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. Bbug
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Nada, nos quitan cosas, supuestamente para mejorar otras y es todo un copy paste de la generacion pasada, nos quitan objetos, pokemon, megas, movimientos z, y nos meten pokemon gigantes que acaba siendo lo mismo que la mega, no le veo nada de sentido, personajes sin carisma alguna, fácilmente olvida les, no me gusto
  2. Xkayz
    Nov 16, 2019
    1
    Game feels rushed, incomplete, and limited. Animations often make no sense. Little to no post-game content.
  3. DavoNZ
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Such poor quality despite funds clearly not being an issue...this is Pokemon after all. Haven't seen pop-in this bad or textures this bad since the Wii
  4. xXDank_HillXx
    Nov 18, 2019
    0
    Pokemon has grown stale, earlier this year is was getting into pokemon alpha sapphire and thought that was great, went to pokemon moon and was pretty dissapointed by the environments, imo these games looked better in the 2d pixely style of before, I get a general lack of motivation when it comes to playing these newer pokemon games because the art is so bland, ever get that feeling whenPokemon has grown stale, earlier this year is was getting into pokemon alpha sapphire and thought that was great, went to pokemon moon and was pretty dissapointed by the environments, imo these games looked better in the 2d pixely style of before, I get a general lack of motivation when it comes to playing these newer pokemon games because the art is so bland, ever get that feeling when your like "man I really don't want to play this anymore" and you feel bad? thats kinda where pokemon is now, walk from point A to B fight and/or catch pokemon, with or without talking to someone first, the dialogue is unmemorable, and I don't really care about the characters in the game, but then again, that was never why I played pokemon anyway. At this age I realize it was always, walk from here to here, catch or fight pokemon, and then sometimes before you catch or fight pokemon you get to read some bland dialogue… Expand
  5. Artatm
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    So Nintendo creates breath of the wild and Mario odyssey - then delays Metroid because it’s not up to snuff - wow pokemon is going to be good - fast forward to release .... yeah not so much - So the textured look legitimately sloppy in places, it’s not just stylistic they are upscale and stretched, charters float over them looking rigid and plastic it’s like a bad mobile game not somethingSo Nintendo creates breath of the wild and Mario odyssey - then delays Metroid because it’s not up to snuff - wow pokemon is going to be good - fast forward to release .... yeah not so much - So the textured look legitimately sloppy in places, it’s not just stylistic they are upscale and stretched, charters float over them looking rigid and plastic it’s like a bad mobile game not something you expect from Nintendo on there main console, this ain’t no portable mini title no more game freak this is the big league and you fluffed it with the worlds most profitable franchise - wow - oh and you lied about it too - games out in the wild the reasons you gave for less pokemon have been proven untrue / you cut beloved content and didn’t innovate one bit, dynomax - give me a break - how about you voice the pokemon - even just the np characters in the cut scenes?! It’s 2019! Some of it is charming, a lot of the new designs look nice and cute and interesting - it’s hard not to it’s pokemon but the level of laziness here is just unforgivable - they even publicly announced it wasn’t there main project- holy hell fire?! You got some super secrets other billion dollar franchise up your selves? No?! You just want to betray your fan base and nickel and dime them with a high price game with less content than a indie game jam. Please - Protest by reviewing pokemon - tweeting/Facebook/reddit/YouTube - let Nintendo know they need to take back pokemon. we all want to love this but you got to let them know it’s not on.… Expand
  6. kujaligula
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Este Pokémon deja mucho que desear , su duración va de 15 a 18 horas , es algo ridículo , los gráficos son básicamente del Nintendo 3ds , deberían aprender de Luigui mansión 3 El recorte de Pokémon es ridículos , muy pocos Pokémon
    Que sucede con los glitches y falla de texturas? Deberían haber esperado y pulir este juego , no está a la altura de la saga Pokémon.
  7. gabrielpina4
    Nov 16, 2019
    2
    Just played 5 hrs of pokemon shield and i can honestly say this the worst pokemon in the entire series i alittle pissed i spent my money on the double pack :( will be returning the game today. Hopefully bestbuy will take it back and refund me the full price graphically it looks like n64 definitely no generational leap the story is not great there's no voice acting houses inside doesn'tJust played 5 hrs of pokemon shield and i can honestly say this the worst pokemon in the entire series i alittle pissed i spent my money on the double pack :( will be returning the game today. Hopefully bestbuy will take it back and refund me the full price graphically it looks like n64 definitely no generational leap the story is not great there's no voice acting houses inside doesn't match the outside in one house it looks like 4 people living there yet only one bedroom???? Everyone has a mom but no dad?? Where the dad?? There's just so many thing wrong that it would take me forever to list everything but will be making a YouTube video on this soon!!… Expand
  8. AverageT
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Probably the most controversial pokemon game yet, 2/3rds of the dex removed along with tons of moves and features. In what was supposed to be the holy grail of pokemon games sadly development was rushed, mistakes were made and the developer went on to lie to the public about it. I wanted to see past all that and still enjoy a pokemon game and found a very short story with reused animationsProbably the most controversial pokemon game yet, 2/3rds of the dex removed along with tons of moves and features. In what was supposed to be the holy grail of pokemon games sadly development was rushed, mistakes were made and the developer went on to lie to the public about it. I wanted to see past all that and still enjoy a pokemon game and found a very short story with reused animations and no music? I was stumped when I came across a pokemon I could not catch because I wasn't high enough level. I couldn't even throw the pokeball! Sadly the game is as easy as ever. While it's as fun as any other pokemon game, its probably the most lackluster of all the main series titles.… Expand
  9. Coby555
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Gamefreak lied about doing new models and "qUaLiTy aNiMaTIoNs" when they look horrible! Enough said, done with this series.
  10. Wakarahen
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Gamefreak, why you lie?
    I mean, it's obvious that players would discover it was all a big lie, then why getting on the bad side of players?
    This brand need to get back to high quality, this is unacceptable for the company of one of the highest selling game brand.
  11. zzzelkova
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    I ignored the controversy and gave this game the benefit of the doubt and boy did I pay for that blind ignorance this game bricked our Roku because it is so poorly optimized, I have to put my switch on airplane mode while playing Pokemon specifically so my family can watch TV. Nintendo should pass this game to a different developer in the future,
  12. rogene13
    Nov 16, 2019
    4
    The game feels rushed. The story is mediocre and short. There are almost no sidequests. The map feels empty. There are no voice acting even on cut scenes. The music is annoying most of the time. Graphics are outdated and it looks worse in the wild area, Almost half of pokemon and dozens of moves are missing from previous games yet they charge $60 for this.
  13. eKorn
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Super short game, extremely easy, filled with bugs, no National Pokedex, No HM/TM, reused textured, poor render distances, reused models, no shines, permanent exp share and lots and lots of features removed from the previous games.
  14. cecedo
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    The worst game ver, dont buy this. Nada animations, bad dec, this isnt worth the money, so dont waste it
  15. maplepecan
    Nov 16, 2019
    3
    This game is clearly rushed, unfinished, and unpolished. The brings good new features with the wild area and free cam, but this game looks like a 3ds game that's been up-scaled everywhere else. There is so much pop in that is glaring and embarrassingly bad. The textures in the wild area are simply put, bad. The environment freezes when interacting with things, when you fish the pokemon andThis game is clearly rushed, unfinished, and unpolished. The brings good new features with the wild area and free cam, but this game looks like a 3ds game that's been up-scaled everywhere else. There is so much pop in that is glaring and embarrassingly bad. The textures in the wild area are simply put, bad. The environment freezes when interacting with things, when you fish the pokemon and grass around you stop moving. The story is very stale, characters like Hop and Leon aren't interesting in the slightest, and team yell are just a nuisance and feel like they were just thrown in. This story was bad, even for pokemon standards.

    To address dexit, it is not as bad as everyone says, but it is still a big reason why I gave this game a less than average score. Missing out on some of my favorite pokemon from the series that joined me throughout the rest of the games was terrible. I thought to myself how perfect my team would be with these 2-3 other pokemon, but they aren't available in game or through future trading with pokemon home.

    I wanted to see something new for this series, a leap forward for the first console main series release. Instead it this is a 3ds game made for the Switch that tells a story worse than one of the 3ds titles. Game freak took one small step forward, and two giant steps back    … Expand
  16. QueenWolfen
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    The whole things is just messy, incomplete, and disappointing. This game was a lazy rush job, and it shows.
  17. pmcnichols
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    It **** sucks, devoid of content. What's the point in buying Pokemon anymore?
  18. AvalonBunny
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Half the pokemon for 20 extra USD. Game Freak is simply not up to the task, Nintendo should takeover and hand the franchise to real developers or give the current one enough resources.
  19. Batman431
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    The Game is Broken, unfinished and the graphics seems to he from 10 years ago.
  20. SangDuhBeast
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    This game is an unfinished game, GameFreak did not take the Switch to it full advantage.
    Lagging frame rate Nintendo 64 graphic
    “High (LOW) quality animation”
    Image standing still
    no back ground for Pkm battle
    Wrong Pkm battle back ground Non expressive Pokémon
    The game look like it could run on a 3DS
  21. GDarch
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    I’m disappointed : no national pokedex, poor animations, gamefreak lied to us.
  22. Duelz96
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Pokémon Shield is absolute trash.
    This game is very much the same as Pokémon sword. I put the game down before the 3rd gym this time. From poor animations to terrible graphics, this completely ruins the atmosphere of the game. Many successful features have been removed. The new content is not the best either.
    This is the worst entry in the Pokémon series by far. Save your money and by a    Pokémon Shield is absolute trash.
    This game is very much the same as Pokémon sword. I put the game down before the 3rd gym this time. From poor animations to terrible graphics, this completely ruins the atmosphere of the game. Many successful features have been removed. The new content is not the best either.
    This is the worst entry in the Pokémon series by far. Save your money and by a game that’s been polished and has actually been made with care.    … Expand
  23. MelonDestiny
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    I tried to like this game. I really did. The laziness just shows through in too many spots though. Not letting you wear bought uniforms into the gym challenge? What's the point of them then? Forget the big issues, there's so many little spots where the game could have been improved but Gamefreak just didn't even try. Easily the most disappointing game in the series.
  24. Achiyugo
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    Hilarious. The rating matches the percentage of Pokémon left in the game. RIP
  25. dfq
    Nov 21, 2021
    4
    First of all I wouldn't recommend any parent to buy this game for their child or anyone for themselves. I regret having to write this review as I definitely wanted this game to be the best it could, just like the "professional" game critics wrote in their reviews, but Pokémon Sword and Shield just don't deserve to be praised like that. Not only did the developers of this game lie aboutFirst of all I wouldn't recommend any parent to buy this game for their child or anyone for themselves. I regret having to write this review as I definitely wanted this game to be the best it could, just like the "professional" game critics wrote in their reviews, but Pokémon Sword and Shield just don't deserve to be praised like that. Not only did the developers of this game lie about making new models and animations for every Pokémon from scratch (which they didn't do, because they just reused the EXACT models and animations of the 3ds, which are really bad to nonexistent btw), but they also filled the game with filler cut-scenes, slow-animations and barely any story. There is no real story in these games. At least nothing with any love put into while creating it. After beating the game I felt disappointed and couldn't believe I'm done already. There is almost nothing fun to do except the obvious catching of pokémon and beating gyms. Catching pokémon was still a fun grind in the beginning, but the really bad animations and the obnoxious slow speed of the battles sort of overwrote most of the fun after a while, especially with the boring background battle music, which is the same in every battle, for a couple of exceptions later in the game. In contrast to almost all previous games before and including Pokémon Black & White which I've loved, this game was bland and felt generic. Except for the fact that you can now play Pokémon on a big screen which is exciting and all, there is just barely anything good to say about Pokémon Shield (and Sword). The things I did like were the new Pokémon (even if some of them aren't very creative or exceptionally well designed, but they honestly don't have to be in my opinion, they were still cool and looked like Pokémon) and the fact that they have ported the game to a not exclusively portable game console. The central characters introduced in these games like Hop, Leon, Bede and Marnie felt strangely awkward, fake and most importantly shallow and didn't convince me at all. During the little bit of story there is I didn't sympathize with any of these characters and felt indifferent towards them which is unlike the Pokémon games before Satoru iwata's unfortunate demise.
    If I could exchange the current developer stuff of Game Freak, I definitely would, because playing these honestly bad successors to my favorite game genre breaks my heart and I just kept playing because I hoped it would get better which it didnt. This is sad for Game Freak and I hope that they realize this themselves and improve in the future.    … Expand
  26. Shatohin
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Lazy re-skin and upscale of the 3ds version. These companies just love your money and don’t give a **** what they making for the fans.
  27. blackwolf07
    Nov 26, 2019
    4
    This is a below average game. it's fun and has nice art, but everything else is lackluster. The pop in is hilarious, most of the towns are tiny. There is a lack of meaningful exploration, and it has one of the worst stories in the history of the franchise. Online is almost unplayable, especially when trying to max raid with others. I do enjoy most of the new pokemon designs and think itThis is a below average game. it's fun and has nice art, but everything else is lackluster. The pop in is hilarious, most of the towns are tiny. There is a lack of meaningful exploration, and it has one of the worst stories in the history of the franchise. Online is almost unplayable, especially when trying to max raid with others. I do enjoy most of the new pokemon designs and think it might be the strongest group of new pokemon since gen 5 or maybe even 3. This isn't even getting into dexit and the things the game is lacking, because I need only talk about what's there to note why the game is so behind the times. It's immature in a way that I haven't seen in years from such a major studio, especially when put next to their Nintendo peers. Game Freak needs to do better than capitalize on "fun," because this series' ceiling can reach so much higher.

    By the way, 5 is an average game on my scale. Most people will find it playable and entertaining, but very few will think it innovates or is a must play game experience. Pokemon is fun and entertaining for sure, but its technical faults are as laughable as flat-earthers in 2019, and the storytelling and overall presentation shouldn't even be permissable on a handheld system. The game is certainly below average technically, has a below average story, and below average turn based gameplay, when compared to its peers. 4 out of 10 might be generous.    … Expand
  28. Lady_Scribe
    Nov 25, 2019
    4
    Despite all the drama, I pre-ordered Shield and have sunk about 50 hours into it (I dawdled in the game, explored everything and caught almost all Pokémon). I'm a life-long Pokémon fan, with my first game being Pokémon Yellow, a game I played with my mum when I was 6 years old. I've played all the main series games and Pokémon has been quite an important part of my life. I am disappointedDespite all the drama, I pre-ordered Shield and have sunk about 50 hours into it (I dawdled in the game, explored everything and caught almost all Pokémon). I'm a life-long Pokémon fan, with my first game being Pokémon Yellow, a game I played with my mum when I was 6 years old. I've played all the main series games and Pokémon has been quite an important part of my life. I am disappointed with this latest game, even more so than Sun and Moon. Quite a few aspects of the game are slow and boring (such as forced dialogue, walk a bit, more dialogue, walk some more, etc.). The story was simply lacking depth and I was not particularly interested in it. Essentially, the main story is that the playable character collects gym badges while the true hero of the game, the Champion, did all the exciting stuff 'behind the scenes'. My character didn’t feel like the hero, she was ‘just there’.
    The whole Pokédex thing didn’t bother me, it’s not a major part of my reasoning for playing Pokémon. The designs of the new Pokémon are the best I’ve ever seen since gen III. I just wish that something like Pokémon amie, being able to pet my Pokémon had been included, rather than the slightly clumsy camping, with Pokémon sometimes struggling to interact with their toys. Camping quickly became something of a time-consuming chore rather than something to be enjoyed. Not a massive fan of the designs of the three starter Pokémon’s evolutions (with exception to Intelleon). They seemed a little lacklustre compared to previous generations. The animations of the Pokémon were about the same as the previous generations from the 3DS, just fewer Pokémon to play with.
    The designs of the settings are lovely, and as a Brit myself I could see how lovingly British culture was incorporated into the dialogue, the Pokémon and the towns and countryside. However, this is spoiled by low-res textures and lumpy rocks and hills which could have had a bit more added to them. Some of the animations of the Pokémon aren’t great (and certain scenes were nothing short of shockingly poor for a game released in 2019). The towns and cities were all small and although aesthetically beautiful, there wasn’t much to explore. The Wild Area was exciting for the first ten hours of gameplay, but after that the charm wore off. My favourite thing about the wild area is that Hop, the rather annoying character (much like Hau from Sun and Moon) wasn’t around to hound me every step of my Pokémon journey. Pokémon battles were few and far between, and there was an over-reliance on the Wild Area to compensate for that.
    I think if this game had spent a little longer in development, it would have been a truly amazing game. But this wasn’t the case, and I feel sad for those who clearly made an effort to lovingly design a game in a very small amount of time, perhaps being aware that they couldn’t put everything into it. And it really, really shows. Designs are fantastic, but the finished product feels rushed and haphazard, there’s virtually no end-game content, and the asking price of £50 is highly excessive considering that there are other games out there for the same price with much better content.
    Nintendo, GameFreak, by bringing Pokémon to the big consoles, you’re swimming with the big fish. You need to up your game if you want to get better reviews in the future. A disappointing blip on the Pokémon franchise. I hope it improves; Pokémon has gotten me through some challenges in life and it’s sad to see the franchise take a tumble. I’ve humbly learned my lesson and will not pre-order another Pokémon game again.    … Expand
  29. victornp
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    O jogo não explora o potencial do Switch, sendo reutilizado engines de jogos anteriores
  30. Joseph28
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    Easy 1/10. There are great ideas here like the wild area and the game is fun but no more so than older games. What that leaves us left to evaluate is content, and it is here that the game suffers horribly. Less than half of the old roster and environments that amount to long hallways can kill the enjoyment when you realise theres little to do when the games over.
  31. SuperWooper
    Oct 22, 2020
    4
    A step in the wrong direction for the franchise. A game with huge potential and freedom of an open world map turned out to be completely empty and uninspiring. The flaws revealed during the introduction of the games in its early stages were forgivable at first, but now show how completely incompetent and lazy the development of this game is when absolutely none of those issues andA step in the wrong direction for the franchise. A game with huge potential and freedom of an open world map turned out to be completely empty and uninspiring. The flaws revealed during the introduction of the games in its early stages were forgivable at first, but now show how completely incompetent and lazy the development of this game is when absolutely none of those issues and graphical errors were fixed by release day.

    The cuts to certain aspects of the game, such as the pokedex, movesets, etc, were foreseeable at some point with the amount being added every generation, but are completely inexcusable when its predecessors from the 3DS era seem to have much more content in it with much less room to work with. Mega evolutions and Z-moves from earlier games were also cut to make room for the lazier concept of Dynamax and Raid battles, which is just a recycled ideas from Pokemon GO.

    While the new Pokemon designs from Generation 8 are, for the most part, some of the best we've seen in awhile, it doesn't save the fact that this game is the biggest disappointment seen from the franchise to date.    … Expand
  32. DeepDarkRex
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    The worst pokemon game ever. Don't buy it, it's a beta. It hasn't the national pokedex, z moves, mega evolutions, bad graphics and recyclated animations. Horrible
  33. Kchewz
    Jan 6, 2021
    4
    $80 price tag, $20/year pokemon home subscription, two $30 DLCs. Yet the quality and functionality from the 3DS pokemon games are equal, and these games costed $40... Both Sword and Shield have its pros such as cool new pokemon, incredible music and DLCs were more memorable and enjoyable than the base game. But poor graphics, boring dynamax mechanics and dynamax raids, the mobile camp etc.$80 price tag, $20/year pokemon home subscription, two $30 DLCs. Yet the quality and functionality from the 3DS pokemon games are equal, and these games costed $40... Both Sword and Shield have its pros such as cool new pokemon, incredible music and DLCs were more memorable and enjoyable than the base game. But poor graphics, boring dynamax mechanics and dynamax raids, the mobile camp etc. were all lacklustre. For the largest franchise in the world, expectations were much higher. For someone who grew up playing Pokemon Battle Revolution in 2006, I was expecting this type of quality at the very least.… Expand
  34. Dragonfire14
    Nov 24, 2019
    3
    Right off the bat I will say that strictly judging Pokemon Shield as a video game it is a much higher score, I would score it about a 6.5/10. Pokemon as a concept for a video game works very well, and any studio would be hard pressed to make a game in the series that is both a let down and not fun. The problem is when you judge it compared to the other games in it's series. Pokemon ShieldRight off the bat I will say that strictly judging Pokemon Shield as a video game it is a much higher score, I would score it about a 6.5/10. Pokemon as a concept for a video game works very well, and any studio would be hard pressed to make a game in the series that is both a let down and not fun. The problem is when you judge it compared to the other games in it's series. Pokemon Shield is a terrible Pokemon game.

    Starting off I won't go into the whole dexxit situation, but I will say that it did not help the game at all removing the national dex. Gamefreak (GF) did not give the players something in return for the cut Pokemon, and it just leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

    The visuals in this game are really nothing special. The animations are simple with moves applying slight movement to each Pokemon's model, such as turning the Pokemon 180 degrees then shaking them. Each Pokemon does have about 1 signature move that they are fully animated for, but there isn't nearly enough. The environments are bland for the most part, with the Wild Area being barren and just plain ugly. Random weather effects will appear in the Wild Area, but the environment will see no change visually besides a lens filter. The Pokemon look fine, but again are nothing special. Trainers by far have the best animations they have had in the series and look great, but they really are not the focus of the game.

    The story is almost non-existent besides your journey to becoming champion. Characters exist only to point you in the direction of the next gym, and the vast amount of gym leaders offer nothing to the overall story. Your rivals are all uninteresting, Hop being an unbearably outlet for the tutorial, Marnie barely having a personality even though she has a massive fan club, and Bede being an ass for the sake of being an ass. The game will constantly force you out of anything interesting telling you to focus on gyms, but then will force you into a situation that your character really knows nothing about in the last hour. The post game isn't much better as it just introduces 2 **** that have an evil plan to do nothing with. Also with the lack of voice acting the cutscenes feel very awkward. There is even a scene with someone singing, but the audio is silent and is one of the most off putting things I've encountered in a game.

    The gameplay is typical Pokemon with nothing really new added. Dynamaxing is a very boring gimmick that just gives your Pokemon more HP and let's them use Z-Moves. What is worse about it is that Gigantamaxing the straight up better version of Dynamaxing is lock to certain Pokemon. I don't mean that only certain species can use Gigantamax, but rather only specific Pokemon can use it. So for example that Corviknight you raised from lvl 3 and recently got to lvl 100, will never be able to Gigantamax since you didn't catch it from the raid. Gigantamax just makes catching Pokemon worthless unless you get them in the raid. On top of that finishing all the content in the game doesn't take long. You can beat the story, post game, and finish the Pokedex easily within a week, so unless you are a avid shiny hunter or PvP player the game isn't going to last you long. The difficulty of the game is a big factor in why it is so short. You can go through the entire game without grinding and for the most part you will be over leveled. I entered the champion battle with a lvl 75 Corviknight and a lvl 80 Tyranitar and just destroyed Leon. After that I went through the post game only using those 2 while raising other Pokemon to evolve for the Pokedex with no issue. The only battle that I had trouble with was the last battle with Hop in the post game, and that was because I only had 2 Pokemon and they had type disadvantage. I still managed to win using the massive amount of Max Revives the game gives you. The game also treats you like you need your hand held for the entirety of the game. Need to go next door to the hotel, why not follow me there so you know where it is. Need to go back to this town that you were already, I can take you there now. It is also a big factor into the fact that this game features no puzzles at all. It treats you like you are unable to think for yourself, and that it needs to do all the heavy lifting for you. Camping is nothing special and to be honest I used it once for this review.

    What is unfortunate is that this game could of been amazing. GF could of put a lot more effort and passion into it and it would have been an entirely different experience. There are some quality of life improvements in the game, and the music is amazing! The feel of the gyms also is something I didn't expect to love. They really hype you up for those battles, and I loved it. If GF didn't cut any corners Pokemon Shield would of been the best in the series I have no doubts, but with all the negatives and flaws it has it comes out as one of the worst.    … Expand
  35. Irarius
    Feb 14, 2020
    1
    ok so it took me a month to actually rly rly get through this game because it was just so boring.
    i originally gave it a 4.5
    but i have to go down. this game is miserable. the story sucks ass, like you cant even understand how bad, **** just happens for no reason... the graphics are ps2, like jesus christ you will notice it. the wild area feels good for like an hour AT MAX 2-3    ok so it took me a month to actually rly rly get through this game because it was just so boring.
    i originally gave it a 4.5
    but i have to go down. this game is miserable.
    the story sucks ass, like you cant even understand how bad, **** just happens for no reason...
    the graphics are ps2, like jesus christ you will notice it.
    the wild area feels good for like an hour AT MAX 2-3 bland, empty, nothing to do.
    npcs in raids are actually retarded. you get magicarps and wobblefet into ur team. and that is rly rly bad. the pool of mons is rly small too...
    the wil area pop in kills the idea of it. you dont see mons exept u are in front of them 2 meters away,    … Expand
  36. Sydius4
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    Pokemon Sword and Shield is a good handheld game. But it dont look like a Switch game with the best graphic. The story of the game is averageand the animation mostly the same. And still they have cut more than half of the pokemon, because of balancing...
    The truth is they didnt worked with eno
    ugh people to do the project and cut the pokedex. Pokemon become easier since Sun and Moon. They    Pokemon Sword and Shield is a good handheld game. But it dont look like a Switch game with the best graphic. The story of the game is averageand the animation mostly the same. And still they have cut more than half of the pokemon, because of balancing...
    The truth is they didnt worked with eno
    ugh people to do the project and cut the pokedex. Pokemon become easier since Sun and Moon. They want to cash in for the new Pokemon Go Players and dont care anymore for the hardcore loyal fanbase anymore. They can easily can eat all pokemon but they think they didn't have to.    … Expand
  37. DoctorZack
    Nov 22, 2019
    3
    Absolute disaster.

    It maintains a basic level of competency with a new idea or two, but that's literally the only thing going for it. Everything else isn't just "bad" its genuinely a painful experience.
  38. lorvha
    Feb 6, 2020
    0
    The price increase of "Pokemon Sword and Shield" and their passage on a more powerful Console must necessarily lead to an overall technical and graphic improvement.
    Pokemon Sword and Shield have a technical / graphic shortage. Now this is no longer admissible
  39. smw66466
    Nov 26, 2019
    1
    Horrendously ugly games. Pokemon XD and Colosseum are more graphically impressive and they're both over a decade old. What's even more amazing is that these games are coming from one of the most profitable IPs in the world. Nintendo and Gamefreak are truly taking advantage of the loyalty of their fans.
  40. ZaydelJmz
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Low effort on this year Pokemon Game. We can get the most awesome RPG game of this gen and we get a 3DS game on a bigger screen, Game Freak lied...
  41. Xxdaniels751xX
    Feb 11, 2020
    3
    Perhaps in another circumstance I could have supported a downloadable content like the one proposed by Game Freak, but never given the current circumstances. Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield has turned out to be a launch that, despite successful sales, raised a lot of controversy. I don't think there was a worse time than this to announce an expansion pass with these characteristics. ThePerhaps in another circumstance I could have supported a downloadable content like the one proposed by Game Freak, but never given the current circumstances. Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield has turned out to be a launch that, despite successful sales, raised a lot of controversy. I don't think there was a worse time than this to announce an expansion pass with these characteristics. The Pokémon brand has deteriorated during the past 2019 due not only to a video game that does not include all the Pokémon, but to an improved communication by The Pokémon Company.… Expand
  42. Bullish
    Dec 11, 2019
    4
    This is my first pokemon game since the original red/blue, and when I first started it, it really did get its claws in me. But over time, the luster faded as I started to sense how rushed and lazy the game felt.

    If you don't know what I mean by rushed and lazy, please take a long look at Team Yell. Other Beef: - Identical characters everywhere - Bad translations all over the    This is my first pokemon game since the original red/blue, and when I first started it, it really did get its claws in me. But over time, the luster faded as I started to sense how rushed and lazy the game felt.

    If you don't know what I mean by rushed and lazy, please take a long look at Team Yell.

    Other Beef:

    - Identical characters everywhere
    - Bad translations all over the place. This is the first pokemon game on a major console. This thing should have been polished to a gleam.
    - Dynamax system just seemed dragged fights out, and the moves were just replicas? I never understood that
    - Sometimes there was absolutely nothing in between gyms
    - Music was completely unspecial
    - I don't know about you, but the actual pokemon have seemed to drop in originality/creativity over the years. There's an apple, a teapot, a cart filled with coal. Who thought these things up?    … Expand
  43. PC_Master_Race
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Reused models, poor graphics and textures, this Pokemon release every year has to end to have quality games like Mario oddysey
  44. Lttrev
    Nov 24, 2019
    1
    Played and finished game with around 200 pokemon caught out of the 400. By far worst Pokemon game in the main series. Seemed rushed and expected more from a handheld to console leap.
  45. Grave2363
    Jan 19, 2020
    3
    The game just feels incomplete, the pop in of npc's can be at times jarring, the wild area feels lazy and empty, not to mention has the worst performance when online, the main feature. alpha sapphire, and ultra moon felt more complete. platinum, black & white, and black 2 & white 2, were just better games. The online just feels tacked on. The game is laughably easy compared to previous games.
  46. loserkid182
    Mar 5, 2020
    4
    Una lastima que no consigan hacer un juego decente que niños y adultos puedan disfrutar, no necesitan genios guionistas de cine, un equipo de personas competentes serian capaces de con 10 consejos hacer una buena historia, pero por desgracia tenemos otra entrega mas de la franquicia que caerá en el olvido.

    Los personajes son la cosa mas vacía que he visto en mucho tiempo, desde luego la    Una lastima que no consigan hacer un juego decente que niños y adultos puedan disfrutar, no necesitan genios guionistas de cine, un equipo de personas competentes serian capaces de con 10 consejos hacer una buena historia, pero por desgracia tenemos otra entrega mas de la franquicia que caerá en el olvido.

    Los personajes son la cosa mas vacía que he visto en mucho tiempo, desde luego la peor de la saga, o empate con otras 3 al menos. El rival es cosa intensita, y los personajes que interacciones con nosotros en la aventura dan ganas de darles una patada en la boca a todos.

    Lo de la zona central tipo mundo abierto y que los Pokemon de nivel superior aparezcan por ahí es buena idea, pero esta FATAL implementado. Los caminos entre ciudades son cortos y SUPER lineales.

    La dificultad del juego es sin duda lo peor que tiene, he subido 4 equipos de Pokemon a mas del nivel 70 solo en una primera pasada del juego y sin farmear ni nada.

    En fin, una lastima que al final la gente dejara de comprar estos juegos por la baja calidad que tienen y ya vendrán las lagrimas de la compañía.    … Expand
  47. AlexLogan2001
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    The games are very poorly put together and feel rushed despite how long they've been in development. The game is the easiest yet in the series, with you being able to one shot most Pokemon of a higher level as long as you have a basic understanding of typings.
    There are graphical glitches all over the place, ranging from things not spawning in until your right in front of them to time just    The games are very poorly put together and feel rushed despite how long they've been in development. The game is the easiest yet in the series, with you being able to one shot most Pokemon of a higher level as long as you have a basic understanding of typings.
    There are graphical glitches all over the place, ranging from things not spawning in until your right in front of them to time just completely freezing when you are on a ladder. The music is very hit or miss but the main issue with the music is the lack of music, with the worst case being the battle against the title legendary    … Expand
  48. Lobo_Nocturno
    Jan 12, 2020
    1
    A pesar de todas las críticas decidí comprar el pokemon para tener una opinión certera de este juego. Y quedé completamente decepcionado.

    - Los gráficos en algunos puntos como montañas o árboles son de nintendo 64 por decirlo mejor. La potencia de la consola no es excusa ya que The Witcher 3 hizo un juego de mundo abierto con gráficos que nunca había visto en Switch, súper detallados,    A pesar de todas las críticas decidí comprar el pokemon para tener una opinión certera de este juego. Y quedé completamente decepcionado.

    - Los gráficos en algunos puntos como montañas o árboles son de nintendo 64 por decirlo mejor. La potencia de la consola no es excusa ya que The Witcher 3 hizo un juego de mundo abierto con gráficos que nunca había visto en Switch, súper detallados, por lo que jugar con estas gráficas se siente mal para un juego AAA.

    - No se encuentran todos los pokémon. Aunque Game Freak había dicho que era por que requería mucho esfuerzo y mucho espacio para tenerlos a todos programados, cosa que les creímos, resulta que anunciaron una expansion donde van a colocar 200 pokemon más, otra vez, mintieron al poner de pretexto la capacidad del juego para que al final se una estrategia de venta.

    - Es el juego de pokemon más corto y es increíblemente fácil, no representa ningún reto ni te motivan para la crianza. Además de que la historia es inexistente, de verdad no hay historia en este juego, es simplemente recorrer los gimnasios y ya. En los DLC recientemente anunciados van a colocar regiones nuevas con su respectivo pago, a solo dos meses de su lanzamiento... ¿por qué no colocar este contenido de un inicio? Por dinero claro, la codicia es exagerada en este juego ya.

    En general, es un juego mediocre, gráficas de playstation 2, le falta contenido (el cual te venden en un DLC), le faltan pókemon (los cuales te venden en un DLC), le falta historia y le falta mucha jugabilidad. Además Game Freak ha mentido desde el inicio y ha dejado ver su verdadero rostro: codicia extrema al prostituir una saga con paywalls asquerosos.    … Expand
  49. achillescubel
    Nov 19, 2019
    1
    Made to be a handheld game you can play on your TV not a console game you can take with you. Charging 60 dollars. Horrible animations for 2019. No voice acting, with the excuse being they were released in too many languages. Bad graphics for 2019. Missing half the total pokemon. This could have genuinely done something amazing, but gamefreak chose to do the minimum knowing it would sell anyways.
  50. MaxRates
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Probably the laziest made pokemon games... Dissapointed ;(
    Make a proper pokemom game! Even Pokemon Let's Go was better...
  51. dmolken
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    These games are extremely bare bones and rushed. These games almost look like a direct port of a 3DS game. They cut over 50% of the Pokemon, deleted over 100 old moves, and charge 50% more money ($60 vs $40) than the 3DS Pokemon games. On top of that, Game Freak said that they needed to cut 50% of the Pokemon in order to make high quality models and animations for the Pokemon. I'd be okayThese games are extremely bare bones and rushed. These games almost look like a direct port of a 3DS game. They cut over 50% of the Pokemon, deleted over 100 old moves, and charge 50% more money ($60 vs $40) than the 3DS Pokemon games. On top of that, Game Freak said that they needed to cut 50% of the Pokemon in order to make high quality models and animations for the Pokemon. I'd be okay with that if it wasn't for the fact that they lied, and they actually are using 3DS models and animations. Because they are using the 3DS models, there is no reason why they should be cutting over 50% of the Pokemon. Do not support a developer that lies to you. Boycott this game.… Expand
  52. Nesz
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Diseños reutilizados, muchas promesas vacías y tenían mejores diseños los ataques de pokemon stadium
  53. hmlott
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Misses the mark entirely. Pokemon gameplay mechanics are nothing special, the pokemon make the game... "gotta catch em all"... but you can't in this game.
  54. kankanbow
    Nov 16, 2019
    4
    -GF cut 500 pokemons, you can only use pokemon from the regional dex. you can't use any pokemon in PvP anymore (specifically the ones you've taken hours to breed and train for online) and you can't create autistically curated teams for other story runs and such.

    -They cut moves (which is frankly worse then the dex cut), they did cut some old gen 1/2 moves that have been powercrept to    -GF cut 500 pokemons, you can only use pokemon from the regional dex. you can't use any pokemon in PvP anymore (specifically the ones you've taken hours to breed and train for online) and you can't create autistically curated teams for other story runs and such.

    -They cut moves (which is frankly worse then the dex cut), they did cut some old gen 1/2 moves that have been powercrept to pointlessness but they also cut actually good moves seemingly at random.

    -They cut features such a riding pokemon, having pokemon follow you, petting pokemon

    -The game looks like **** and worse then pokemon lets go E/P despite being on the same console this being a mainline game and the former being a quick and dirty rehash/cash in to suck money out of lets go casuals.

    -charge $20 more then a 3ds game when it's objectivly a lesser product.

    -Bugs that cause freeze and other issues    … Expand
  55. InsaneSeishiro
    Nov 23, 2019
    3
    While they are certainly not the worst games in the series at the current point in time, they are the worst Pokemon games, relative to their launch by a landslide.

    Constant framerateissues, outdated graphics, lackluster animations and Gamefreaks blatent lies about redoing all those things(I still don't understand why they lied about it, if they just said that they were using the same    While they are certainly not the worst games in the series at the current point in time, they are the worst Pokemon games, relative to their launch by a landslide.

    Constant framerateissues, outdated graphics, lackluster animations and Gamefreaks blatent lies about redoing all those things(I still don't understand why they lied about it, if they just said that they were using the same models, which they did, and threw in all the pokemon as always, nobody would have cared. Mane of the missing pokemon are even on the disc! with models!!!).

    Music is great and I like many of the new design, but the overarching story is rather bland, way weaker than in ORAS and SM. Really sad too see storytelling take such a step back in the game.

    This is also the easiest pokemon game, which is not bad in of itself, but it is so easy that it ends up beeing boring several times. One of the biggest story encounters is literally unusable, even with skipping the entire wildlands and several trainerencounters, I ended up beeing overleveld for most gyms, since the gymleaders have pokemon on lower levels than the wild pokemon in their surrounding area and the game fullheals your entire team between several encounters anyway(During "the thing" that replaced the elite 4, I got healed between every 2 fights. Even if I wasn't, most of their pokemon went down in 1-2 hits, without ever getting a single attack off.

    If you really crave a pokemongame, this will still do the trick, it still gives you that positive feedback loop of discovering new pokemon, catching them and evolving them, but overall, I would recommend playing USUM instead.    … Expand
  56. Rilian218
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    I wanted to love the game and have tried to justify and defend the changes amidst all the controversy. This happened in Gen 3 too right? It’ll all get better, this game will prove the haters wrong! But after finally getting that shiny gold steel book double edition...I feel like a fool. Playing through I can’t help but feel like this was a game started for the 3DS and then partiallyI wanted to love the game and have tried to justify and defend the changes amidst all the controversy. This happened in Gen 3 too right? It’ll all get better, this game will prove the haters wrong! But after finally getting that shiny gold steel book double edition...I feel like a fool. Playing through I can’t help but feel like this was a game started for the 3DS and then partially scrapped to hastily make it a “Switch” title. All the heart of the game was left on the cutting room floor. There are hints at what could have been an amazing game and there’s beauty to be found here and there. But I can’t help but regret supporting GameFreak and the Pokémon Company with my money. After playing for a little while, I realized that for all of the people saying “You can’t judge it until you played it” and praising the game...they probably haven’t played it either. I can’t imagine they could play this and not feel as empty inside as the wild area is. If you haven’t already bought the game, or if you were planning to buy this for a loved one, I can’t recommend it. If you do and you have fun that’s great! But this really feels like the end of an era of Pokémon games that created fantastic memories and journeys with friends, both Pokémon and those we make in real life.… Expand
  57. Pizzazz
    Jan 25, 2020
    0
    I have no idea how they got everything so wrong, all they had to do was make the same thing they've been making and it would have been fine, but they somehow made it terrible.
  58. Reviewk
    Nov 25, 2019
    3
    Pokemon as a series deserves far better than this. Content from previous games has either been cut entirely or rebranded as something new when it isn't. "Innovations" like the wild area and its free camera have been in games since the late 1990s and Pokemon is just now catching up despite even games like Fire Emblem Echoes having a free camera in its dungeons on the 3DS. Combine that withPokemon as a series deserves far better than this. Content from previous games has either been cut entirely or rebranded as something new when it isn't. "Innovations" like the wild area and its free camera have been in games since the late 1990s and Pokemon is just now catching up despite even games like Fire Emblem Echoes having a free camera in its dungeons on the 3DS. Combine that with a very low level of content, including 2 legendaries to hunt as opposed to 13 times as many in the 3DS release from half a decade ago, a battle tower with 2 modes as opposed to the 7 from a 2010 DS game, fewer pokemon than a 2006 DS game, and a measly 15 hour playtime when you don't pad it out and focus primatily on story progression, and you get a game with little to offer and will be forgotten by this time next year when the next new game is out.… Expand
  59. Shaydows
    Mar 2, 2020
    0
    Even though this was a rushed mess, I would have given this at most a 2/10. However, Gamefreak lied to the entire fanbase about why it's so bad and not a complete game. That combined with my original score makes this a easy 0/10, I wish it could be lower.
  60. Zara_Masters
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    This game is so unbelievably bad, Not just compared to previous Pokemon games, not just compared to previous RPGs, just in general.

    There is barely anything I can possibly compliment, uhh there are a few cute Pokemon? Like every previous game, except they removed 50% of all Pokemon including the cute ones. This game has also been the cause of multiple Switch based glitches. So if you    This game is so unbelievably bad, Not just compared to previous Pokemon games, not just compared to previous RPGs, just in general.

    There is barely anything I can possibly compliment, uhh there are a few cute Pokemon? Like every previous game, except they removed 50% of all Pokemon including the cute ones.

    This game has also been the cause of multiple Switch based glitches. So if you are looking for a Christmas gift, consider a classic Pokemon game? Or just any other RPG.    … Expand
  61. Meteorsmash
    Nov 19, 2019
    0
    The Short Version: Hire Genius Sonority again for 3D games. Gamefreak is incompetent.

    The Long Version: GameFreak wanted to spare efforts cutting down content as much as possible for maximum profits, their reason for doing so is: "It's Pokemon! Even if it's garbage it will sell! The consumers are kids and adults who disregard quality after all, right?" WRONG! And I think the overall    The Short Version: Hire Genius Sonority again for 3D games. Gamefreak is incompetent.

    The Long Version: GameFreak wanted to spare efforts cutting down content as much as possible for maximum profits, their reason for doing so is: "It's Pokemon! Even if it's garbage it will sell! The consumers are kids and adults who disregard quality after all, right?" WRONG! And I think the overall Metacritic score speaks volumes. Let me list the issues of the game once again...
    -The game is full of low quality environments and textures.
    -Pop-in is Awful.
    -Cutscenes that look like they were meant to have voice acting makes the game feel awkward...this is inexcusable in 2019
    -ALL FAN-FAVORITE POKEMON CUT FROM THE GAME!! There's NO starters from previous regions, NO fossil pokemon, No legendaries from previous games either, hell, they went out of their way to piss a lot of people off. What was the point of Pokemon Home then??! Greedy and lazy summarizes GameFreak's "efforts" this generation.
    -Story is the most dull and boring I've seen in any pokemon game...
    -Recycled models and animations from the 3DS, AND NO, THEY ARE NOT "NEW" MODELS, THEY ARE THEY VERY SAME! There's a pretty absurd rumor online that the models were made from the ground up, that's an obvious lie, unless you are blind.

    Overall: Gamefreak need to wake up, it's 2019, this piece of garbage is inexcusable, Switch games so far have set the bar pretty high, if you compare this game to Zelda, Mario, Xenoblade, Smash, etc. GameFreak should feel ashamed of themselves for releasing this game in its current state, shame on you...    … Expand
  62. drowzeem
    Nov 28, 2019
    0
    Pokemon Sword and Shield are strong proof that at some point Gamefreak just stopped caring. The level of mediocrity showed in this game is insulting to their fanbase, the game is inconsistent to the core (rushed times and unfulfilled deadlines show clearly). Part of the mediocrity comes from management, a bunch of people rushing the game for the holidays and for 2019. That mixed withPokemon Sword and Shield are strong proof that at some point Gamefreak just stopped caring. The level of mediocrity showed in this game is insulting to their fanbase, the game is inconsistent to the core (rushed times and unfulfilled deadlines show clearly). Part of the mediocrity comes from management, a bunch of people rushing the game for the holidays and for 2019. That mixed with Gamefreaks usual level of mediocrity and laziness is a recipe for disaster. Pokemom became too big for Gamefreak to handle. Is inexcusable that a multi billionaire franchise like this has such poor development team, just sad and disheartening to see such a beloved thing as Pokemon being treated so lightly and rushing it to the point of making it the worst game in the main series. Pokemon stands as the black sheep of beloved Nintendo games. The Legend of Zelda continues to show great games not year after year, they show the game when it’s ready, even if it takes 2 more years, they show respect, they show integrity to provide quality and a magical experience. Gamefreak just wants to finish it and move on to the next one so management and marketing stops bothering them. The recipe for disaster: Bad Management, Marketing that doesn’t care, Unqualified Development Team, Bad Writers, Bad Animators. It just gets worst from here on.… Expand
  63. Sna8solid
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Worst game of the series, in all aspects, the worst of all is dialogue system is primitive and the story boring, i understand, the game is take to a competitive level, but for non pokaddicts, thus game must be avoied.
  64. zanzou
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Shortest mainline pokemon game ever made, no end game, fewest pokemon since generation 3, automatic EXP share means you are always too high-level, models were imported from a low-fi handheld game, terrible graphics and animation, dynamax is a terrible gimmick to replace mega-evolutions.
  65. Skbible748
    Nov 16, 2019
    1
    I actually pre-ordered Pokemon Shield even if there is a national dex controversy.
    After I played this game, I have found several faults in this game.
    Above all, I wanna be neutral, objective in this personal review so that anyone who reads this post could be helped. Cons 1. Even if this game is based on Nintendo Switch platform, the graphics are not good enough. It is basically    I actually pre-ordered Pokemon Shield even if there is a national dex controversy.
    After I played this game, I have found several faults in this game.
    Above all, I wanna be neutral, objective in this personal review so that anyone who reads this post could be helped.

    Cons
    1. Even if this game is based on Nintendo Switch platform, the graphics are not good enough.
    It is basically funny to see that there are some drops in its frame rate. You can compare SwSh with other 1st party games such as Splatoon 2, Super Mario Oddysey, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, etc. Those games are set to be 60 fps and it is, only with some minor frame drops.

    However, SwSh? its graphics are worse than those 1st party games. Y'all know that Game Freak and Pokemon IP are so powerful, enormous, influential. So, they must be able to afford to make it look much sophisticated.
    Of course, I acknowledge that for the Pokemon game's standard, it is just good. But, still need more work.

    2. The lack of additional content.
    The removal of the sheer number of Pokemon mush have been compensated by the additional. auxiliary feature, sideline content such as Pokethlon, Poke-contest, etc so the underused, unpopular Pokemon like Delibird, Shuckle can be used to tackle in these league. But, there are no chance.

    Pros
    it became more convenient in some ways, symbol encounter + random encounter makes it look much vivid. That's all.

    Conclusion
    You'd better to buy the second-handed chip rather than buying it from eshop.    … Expand
  66. Gilligfan
    Nov 16, 2019
    1
    Lousy graphics and animation in places!
    Laggy in places!
    Several launch day and pre-launch day
    bugs and glitches.
    A sad day for the franchise.
    Less quality and content with a higher price
    tag
  67. Icebrows
    Nov 16, 2019
    2
    Although there are fun parts, everything in the game feels like a hollow shell of the masterpiece it could have been. The story is short and linear, the endgame is non-existent, the wild area is very gimmicky, and missing textures or music or confusingly bad animations constantly keep you from getting immersed. Don't get it if you have any other experience with Pokemon, you'll just beAlthough there are fun parts, everything in the game feels like a hollow shell of the masterpiece it could have been. The story is short and linear, the endgame is non-existent, the wild area is very gimmicky, and missing textures or music or confusingly bad animations constantly keep you from getting immersed. Don't get it if you have any other experience with Pokemon, you'll just be disappointed.… Expand
  68. Dillium
    Nov 16, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. While some areas of the game are absolutely stunning to look at, the wild area, which was the games big selling point, has graphics that would be disappointing on the wii. The trainer and Pokémon models also don’t interact well with the terrain, for example the player often floats, especially when on the bike and water Pokémon don’t make ripples when they are swimming. The game has seen very few improvements in battle animations and many battles have their backgrounds set to a colourful void. Battles also pose very little challenge due to the forces use of a full party exp share leaving Pokémon over leveled very quickly. The story is short and very simple with very little post game content, pretty much just the box legendary, eternatus and a very bland bare-bones battle tower, a world away from the ds games that had multiple post game legendaries and a battle frontier with varied battle challenges that always kept them interesting.

    The addition of certain quality of life improvements, such as the nature changing mints, which make it far easier to obtain competitive-quality Pokémon, are a welcome addition, as is the fact that the player character now has expressions instead of the horrifying blank stares of sun and moon.

    The new gimmick of dynamax and gigantamax are interesting for a while but they just seem like a rehashed version of both mega evolutions and z-moves, both of which were removed from this game. The fact that their use is also heavily limited also makes them feel less impactful.

    The rival Hop shows up a little too often and it sometimes feel like you can’t walk for five minutes without bumping into him, which makes him quickly become irritating.

    Due to this I do not believe the removal of hundreds of Pokémon was a worthwhile trade off given the other issues with the game. However the game is fun, but Pokémon games are almost guaranteed to be fun to play purely due to the premise, but it could have been so much better than it is, it doesn’t feel like playing a switch game, it feels like playing a 3ds game, it feels like GameFreak wasn’t able to take advantage of being on a new console.    … Expand
  69. kelvin78643
    Nov 16, 2019
    2
    the graphic is pretty lag in some places. Also, the story is kinda lagging as I am able to finish in one day. Not much post-story content as compared to the past Pokemon games. hahaha, also the bag is ugly and I realised u took it off during the battle scene.... Lastly, the dynamax Pokemon is kinda like not proportion to the actual size of pokedex. For example, wailord's normal size isthe graphic is pretty lag in some places. Also, the story is kinda lagging as I am able to finish in one day. Not much post-story content as compared to the past Pokemon games. hahaha, also the bag is ugly and I realised u took it off during the battle scene.... Lastly, the dynamax Pokemon is kinda like not proportion to the actual size of pokedex. For example, wailord's normal size is suppose to be super big yet the size is is smaller than a person. This kind of details are super important for the gameplay feel and sense. For example, like monster hunter games, the size of monsters make everything different and the environment we explore in more fun, and adding in more personality and action of them surviving in wild will be nice (etc picking berry to eat). All in all, there is a lot of work to be done. Also, they should remove all Kanto Pokemon like pikachu so as to be fair to the other removed Pokemon and fulfil their statement of wanting people to use new Pokemon only. Not just for the sake of doing less work, and put in popular Pokemon as marketing materials.… Expand
  70. falloutcoyote
    Nov 16, 2019
    3
    Overall feels like a rush job by a half-rate studio, not one of Nintendo's flagship titles. The game is weirdly buggy, looks bland and recycled and just...overall lacks content. For the little bit of content that is there, since I can't import a lot of my favorite Pokemon from previous titles I can't even get the usual replayability I would out of the game.

    I have tried to keep positive    Overall feels like a rush job by a half-rate studio, not one of Nintendo's flagship titles. The game is weirdly buggy, looks bland and recycled and just...overall lacks content. For the little bit of content that is there, since I can't import a lot of my favorite Pokemon from previous titles I can't even get the usual replayability I would out of the game.

    I have tried to keep positive during all the online hate and had high hopes all the way up to launch since Gamefreak said they would use that extra time from the cut content to add new animations and polish the game, but this is basically a rehashed 3DS game (and a bad one at that) with a higher price tag, half the content and the worst gimmicks yet (looking at you Gigantamax/Dynamax/Raids). For how well Nintendo's been doing with the Switch and its flagship titles so far, this is a confusing inexplicable mess and the first game in awhile that just doesn't feel like its worth the money.    … Expand
  71. Pengin
    Nov 16, 2019
    2
    Pros:
    -It's Pokemon (People buy it for the cute characters and game-play formula)
    -Some improvements to mechanics (removing the worst part of the grinding is indeed not bad) -Graphics are better (Because it's not on a 3DS) Cons: -Albeit graphics being improved, don't expect anything close to Zelda or Xenoblade. This game is made for getting a passing mark from the average child,    Pros:
    -It's Pokemon (People buy it for the cute characters and game-play formula)
    -Some improvements to mechanics (removing the worst part of the grinding is indeed not bad)
    -Graphics are better (Because it's not on a 3DS)

    Cons:
    -Albeit graphics being improved, don't expect anything close to Zelda or Xenoblade. This game is made for getting a passing mark from the average child, -not- to entertain you.
    -This is probably the easiest Pokemon game, and you are forced to have EXP share enabled. Regardless of how much you skip, you'll out-level everything, and Pokemon that you don't even use will always keep up.
    -The national Dex is gone.
    -The franchise doesn't put emphasis on exploration anymore.
    -Attack animations & Pokemon idle animations, are entirely copy-paste from previous games.

    The Pokemon franchise is huge and Game Freak is a decently big company with about 150 employees. This game was supposed to be compared to Zelda, but in terms of both graphics and game-play, these two games are leagues apart. People expected a Pokemon game shortly after the switch release, but Game Freak chose to 'work more on it', yet somehow they manage to deliver what feels like a half finished game. Copying old animations, and reskinning the 3DS models, is by no means something bad, but in the light of Game Freaks statements as to why the national-Dex is gone, it's evident this game was never meant to deliver anything more than the minimum of what could be called a main-series Pokemon game. If this wasn't a Pokemon game, people would probably say "this game has promise" rather than "this game is good", and that might very well be Game Freaks saving grace. They should make a proper game next time, and then this might be forgotten as a transitional game, rather than a main series game.

    A final note: Game-play wise, the Pokemon series is showing change that may or may not make old time Pokemon fans like me quit the games. Since X&Y, the games has put less emphasis on exploration and combat. Today, neither should be a reason to buy the game, since decisions in combat are largely irrelevant, and there isn't much to explore. At least the issues with combat could easily be circumvented by adding a difficulty setting.    … Expand
  72. billythorton198
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Half the pokemon missing means these games arent worth anything, and the fact that they lose to their fans
  73. FabioGarcia
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    The worst Pokémon ever. PSX graphics (the cutscenes are disgusting). Very easy. GF removed a loooooot of Pokémon from the ND. It seems an PSX game with a lot of limitations. REALLY GF? We wait for this game for decades and you give us this SH?
  74. merkstw
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Short game, crap, I didn't like it at all. I finished it in 3 hours. Not recommended at all, please buy another game.
  75. Tkm7
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Barebones. Would have been a decent 3DS game. No post game, bad graphics. Some of the new Pokémon have promise, but it’s just so, so disappointkng
  76. TheOnlyShape
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Played about 45 minutes, blindlessly A button pressed through pointless/badly animated cutscenes and hand holding opening battles and realized that it's the same old garbage that's been repackaged and resold for the past 20+ years.

    Honestly, if you play through the first hpur tou'll immediately understand. Took it back to Gamestop under their 48 hour full refund policy and exchanged it    Played about 45 minutes, blindlessly A button pressed through pointless/badly animated cutscenes and hand holding opening battles and realized that it's the same old garbage that's been repackaged and resold for the past 20+ years.

    Honestly, if you play through the first hpur tou'll immediately understand.
    Took it back to Gamestop under their 48 hour full refund policy and exchanged it for a game that hopefully won't treat me like a braindead child.

    0/10 Pokemon is **** dead    … Expand
  77. Alanmaster
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Corte de pokedex jogo porco sem mega mega sem pokemons suficientes e qualidade porca tudo nesse jogo é ruin
  78. KrawzerOn
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Primero que nada es una traición al concepto de la saga al no tener todos los Pokémon disponibles en el juego para atrapar o transferir de anteriores entregas, el desgano y prisa de los desarrolladores está patente en el pésimo apartado técnico, una lástima que teniendo tan buena música, dirección artística y diseños de nuevos Pokémo no hayan logrado una buena sinergía entre todos estosPrimero que nada es una traición al concepto de la saga al no tener todos los Pokémon disponibles en el juego para atrapar o transferir de anteriores entregas, el desgano y prisa de los desarrolladores está patente en el pésimo apartado técnico, una lástima que teniendo tan buena música, dirección artística y diseños de nuevos Pokémo no hayan logrado una buena sinergía entre todos estos elementos, el área silvestre tiene el peor apartado técnico visto en un juego de Switch, de lejos el peor juego de la saga principal.… Expand
  79. Zp999
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Underwhelming gameplay, terable graphics compared to what game freak was eluding to, unbearable loss of my personal favourites like kingdra, metagross, etc. Not worth a penny out of your pocket...
  80. cancer2
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Garbage. Nintendo should buy out the shares for Pokemon and get a new developer. Game freak deserves to be dissolved over this rushed game that is devoid of content and looks like it was a port from the 3DS.
  81. Kuroi_Zero
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    I do not like that this game has very few Pokémon, I do not like that they said that they made all of the Pokémon from 0 when it’s very likely that they used 3DS models for the Pokémon’s. They removed some of my favorite Pokémon, and that is just plain sad, Pokémon is a franchise I’ve been following loyaly since I am 10 years old now I’m 23 and I feel very sad I feel scammed. I feelI do not like that this game has very few Pokémon, I do not like that they said that they made all of the Pokémon from 0 when it’s very likely that they used 3DS models for the Pokémon’s. They removed some of my favorite Pokémon, and that is just plain sad, Pokémon is a franchise I’ve been following loyaly since I am 10 years old now I’m 23 and I feel very sad I feel scammed. I feel betrayed by a company which now just seeks money or at least is how I feel them now. Sorry gamefreak.… Expand
  82. Bolvin
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    The game is nice but you cant get all pokemon and thats a no go for a pokemon game so 0 points!
  83. Sparkbomber
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    Pokémon Shield was advertised as THE leap forward for the series: more powerful hardware, new features, better graphics and new Pokémon. Then the bad news started trickling in. No national dex with most Pokémon of prior generations cut out, no mega-evolutions, no Z-Moves. It got worse: factually the same models and animations, endless graphical glitches, the game potentially autosaving toPokémon Shield was advertised as THE leap forward for the series: more powerful hardware, new features, better graphics and new Pokémon. Then the bad news started trickling in. No national dex with most Pokémon of prior generations cut out, no mega-evolutions, no Z-Moves. It got worse: factually the same models and animations, endless graphical glitches, the game potentially autosaving to the detriment of your Switch, handholding worse than Sun/Moon/Lets Go and paywalled online play.

    I got the game as a gift, but oh damn is it bad. I can live with the graphics mostly, even if they could have featured on the 3DS easily. The slowdown is undeniably bad though, any scene with more than 3 characters involved seems to suffer from it. Pokémon and objects will appear out of thin air when the Switchu loads them, something that was common in '90's 3D games, but which most modern games do not suffer from.

    I love a lot of the Pokémon designs included in the game. Wooloo deserves to be a poster-mon for the franchise in my opinion. But all the Pokémon in the world do not make up for the pathetic attempts at story-telling and the excessive handholding and powerleveling. Yes, you can FINALLY skip parts of the tutorial segments, but it still feels as if you're poked along from a-z, rather than letting players explore. Frankly, I am shocked at just how many pokeballs you get. From the moment you visit ye moms to tell her you're leaving home to become a trainer (5) to the catching tutorial (20) and the trip to the professor (3) you're literally being overfed with the things. Add to that the 31k in cash you have along by that point and... where's the challenge? Where's the challenge even discounting that when your entire party has leveling rockets stuck up their *sses so that you can skip grinding because they'll gain a level from even frigging Magikarps that are 5 levels below them. You cannot turn off the darned xp-share function, being an actual part of the battle is just an auxiliary boost to the Pokémon's gains.

    Postgame's something I haven't gotten to yet, but I've heard there's not a lot. Competitive play and trading are limited to either physically being close to another player, or paying the damn Nintendo monthly fee just to use the internet connectivity.

    The total sum of this all, and more, is that Pokémon Shield is a game I cannot recommend. As a long-time Pokémon fan I cry bitter tears at this obviously rushed release. Had Gamefreak actually taken a step back and insisted on finishing this game properly it could have been a leap forward. Instead, it feels as if they have been forced to release before the holidays and much like contemporary games (Failout 76 to name one) it shows and does not do the franchise any favors. To all those considering to buy the game even so... The only saving grace is the fact that the new Pokémon designs are nice, mostly. I have come to loathe the champion who is as believable as soap-flavored champagne. Only buy this if you are a Poké-maniac with tons of money to burn, and then only if you can get it cheap.

    Otherwise, I'd recommend Pokémon Uranium, Disc Creatures and Monster Sanctuary for an actual game over this crud. If GameFreak somehow reads this review: fire the executives who pushed for an early release and damn please do patch the worst of it out, okay? Ideally a patch to the game's slug or something. If you do, I'll gladly revise this review.    … Expand
  84. paulitomm
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    below average graphics, few pokemons little innovation pokemons do not accompany the player
  85. Falk22
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    Withdrawing more than half of the pokemons to improve performance and make the game more polished, gamefreak lied.
  86. FallHealer
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    This is by far the worst Pokemon game ever made. Having just 400 pokemon is not the biggest problem. Animations are ridiculous, graphics are terrible, looking like a 2000's game. The map is really short, extremely linear. Wild area, dinamax and camping are the only three new features in that make this game differen. The rest was just poorly copied from other franchise games.
  87. PokimonRanger
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Una completa basura hecha a la rápida, solo para vender por nombre y no por calidad.
  88. Commiekiller
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Half-assed game with below 3DS graphics, awful in-game campaign, no post-game content, the animations are so bad not even a beginner would commit such gaffes. The national Dex was wrongfully cut in more than half of what it should be in the name of "quality" and "balance", but the game lacks either of them. This deserves a nice 0.
  89. Pollox28
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Si iban a recortar más de la mitad de los pokémon, al menos debieron haber respondido en algo.
    -Malos gráficos
    -Mala Historia
    -Mala jugabilidad    … Expand
  90. Theco
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    Jogo inacabado, cortaram metade da dex, modelos de Sun and moon, animações horríveis
  91. LordCaius
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Perfect example of how to betray Pokémon community and how to destroy what you have created in decades.
  92. ji-0
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Too low quality compared to 60% Pokemon, the most terrible story, terrible graphics and motion, and motion rehash. Terrible Design of New Pokemon
  93. Dementedcat785
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    The game is very short compared to some older games in the series. 60% of the pokemon were cut so building multiple teams for battle (my favorite thing) cant be done really. The animations are poor and are mostly rotations on an axis. There are some quality animations but its mostly mediocre. The render distance and models just popping in is very bad. The game is very easy (exp share isThe game is very short compared to some older games in the series. 60% of the pokemon were cut so building multiple teams for battle (my favorite thing) cant be done really. The animations are poor and are mostly rotations on an axis. There are some quality animations but its mostly mediocre. The render distance and models just popping in is very bad. The game is very easy (exp share is MANDATORY, and you get exp from catching pokemon. Losing is a challenge). The story in pokemon games recently has become annoying as your "rival" holds your hand and pesters you wherever you go. Gamefreak lied to fans about a lot of things (improving animations, not reusing models). Buying this game for 60 dollars isnt worth the game, and it definitely isnt worth supporting a lying company.… Expand
  94. pia-chu
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Odio que no tenga la pokedex nacional y que no pueda transferir los pokemones de mis juegos anteriores, muy enojada por eso. Además, gráficas no dignas de la consola, el juego es caro y se acaba en 30 horas. No lo vale, ya no seguiré comprando más juegos en preventa
  95. Felipex1
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    KD o slogan da franquia " catch them ALL". Devemos ficar satisfeitos com isso? É só ngm mais gastar dinheiro com essas coisas mal feitas para fãs, porque quando começar a causar prejuízo aí eles irão se preocupar
  96. poppinfresh
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    This game was a bit overrated in my opinion. 60 dollars for a Pokemon game is also too much.
  97. andersonwide
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Never in my entire live, i imagine this, me giving rate 0 to a pokemon game ...

    Don't buy this crap
  98. SaintLilith
    Nov 18, 2019
    0
    With the removal of so much content, one would have expected groundbreaking new concepts. There were none. I could've bought Planet Zoo with less money than what they're charging for this.
  99. Gyroraptor
    Nov 18, 2019
    0
    Really, really, bad graphic quality
    Really, really, REALLY bad animations
    Also recycled animations
    Framerate drops
    Insultingly easy
    Lazy company
  100. RiceTwice
    Nov 18, 2019
    0
    Worst game in the series by far. Don't waste your time and money, this game is horrible and incomplete. #GameFreakLied
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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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