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. Tomplexthis
    Nov 19, 2022
    1
    its just a soulless skippable game, pass hard on this dumpster
    the starters look nice, but its just way too many problems
  2. Tovar_pk
    Aug 23, 2023
    0
    Sinceramente la mayor decepción de juego jamás creada, sabiendo que ha sido la generación introducida por primera vez en una consola de sobre mesa. El potencial esta muy por debajo de lo que se puede conseguir con la switch, además de que la propia región carece de personalidad. Tanto ciudades como rutas son perfectamente olvidables. Lo unico que se puede salvar de estos juegos, es elSinceramente la mayor decepción de juego jamás creada, sabiendo que ha sido la generación introducida por primera vez en una consola de sobre mesa. El potencial esta muy por debajo de lo que se puede conseguir con la switch, además de que la propia región carece de personalidad. Tanto ciudades como rutas son perfectamente olvidables. Lo unico que se puede salvar de estos juegos, es el diseño de la pokedex.… Expand
  3. Bozzy943
    Nov 20, 2022
    2
    Stop giving Game Freak your money. Quality is just as important as gameplay.
  4. arlatius
    Nov 19, 2022
    1
    this game is a prime example on why you should only trust user reviews and never critic reviews.

    dexit nixed a ton of pokemon, including fan favorites. then gamefreak released two dlcs (which combined totaled the cost of the game itself) whose only real draw was the inclusion of pokemon missing from the main game. But even with these DLC, the dex is still missing huge swaths of pokemon.    this game is a prime example on why you should only trust user reviews and never critic reviews.

    dexit nixed a ton of pokemon, including fan favorites. then gamefreak released two dlcs (which combined totaled the cost of the game itself) whose only real draw was the inclusion of pokemon missing from the main game. But even with these DLC, the dex is still missing huge swaths of pokemon. it leads me to believe that dexit was not only motivated by laziness, but by greed - the DLC was always the plan.

    the plot was nonexistent, and the games mechanics come nowhere near being able to make up for it. the main enemy team is completely unrelated to the main antagonist - the main antagonist whose motivations were nonsense and who was only revealed to be the antagonist in the last hour or so of this 20 to 30 hour game.

    im giving it one point to acknowledge the only good trait about the game: the setting design for the locations were all very strong. its the only strong thing about the game. if it werent for PLA i would have been sure that this spelt the end for the pokemon franchise    … Expand
  5. mestaku
    Nov 19, 2022
    0
    Someone should pay you to play this absolute garbage game. The graphics are the same as some random bad game from 2006.
  6. Cloud_cipher
    Nov 29, 2022
    3
    I have only played sheild for 20 hours but I wish I only played 0 for the waste of time this was.
  7. ShrekXGrinch
    Nov 30, 2022
    1
    Very annoying characters, poor graphics quality, bad animations, lots of pokemon characters removed, too easy, insultingly babyish dialogue, features removed, poor story, very bad region/route and towns design
  8. Alebernard
    Dec 8, 2022
    0
    Movement stuck for a game on a console that is the Nintendo Switch. I expected more quality as it is the same console generation as PS4, PS5, xboxone, xbox x and s. I expected movement of attacks within battles. The worst history lore. A silly mechanic. Shameful, I regret the purchase too much, too bad it is digital media.
  9. Rooster93
    Dec 9, 2022
    1
    Zero effort field, forced exp share, and beyond easy game. You can get to Lv100 before fighting the first gym rather easily due to the ridiculous exp candy.
  10. Garde_Mystik
    May 25, 2023
    0
    I don't think I'll make a full review but tl;dr, personally, these games tampered with literally everything i loved most about Pokemon to such extreme of an extent I still find it baffling to this day. This eventually got doubled-down on by Scarlet and Violet. Now outside personal biases, they also even went as far as to interfere with the singles battling experience for millions ofI don't think I'll make a full review but tl;dr, personally, these games tampered with literally everything i loved most about Pokemon to such extreme of an extent I still find it baffling to this day. This eventually got doubled-down on by Scarlet and Violet. Now outside personal biases, they also even went as far as to interfere with the singles battling experience for millions of players alike, thanks to their insertion of the 20 minute battle time, the effects of dynamax, and the games having an absolute joke of a battle facility. I cannot forgive Pokemon Sword and Shield. These games were a massive step down for the series, and served as evidence that the makers of Sword and Shield did not care about the players involved. They made dexit to improve animations, improve graphics, and improve the overall state of pvp battling, when all 3 ended up regressing from games we had a full National Dex in. Need I say more? To defend these games, you must attack large departments of the Pokemon community. I'm sorry but that's the truth. How these games ended up was used to easily predict the state of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, as well as leave less room for mystery regarding Scarlet and Violet. If you care about the Pokemon community and want Pokemon games to get better from here, this is one of the few games that need to outright get rejected. I can't even say this about any game prior to Sword and Shield.… Expand
  11. Bluelion32
    Feb 8, 2023
    3
    Doesn't have sword dog.
    The problems of these games have been stated many times, so I won't go over them again.
  12. Ihtayt
    Aug 16, 2023
    4
    Summing up some bulletpoints on my thoughts of the game below, for reference this is after beating both ScVi 3 times and going back to SwSh after. I did not get / play the DLC as the base game offered so little there was no incentive to prolong this.

    Game is always on local wireless, this massively hinders connecting to wifi as it will frequently bug out and fail to connect to network    Summing up some bulletpoints on my thoughts of the game below, for reference this is after beating both ScVi 3 times and going back to SwSh after. I did not get / play the DLC as the base game offered so little there was no incentive to prolong this.

    Game is always on local wireless, this massively hinders connecting to wifi as it will frequently bug out and fail to connect to network after the game is open. This feels like a massive oversight for something that the developers forced on the game.

    Gameplay is very linear, moreso than Gen 2 and possibly even more linear than Gen 1 which is a very sad downgrade. The main story only took me roughly 20-24 hours to beat and the postgame did not offer much more; at what I feel was a moderate play pace.

    Postgame- After beating the game, gameplay massively falls off and feels very unmotivating. Farming the battle tower may appeal to some, but its gatekept behind needing to clear the BT for the currency (BP) to get the items that you need to clear the BT; which feels very outdated and counter-intuitive. You can clear all / most of the tower with provided rental teams which further detracts from the experience as by time you can make your own team with your own mons, you already beat everything. You can aim to complete the pokedex, breed, and shiny hunt; but this is nothing new or exciting from previous games really; and aside from team building for the BT it feels pretty pointless to build up mons. The game introduced raid dens, but they didn't feel at all appealing personally.

    Performance - I've encountered more performance issues with SwSh (~40hrs) than I ever did with ScVi (>1000hrs).    … Expand
  13. TreasureOrTrash
    Sep 8, 2023
    0
    Trash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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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]
See all critic reviews »