. Generations 1-5 had more soul put into them than these games. Now the digital copies of these are being reported to not only corrupt your SD card and delete your Save data but it kills the console too. They should have spent an extra year or two working on these games. “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad”… Expand
  18. mareldmon590
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."
    -Shigeru Miyamoto
    Six more months to a year perhaps, or focusing on these games rather than the "Town" Project would have made this game into something worth 60$. Not these games though. Instead, you get this pitifully underwhelming mess of a Pokemon "console" experience. Play Coliseum or XD Gale of Darkness instead.    "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."
    -Shigeru Miyamoto
    Six more months to a year perhaps, or focusing on these games rather than the "Town" Project would have made this game into something worth 60$. Not these games though.
    Instead, you get this pitifully underwhelming mess of a Pokemon "console" experience. Play Coliseum or XD Gale of Darkness instead. Sword and Shield are a mistake and it pains me as a fan who started in Gen 4, went back and played every game before and after to see how they disrespected the franchise they spent years cultivating.    … Expand
  19. PurpleMoth
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    The absolute lowest point in the entire franchise, there is almost no new relevant additions to the game while they removed dozens of features that made the past games fantastic, the graphics are so mediocre you can compare it to a Gamecube game and the gameplay doesn't make up for it, neither the story or postgame, it's embarrasing how Gane Freak managed to make a game so mediocre it getsThe absolute lowest point in the entire franchise, there is almost no new relevant additions to the game while they removed dozens of features that made the past games fantastic, the graphics are so mediocre you can compare it to a Gamecube game and the gameplay doesn't make up for it, neither the story or postgame, it's embarrasing how Gane Freak managed to make a game so mediocre it gets outshined by most of the past entries in the series.… Expand
  20. zuenke
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Everything has been said already. just a huge disappointment to bad people condone this sort of behavior and tell people that what a great game ( which is completely possible) that they are haters...
  21. Tomcat8
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    A disaster, pokemon just died!
    Even let's go, which was a medium game, had undeniable qualities (nothing but the catching interaction was excellent, it's something that should have stayed on this game).
    The 800 Pokémon are not available supposedly because to redo the sprites for the switch is too long while we have the proof that they have reused the sprites of pokémon Ultra Sun and    A disaster, pokemon just died!
    Even let's go, which was a medium game, had undeniable qualities (nothing but the catching interaction was excellent, it's something that should have stayed on this game).
    The 800 Pokémon are not available supposedly because to redo the sprites for the switch is too long while we have the proof that they have reused the sprites of pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
    Non-existent combat animations, knowing that stadium versions on N64 had animations
    Gigamax combat which is a useless feature, ugly graphics with violent aliasing and catastrophic FPS drops!
    Knowing that the console manages to turn The Witcher 3 correctly
    Besides, the open world is empty and uninteresting!
    Sell ​​50 balls a **** alike !
    A nice scam for a game that is a half porting 3DS games    … Expand
  22. FGDireito
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    I was going to give this game a solid 5, it's not a bad game but neither it's a great game, this is just fine, but the more I think about it the more disappointed I get.
    This is a 60€ game it as to be compared with its Switch peers of the same price and not like it's a random indie game, this game rightly deserves the tough love that it's getting, just because it's Pokémon doesn't make it    I was going to give this game a solid 5, it's not a bad game but neither it's a great game, this is just fine, but the more I think about it the more disappointed I get.
    This is a 60€ game it as to be compared with its Switch peers of the same price and not like it's a random indie game, this game rightly deserves the tough love that it's getting, just because it's Pokémon doesn't make it automatic free from criticism.
    The technical issues in this game are just unacceptable for 2019, pop-ins everywhere in a very small 10m radius makes the world feel empty and bland. Animations look so stiff and outdated, why does the world freezes around me while I fish or climb ladders? Why are some background battles just white voids when even the Let’sGo games had that right? The textures quality is all over the place too, the worst ones are in par with Nintendo64 and the best ones are 3DS quality, but please don’t forget that this is a Switch game.
    The camping is quite cute actually but shallow, pokéjobs are ok but forgetful just like the whole dynamax thing is just a gimmick, the wild area looks like the main selling point this time but it’s just meh, a nice idea but really poorly executed and with almost no exploration after the first full run, the world is pretty much a straight line, there is no kind of exploration, do you remember places like Mt. Mortar, Seafoam Islands or Whirl Islands? There is nothing like that here, the most dungeon-like exploration you will get is something like Viridian Forest and it never gets more difficult than that.
    The game difficult is non- existent like the post-game, also why is the exp.share mandatory? Give us more options, don’t take them away...
    I don't even care about the lack of National Dex drama, but I do understand why people are upset about it, also the National Dex was cut with the excuse on delivering better animations and a more carefully crafted game but the overall game polish is worse than ever, plus lots of other cut content, the quality of the game is 100% more important than not having all the Pokemon for sure. I would rather have a high quality game with 100 Pokemon than a stinker with 1000 Pokemon. When will we get battle animations like Pokémon Battle Revolution? Aren’t battles the main selling point anyway? We shouldn't be here comparing animations from OG Pokémon Stadium (1998) with Sword/Shield, yet here we are, how is this acceptable!? This is Pokémon they have deep pockets they can make it, hire or outsource more people if you need.
    I am not going to talk about the new pokémon designs since that is a subjective opinion, but I quite like Dragapult.
    For me pokémon peaked with HG/SS and the highest point of its ambition was BW/BW2, Pokémon Sword/Shield feels and looks like a rushed game, it needed that extra year and more ambition to become something special...    … Expand
  23. beyak
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    The bad:
    The main story is short, and the postgame is lacking, around 25 hours if you take your time.
    The music is hit or miss most of the time. The wild area (the biggest new feature) feels incomplete and has bad textures and models for the environment. Its also not very big. The game has pop-in issues both in the wild area and in cities/routes, and has a horrible draw distance. The    The bad:
    The main story is short, and the postgame is lacking, around 25 hours if you take your time.
    The music is hit or miss most of the time.
    The wild area (the biggest new feature) feels incomplete and has bad textures and models for the environment. Its also not very big.
    The game has pop-in issues both in the wild area and in cities/routes, and has a horrible draw distance.
    The game is missing staple moves like pursuit, return and hidden power.
    Some animations in cutscenes and battles are either incredibly lacking, or amazing in some cases.
    Half of the pokemon are not coded into the game, and will be impossible to transfer (unless GameFreak changes their stance and updates).
    Mega evolution and Z-moves were removed and replaced by dynamax.
    Subjective, but some of the new pokemon are really off-putting.
    The game, as of release, has a fatal bug that can wipe your SD card.
    No following pokemon.

    The good:
    It's still pokemon, and still has the same great formula.
    The games look great, especially in cities.
    The trainer customization is the best ever.
    Some of the new pokemon and character designs are amazing.
    Competitive teambuilding is easier than ever before.

    Overall: The game could have used more time before release and had great potential. If all pokemon, moves and megas were coded in and the whole game was polished more (especially the wild area) the game could have been the best pokemon games so far. It's sad to see GameFreak pushing yearly releases for the games instead of giving them the development time needed to become truly great.    … Expand
  24. Leix1712
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Es un juego incompleto le faltan mas de la mitad de los pokemon existentes, tiene unos graficos muy malos para una Nintendo Switch
    El area Silvestre esta vacia y los pokemons se ven muy mal. Las ciudades estan muy vacias
    . El juego es muy corto(el mas corto de la saga) y los personajes son muy olbidables no hay nada que explorar y el juego no se siente un juego de pokemon.
  25. Mkikuchi
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Yet another rushed, disappointing mess for longtime fans of the series. Considering the emphasis that was placed on the graphics and animation quality before the S/S' release, you'd expect them to at least run at a consistent framerate or not blatantly copy/paste animations from prior games; but neither of these came to fruition. Not worth losing half of the games' cast for.

    Objectively,    Yet another rushed, disappointing mess for longtime fans of the series. Considering the emphasis that was placed on the graphics and animation quality before the S/S' release, you'd expect them to at least run at a consistent framerate or not blatantly copy/paste animations from prior games; but neither of these came to fruition. Not worth losing half of the games' cast for.

    Objectively, as long as the gameplay's good, graphical quality is a non-issue. Unfortunately, as with the 3DS era, Sword and Shield are dumbed down for the mobile phone generation. You're never made to go more than a few battles without healing, and if you can stomach that you can look forward to endless handholding and WOW CHARIZARD REMEMBER THIS KANTO POKEMON?

    If you have any semblance of critical thinking skills, don't buy these games.    … Expand
  26. PewPewMcP
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    The theme of Pokémon Sword and Shield is: limit.
    They limit your selection of Pokémon to catch
    They limit the pool of moves Pokémon can learn from, including some moves signature to Pokémon, like Heal Order to Vespiquen They limit where and when you can catch Pokémon in the open area They limit when you can use Dynamax and Gigantamax, the games signature battle mechanic. They limit your    The theme of Pokémon Sword and Shield is: limit.
    They limit your selection of Pokémon to catch
    They limit the pool of moves Pokémon can learn from, including some moves signature to Pokémon, like Heal Order to Vespiquen
    They limit where and when you can catch Pokémon in the open area
    They limit when you can use Dynamax and Gigantamax, the games signature battle mechanic.
    They limit your ability to explore a world with the series's now signature heavily railroaded storytelling techniques They limit the difficulty setting of the game by forcing Exp Share to always be on
    They limit your ability to change the sound settings by forcing you to first find and interact with the right NPC.
    Pokémon Sword and Shield are mediocre entries that take two steps back for every one step they take forward.    … Expand
  27. Pariah_0
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    As JUST a Pokémon game, the rating would be higher, maybe a 5 or 6. But as a video game compared to others of a similar genre this is a hard 3. On top of the drastic content cuts made from previous (already declining) mainline Pokémon games, this game in particular has severe graphical, hardware, and gameplay issues that are just irredeemable for a triple A franchise. The new mechanic isAs JUST a Pokémon game, the rating would be higher, maybe a 5 or 6. But as a video game compared to others of a similar genre this is a hard 3. On top of the drastic content cuts made from previous (already declining) mainline Pokémon games, this game in particular has severe graphical, hardware, and gameplay issues that are just irredeemable for a triple A franchise. The new mechanic is not creative at all and dumbs down the combat instead of following the tradition of adding an extra element. The new designs are lazy and uninspired. I was sincerely expecting more from this franchise. Can not recommend.… Expand
  28. ShayminFan95
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Reposting my Pokémon Sword review because this is literally the same game but with a Ponyta instead of a Farfetch'd (exaggeration, but you get the point). And I was almost tempted to reduce it to a 1 because said Ponyta should have been Fairy-type and the fact it isn't bothers me more than it should.

    The very low score I'm giving these games might seem like a poor attempt at review    Reposting my Pokémon Sword review because this is literally the same game but with a Ponyta instead of a Farfetch'd (exaggeration, but you get the point). And I was almost tempted to reduce it to a 1 because said Ponyta should have been Fairy-type and the fact it isn't bothers me more than it should.

    The very low score I'm giving these games might seem like a poor attempt at review bombing them, but oh no my friends, this is an actual review from someone who actually played the games and didn't receive any dirty money to say something other than the truth. Pokémon Sword and Shield are possibly the worst Pokémon games to ever be made. For a fully priced 60$ game, they have less than HALF the content of any of the 3DS Pokémon core series games and nearly no redeemable features. In fact, one of their most notable "features" is the lack of more than half of the old Pokémon (a first for a series, hurray innovation!), which means there's over 50% chance that your favorite Pokémon is not even in the code for these games. The cut in content also includes moves, some of which make absolutely no sense why they would have been left out.

    The characters are mostly bland and uninteresting and some are carbon copies of previous characters from Sun and Moon. Those that aren't usually don't have a story or personality deeper than a sheet of paper, and their constant, pointless, overly enthusiastic interruptions make it feel like the game is asking you at all times to "pretty please be excited". The environments pale in comparison to other first-party Nintendo games on the console even if some admittedly had potential. You'll eventually find yourself walking through the empty streets of London, as if the apokélypse happened the day before.

    Let's talk about models, animations, and performance, shall we? All of the Pokémon models are reused straight from the 3DS games, with some exceptions that were so slightly improved that you can't even tell the difference in practice. This wouldn't be a problem as the Pokémon community understands this is necessary to keep these games realistically doable. The problem is that the producers of the game claimed they were cutting the amount of Pokémon so they could focus on remaking the models from scratch for the Switch hardware and also improve the quality and expressiveness of animations. Oh boy, are those animations lacking in quality. The characters move in tank controls (even during cutscenes!) like we're still in 2000. Even in the overworld, expect a lot of 180 degree turns while the walking forward animation plays. This is completely unjustifiable, but not something we would even care if only GameFreak had not called attention to it and used it as an excuse for the massive cuts that will severely damage the entire series. Pokémon models are not properly scaled in battle, and instead they give us an absolutely unnecessary and lame feature of "Dynamax" in which they suddenly discovered the scale slider exists in 3D software and decided to abuse it. The game struggles to maintain a stable framerate even tho it took Breath of the Wild the "Godray & Foliage Overkill Woods" and Smash Bros. "16 Ice Climbers on Fountain of Dreams" for the same to happen. The draw distance is laughable and glaring, you are sure to direct your eyes to the nearest Berry Tree popping in.

    Difficulty-wise, the game is so easy that the biggest challenge will be not falling asleep while playing it, something that is amplified by the previously mentioned constant interruptions by NPCs. The soundtrack has a few good themes, but the rest is a cacophony of instruments desperately trying to grab your attention with inharmonious, generic and chaotic tracks. The only hype I got from this game was during the climax, which I shall not mention for spoiler reasons, where apparently they blew the entire budget and development time, and even that is an average experience when put into context with climaxes from other current games.

    If after this entire review you still think this game is worth playing, be aware of the awful glitch (that somehow passed quality assurance) which can actually delete your other game's save files from your console.
    It's so obvious that this game was rushed out in this poor state to meet unrealistic deadlines and extract as much money as possible from a blind and passive fanbase that I'm baffled by anyone who defends it.

    In conclusion, whether you are a Pokémon fan or wanting to become one, these are games you can easily skip and save some bucks. I dare to say Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee are better games than these dumpster fires. If you truly want a good Pokémon experience play the 3DS games or, even better, the DS ones.    … Expand
  29. MasudaBugBoy
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Removed Pokemon, removed features, Dreamcast-quality graphics, laughable post game and inconsistent animation. Is this the best they could do on an HD console from 2017? It's barely more impressive than Sun/Moon.
  30. Basednredpilled
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Bad graphics. Bad animations. Even bad music. Extremely short. No postgame content. No national dex. Bad story. Bad characters. Permanent exp share. Do i have to continue? I gave it a 2 instead of 0 just because some of the new pokemon have good designs. Nobody should buy this game.
  31. NintendoGuy64
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    As a lifelong fan of Pokemon games, I was ecstatic when a new mainline Pokemon game was announced for the Switch, a home console! Pokemon Gen 7 was alright, but a little too slow and easy for my tastes. But for Gen 8 all I was expecting was a nice polished HD Pokemon game, I didn't need an open world or anything as it is Gamefreak's first home console Pokemon title, after all. But no, thatAs a lifelong fan of Pokemon games, I was ecstatic when a new mainline Pokemon game was announced for the Switch, a home console! Pokemon Gen 7 was alright, but a little too slow and easy for my tastes. But for Gen 8 all I was expecting was a nice polished HD Pokemon game, I didn't need an open world or anything as it is Gamefreak's first home console Pokemon title, after all. But no, that isn't what we got. We got an unfinished game, with over half of the national Pokedex not in the game, choppy, reused animations, reused models when they said they were brand new, even easier difficulty, a significantly shorter campaign as well as next to no post-game, not to mention many other features removed. All I have to say is, why? Pokemon is the highest most profitable franchise of all time, and Nintendo has been hitting it out of the park lately with great game after great game, like Zelda, Mario etc. So why can't Gamefreak improve Pokemon too? It's only gotten worse with time. I hope Nintendo can step in next time and help/replace Gamefreak, as the way these games are, I have no hope for the future of the franchise… Expand
  32. Isapp
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Pokémon Sword and Shield are easily the most disappointing installment of the franchise. The additions are not enough to overcome graphical issues, physics bugs and softlocks on the game. As good as Gigantamax and raids are not good enough to make up to the exclusion of half the monsters, the lack of mega evolutions, trainers disappearing, animations as artificial as on a 32 bit consolePokémon Sword and Shield are easily the most disappointing installment of the franchise. The additions are not enough to overcome graphical issues, physics bugs and softlocks on the game. As good as Gigantamax and raids are not good enough to make up to the exclusion of half the monsters, the lack of mega evolutions, trainers disappearing, animations as artificial as on a 32 bit console and constant freezes. Pokemon Sword and Shield are overpriced unfinished games and therefore I can't give it more than 4/10… Expand
  33. GarchompGang
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Incomplete game, Bad animations and quite buggy for a mainline switch game. can not recommend.
  34. Drakhis
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Even as a fan, this game has a lot of problems.
    - It's not possible to turn off the multi-exp
    - the game can be beautiful but sometimes it's just ugly - there is a bug that currently wipes out all your switch's data if you're using the digital version - 435 pokemons out of all pokemons - The game ends too fast - Too many moves were removed - No megas - A nearly empty post-game -    Even as a fan, this game has a lot of problems.
    - It's not possible to turn off the multi-exp
    - the game can be beautiful but sometimes it's just ugly
    - there is a bug that currently wipes out all your switch's data if you're using the digital version
    - 435 pokemons out of all pokemons
    - The game ends too fast
    - Too many moves were removed
    - No megas
    - A nearly empty post-game
    - Some cutscenes are hilarious since they're so bad
    - Many models and animations are reused
    So many problems and I'm not even saying everything.
    Just don't buy this game, seriously.
    Wait for the third version if there is one.    … Expand
  35. ExPokemonFan
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    I've no idea what the "professional" reviews were on when they were playing this game.
    Are they reviewing the same game?
    This game is a half assed attempt at bringing the Pokemon franchise forward to the next generation.
    Don't waste your time with this trash and vote with your wallet.
  36. Metagrass
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    I have also done a review for Pokemon Sword, but as both versions are more or less the same game, I've copied it here.

    This game... is not great. It's not even good. You can't imagine how much that bothers me as a 12 year Pokemon fan to say this, but I have to be honest, I regret buying these games. There is a myriad of issues with this game that give it a feeling of being rushed.    I have also done a review for Pokemon Sword, but as both versions are more or less the same game, I've copied it here.

    This game... is not great. It's not even good. You can't imagine how much that bothers me as a 12 year Pokemon fan to say this, but I have to be honest, I regret buying these games.

    There is a myriad of issues with this game that give it a feeling of being rushed. Firstly the game suffers from many graphical issues. Pokemon, trainers and objects will just pop into and out of the overworld for seemingly no reason, many battle arenas lack backgrounds and trainers will disappear and reappear from them, completely breaking my immersion. Another issue is the game is extremely short. I am already at the 5th gym and I bought it yesterday, I hope that somehow the last 3 gyms take triple the time of the first 5, but from what my friend tells me, this isn't the case. Also my friend tells me that the post game is just the battle tree from sun and moon but with no bosses. The story is extrememly basic too, it is just a carbon copy of the story from one of the other games in the series (of which I'm not going to mention as I don't want to spoil anything). If you thought they were taking a step in the right derection with Sun and Moon's story, then Sword and Shield takes two steps back. As you might expect, the game is really easy, but I don't mean as easy as some of the other games in the series, Sword and Shield is probably the easiest Pokemon game to date. Easy games aren't in themselves a bad thing, but in a strategy game like Sword and Shield, you need at least a basic level of difficulty to make it interesting. Alas, due to the forced (always active) exp share on your whole team, my entire team was so overleveled for each gym. I would just end up dyanamaxing and sweeping the entire trainer's team for each of them with no problem. I really wish you could just turn the exp share off, the game would benefit so much from this. Speaking of the gyms, the challenges for each gym are completely ridiculous. Most of them are boring and had very little effect on the gym battle itself, for example there is one where the gym leader asks you bizzare questions like what you had for breakfast, not impressed with the gyms at all. The game in general is riddled with bizzare decisions like extra volume controls being locked behind an item for some reason and not being able to pet your Pokemon anymore. I would not reccomend picking this game up.

    Now lets address the donphan in the room, the dex cut. Around 60% of the Pokemon were removed from this game along with a handful of moves for the reason of "improving the animations an models". The dex cut wouldn't be much of an issue for your average player, but the animations and models weren't improved at all. The models are just ported from Sun and Moon, scaled up for the Switch and there are less new animations in this game than Sun and Moon due to the lack of Z-Moves. So in short the dex was cut down for absolutely no reason. The smaller dex also limits people's options in online matches and competative, but I haven't played online yet and don't know anything about it so it wouldn't be fair for me to judge it.

    Now that I've finally gotten through the bad things I should list the good. Some of the designs of the new Pokemon are amazing. In typical James Turner (the man who designed many of the Pokemon in this game) style, they're very hit or miss. But the ones that hit, hit hard. The final evolutions of the starters in particular ooze personality, I love them all. The wild area is a great concept, though it's fairly poorly executed it is still fun to explore. The addition of overworld encounters from the Lets Go games is a great idea and makes the world feel way more alive. Sadly though, the good is outweighed by the bad in this game.

    In conclusion, I would not reccomend these games. They are definately the worst in the series and do not justify the Switch price tag. Avoid these at all costs, there are many, far better games on the switch this year, get one of those instead.    … Expand
  37. Deal_Sealer
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    What an absolute dumpster fire.
    It is devoid of effort, as can be seen in the visual department. Textures are painful to look at and the models are horrendously basic as they look like they're mass produced without attention to detail and are constantly clipping with the environment. Speaking of environment, the places you can traverse are just depressing. The wild area advertised as a    What an absolute dumpster fire.
    It is devoid of effort, as can be seen in the visual department. Textures are painful to look at and the models are horrendously basic as they look like they're mass produced without attention to detail and are constantly clipping with the environment. Speaking of environment, the places you can traverse are just depressing. The wild area advertised as a step in a new direction is a complete joke. It's certainly smaller than Oot's Hyrule field, yet just as empty and uninteresting. Cities and Dungeons on the other hand are just poorly designed hallways that lead you to the next area.
    Gameplay is not well thought out. The new gimmick is underwhelming at the very least. They build it up high and it ends with an anticlimactic ohko, since this game still possesses baby-proof difficulty despite the playerbase being mostly adults and the advertising claiming it's for long time fans. Contrary to being an open world, this game is still a linear experience with NPC's still interrupting you with cutscenes.
    The amount of content in this game isn't bare-bones, no rather it is insufficient and has regressed compared to previous entries in the franchise. Surely you've heard by now about cut pokemon, cut moves and other trashed content. What makes this worse is the fact that the game reuses assets from previous games.
    This trash heap is the result of complacency, and a lack of effort and dedication. If it had been developed with care and the consumer's satisfaction in mind, it would have been a polished title with a lot of content complementing the new features. Sadly, this is not the case.    … Expand
  38. Ray-Zide
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Honestly not that good of a game
    Just X/Y with less features and lags quite a bit and has less pokemon than a DS game from 10 years ago
  39. NationalDex
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Same as Sword, Reused Animations, lying about new models, bad textures, cut Pokemon, Masuda should've been laid off awhile ago and there is a game breaking bug that deletes everything on your micro sd. Wasn't tested, absolutely avoid
  40. NotAChansey
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    An insult to life long pokemon fans. Stripped of all personality and mostly a re-packaged collection of old animations/ideas. Nothing new to gain, plenty of good old stuff removed for literally no reason other than to get the game out faster
  41. pokeanon
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    With this entry the developers behind Pokémon go deeper in a trend they should have stopped years ago: story modes that are insultingly easy, insultingly short and filled with forced cutscenes and handholding. That reason alone is enough to guarantee a red rating: The games are simply not very fun; they are less of a game and more of a showcase of the new Pokémon and new characters thatWith this entry the developers behind Pokémon go deeper in a trend they should have stopped years ago: story modes that are insultingly easy, insultingly short and filled with forced cutscenes and handholding. That reason alone is enough to guarantee a red rating: The games are simply not very fun; they are less of a game and more of a showcase of the new Pokémon and new characters that will drive TPC's merchandise lineup for the rest of the generation. That is bad, but they reached new unexpected lows with the deletion of more than half the monsters and the mediocre artistic direction. Variety of monsters was the strong point of the series, a game about collecting and training your favorites. With this loss Pokémon drops its strong point and is mostly a list of bad or questionable elements. It does not help that it has pops-in everywhere, bad animations (some of them really glaring for a 2019 game, and even worse when they were the given excuse for the deletion of the monsters), a region with few routes (less than ever before, including corridors) and no dungeons at all. Good points are the intention of an open world adventure with Wild Area and the improved breeding mechanics. Those are the reasons why I did not give this a zero.… Expand
  42. DoomDragon9000
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Expectations are everything in life. Video games are certainly no exception. Our opinions, reviews or “scores” for a given video game are a direct result of our expectations. A change in expectations - either deliberately or unconsciously; sudden, or as a result of multiple experiences - can result in radically contrasting impressions of the same underlying video game. With that in mind,Expectations are everything in life. Video games are certainly no exception. Our opinions, reviews or “scores” for a given video game are a direct result of our expectations. A change in expectations - either deliberately or unconsciously; sudden, or as a result of multiple experiences - can result in radically contrasting impressions of the same underlying video game. With that in mind, it begs the question: what are reasonable expectations to have for a game like Pokémon Sword and Shield? What should we use as the baseline for forming these expectations?

    The level of quality, polish, depth and amount of content in previous main entries in the series?
    The relative quality of alternative $60, 1st party Nintendo Switch titles?
    The hardware capabilities of the Nintendo Switch relative to previous handhelds on which Pokémon has appeared?
    The certain level of production value one might anticipate in a watershed moment for the highest grossing media franchise of all time?

    These are all perfectly fair and reasonable baselines from which to form one’s expectations of Pokémon Sword and Shield. Nostalgia, goodwill and sentimentality for this particular series have seemingly always resulted in an expectation discount of sorts, but for many the 50% price increase for this installment, outright lies from GameFreak and the non-stop, in-your-face Kanto exposure in recent years have all but eliminated said discount. The unfortunate reality is, that even with a discount of sorts on expectations, Pokemon Sword and Shield still fall woefully short of expectations by any reasonable baseline.

    Content removal has reached a fever pitch, and what remains lacks effort, ambition, or even a semblance of challenge. Since its transition to 3D, Pokemon has gone from mildly challenging to downright patronizing. In an era where Mario, Zelda, Fire Emblem and Super Smash Bros. have displayed radical ambition in their main Nintendo Switch entries, pushing their respective series’ to new heights…Pokemon Sword and Shield are aggressively mediocre. With the transition to console – from 4GB cartridges to 32 GB cartridges – from 240p to 1080p – that we even had such confusion and debate regarding the re-use of models, animations and textures is a tragedy. While a novel could be written on the business inner-workings of GameFreak and The Pokemon Company, having standards for their products - especially given their capacity to produce good ones when they try - does in no way make one entitled.

    So it bears repeating: Pokemon Sword and Shield fall woefully short of expectations by any reasonable baseline.

    Much to its detriment, Pokémon Sword and Shield offer substantially fewer features, shallower depth, and reduced challenge relative to earlier, cheaper Pokémon games on weaker hardware. That is the brutal reality of these games. If one is completely new to the Pokémon series and does not possess any level of – and here is that word again – expectation for these games, this might not matter quite as much, but will still worsen the overall experience if they have had even a taste of the Nintendo Switch’s JRPG contemporaries (XenoBlade, Dragon Quest 11S and Atelier, among others). For series veterans, especially those who have experienced the relatively ambitious, content-loaded, reasonably-challenging, generation 3-5 games, it will be hard for Pokemon Sword and Shield to block criticism of its cut content.

    Again, by any reasonable baseline of expectations – which I list at the beginning of this review – Pokemon Sword and Shield fall woefully short. It’s painful to say and type that, along with everything else I have. What is even more painful however, is the reality that these games will likely be an enormous commercial success based on name recognition and have already received critical acclaim from the corporate critics and “content creators”, both of which are subject to an insidious conflict of interest when assessing the quality of these games. Said success will only incentivize low-effort, unambitious annual releases.

    You will see many negative reviews here, none nearly as lengthy as my diatribe. However, recognize that these negative reviews, like mine, come from a place of love and passion for the Pokemon series, and a sense of heartbreak and betrayal over seeing what it has become. To us, we love Pokemon, and in order for it to improve, there needs to be a place for criticism. This is it.

    Anyways, do not buy Pokemon Sword or Shield. For the good of your money, your time, and the future of this franchise, do not buy Pokemon Sword or Shield.    … Expand
  43. Cuddly1337
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Pokemon Shield (and its sister Sword) is an incredibly unpolished game. It feels like GameFreak never tested these games for bugs. These bugs are not just small unnoticeable things like in GameBoy games. Music is missing from certain battles, NPCs (without Abra) can teleport (both in the overworld and when battling some NPCs), and you can suddenly stop time by being on a ladder. There evenPokemon Shield (and its sister Sword) is an incredibly unpolished game. It feels like GameFreak never tested these games for bugs. These bugs are not just small unnoticeable things like in GameBoy games. Music is missing from certain battles, NPCs (without Abra) can teleport (both in the overworld and when battling some NPCs), and you can suddenly stop time by being on a ladder. There even is yet another save corruption glitch in these games, and it isn’t like talking to 1 NPC and surfing on specific tiles either.
    Even looking past the glitches, the main story is insultingly easy, even for children. The only places children can explore are in the wild areas and they are filled with nothing of interest (besides more examples of a lack-o-polish). Your kids might also be scared of the Camp feature since their Pokemon can do weird and unintended things. I personally also didn’t like being limited on what I could catch based on Gym Badges as I (and your kids) could easily lose out on a Pokemon they wanted to catch, and you are overleveled anyways.
    I’ll give the game some points though. While many designs are pretty sub-par, most of the new Pokemon are very well designed. And is series tradition, the music is still very good, even if it is the weakest soundtrack so far.

    Unironically, just get Let’s Go Pikachu or Let’s Go Eevee if you want to get a Pokemon game for your kid. They have more polish and are much more appealing to children.    … Expand
  44. Fumetic
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    As these are largely the same games, I have pasted my Sword review here. I will say however that I do prefer the exclusives in Sword however, which was why I picked it for my playthrough.

    Honestly, the game is not all negatives. While this review is low, we'll get to why in a moment, this isn't just part of some bomb. Pros: The game isn't completely unplayable, there's some good in    As these are largely the same games, I have pasted my Sword review here. I will say however that I do prefer the exclusives in Sword however, which was why I picked it for my playthrough.

    Honestly, the game is not all negatives.
    While this review is low, we'll get to why in a moment, this isn't just part of some bomb.
    Pros: The game isn't completely unplayable, there's some good in there.
    -The game has great Pokemon designs. Creativity abounds, with everything from a group of little Kirby-like soldiers that fight as one to an alien-like witch with tentacles.
    -There's some good QoL features added, such as nature changing items and increased vitamin limit, plus reduced level grinding if you do the (rather easy) raids.
    -A few neat compromises, such as the inclusion of both overworld and random encounters.
    Cons: While the list goes on much more than this, I'm sure the other reviews have quite a thorough explanation, so I'll keep it brief, at 5 points or less.
    -The dex cut. Regardless of what you think of it, this is removing what was known as a series staple.
    -Bugs. As of this writing, there's apparently a dangerous autosave bug that could result in data loss.
    -Low content. I'm not talking about the length of the story here, but rather the fact that the game uses the Wild Area to patch up how little content the rest of the game has, even compared to some of the 3DS games.
    -Finally, the game doesn't really have much in the way of engaging fights and just isn't as immersive overall. While there is one uniquely interesting fight that I will not spoil here, it falls more to just watching CPUs fight for you.

    Overall, the game just isn't terribly good. It's not worthy of a 1 or 2 for sure, as there are some good points, but for now, it will have to stay at 3. The length isn't much of an issue as some may say it is, because it's not too much shorter than average, but the Wild Area feels disappointingly flat and bland, and there's not enough content to make up for the removed content or even ignoring that, it's just not something I'd recommend getting for full price, especially as someone who's not supremely rich and has to pick and choose carefully when buying expensive Switch games like this. There's not enough bang for your buck with these games. Do yourself a favor and shop around for another game before choosing this one, and if you HAVE to get this because it's Pokemon, I'd at least say postpone the purchase until they iron out that save bug or it becomes available for a little cheaper.
    Cheers, and happy hunting (for a different game that is).    … Expand
  45. TutelarSword
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Pokemon has always been one of my favorite games, however, the design choices made by Gamefreak are rampant with this entry of the series. There are almost no routes in the game, and those that exist are linear. There is a town that is made up of a single road with the only door usable being to the Pokemon Center. There are no dungeons or caves of the sort, instead, the Wild Area tries toPokemon has always been one of my favorite games, however, the design choices made by Gamefreak are rampant with this entry of the series. There are almost no routes in the game, and those that exist are linear. There is a town that is made up of a single road with the only door usable being to the Pokemon Center. There are no dungeons or caves of the sort, instead, the Wild Area tries to fill this role, but with many issues. It has poor graphics with Pokemon being birthed from the void to populate the area, as well as trees spawning from nothing. The area is empty and feels poorly thought out compared to other Switch games like Breath of the Wild. The removal of 60% of old Pokemon and 20% of old moves, as well as megas and Z-moves is also a disgusting practice which gives an ill boding for the future of the games. Gamefreak needs to seriously reconsider their design choices and patch in the many missing features (Pokemon, moves, GTS, etc.), as well as fix the many bugs such as those breaking SD cards, freezing the game, and causing unbearable amounts of lag.

    Many reviews you see that are positive simply boil down to "The games killed my wife and kids, but at least I can catch a Pikachu again. 9.5/10" which is utterly disgusting and reeks of poor journalism or faux reviews to prop up the game for the less informed.    … Expand
  46. Noctis_Strife
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    The First Pokemon I wont buy. First, what negative: - Over 400 Pokemon were cut, so much less variation in battles against other players - several technical issues like spawning and despawning NPCs, Trees and Pokemon right in front of your eyes all the time, framerate issues in the wild area, the whole game world is freezing when u climb ladders .. etc. - the highly praised new feature theThe First Pokemon I wont buy. First, what negative: - Over 400 Pokemon were cut, so much less variation in battles against other players - several technical issues like spawning and despawning NPCs, Trees and Pokemon right in front of your eyes all the time, framerate issues in the wild area, the whole game world is freezing when u climb ladders .. etc. - the highly praised new feature the wild area is empty af, much smaller than trailers suggest and a graphical and technical mess - the post game is extremly blunt and not much to do - the "story" of this game is the worst and thinnest in the franchise - the game is easy af, Game Freak really doesn't care about long time fans - Exp share among the whole team should be optional - some of the music tracks are really annoying and not enjoyable - the pokemon franchise is stagnating, you really see no revolution at all, on the other site there is Zelda and Mario who tried sth new and the games were amazing
    Whats postive: some cool pokemon designs, that's all
    Can't recommend this mess of a game, Go and buy the 3DS Pokemon games, whenn you haven't played theam already, much more content much more everything    … Expand
  47. Suckitxd159
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Nada nuevo en este juego lleno de monotonía, tiene una larga campaña innecesaria (casi 50 horas) y el diseño de los nuevos pokemon se ven muy mal.
  48. Shyim97
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Incomplete game, Bad animations, deletes save games and looks more bad as Lets go Pikachu quite Can not recommend.
  49. Griknor
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    this game and its counter part are a mess. reused assets from the 3ds titles, reused animations, over 55% of pokemon are missing regarless of the fact that every game on much less powerful hardware and smaller game size had all the missing pokemon and the missing moves. gigamax is nothing more then a shiny gimmick that loses its charm well before you start playing or using it. the gamesthis game and its counter part are a mess. reused assets from the 3ds titles, reused animations, over 55% of pokemon are missing regarless of the fact that every game on much less powerful hardware and smaller game size had all the missing pokemon and the missing moves. gigamax is nothing more then a shiny gimmick that loses its charm well before you start playing or using it. the games constantly bug out and have framerate, unstable graphics, unstable models and resolution issues, and when its not bugging out its just ugly with poor quality textures. everything in game feels floaty, like you arent grounded and could fly off any second. the new designs are for the most part ugly or too digimon looking to be a pokemon(this has been a major problem since xy, though black and white has its fair share of issue designs), this heavily clashes with older designs and causes quite the confusion for people who know of pokemon but dont keep up with the series. the game is far to easy and lacks any nuance, this is in part due to the direction they keep forcing the games to go, this should be an rpg not a instant gratification simulator. this is a poor quality game on the levels of fallout76, avoid purchasing at all cost.… Expand
  50. BrownKnight
    Jul 15, 2021
    5
    This game is just a disappointment, I'm genuinely sad this is the direction Pokémon is going. This game had so much potential on a much more powerful consolle but it's all wasted. The cause can be summed up just with one concept: laziness. Most of the things they put in was rushed, half-finished, it looks like they don't even care anymore. This game should cost 30 $ AT BEST, it's surelyThis game is just a disappointment, I'm genuinely sad this is the direction Pokémon is going. This game had so much potential on a much more powerful consolle but it's all wasted. The cause can be summed up just with one concept: laziness. Most of the things they put in was rushed, half-finished, it looks like they don't even care anymore. This game should cost 30 $ AT BEST, it's surely not worth 60. Too bad, if they go on like this the franchise is doomed.… Expand
  51. Glyssade
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Well, nothing much to say. All the things we feared and prayed that were fixed are not. Gamefreak shows no leadership at all, these games are a big dissappointment in all aspects.
    Not only did they remove everything that we liked, but they also implemented new mechanics that are just boring and lifeless, nobody asked for this. Gamefreak has decided to not listen to fans, they will keep    Well, nothing much to say. All the things we feared and prayed that were fixed are not. Gamefreak shows no leadership at all, these games are a big dissappointment in all aspects.
    Not only did they remove everything that we liked, but they also implemented new mechanics that are just boring and lifeless, nobody asked for this. Gamefreak has decided to not listen to fans, they will keep making these games as long as people still buy them, which is kinda sad, because pokemon switch had the greatest of potentials to be one of the best games ever created.    … Expand
  52. Sephsekla
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Disappointing.

    So many Pokemon (the main point of the games) completely cut for the first time ever. Some interesting concepts that could have been great but clearly weren't given the dev time to flourish. An unfinished game that could have been the best one.
  53. Politoad
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    I love pokemon but the fact this game just deleted 100+ hours of splatoon save data is why this game deserves to burn. Dont buy it if you've played any other switch game. Your breath of the wild save probably also going to be deleted
  54. Skyblue93
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Let me just get this outta way first, I’m a massive Pokémon fan. I’ve never been more disappointed. Gamefreak not only betrayed fans but outright lied to consumers. The games still have the same problems plaguing the franchise ever since gen 6.

    The story is bad, the writing is bad, the characters are bad, the pacing is bad. The main villains and evil team keep progressingly getting more    Let me just get this outta way first, I’m a massive Pokémon fan. I’ve never been more disappointed. Gamefreak not only betrayed fans but outright lied to consumers. The games still have the same problems plaguing the franchise ever since gen 6.

    The story is bad, the writing is bad, the characters are bad, the pacing is bad. The main villains and evil team keep progressingly getting more embarrassing each generations. The game keeps getting easier easier easier literally brain dead play through.

    On top of charging more for these games, they cut content. I don’t even need to write it down. I’m sure anyone who bothered to read the reviews of these games know what I’m talking about.

    To all the people who keep supporting Gamefreak...why? Why? WHY?    … Expand
  55. noxxion
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    With the huge backlash of around half of the national pokedex missing, we were promised improvements and a.morecpolished game. We got the exact opposite.

    Around 177 moves missing from the game, an incredible amount of animations reused from Sun and Moon (Hop is a carbon copy of Hau in every aspect) Not to mention the appalling animations in general. Pokemon doing a half-ass pivot on the    With the huge backlash of around half of the national pokedex missing, we were promised improvements and a.morecpolished game. We got the exact opposite.

    Around 177 moves missing from the game, an incredible amount of animations reused from Sun and Moon (Hop is a carbon copy of Hau in every aspect) Not to mention the appalling animations in general. Pokemon doing a half-ass pivot on the spot to turn. A crowd of characters applauding with sound playing BUT NO ANIMATION.

    The soundtrack is terrible and low quality outside of a track from Toby Fox, sometimes the audio even glitches out or just doesnt exist. (The legendary finale was devoid of music and the battle music cut out)

    Also there are only 8 gym leaders that are reused a few times through the story. There are no Elite Four, you fight the same trainers all over again intead. The postgame is nonexistent too. No amount of #ThankYouGamefreak can cover up this travesty. Stop letting them get away with this sheer laziness.    … Expand
  56. Pokesh33t
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Don’t buy it, burn Pokémon, they only want our money, it’s a scam, let Pokémon brand finish, it’s all trash, stop Pokémon stop them
  57. Nintendero97
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Como videojuego es divertido, pero como producto es también mediocre, tú no puedes hacer un videojuego tan poco trabajado en una saga que vende millones de unidades, no pido un videojuego con gráficos realistas, pero si un videojuego con unos gráficos a la altura estilo Zelda, y de las animaciones mejor no hablemos, son las mismas animaciones que en 3ds pero cuando digo eso es LAS MISMAS,Como videojuego es divertido, pero como producto es también mediocre, tú no puedes hacer un videojuego tan poco trabajado en una saga que vende millones de unidades, no pido un videojuego con gráficos realistas, pero si un videojuego con unos gráficos a la altura estilo Zelda, y de las animaciones mejor no hablemos, son las mismas animaciones que en 3ds pero cuando digo eso es LAS MISMAS, y en combate tu personaje en ocasiones desaparece y resta total inmersión, señores de Game freak que no estamos en la época de PS2!!, Que la switch puede con mucho más!… Expand
  58. Coaltergeist
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    While there are many issues with Pokemon sword and shield, I don't think they warrant giving the game a 1 out of 10. The missing pokemon, the cut moves, the lack of postgame content, the general laziness, and the developer's arrogant attitude are all working together to make sure this game fails, which is disappointing. I am a huge fan of previous pokemon games, and I don't want to see theWhile there are many issues with Pokemon sword and shield, I don't think they warrant giving the game a 1 out of 10. The missing pokemon, the cut moves, the lack of postgame content, the general laziness, and the developer's arrogant attitude are all working together to make sure this game fails, which is disappointing. I am a huge fan of previous pokemon games, and I don't want to see the series fail. I cannot overlook the sloppiness present in this game, however. In the end, it isn't the worst game ever made, but it doesn't come close to being good.… Expand
  59. SiberyanZ
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Same as the Sword review, the amount of reused content, technical issues and blatant incompetence that this game shows are by far the objective demonstration that this is the worst game in the series thus far.
    Having been a long time fan of the series i can't help but feel incredibly disapponited with its direction and decisions, from the removal of fan favourite pokémons (more then half    Same as the Sword review, the amount of reused content, technical issues and blatant incompetence that this game shows are by far the objective demonstration that this is the worst game in the series thus far.
    Having been a long time fan of the series i can't help but feel incredibly disapponited with its direction and decisions, from the removal of fan favourite pokémons (more then half of them) or the removal of important moves for the competitive side of the game, like Hidden Power or Return, to the introduction of mechanics that are unoriginal and uninspired like Dynamax and Gigamax, this game feel like a cheap copy and paste of Sun and Moon ported to the Switch with even less content and rushed to meet the holiday season time frame.    … Expand
  60. meHG12
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. There are a lot of restructuring problems, but I've cleared them and I want to say a story
    Very boring and the lowest ever    … Expand
  61. NormalReview
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Pretty much the same as my Sword review... except Eiscue's in it.

    Please, don't let this franchise continue like this. The flaws that were there are still here after 2 generations and instead of listening Game Freak decides to lie to their fans instead. If you can have fun with these games good for you.
  62. MrJohns
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Another rushed, disappointing mess for longtime fans of the series. Its a short, buggy and way to easy Game. They cutted and removed a lot (Dexit, Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves). Graphics are bad, and there are several Technical Issues. And then they Reused a lot and added boring Gimmicks like Dynamaxing. Don't support this kind of Greedy Garbage!
  63. Plisken
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    From now on Game Freak do it like Blizzard.
    Its a shame, they lie to us customers and use their power to appease.

    Why international companies like Volkswagen think its ok to treat her customers like this?

    Did they realy think in 2 months everything will be all right again? Our trust in them is sustained damaged for a long time.

    THAT'S THE REAL PROBLEM!
  64. AnotherPerson77
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    The cutting of Pokemon was a change that I had expected (albeit dreaded) to come sooner or later as the series total Pokemon and alternate forms would continue to grow, I have never had an interest in the competitive landscape or catching every Pokemon so the reveal of the decision was disappointing to me, but somewhat understood. However I still believe this was a poor decision given thatThe cutting of Pokemon was a change that I had expected (albeit dreaded) to come sooner or later as the series total Pokemon and alternate forms would continue to grow, I have never had an interest in the competitive landscape or catching every Pokemon so the reveal of the decision was disappointing to me, but somewhat understood. However I still believe this was a poor decision given that this is the first mainline Pokemon game to be released on a console, this is a big moment for the series and should have been taken far more seriously. I also believe that with a sacrifice this major, something of similar or greater value must be given in return. The cutting of Pokemon could have given Game Freak the opportunity to greatly develop the animations and personalities of the Pokemon kept in the game, perhaps reintroducing following Pokemon or having more dynamic interactions with them. Alternatively, the story and world could be more developed and based around the Pokemon that inhabit the region. Or the graphical prowess of the development team could be shown in the environment, with their time being spent on designing a more interesting world instead of reworking the Pokemon.
    Unfortunately, none of this came to pass. While it is undeniable that the visual design of the game is better than what has come before (with the exception of some poor texture mapping on trees and rocks) I and many others do not believe that it has reached an acceptable level given the superior hardware the games are using. The games feel like an upgrade to Sun and Moon but lack the style that made Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee visually pleasing and still have some incredibly poor textures. Not to mention, the animations for the game have been shown to be reused and to freeze whenever a player climbs a ladder. For a game that had 3 years of development (1 for concept and 2 for production) and is charging £60/$60 at launch (going up against Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey) combined with being a part of the most profitable series in the world, this is completely unacceptable.
    But the biggest and most insulting aspect of these games is Game Freak’s dishonest marketing of the games, only serving to further stoke the flames between the developers and consumers. Not only did Game Freak avoid mentioning the cutting of previous Pokemon until being directly questioned about it by a reporter and later confronted by the angered fan-base, they have also provided blatantly false reasoning for why the cutting was necessary. The studio claimed that the cutting of previous Pokemon was due to them being forced to remodel them for the new hardware, however this was shown to be a malicious lie by data-miners, who discovered that they were re-using the previous models. This also brought their statement that the reason for the cutting of 50% of the previous Pokemon, mega evolution and Z moves was to improve the online and competitive matches into question, with many people believing that these features were cut either out of laziness or as a result of trying to release a new game every year since 2016 (I personally believe the former). While the re-use of previous models is accepted as an industry standard and shouldn’t be criticised, blatantly lying to consumers about your product should never be excused.
    But even with all of the controversy aside, the games still fall short even as Pokemon games. There is very little experimentation, with many of the story elements being reused from Sun and Moon (such as the fake evil team, the main mechanic being the result of a powerful Pokemon radiating a mysterious energy and even many of the character design sharing similar design elements to those seen in previous games). Most of the new elements of the game, such as dynamaxing, feel hollow and meaningless as they were clearly created with the intention of being abandoned next game rather than being included out of a genuine passion to develop and improve on the mechanics of the previous games. No effort was taken to improve on the storytelling of the series (which suffers from an overabundance of cut-scenes) or the difficulty curve (which is pathetically easy), showing a huge disconnect between the studio and their fans.
    The only area of the game that warrants praising is the soundtrack, which is of excellent quality as always and deserves a large amount of praise for the variety of styles and use of soundscapes in some of the tracks.
    Unfortunately, even if you are a hardcore Pokemon fan, their isn’t much this game offers to warrant it’s £60/$60 price. I don’t even believe that £30/$30 wouldn’t be acceptable. I would recommend giving this game a skip, Game Freak should not be rewarded for poorly managing a project and producing a lackluster product (whether by intention or not). By not buying these games, we can hopefully encourage them to produce a better quality game next time.    … Expand
  65. ryuraf1
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    The game is just unfinished. It's totally uncleaned, the designs are bad, the graphics are trash, the ost is boring, everything here is wrong. The prior games look better than this. This game could easily be made in Nintendo 64. The gameplay is boring, the story is short, there is not even a single good thing in Pokemon Sword and Shield. It's just a way of the company making money. AThe game is just unfinished. It's totally uncleaned, the designs are bad, the graphics are trash, the ost is boring, everything here is wrong. The prior games look better than this. This game could easily be made in Nintendo 64. The gameplay is boring, the story is short, there is not even a single good thing in Pokemon Sword and Shield. It's just a way of the company making money. A offense for the fans.… Expand
  66. Draz2153
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Deletes your save data for other games like splatoon and let's go. DO NOT DOWNLOAD FROM ESTORE
  67. Rumin
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    An incomplete game, like her sister. Gamefreak could've taken the time to really optimize their game, include all the moves and pokemons, as well as the features of the older installments, but they couldn't wait long enough for their next paycheck.
    I hope they learn a lesson from this, because I surely did.
    And I sure do hope this game franchise dies with diginity, because otherwise this    An incomplete game, like her sister. Gamefreak could've taken the time to really optimize their game, include all the moves and pokemons, as well as the features of the older installments, but they couldn't wait long enough for their next paycheck.
    I hope they learn a lesson from this, because I surely did.
    And I sure do hope this game franchise dies with diginity, because otherwise this incompetent studio is going to run it to the ground.    … Expand
  68. AnthonyDFG
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    At the beginning of the game, serious performance issues are already notorious. The game lags in certain parts and there are awkward moments where nothing is happening and you're just waiting for a cutscene to resume. The handholding is unbearable and the Kanto-throwbacks are off the charts. Charizard will get praised half a dozen times before you can pick your first Pokémon. Hop is aAt the beginning of the game, serious performance issues are already notorious. The game lags in certain parts and there are awkward moments where nothing is happening and you're just waiting for a cutscene to resume. The handholding is unbearable and the Kanto-throwbacks are off the charts. Charizard will get praised half a dozen times before you can pick your first Pokémon. Hop is a cheap knockoff of Hau and thus the game breaks the long tradition of making every new rival unique in some way.

    As the game goes on, you begin to notice that GameFreak engaged in false advertising. We were promised that the models had been remade from scratch. However, the meshes are the exact same in most cases. The few exceptions are models that got minor updates around the mouth area, presumably to eat curry. Some textures got updated but there are indications that the process might have been automated. Indeed, there isn't even a distinction between, say, the eyes and the fur of a Pokémon. Instead, they look entirely like inflatable balloons. The animations, it can be shown, have been reused too. In that direction, even the game engine was demonstrably forked from Let's Go. It's too hard to see what is made "from scratch" in this game, as even the music is a remix of sample libraries from 2013.

    The Galar region looks gorgeous in pictures but it has serious issues when you actually play it. The routes are small corridors without any intricacy. Even the wild area can be traversed in a few minutes. The forests and caves are not puzzling in any way. There is no sense of exploration or adventure. Many buildings are completely locked. The ones you can enter might look the exact same inside as they didn't even bother to shuffle furniture around. Trees look like they were imported from the Nintendo 64. The berry trees in particular look completely out of place, as if they were from another game entirely; it's really incredible that there was such a massive oversight and nobody raised an objection. There was no effort to make the water look good and the reflections are buggy. The grass and terrain textures are an eyesore. Walls and caves textures are straight out of the Sega Dreamcast. Weather is illogical and poorly implemented. You can "ride" trains but they didn't even bother animating it as it's just a black screen and you have magically teleported: even Gold and Silver had more effort into it. To top it all, time bizarrely freezes when you use stairs.

    Instead of being allowed to ride your Pokémon, you're stuck with a goofy bike that even works on water. Pokémon don't have turn animations and they pop in and out of nowhere which is very awkward and breaks the immersion, defeating the entire point of overworld encounters. Then again, trees and people do it too. You are also not allowed to even throw a Poké Ball at higher level Pokémon so it's hard to see what is the point of including them so early into the game. You can't pet your Pokémon and the Pokémon Camp is an inferior version of Pokémon Amie and Refresh. The option to play with a ball is so poorly programmed that it's hard to believe it passed the testing stages. In battles, big species like Wailord and Tyranitar are butchered by the downscaling algorithm. There are many bugs that are baffling such as trainers disappearing when certain attacks are used. We were promised this would be the game that long time fans had been waiting for but that seems extremely unlikely.

    The story is dull, rushed and boring. Interesting side characters get little screen time. It's obvious the story was not their focus this time. However, the game is not cohesive in any way so it's hard to see what even was their focus this time. Indeed, there is very little content as there's barely any postgame at all while the main story can be leisurely beaten in 12 hours assuming you aren't the kind of player that loses to NPCs. Some towns have interesting themes but they are massively underdeveloped and the "city" surrounding the Battle Tower is peak laziness: it's just a cardboard background. The region feels lifeless in general and the subpar method chosen to spawn people doesn't help. Major features like the GTS were cut and simple features like volume control are locked under key items. The level scaling is very poor as you're massively overleveled early on without any grinding, then there is a sudden spike in difficulty that can't be accounted for, and finally you go back to being overleveled even if you skip optional battles.

    In short, this game is awful for advanced players, mediocre for casual players and it's desirable that this is nobody's first Pokémon game, least they get the wrong impression. It is the worst Pokémon main duo ever released and the only positive aspects are derived from the standard Pokémon formula. Being understaffed isn't even remotely enough to explain the unacceptable low quality of these games; GameFreak has severe leadership issues.    … Expand
  69. phoenixsaturn
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    The core of the Pokemon experience is there (albeit in a highly stripped and watered down version compared to past entries in the series), but the entire game lacks polish. Apart from the Wild Area, there is very little to explore in this game. Routes are linear hallways designed to move you from A to B. The game's animations are very poor and for the most part recycled from previous 3DSThe core of the Pokemon experience is there (albeit in a highly stripped and watered down version compared to past entries in the series), but the entire game lacks polish. Apart from the Wild Area, there is very little to explore in this game. Routes are linear hallways designed to move you from A to B. The game's animations are very poor and for the most part recycled from previous 3DS entries. The rushed nature of the game is also very apparent after gym 5, as the game becomes extremely streamlined and the animations dip in quality substantially after this point. I would not be surprised to hear that this game was rushed out the door for the Christmas season.

    Overall, the entire game can easily be completed in 12 hours, there is little to do after the end credits, and what you can do gets repetitive very quickly. While you play you will be faced with busy, grating music that will make you desperate to go out of your way to find the NPC that will allow you to MUTE it. While the game is not fundamentally broken it is not at all worth the retail price and I would recommend purchasing any of the older Pokemon games rather than buying this one.    … Expand
  70. Zammm
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Lots of reports about it deleting your save data for other switch games. Should be considered a virus rather than a game
  71. Tarasios
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    This game is like an uncooked unseasoned potato: Bland and simple.

    It lacks the depth of any other game, being a straight line through. No hidden paths or secrets. And once you finish the main story that's it, you are done. You unlock the "battle tower" which has even less features than any prior simple "battle tower" and absolutely nothing else. The only positives are some good new    This game is like an uncooked unseasoned potato: Bland and simple.

    It lacks the depth of any other game, being a straight line through. No hidden paths or secrets. And once you finish the main story that's it, you are done. You unlock the "battle tower" which has even less features than any prior simple "battle tower" and absolutely nothing else.

    The only positives are some good new Pokemon designs, but the excitement over new Pokemon is dulled thanks to the National Dex cut meaning that I can't even be sure that I can keep them with me.

    Dynamaxing is fine but ultimately hollow. It combines mega evolution and z moves and manages to capture the worst of both. Even those who enjoy it can look forward to it being cut from the next game.

    Curry and Camping are barely even relevant to gameplay, and serve no purpose aside from being something they can add to the games "features list". As though they were added to meet a quota.

    This is a disgrace to the franchise, and it saddens me to see my favourite brand doing so poorly.    … Expand
  72. WorriedDenizen
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    From my Sword review:

    Sword and Shield is a shameless, rushed cashgrab. These games are easily one of the biggest disappointments in 2019, and one of the worst JRPGs in recent years, and perhaps one of the worst switch games thus far. The positives of SwSh are few, but they're there. For one, the moveset availability is a lot better since while it sucks to have the good attacks go    From my Sword review:

    Sword and Shield is a shameless, rushed cashgrab.
    These games are easily one of the biggest disappointments in 2019, and one of the worst JRPGs in recent years, and perhaps one of the worst switch games thus far.

    The positives of SwSh are few, but they're there. For one, the moveset availability is a lot better since while it sucks to have the good attacks go back to the 1 use TM system known as TRs, at least moveset potential is still flexible.

    The new pokemon is always a good addition to the ever increasing size of the amount of pokemon that well... would have existed.

    SwSh also brings back the smug @sshole rival archetype that wasn't seen since Silver in gen 2 and it's remakes.

    Yet these are a few compared to the few of many huge downsides below:

    SwSh most common and biggest problem is the cut pokemon. You can't transfer any pokemon from previous games that aren't in the Galarian dex into the games. You have to wait for that potential cashgrab known as Pokemon Home as well. Plus you can't even inject, or even attempt to play as the missing pokemon. Only some of the ones not part of the dex are programmed in, and they're the starters and some legendaries. At least in gen 3, the missing pokemon were programmed in, and you could use gameshark to play with them.

    SwSh also removes mega evolutions, and z-moves and creates yet another gimmick which is inferior, and more broken to the 2 separately. Dynamax and Gigantamaxing are poor gimmicks which only benefit the fast, and powerful mons. What it does is it increases the hp temporarily, and turns all attacks in dyna/giga attacks which are powerful attacks that each one has a secondary effect. All status moves turn into protect. Essentially a temp hp boost with z-moves, and it doesn't take up an item slot.
    This sucks since it just means that in game, the ace mons that are giga/dyna often die in very anti-climatic means, and in competitive play, these mechanics force the other player to utilize it to stand a chance.

    Graphically, the game looks even worse than 3H. Water reflections are off, theres those infamous n64 trees, and the texturing is PS2 tier. Which is an honest to god achievement, how does a game manage to look worse than 3H on the same console. At least 3H has great gameplay, and decent story for the most part, SwSh has none of that.

    The technical aspects, and animations of SwSh is truly atrocious. The games have hideous draw distance, and random FPS drops. the game that does ZA WARUDO whenever the player fishes, or climbs a ladder. Horrible graphics in general, terrible scaling especially for mons like Wailord and Tyranitar. The animations look especially bad on a lot of attacks. The infamous double kick animation, and even the important plot cut scene with the box art legendaries when they just turn around in place.

    The GTS is also looking to be missing which is another huge downside, considering the GTS was pretty much a series staple, and to see it removed adds to the ever growing list of features GF introduces then throws out in the next gen.

    The main story is really short, you could probably finish it in 8-10 hours, and the intrusive dialogue from S/M makes a return in SwSh, meaning the biggest problem with S/M is back again in these set of games. No you cannot skip the dialogue, only the actual cutscenes.

    EXP Share is on permanently and is no longer a key item. This means that training up a low leveled will lead to your other mons being massively overleveled. Oh and for some reason sound settings are locked behind a key item which you have to get from a rather easily miss able NPC.

    The post game is once again barren, perhaps even moreso than XY. You get 2 hours worth of post game, and it's mostly just going to the other gyms and fighting dynamax mons, and then fighting the box art legendaries. That's seriously it. Oh and you can do a gimped battle tower if you really wanted to.

    The biggest crime of them all though. It has most of the flaws which I listed above, and it costs $60 USD. Yeah that's the same price as a triple A game, yet this game is basically a shovelware tier joke.

    Seriously this is supposed Pokemon's mainline series debut on a console? This is what it has to offer? Nothing but pure disappointment, and a total step backwards from a 3DS game? The GC spin offs, and Wii's Battle revolution were a better taste of what a main series pokemon game on a console could have been. But alas here we are, sitting here with quite possibly the worst set of pokemon games ever, and disappointed again after a slew of mediocre 3DS games.

    Stay away from these games, it's not worth your money at all.    … Expand
  73. mechanica
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. so awaful
    story , ost , character , UI , all boring
    nooooooooooooooooooo！    … Expand
  74. ThankUGamefreak
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    This is the most important review you will ever read on metacritic. These are the best games ever made. The criticisms are unfounded and dumbfounded. Why are you complaining about only having 400 pokemon to play as? Other RPGs like final fantasy and xenoblade and persona typically only have 7ish characters to play as. Yet people are upset about 400? Bad argument. Bad graphics? That's notThis is the most important review you will ever read on metacritic. These are the best games ever made. The criticisms are unfounded and dumbfounded. Why are you complaining about only having 400 pokemon to play as? Other RPGs like final fantasy and xenoblade and persona typically only have 7ish characters to play as. Yet people are upset about 400? Bad argument. Bad graphics? That's not true. These games are cartoony beautiful appealing graphics. They'retimeless. I think the Thanos snap of pokemon is the best thing to happen to the series. It exposes the fake fans and shows who really cares about pokemon. If you dislike these games then you need to purchase them again and try again. And if you don'tbuy them then dont talk. .… Expand
  75. jsharkey621
    Aug 13, 2020
    5
    Simply put, Pokemon Sword and Shield can best be described as phoned in games that take one step forward and 3 steps back for the Pokemon series.

    The Bad: When Gamefreak said they were cutting down the number of available of Pokemon in the game in order to improve the models and animations I was hopeful that we would finally get a main game that had animation quality equal to or    Simply put, Pokemon Sword and Shield can best be described as phoned in games that take one step forward and 3 steps back for the Pokemon series.

    The Bad: When Gamefreak said they were cutting down the number of available of Pokemon in the game in order to improve the models and animations I was hopeful that we would finally get a main game that had animation quality equal to or surpassing games like Battle Revolution (a Wii game from 2006). Instead we get terrible animations where barring signature moves, most Pokemon have a single unique animation or just hop in place to attack and which one they use seems incredibly arbitrary and can lead to comically awful results like pokemon doing a kicking animation for a charging or punching attack and just hopping in place for kicking attacks. In addition, many of the idle animations seem lifeless. In a game that’s main gameplay loop revolves around battles, this is unacceptably bad. Another aspect where this game fails is the content. The routes in this game are incredibly short and linear compared to previous generations and offer no ability or incentive to explore since there are no optional routes and only one item that allows you to explore additional areas that is used in 1 route you can backtrack to. There’s also almost no endgame since the only things you unlock after the endgame are stupidly rare gigantamax raids and the Battle Tower. There are no new routes or optional legendaries to explore/find. Compounding this, all of the towns are small and offer no fun activities to do outside of checking out new clothing options in towns that have boutiques. There are only two “mini-quests” in the game that both occur in the same town. Where are series staples like the safari zone, arcades, and contests? As is you basically just go from town to town to complete the main story and then have nothing to do but grind out max raid battles and the Battle Tower. Finally, why did they remove QoL features like super training for easy EV training? Instead you have to put your Pokemon on jobs in your PC and then can’t use them until the job is done.

    Finally, the online features are abysmal. Playing online in the Wild Area makes your game lag like crazy. They also removed the ability for you to search for online trades based on what you want and then see what others want in turn or vice versa, and instead force you to post a public trade offer and hope that whoever decides to take your offer has what you want... when there’s no in-game chat so you can say what you want. Finally, they didn’t put a refresh button for event cards so half the time you try to join someone else’s raids you discover they already have a full party or started the raid already.

    The Good: I like a lot of the designs for this gen (which is admittedly entirely subjective). I love new mons like Appletun and Corviknight. Also, certain QoL features like being able to transfer egg moves between breeding partners are really convenient. Finally, the Wild Area is a (small, unpolished) step in the right direction for what the series can hopefully become.    … Expand
  76. Shaposa
    Nov 28, 2019
    10
    These games are absolutely fantastic. The Dynamax/Gigantamax mechanics are fun, the OST is fantastic, the characters are memorable and the visuals are stunning! Now. There are a few things keeping this game from a 10. There's a tiny bit of lag in some areas. Marnie doesn't feel developed enough. And the online can be **** sometimes (That's just because Nintendo Switch Online is hotThese games are absolutely fantastic. The Dynamax/Gigantamax mechanics are fun, the OST is fantastic, the characters are memorable and the visuals are stunning! Now. There are a few things keeping this game from a 10. There's a tiny bit of lag in some areas. Marnie doesn't feel developed enough. And the online can be **** sometimes (That's just because Nintendo Switch Online is hot garbage.). But there's a reason I'm giving it a 10 instead of the 9. To counteract the review bombing that this game is receiving.… Expand
  77. TheTrueFacts
    Nov 29, 2019
    10
    I wrote this whole big long reason for why I love Pokémon Sword and Shield over on Pokémon Sword but since I don’t want to waste another hour of my life I’ll summarize it. I like the story, characters, character development, Pokémon in it, and graphics.
  78. sheep455246
    Jul 13, 2020
    10
    After seeing the evolution of other Nintendo franchises in the Switch like "Mario Odyssey" and "Breath of the Wild", it is just lame to see Pokemon receive little to no evolution at all, it is a 3DS game with a Switch price tag.
  79. EllEll
    Jul 10, 2020
    10
    Great game for Pokémon fans I think the reason why the graphics are not so good is because they wanted to focus on the gameplay!!! Worth your time.
  80. MrGoombs
    Aug 21, 2020
    10
    it’s overhated it’s not a bad game or a good game but it’s still fun and that’s what matters i wouldn’t give it a 10/10 but i am to counteract the trolls in reality i’d give it a 8/10
  81. MagicMikey
    Aug 23, 2020
    10
    The absence of the National Dex in my opinion means nothing to me. Gen 3 didn't bother me when I couldn't trade up my boys then. The New Pokemon added in my opinion are some of the best in series. Most JRPG games let you have like 4-8 characters 400 is more than enough for me. The only problem I had with the game was the curry dex. Sword/Shield are leagues better than X/Y and Sun/MoonThe absence of the National Dex in my opinion means nothing to me. Gen 3 didn't bother me when I couldn't trade up my boys then. The New Pokemon added in my opinion are some of the best in series. Most JRPG games let you have like 4-8 characters 400 is more than enough for me. The only problem I had with the game was the curry dex. Sword/Shield are leagues better than X/Y and Sun/Moon and i'm very happy with gyms being back, the quality of life buffs when it come to breeding/training competitive Pokemon and now there’s no need to backtrack half across the world to heal your entire team… Expand
  82. KrakenOfPepsi
    Nov 20, 2019
    4
    Metacritic has a pretty small character limit on their reviews, so in order to get all of my points across I'm going to split my reviews across the Sword review, and the Shield review. This is the second part:

    - The gyms are small, and feature very standard and uninspired puzzles and mechanics. Even the GBA games were doing more interesting things than this. Also, the version exclusive    Metacritic has a pretty small character limit on their reviews, so in order to get all of my points across I'm going to split my reviews across the Sword review, and the Shield review. This is the second part:

    - The gyms are small, and feature very standard and uninspired puzzles and mechanics. Even the GBA games were doing more interesting things than this. Also, the version exclusive gym leaders have the exact same puzzle mechanics, just with a texture swap.
    - The Wild area allows you access to virtually every single Pokémon in the game, this means you barely need to revisit most areas in the game, removing any importance the area might have had. Because of this you will also spend a huge amount of time here, which in turn also means that you'll get extremely bored of this area very quickly because it's just a huge field with countless random, disconnected areas and Pokémon. I can walk for less than a minute and go from walking in and blizzard finding ice types, to a sand storm finding rock and ground types. This area completely works against the exploration elements of the game, and completely removes any value the Pokémon once had in the series. I can seriously catch something like 10-15 different final evolution Pokémon within five minutes. It’s a joke, there’s a difference between catering towards more casual audiences, and simply ruining you games overall design.
    - You can camp in virtually any area in the game, this allows you to play a mini-game which lets you cook curry, this curry generally depending on how good you are, completely heals/revives your team, as well as giving them EXP. All that is required to make a curry by the way, is a single berry. The price to purchase a berry is about a quarter of the money required to buy the worst potion in the game by the way. Do I need to explain how this is poor balancing, even for a kids game?...
    - There is no touch screen use in this game at all.
    - There are no longer HMs, period. You are able to fly and you are able to surf, these are the only interactions you can have with the environment now. In all the other games, you would gain access to the fly ability fairly late in the game, making the ability to revisit areas that once felt so far away much more satisfying and rewarding. In this game however, you get access to it very early on, and you spend almost the whole game just teleporting from place to place on the map chasing the stupid flag objective marker. This makes the games areas feel even more useless as you pretty much only need to go through them once, there is no incentive to go back, there are no new areas or secrets to access with your HMs, no new Pokémon to find, you beat the area then you never return. The real kicker is that Surf is only required to progress once in the entire game. I’m not joking. You pretty much only ever use it in the horrible Wild Area as well. So the only two ‘HMs” in the game have been made infinitely worse, and the rest are completely absent. There are virtually no real interactions with the environment anymore, and there are no additional puzzles and features either. You can’t revisit older areas and remove trees blocking your way with Cut, you can’t solve boulder puzzles with Strength, you can’t scale mountains with Rock Climb, you can’t explore under water caverns with Dive – you can’t do anything. So much interactivity and decision making has been removed with nothing given back in exchange.
    - The story is so mundane and poorly executed that at times I wondered why they even bothered writing one. The team of this game have literally no importance to the plot whatsoever, they’re pretty much a group of crappy joke characters who follow around a side character and block your path for no reason whenever the game feels like it. These team characters are usually the main antagonists of these games, who feature prominently throughout the game and have some actual impact on the story. Team Yell however don’t have any other use in the game aside from what I’ve just mentioned, and honestly barely appear. The main antagonist of the game is revealed at the very end of the story, completely irrelevant to Team Yell, who you then defeat almost immediately after having him introduced. And then he’s sent to jail off-screen, never seen again. So the main-game has no antagonist, and all you’re left with is your character’s desire to take on the gym challenges – something every other Pokémon game prior to this had while also still creating an at least decent story on the side as well. All of the side characters get barely any screen time, have barely any development or arc, have barely any identifiable or memorable traits or moments in the game and are largely forgettable. The professor of this game appears twice in the entire main-game, again, I’m not joking. This level of quality is honestly laughable.    … Expand
  83. 1t2e3w
    Nov 26, 2019
    10
    Honestly this is the most fun I’ve had playing a Pokémon game in a long time.
  84. YuckZane
    Jan 17, 2020
    2
    I wanted to like this game very much. But I just couldn’t. Pokémon Sword and Shield felt completely uninspired, uncreative, and I felt no drive to keep on playing through it (But I did anyway).

    Pros: * Setting * Very cute and cool new Pokémon * Music for most of it (there were some repetitive songs that got really annoying like in the wild area) * Wild area * Playing with the toy    I wanted to like this game very much. But I just couldn’t. Pokémon Sword and Shield felt completely uninspired, uncreative, and I felt no drive to keep on playing through it (But I did anyway).

    Pros:
    * Setting
    * Very cute and cool new Pokémon
    * Music for most of it (there were some repetitive songs that got really annoying like in the wild area)
    * Wild area
    * Playing with the toy and games like fetch with your Pokémon for about three minutes before it got boring
    * More variety of types available (Ice, Fairy, Dark, Ghost, Fighting)
    * More variety with the Gym leader types
    * Get ability to “fly” early and no HMs

    Cons:
    * Not a lot of depth
    * WAY TOO EASY
    * Shared exp is STILL too much
    * Story doesn’t really start kicking in until very late
    * Characters were annoying (except Bebe and Marnie)
    * Hop is an extremely boring character and his constant positivity and uncomfortable amount of worship towards his brother gets obnoxious after a while.
    * Team Yell is useless
    * Bike outfit is yuck
    * The look and art of the interface, health bars, experience points were all very lazily done
    * Charizard is no longer a Pokémon I enjoy anymore because of overstimulation
    * The first play through should not leave me in a questioning state of “what was the point of any of this?”

    While I personally think this game looks really good a lot of the time, there is a severe lack of depth and characters that players can connect to and enjoy. I think this game was lazily made and basically pushed out for profit and should’ve given it another year to maybe make a game worth playing.    … Expand
  85. Oscote
    Jan 19, 2020
    4
    A company / franchise that is worth more than almost any other franchise and this is the garbage they feed us? Don't get me wrong, the game is passable and functional but the graphics are subpar, the animations are subpar, the story is subpar...

    The fading animation of the camera clipping through objects looks like it was ripped from a ps1 game, the trees look like they were ripped from    A company / franchise that is worth more than almost any other franchise and this is the garbage they feed us? Don't get me wrong, the game is passable and functional but the graphics are subpar, the animations are subpar, the story is subpar...

    The fading animation of the camera clipping through objects looks like it was ripped from a ps1 game, the trees look like they were ripped from an n64 game, the animations don't fit the pokemon half of the time. I just completed the game and during the last battle where you catch the legendary, there is no hype music or environmental sound effects (which there should at least be those... you are on top of a building). All Gamefreak gives you is quiet, echoing footsteps as you walk around. After this, you find your rival befriended the other legendary who randomly wants to be his pokemon (and give up it's hundreds of years of independence... but whatever), Hop walks 2 steps away from it, then throws a pokeball (that you can see his hands are empty) full force. Nothing says friendship like a 100% effort throw from 2 feet away.

    I enjoyed it, it brought back some nostalgia, but this is more of a 40 dollar game than a mainline, premier, 60 dollar game.    … Expand
  86. HipSGuinness
    Feb 3, 2020
    4
    This game is just an other pokemon game. DLC are joke, they need to be on the game at the start of for free.
    The main history are very easy and clean on less than 20h if you collect just normaly. And if you finish the game all pokemon on the central zone jump lvl 55/60 wtf oO
    The help on typ and you can see if your attack is effective or not... (the gigamax evolution are nothing more    This game is just an other pokemon game. DLC are joke, they need to be on the game at the start of for free.
    The main history are very easy and clean on less than 20h if you collect just normaly. And if you finish the game all pokemon on the central zone jump lvl 55/60 wtf oO
    The help on typ and you can see if your attack is effective or not... (the gigamax evolution are nothing more than a boost)

    Maybe the DLC can improve the game, but the game are expensive for nothing more.    … Expand
  87. Lightning_Chasr
    Mar 1, 2020
    4
    More of the same, with less of what makes the series special to so many. Ugly open world area but beautiful towns. Spotty online. The most cinematic the series has ever been, sadly ruined by a lack of voice acting.
  88. Howtomesup
    Feb 22, 2020
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. - game after 10 hours is boring.
    -Too easy. Like you can beat this game with three or four Pkmn and spamming a single attack, you even need to bother to buy potions or items at all because you can beat the opposing trainer with one hit and they barely damage your team, like why not put a hard or challenging mode where you can have to be more aware of items and attacks, etc. Overall it was underwhelming Rpg experience
    -Lack of content. Not minigames, boring battle cafe thing, boring battle tower, no rematch, boring, forgetable and too small region with nothing to do in it. No sidequest, no other activities like Battle Frontier, contest or visiting other islands.
    -Horrible graphics. The grass, the trees and that berries trees, oh boy that berries trees looks out of place with the other trees also in the Wild Area there three berries trees that are arranged in a way that doesn't look well in a "natural/wild" space.
    -This game has lazy animation. I remember a section near the final of the game that they don't even bother to animate the Pokemon using a move to turn on a switch. The water looks so bad and doesn't feel real that the Pokemon doesn't even interact with it. Pkmn lack like good animations, most notably flying type Pkmn like their just has their wings open, without flapping them that doesn't make sense. Moves and attacks looks awful.
    - This games have too much recycle stuff. Every item sprite and descriptions are the same as old titles, same with some moves and Pkmn sprites and descriptions, also the same old chimes and sound effects are old and it felt off and outdated. So this basically is copy and paste and it was no much effort in it.
    - The story is forgettable, unmemorable, predictable and boring, like there is no character motivation, same with the antagonist, and that thing of the Darkest Day what even concludes or is important.
    - The lack of voice acting in places where it should. The introduction and where Piers is "singing" is cringy and painfully to watch.
    -The unnecessary cut of Pkmn. If you are already copying and pasting everything why not cut and paste the rest of the Pkmn. Ohh i know because you want a Dlc that doesn't even include all the remaining Pkmn.
    The only decent thing of this game is the music and there is not a lot of it.
    But I know this is a very small indi company and like they are not obviously the owner of one of "THE HIGHEST GROSSING FRANCHISES".    … Expand
  89. JRobson
    Mar 5, 2020
    4
    As the latest entries in the Pokemon video game series, "Sword" and "Shield" are as generic and tired as their subtitles would suggest. As video games, they are a master class in how not to plan, develop or market your product. To the average Pokemon fan, they are so-so games that do just enough to scratch the itch. To longtime fans who have spent the majority of our young lives growing upAs the latest entries in the Pokemon video game series, "Sword" and "Shield" are as generic and tired as their subtitles would suggest. As video games, they are a master class in how not to plan, develop or market your product. To the average Pokemon fan, they are so-so games that do just enough to scratch the itch. To longtime fans who have spent the majority of our young lives growing up with this beloved twenty-four year old series, "Sword" and "Shield" are an insult and a misstep so hideous and poorly-conceived at every step of their execution that they do not merely scrape the bottom of the barrel, nor can they be described as the bottom of the barrel: these games do not deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with the barrel.

    For the uninitiated, Pokemon is a series in which players explore a vivid world and discover a diverse cast of monsters. Players form a close bond with these monsters by capturing, evolving, and training their skills in turn-based battles. In contrast, "Sword" and "Shield" invites players to vainly attempt to explore a lifeless husk and discover a limited selection of 3D models T-planing their way across an unambitious, empty world reminiscent of video game worlds two decades its senior (with worse lighting). Pokemon float aimlessly with no sign of intelligent AI beyond simple walking and "player noticed" animations. Shamefully, no interaction between Pokemon and the environment is to be found, nor is any world-building tell that would give players the impression the world is occupied by powerful creatures -- a particularly disappointing fact given how much focus was dedicated to the open world section during the game's promotion.

    Seemingly tacked on mid-development, the open world section features a surprisingly solid if janky player-controlled camera (a series first and a marked improvement over past entries). Despite this, the majority of the game bizarrely does not make use of it, instead employing the automated camera seen in past entries. The resulting conflict in gameplay is the most glaring fundamental flaw of "Sword" and "Shield"; half-heartedly teasing players with the illusion of freedom only to take it away for the majority of the game (think Super Mario Bros. but with a jump button that stops working after the first jump). Coupled with lackluster level design, "secret" items that predictably spawn at the same spots within the world, and a lack of player-world interaction, and players are left feeling punished rather than rewarded for exploring -- a perfect microcosm of Game Freak's decades-old development strategy, a "more of the same thing" development rut which allows for changes only if they come half-baked and ten years late.

    Graphically, 2019's "Sword" and "Shield" are somewhere between 2001 and 1996. Compared to titles released on the same platform (the most powerful Nintendo console to date), textures range from passable to hideous. Lighting is poor overall, with over-exposed whites in bright conditions and color blending so poorly-implemented that cave Pokemon encounters can easily be mistaken for rare "shiny" events. The art style is especially appalling in how little stylistic continuity it features. Even experienced players may find themselves confused by the contrast between ordinary trees and Berry Trees, which feature a repetitive cartoon-like design with vivid colors that contrast dramatically with the muted greys and greens of their non-interactive counterparts (assuming those players can forgive the jarring close range pop-in). The resulting effect makes one feel like some art assets have unceremoniously "glitched in" from an entirely different game. Equally jarring are the open world section's weather events, in which sunny, flowery fields adopt the ambiance of tornado-stricken disaster zones in the blink of an eye, with no visual indicator from a distance.

    Gameplay is unworthy of a mention, with the same slow, clunky cycle players have endured since 1996 in full effect. The latest gimmick to be introduced (and will almost certainly be disappointingly forgotten by the next entry) is "Dynamaxing", a temporary battle gimmick which allows Pokemon to become giants with preset movesets replacing their player-given moveset. As with past gimmicks, many players ignore this feature in competitive play. The "Curry Dex" exists in the way the letter 'Q' exists.

    Sporadic quality of life changes do little to improve the overall UX of these titles, with battles still encumbered by meandering "It's super effective!" messages that could be communicated more eloquently with a quick on-screen visual.

    Players are advised to treat these titles with the same reverence Game Freak's art director James Turner holds for Pokemon fans (Turner publicly "liked" a social media post calling passionate fans who voiced criticism of his project the C-word in the weeks leading up to the game's release).

    Dynamax your wallet instead.    … Expand
  90. ChesterField
    Apr 27, 2020
    4
    Another pokemon game similar to the previous ones, for some reason they refuse to add mechanics of the previous ones like megaevolutions. It is inconceivable that in 2019 a pokemon game will come out in which there are only half to catch and more when your main motto is to 'catch them all'. How is it possible that they didn't even add voices to the game when 15 years ago games like PokemonAnother pokemon game similar to the previous ones, for some reason they refuse to add mechanics of the previous ones like megaevolutions. It is inconceivable that in 2019 a pokemon game will come out in which there are only half to catch and more when your main motto is to 'catch them all'. How is it possible that they didn't even add voices to the game when 15 years ago games like Pokemon Stadium did. Even these games had more difficulty than this. It is a pity that in 20 years of saga there has not been a single progress in the pokemon or mechanical battles. graphically the game has improved but not even close to the level of great titles of Nintendo, again a shame. In short, more of the same but easier and a little more beautiful. a purchase only mandatory for the most fanatics of the saga (among which I include myself) but in turn very disappointing.… Expand
  91. Aldredo
    May 5, 2020
    4
    1. Mala historia
    La historia es casi inexistente hasta casi el final, para presentar una supuesta crisis que nunca se es mostrada en lo más mínimo y que de todos ocurrirá dentro de tanto tiempo que resulta irrelevante hacerlo hoy, encima que la idea para solucionar el disque problema es estúpido y el villano te sonríe cuando le derrotas y frustras sus planes, dando por hecho que no le    1. Mala historia
    La historia es casi inexistente hasta casi el final, para presentar una supuesta crisis que nunca se es mostrada en lo más mínimo y que de todos ocurrirá dentro de tanto tiempo que resulta irrelevante hacerlo hoy, encima que la idea para solucionar el disque problema es estúpido y el villano te sonríe cuando le derrotas y frustras sus planes, dando por hecho que no le importa. Además de contar con los mismos diálogos infantiles y repetitivos de siempre con la típica historia del entrenador en casa de mami que quiere ser el mejor.

    2. Malos gráficos y trabajo técnico en general.
    En cualquier lado podemos ver como las gráficas del juego son bastante malas, solo de ver cosas como el área silvestre.
    Malas animaciones como la mayoría de las de combate, así como simulaciones para aplaudir o los movimientos de personajes que primero deben girarse sobre sí mismo para avanzar al frente, con movimientos súper robóticos.
    Cantidades absurdas de poppin especialmente en el área silvestre que te salen en la cara.
    Más de 30 años y no implementa nada de doblaje en un juego que ni tiene diálogos y una historia significativa, hasta los juegos más infantiles de nintendo como mario, AC o kirby le ponen aunque sea ruiditos a los personajes, pero aquí salvo los pokemon no dicen nada.

    3. Poco contenido.
    La duración es demasiado corta, solo apuesta a lo típico de la aventura y una post historia de unos reyes o lo que sean bastante mala, y hasta ahí termina todo. El resto solo es capturar shinies u online que lo has hecho desde siempre en juegos pasados. Y ya de paso mencionar que las rutas de este juego son las más cortas y flojas que han existido siendo puros pasillos.

    4. Casi nada de novedades.
    Además del área silvestre que es extremadamente mediocre por razones como que es el área que peor está técnicamente de todo el juego, ser solo una planicie sin mayor exploración y sin mazmorras ni nada, lags cuando estas online, también se tienen las incursiones que tampoco son la súper novedad, y los gigamax o dina que solo son un copypaste de z moves y mega evolution mas desbalanceados. El resto del juego es lo mismo de siempre, mismos combates sin nada realmente nuevo cambiando una mecánica por otra que fue una copia, prácticamente es lo mismo que los de 3ds.

    5. Baja dificultad.
    Los enemigos irán abajo de tu nivel por lo fácil que es sobrelevear con el área silvestre y las incursiones, además que te curan a cada rato, un rep experiencia que no se puede desactivar, te curan a cada rato, te regalan objetos por doquier y tienes revivires con mucho dinero apenas el inicio, el juego hasta se puede pasar casi solo con un pokemon con uno tan roto como cinderade y su movimiento característico.

    6. Recortes innecesarios.
    La pokedex fue recortada solo para venderte bichos en el home y el dlc, quitaron z moves, megas, movimientos, el juego en general es corto y sin postgame mas que lo mismo que puedes hacer siempre de shinies y online, online que ahora es de pago y con el home se pone pero encima.

    En general es un juego extremadamente mediocre, no resalta en nada salvo la música que es lo único bueno, además de no resaltar resulta ser bastante malo en cuestiones como gráficos o la historia, la jugabilidad es lo mismo de siempre, el juego en general esta recortado, pésimo trabajo técnico que incluso está detrás de otros juegos infantiles que no apuestan a ser la gran cosa técnica como mario o AC. Y encima se trata de una saga con millones más recaudados que muchas otras sagas incluso que las que más dinero tienen. Y de paso hay que pagar un total de $110 para tener este juego completo (juego + dlc + home + pokebank) sin contar el online que es necesario en este juego y sin contar los raros que compren la otra entrega. Si no fuera porque es pokemon y sus fanboys compran lo que sea el juego ni de cerca hubiera vendido lo que vendió.    … Expand
  92. Smars_gamer
    Jun 10, 2020
    10
    Muy buen juego, quizas sin el contenido completo usual, pero de igual manera causando la misma ganas de jugarlo horas y horas
  93. Henlol
    Jun 22, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The Game wasn't rate with the real point of view that the Game needed , Pokémon sw will be a Master piece in 5 years… Expand
  94. vuthom
    Jun 24, 2020
    10
    the new starters are awesome and best designs ever! gameplay has been enhanced so you have both easy to get into and deepest gameplay from any RPG you can find! must buy
  95. Leandroizoton
    Jun 25, 2020
    10
    Honestly, I don’t understand the Pokémon fandom sometimes. Pokémon Sword and Shield only flaw is a short history, that they are completing with two DLC costing half the price of a game, so even without the second half, is already the best Pokémon Game for me.
    The soundtrack is delicious. The Wild Area gives plenty of fun. Since the launching there’s always some Event going on and to top    Honestly, I don’t understand the Pokémon fandom sometimes. Pokémon Sword and Shield only flaw is a short history, that they are completing with two DLC costing half the price of a game, so even without the second half, is already the best Pokémon Game for me.
    The soundtrack is delicious. The Wild Area gives plenty of fun. Since the launching there’s always some Event going on and to top all that they created one of the most fluids breeding mechanic in the game.
    I would only wish that they would patch the chain method for shinies. Other than that, great way to start the main series in a new console.    … Expand
  96. Gastly67
    Jul 19, 2020
    10
    Compre este para tenerlo en la coleccion, sufre lo mismo que el de Pokémon Sword, pero sigue siendo buen juego para los fans dee pokémon
  97. Goatab
    Aug 10, 2020
    4
    Decent for the first 50 hours, but then there is no replay ability after that
  98. opnyx
    Jan 16, 2021
    8
    I loved playing this game. The story is great in my opinion. All the competition background is awesome, there's a lot of customizations features for your character, and the battles in arenas are epic.
    But I was disappointed with the graphics, which look quite poor for a Switch game, and also by the basic Pokémon animations.
    Very nice experience though.
  99. ND-Bringer
    Nov 11, 2022
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pokemon Sword and Shield is perhaps the most controversial game of Generation 8. I remember hating this game during my first play through back in high school. With its overpriced DLC and its lackluster post game content. But while taking a look back before the release of Scarlet and Violet, some positive memories came flooding back to me.

    And with more critical eye, I can tribute the moments I did really enjoy all those years ago. Because when you take a moment to ignore the overpriced DLC, as a stand alone game, it's actually quite enjoyable. Let's take look into one of Game Freak's ultimate mixed bags.

    The game starts off with you and your best friend Hop obtaining your Galarian Starters from the Champion himself, Leon. Who decides to endorse your Gym Challenge, hoping to meet worthy opponents in the future. The Gym Leader challenge has returned, now paired with a "Sporting Event" theme. With Galar's design heavily based off of Great Britain, it makes sense to throw the country's love for sports in the mix.

    And while not every Gym Battle is a winner, hearing that roar from the stadium took me back to the days I watched Ash Ketchum compete in the Pokemon League. The closest games to create that effect were the Pokemon Stadium games and it's great to play a core-series game that creates the same effect.

    And to add to the flavor, trainers can now Dynamax their Pokemon and transform them into giants. Increasing their HP drastically and giving them the ability to use powerful new Max Moves to crush opponents into dust. Some Pokemon even have the ability to change their form and Gigantamax, allowing them to use powerful signature Max Moves and show off a Kaiju inspired appearance.

    The only thing standing in the way of my enjoyment is the story. Which isn't as bad and yet somehow just as bad as I remember in multiple portions of the game. Problem number one, Hop, the Master of None.

    While not as pathetic as the X and Y rivals, Hop doesn't build a decent Pokemon team until the post game. And is entire character can be summed up as unfocused. He's really positive like Hau but also pretty bland like most of the Gender-Swap Rivals. And at the end of the post game when he decides to become a Professor, I'm simply confused. Enter the Pokemon Hall of Shame on your right.

    Whenever the story annoyed me, I went to to explore the wild area. A large world designed for those who love to capture Pokemon. At the surface it's really fun to explore. You get to find rare items, high leveled monsters, gorgeous lakes to surf on...it's everything you would want out of long Pokemon level. Hiking through this open world is incredibly relaxing, it's a grand mechanic that several Switch games are aiming for these days. It doesn't feel like you're exploring Galar anymore, it feels like you're exploring the world of Pokemon itself.

    Their's one fatal problem with this set up, some Pokemon are exclusive to the wild area. Making Pokedex completion an eyesore since some Pokemon will only appear once per week...half of the time. I'm not joking when I say it took me two real life weeks to build my original ultimate Pokemon team, because certain members couldn't be found in the wild area yet.

    It's not that there are no decent Pokemon to capture in the main game routes, but it's really annoying that the game will only allow certain Pokemon of the week to appear. It's bad enough that Gamefreak had to remove several Pokemon and moves in order to make room for this new content. But it's outright scummy to make some of those rejected Pokemon obtainable through overpriced DLC.

    And as for the adventure itself, it's still enjoyable. Rising from the ranks of the Gym Challenge tournament aiming to dethrone Leon. But the game gets unbelievably easy after the fifth gym. Version exclusives mean nothing to me, Rock Types and Ice Types are not difficult to defeat.

    The villains of this game are a huge let down as well. With Chairman Rose being a weak twist villain with a pathetic Steel-Type Team to match. His plan is to use the Legendary Pokemon as an energy source, he just needed a master trainer to control it. And while Leon did say he would comply and battle Eternatus after the tournament, the Chairman proceeds without him, due to his inability to wait one day.

    And then theirs Sordward and Shielbert...who are perhaps the most annoying villains in the entire Pokémon franchise. They have all the most annoying quirks. Ex Machina fleeing powers, an army of evil NPCs, boring Pokemon teams. And if you want the new staple legendary Pokemon on your team, you have to complete a post game challenge where Sonia mentions her new assistant, who has no name.

    So in conclusion, the game gets annoying half way through. It reminds a lot of Skylanders Trap Team. A game with really fun new gameplay mechanics, a predictable story, overpriced extra content, and a bunch fun boss battles mixed in with pathetic ones.    … Expand
  100. LordJazbin
    Apr 19, 2021
    5
    I think there's too much hate around them, Sword and Shield are definitely not bad games... But after Sun and Moon that was great... This is just: disappointing. In every way. And even worse than XY.

    Good part is: Pokémon designs and music. But in terms of the story is one of the worse, difficulty is really bad, game is dull...
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Awards & Rankings

76
#76 Best Switch Game of 2019
3
#3 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 89 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 69 out of 89
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 89
  3. Negative: 0 out of 89
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 30, 2020
    90
    Sword & Shield have a lot to love for old and new fans, and they're pure quality from top to bottom. [Issue #44 – January/February 2020, p. 72]
  2. GameCritics
    Feb 6, 2020
    75
    I enjoyed my time with Pokemon Sword and Shield, but I ended feeling conflicted. I appreciate many of the changes and felt that it generally respected my time, but I almost felt like a passive participant. The more complex gym challenges had a meatier role, but the narrative shouldn’t have been shoved to the side. Overall, I would recommend it to players who want to have a Pokemon experience, but this one won’t stick with me the way the older ones have.
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  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Jan 14, 2020
    78
    Pokemon Sword/Shield is uncharacteristically user-friendly: now there’s no need to backtrack half across the world to heal your entire team of pokemon or to get to a particular city, for example. [Issue#242, p.66]
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