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. Gelider
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Un juego q aburre desde el minuto 1... faltan pokemon , errores gráficos graves ( parece un juego de ps2 y no de esta generación ) animaciones recicladas , juego muy monótono . No veo la innovación por ninguna parte, solo en los pokemon grandes, q a mi parecer son un coñazo
  2. Drezziks
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Game feels 50% incomplete. Horrendous draw distance, pixelated shadows, empty Wild Area, and a practically non-existent post game. This is not a game for veteran players, like GameFreak stayed it was.
  3. Feraligabriel
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    As bad as sword or perhaps even worse, the changes between the games are almost minimal, so there isnt much to enjoy kn buying both copies, i would advise a player to only purchase one of them, but honestly i advise them to not purchase this garbage.
  4. KinMonteste
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    60 bucks? never 10 bucks? maybe, it have less content than any indie game you can have with that, better idea? download a fakemon game, it will be more "for fans" than this cashgrabbing bull***t
  5. kennyiscool
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    Awesome revitalization of the franchise. Losing the Dex sucks, but everything else is worth it.
  6. Feutti
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    This game isn't the worst, I'm going to start out the review by saying that. It has some good Pokémon, some of the cutscenes look nice and the Pokémon are properly scalled in the overworld. This doesn't compare to the Pokémon cut, lackluster new gen graphics, and a game that crashes and deletes your downloaded games
  7. HentaiLover69
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    Freaking fantastic Game
    I love the Designs And story GF you rock
  8. QuarterLife
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Imagine making ~40% of a game, and then charging ~120% for it. That's Pokemon right now. This game is rushed, buggy, and overall an insult to anyone that has enjoyed the series before. You might consider it if it's your first Pokemon game, but if you have others in your library just keep playing them -- they're better.
  9. IICapN
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Absolutely sad excuse for a game, this is quite possible the worst game from any top developer in the past decade (not just GameFreak). Nintendo should be ashamed to be associated with this garbage. A very short list of issues:
    - Graphics are OBJECTIVELY worse than Let's Go Pikachu and I would argue they're worse than Pokemon USUM. This terrible excuse for graphics is why we lost over    Absolutely sad excuse for a game, this is quite possible the worst game from any top developer in the past decade (not just GameFreak). Nintendo should be ashamed to be associated with this garbage. A very short list of issues:
    - Graphics are OBJECTIVELY worse than Let's Go Pikachu and I would argue they're worse than Pokemon USUM. This terrible excuse for graphics is why we lost over half of all Pokemon in the game? What a load of garbage.
    - We lost over half of all Pokemon in the game. Not just uncatchable, but they're not even in the game, you can't transfer into the games because they excluded excluded metadata for them and decided to exclude EXISTING Pokemon models from the game, which is what they did for other Pokemon.
    - Only 80 new Pokemon overall. They didn't even try.
    - Their new Pokemon battle concept is essentially: "Look, the Pokemon is now bigger! See how big it is? Pretty cool, huh?" No creativity, it sounds like a throwaway idea someone said jokingly during a meeting that they took as a serious comment and went with it. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.
    - You'd think that Pokemon becoming bigger versions of themselves would mean Pokemon size would be an important thing to scale. Nope. They have Wailord shown as being slightly smaller as the 4'10" trainer (~150 cm). Wailord is supposed to be a 50 ft (~15m) long behemoth. But nope, huge (literally) details are no longer important.
    - Finally, the straw that broker the camel's back: the game froze when I was battling in the Ice-gym. I had auto-save on, but also kept manually saving anyway because I couldn't trust anything in the game at that point. When I restarted the game after it froze, the save point there was in Route 6, basically half the game ago.

    At that point I juts gave up on the game. I lost half the progress because this terrible-developed game couldn't bother to QA their garbage product. I'm going to try to return the game, but doubt I'll be able to. This left a bad taste in my mouth and I may never buy another Pokemon game again unless management changes and they start making respectable games again.    … Expand
  10. Liamvida
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    In short, this game is awful for advanced players, mediocre for casual player 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 ofIn short, this game is awful for advanced players, mediocre for casual player 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 serious leadership issues.

    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.

    Bugs, no endgame, half pokedex, mediocre graphics, less features than previous games...should I keep talking? Save your money and don't but this dumpster fire of a game    … Expand
  11. tencentk
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    I have been playing Pokemon from red and blue, at 10 hours in this has been one of my favorite of the series.
  12. carloscoffanni
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Um jogo tenebroso , depois de tanta espera para um jogo de pokemon para um console de mesa esse jogo é incrivelmente decepcionante e tem tantos defeitos que eu posso ficar horas para listar todos
  13. 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
  14. Demolitionman5
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    This is a great first step into new hardware and HD for gamefreak, the idea of reused assets and animation help them work a game the caters to the competitive side of pokemon. A streamlined story saves time and combining of mega evolution and zmoves while limited the length f the feature creates a different level of strategy.
  15. mrfrank79
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    a pesar de reciclar todo el contenido de 3ds, utilizar la misma bases de Lets Go, y tener un desarrollo de 3 años el resultado es la mediocridad en estado puro
  16. greentauros
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    So my co-worker got this for me as a birthday present, otherwise I would not be playing it right now, nor would I have bought it in the future.

    The graphics are sub-par for a Switch, how come animations from Pokemon Stadium that had a smaller dev team look better than this games? How come Colosseum and Gale of Darkness look better than this game graphically when it came out on a system    So my co-worker got this for me as a birthday present, otherwise I would not be playing it right now, nor would I have bought it in the future.

    The graphics are sub-par for a Switch, how come animations from Pokemon Stadium that had a smaller dev team look better than this games? How come Colosseum and Gale of Darkness look better than this game graphically when it came out on a system that isn't as powerful? Just got to the 2nd badge and while some of the new pokemon are pretty adorable everything else about this game has left a bad taste in my mouth. It feels to me like they just slap a new paint of coat on it and should either hire more people to help make the game better, or instead take a break from the yearly release cycle.

    They also removed many things like TMs, one of which is "return". The attack power is based on how much your Pokemon likes you, and it feels like a slap in your face when a move like this is removed. Wasn't part of the point in pokemon to grow alongside your pokemon and treat them like a pet?

    Don't get me wrong, the game still shows a lot of promise of what could have been, but when you have other titles like BoTW which was originally a Wii U game, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and even more impressive ports like The Witcher 3. It's just depressing that this is the best they could come up with. Gamefreak if you're reading this please hire more staff or take a year off. Maybe even get rid of Masuda. Older pokemon titles use to have more adventure, even if they were graphically lacking, maybe some of that was childhood and maybe some of that is the lack of care that they seem to put into these new pokemon titles. It's been downhill since Pokemon X and Y came out, which part of that was them needing new models made in 3D for the 3DS and was understandable.. But after that, it's all felt lacking, especially when Black and White 2 were the pinnacle of pokemon games before then (Talking about mainline games and not remakes like HGSS which were spectacular.)    … Expand
  17. MadViolinist
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Lamentablemente Gamefreak sigue con la mentalidad de desarrollar juegos para la 3DS. Este juego está pensado para esa consola, pero no para la nintendo switch.
    Cero innovación, cero mejoras.
  18. SomberlySober
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    It's a bland game even by Pokemon standards. They removed a LOT of features (old Pokemon, the Dex, the global trade system, proper trading etc..) just to out them in their $20 a month Pokemon Home app. It's absolutely pathetic and not even close to worth the $60 they are trying to charge you for it.

    The games look very poor for a switch game in general, there is lag all over the place,    It's a bland game even by Pokemon standards. They removed a LOT of features (old Pokemon, the Dex, the global trade system, proper trading etc..) just to out them in their $20 a month Pokemon Home app. It's absolutely pathetic and not even close to worth the $60 they are trying to charge you for it.

    The games look very poor for a switch game in general, there is lag all over the place, the frame rate is not stable and my biggest issue is how random objects and Pokemon pop in so close to you. The traditional Pokemon gameplay is fun but completely ruined by everything else. Save yourself some money and wait for their sharp sword sturdy shield release where they will hopefully fix at least 20% of what is wrong with these games.

    Last bit not least be careful if you have the eShop version     … Expand
  19. Gus42
    Nov 15, 2019
    5
    This game is clearly neither a 10 nor a 0 and I'd even say it could be great without all of the clear issues which are the result of a rushed launch. And while I feel that this level of hate is pretty necessary I also believe that it's pretty unacceptable for pokemon (literally the biggest franchise in the world) to cut corners and release a sub par entry to the series with the excuseThis game is clearly neither a 10 nor a 0 and I'd even say it could be great without all of the clear issues which are the result of a rushed launch. And while I feel that this level of hate is pretty necessary I also believe that it's pretty unacceptable for pokemon (literally the biggest franchise in the world) to cut corners and release a sub par entry to the series with the excuse that it's not manageable for them especially as the price has been increased to that of all other big AAA titles.… Expand
  20. Sneakybreeze
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Poor excuse for a pokemon game. Unfinished and undeserving of any sort of praise.
  21. Parmoking
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    Such a great pokemon game! The world looks stunning and the animations are so good! If you like pokemon you will love this.
  22. Eddieman
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Not worth the 60 dollars! You're paying for a couple of incomplete and glitchy games! Its just a copy and print 3ds version of the Pokemon games, but without the whole National pokedex
  23. Darksun
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    No tiene graficarros,pero tampoco es tan malo como nos ha hecho creer,divierte mucho,tiene novedades,los nuevos Pokémon los mejores desde la primera generación.a pesar de no exprimir la consola al máximo se nota mucho el salto de 3ds y el área salvaje engancha
  24. WeihanZhang
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    My friend I am advise please avoid bad game. Not allow purchase support Game Freak Masuda insect bottom coomer.
  25. Revoltado
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    - ~400 pokemon
    - movimentos apagados
    - Pokemon com tamanhos desproporcionais - Modelos antigos, por preguiça não mudam nem a posição dos pokemon desde a gen 6 - Soundtrack ruim no geral, com algumas exceções - 99% dos pokemon tem o grunhido do game boy - Endgame curto sem muito o que fazer - Gráfico bom, animações ruins e muitas vezes reaproveitadas - Pior liga de todas as    - ~400 pokemon
    - movimentos apagados
    - Pokemon com tamanhos desproporcionais
    - Modelos antigos, por preguiça não mudam nem a posição dos pokemon desde a gen 6
    - Soundtrack ruim no geral, com algumas exceções
    - 99% dos pokemon tem o grunhido do game boy
    - Endgame curto sem muito o que fazer
    - Gráfico bom, animações ruins e muitas vezes reaproveitadas
    - Pior liga de todas as gerações, e como resto do jogo também utiliza reaproveitação
    - Cooking system (gosto pessoal, odeio essa mecânica em todos os jogos)
    - Sem legenda pt-br
    - Preço alto pelo baixo conteúdo
    Estranho as revisões de sites "especializados", pois o jogo parece ser produzido para jogadores novos, minimizando os custos e priorizando os ganhos reaproveitando e cortando conteúdos    … Expand
  26. FilthyActs88
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Pokémon sword and shield is a game of pure mediocrity when discounting all of the technical issues. It does not do anything exceptional or ground breaking and it is another entry that coasts off the brand name. The main story is just ok, its filled with unskipable cutscenes that often have slowdowns due to poor optimization. The story suffers from the same issues as sun and moon where itPokémon sword and shield is a game of pure mediocrity when discounting all of the technical issues. It does not do anything exceptional or ground breaking and it is another entry that coasts off the brand name. The main story is just ok, its filled with unskipable cutscenes that often have slowdowns due to poor optimization. The story suffers from the same issues as sun and moon where it truly doesn’t feel like your characters story which defeats the point of it being an rpg. The draw distance is genuinely abhorrent and further shows that gamefreak have shown themselves to be incompetent game developers. The game is ridiculously easy and “streamlined” which in this case means dumbed down. The game is short only being around 14-17 hours long which is a ripoff. Most industry standard rpgs range between 60-80 hours long while sword and shield is only a fraction. The graphics are bad there is no other way of putting it, they are low poly and the texture are hilariously low resolution. The colors are washed out and this looks like someone first attempt in unity trying to make a game. You have to compare this game to other games in the industry, gamefreak needs their feat held to the fire and should no longer be allowed to coast off the Pokémon name. I do not recommend purchasing these games, they are cash grabs made by developers who can’t even program a game right and that is just pathetic how a company can’t even do their job right because they are that incompetent. The two version gimmick is tired and should not be done anymore especially for games 20$ more.… Expand
  27. TheAmazingBot
    Nov 15, 2019
    6
    The game does have its charm in the fun pokémon designs and flavortext. The gameplay has teken a step back since the 3ds days removing Z-moves an mega-evolutions to the simpler "dynamax". There are pokemon fan games out there I enjoy more than this newest entry and withe the power of the switch I was expecting a lot more. This game is great for someone who hasn't played a pokemonfame for aThe game does have its charm in the fun pokémon designs and flavortext. The gameplay has teken a step back since the 3ds days removing Z-moves an mega-evolutions to the simpler "dynamax". There are pokemon fan games out there I enjoy more than this newest entry and withe the power of the switch I was expecting a lot more. This game is great for someone who hasn't played a pokemonfame for a couple of years, but lacking for people who played the latest 3ds entries.… Expand
  28. Kiohara
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    jogo pokemon desde o game boy, essa minha nota não tem nada ver com natinal dex, é apenas uma critica pela preguiça de uma desenvolvedora gigantesca como a GF de fazer o jogo nas coxas e vender pelo olho da cara, zelda Breath of the wild é um exemplo do que se pode fazer no switch se tiver vontade, pokemon teve muita coisa reaproveitada das versões anteriores como movimento dos personagen,jogo pokemon desde o game boy, essa minha nota não tem nada ver com natinal dex, é apenas uma critica pela preguiça de uma desenvolvedora gigantesca como a GF de fazer o jogo nas coxas e vender pelo olho da cara, zelda Breath of the wild é um exemplo do que se pode fazer no switch se tiver vontade, pokemon teve muita coisa reaproveitada das versões anteriores como movimento dos personagen, pokemons e a câmera fixa da rotas do jogo ( apenas a wild área é mundo aberto), o que não é o problema, e deveria ter dado tempo de sobra pra melhorar outras questões do jogo, como, ataque dos pokemons, e polimento gráfico, um exemplo é o double kick, o sprite do pokemon simplesmente da dois pulinho sem movimentação alguma, parece um papelão a versão digital do jogo é leve, cerca de 9gb e pouco e o switch ja demonstrou que aguenta o tranco, então sem desculpas, pokemon let`s go tem um gráfico MUITO melhor que o sword and shield… Expand
  29. Johan_Holland
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Graphics are mediocre than what is capable of putting out; removed more than half of the Pokemon; removal of 144 moves; removal of mega evolution / z-moves; the story is short and shallow; no "new quality" animations for older Pokemon even though that was promised; recycling of 3D models from the DS-era which would be fine if they didn't lie about it; unskippable cutscenes which makesGraphics are mediocre than what is capable of putting out; removed more than half of the Pokemon; removal of 144 moves; removal of mega evolution / z-moves; the story is short and shallow; no "new quality" animations for older Pokemon even though that was promised; recycling of 3D models from the DS-era which would be fine if they didn't lie about it; unskippable cutscenes which makes second playthroughs tedious; still a lot of handholding which could be removed if the player had an option in difficulty; games were not designed around forced EXP Share which makes the player quickly overpowered; there is no post game content outside of a rehashed Battle Tower and raid battles; dynamaxing is limited to gym battles and plot-related fights; the scaling of Pokemon is bad which makes the Pokemon seem way smaller than he really is in battle; removal of the GTS fuction; badly polished battle backgrounds that sometimes don't make sense where you character is currently fighting; sound track is uninspired; many Pokemon are shiny locked; frame rate issues; Wild Areas are underwhelming; no animations for flying or similar actions even though previous games had them; cities are devoid of any meaningful content; extremely shallow use of Britain as the main inspiration of the region; fishing is restricted to specific areas; pandering to specific region (Kanto); Pokemon in the OW do not interact with their environment in any meaningful way; game was advertised "for long time fans" which it clearly isn't; constant lying from the developers and games cost way too much for what it's giving.

    There is so much potential with this franchise but it just won't be used.    … Expand
  30. Jota20
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Juego mediocre: graficos de ps3, corto (14h), postgame nulo, diseños de pokemon peores de lo normal, personajes planos, historia mucho peor que la de sol y luna, inestable, bugs; y todo ello recortando el contenido de anteriores entregas: quitando la mitad de los pokemon, todas las megas y z moves, eleminando movimientos... gamefreak espabilad por favor!!! Os estais cargando la saga deJuego mediocre: graficos de ps3, corto (14h), postgame nulo, diseños de pokemon peores de lo normal, personajes planos, historia mucho peor que la de sol y luna, inestable, bugs; y todo ello recortando el contenido de anteriores entregas: quitando la mitad de los pokemon, todas las megas y z moves, eleminando movimientos... gamefreak espabilad por favor!!! Os estais cargando la saga de nuestra vida… Expand
  31. lexistrainer
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    Hola a todos apenas el dia de ayer pude probar el juego para mi si fue un gran cambio a lo que conocemos pokemon desde sus inicios desde pokemon rojo fuego y verde hoja con nuevas mecánicas desde la función de Gigamax el poke campamento entre otras cosas por otro lado sabemos que pokemon salto a una nueva generación asi que en sus gráficos si dejo mucho que desear pero eso no te impideHola a todos apenas el dia de ayer pude probar el juego para mi si fue un gran cambio a lo que conocemos pokemon desde sus inicios desde pokemon rojo fuego y verde hoja con nuevas mecánicas desde la función de Gigamax el poke campamento entre otras cosas por otro lado sabemos que pokemon salto a una nueva generación asi que en sus gráficos si dejo mucho que desear pero eso no te impide jugar con gran ilusión o otros motivo negativo es por que el juego dura menas horas que los otros juegos de pokemon pero si se ponen analizar el personaje tiene mas velocidad que los anteriores juegos que sus pasos eran mas peque;os y la velocidad realmente recorta tiempo asi que si en mi opinión vale toda la pena jugarlo.… Expand
  32. McCreeSun
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    After 20 hours of playtime my review is a resounding “meh”.

    The game is alright. That’s all. Not the world ending calamity we all thought it would be. I have the same good things to say as everyone else and I have the same bad things to say about everyone else. So I’m not going to bore you with the same old. The problem I have though is “meh” is not good enough for a Pokémon game. Full    After 20 hours of playtime my review is a resounding “meh”.

    The game is alright. That’s all. Not the world ending calamity we all thought it would be. I have the same good things to say as everyone else and I have the same bad things to say about everyone else. So I’m not going to bore you with the same old. The problem I have though is “meh” is not good enough for a Pokémon game. Full stop. We’re talking about a $60 billion franchise here, not some indie studio’s passion project. If this were some no name studio I’d say it was a solid game, probably still not deserving of the high 9s and 4s we’ve seen on review sites, but still an attempt was made.

    But the fact remains that the game is still clearly unfinished. The team wasn’t allowed to iron out the wrinkles to fit holiday release and it shows in the worst way. But I digress. The one complaint I do have that I haven’t seen come trough the network is the convoluted ways some Pokémon evolve. It seems entirely inaccessible to the casual audience they’re clearly pandering to. That’s just a very specific nitpick however.

    tl;dr: SwSh is a good video game, a terrible Pokémon game.    … Expand
  33. someactorkid
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This game is a massive disappoinment. The animations are incredibly lack-luster, the reuse of assets is embarrassing, and overall, Game Freak's heart just doesn't seem to be in these games anymore. I wanted this game to be good and to succeed, and I stayed positive despite all the backlash online, but this game has proven to be more than Game Freak could, or wanted, to handle.
  34. Bruno_Bastos29
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    • Outdated and poorly optimized graphics.
    • The wilderness is ridiculously poorly made.
    • full of popin.
    • no mega evolution (I hated the megamax system)

    *GameFreak cut DeX in half so I'll cut a score from 10 to 0
  35. Nikox96
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Deja mucho que desear. Historia lenta y mala, gráficos muy poco pulidos, animaciones y modelos reciclados de 3DS, se siente poco natural y vacío.
  36. darksoulz31
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Game is absolute garbage. Anyone who's giving positive reviews have been paid off. Graphics don't improve, many mechanics are terrible.
  37. Pablo92
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    worst pokemon game to date. lack of content, bugged,no post game basically and lackluster animations.
  38. DoritosGOD
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Un buen juego, pero que está incompleto y le falta muchos pokemones y te lo venden a 60U$S o 60€ como si fuera algo nuevo. Comparandolo con otros juegos de nintendo deja mucho que desear ya sea en texturas, diseño artístico, jugabilidad y mas. Yo creo que Gamefreak debería haber realizado un mejor trabajo, dejarse de excusar y ponerse las pilas.
  39. ioblle
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Really easy. Very few Pokemon too, and I can't transfer my favorites over.

    The game is also extremely slow and contains jacked animations that make the characters look like robots. Terrible graphics, and dynamax is very easy to battle. Not a good game, go buy something else for your kids.
  40. Ridly
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    The story is very lackluster. The story is also very short being only 15 hours. The post game is also very lacking because the cities are very narrow and their are less Pokémon to catch and train. The wild area was fun it is about the size of 2 regions in breath of the wild which is nice but it starts to feel small when you explore it for a while. The new dynamaxing feature is very lame itThe story is very lackluster. The story is also very short being only 15 hours. The post game is also very lacking because the cities are very narrow and their are less Pokémon to catch and train. The wild area was fun it is about the size of 2 regions in breath of the wild which is nice but it starts to feel small when you explore it for a while. The new dynamaxing feature is very lame it only makes the Pokémon bigger and even the giganticmaxing is also lame it hardly even changes the Pokémon. It is basically just a Mega Pokémon with every attack as a zmove. It is a Op gimmic it basically makes the Pokémon indestructible for 3 turns and all your moves one shot everything. Luckily though you can’t use this gimmic when every you want unlike megas and z moves because of how broken it is which is good. But not being able to use the gimmic when ever feel restrictive. Around 60 percent of Pokémon were taken out of the game which runs n the competitive more because it restricts the variety of Pokémon you can use and mix up your team it limits you to the Pokémon that is available in the game. Which doesn’t help give a chance for other Pokémon to shine because no one is going to use a Pokémon just because their is less to pick from there are just going to use their favorite. The lack of Pokémon also shortens the post game because there is less Pokémon to catch. They said they did it to improve the graphics but the graphics are nearly the same just more polished up what they should have done was redone the animations like the double kick move they should have at least made the Pokémon move to the Pokémon and actually kick instead of showing to feet on the enemy Pokémon. Removing the Pokémon to balance out the competitive is also dumb because we can just ban the Pokémon from use or only let certain Pokémon be used in tornment like ubers only or RU Pokémon only. Not only that megas and z moves were removed from the game which is a much better, more balanced, and cooler gimmic. The enemy team is just a remake of team skull but worse. Instead of being a bunch of gang kids with Guzma as their leader now it’s just some Fans of Marnie. Another problem is this game is now worth 20 dollars extra for a game that just removed good features from older games or replaced features that some are arguably worse… Expand
  41. zentwii
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    low quality experience, got the game 2 days prior and beat it. story is bland, regional dex is mostly ugly with some exceptions. gameplay is same as ever but getting less and less complex with every entry of the franchise. graphically unpolished with a gamebreaking bug on release
  42. Sabor1337
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    1. Over 60% of the Pokemon were removed, that means this game has fewer pokemon than Diamond and Pearl which were released in 2007
    2. 144 moves have been removed for no apparent reason
    3. The textures are low resolution comparable to that of a PS2 game, and this game is supposed to be competing with games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 4. The    1. Over 60% of the Pokemon were removed, that means this game has fewer pokemon than Diamond and Pearl which were released in 2007
    2. 144 moves have been removed for no apparent reason
    3. The textures are low resolution comparable to that of a PS2 game, and this game is supposed to be competing with games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
    4. The draw distance is very short, you can only see pokemon, characters and objects in your vicinity, if you look out over the wild area you will only see empty fields devoid of life
    5. All Mega evolutions have been removed
    6. All Z-Moves have been removed
    7. The post-game is just battling dynamax pokemon and a battle tower, but this battle tower has fewer modes than all its previous iterations
    8. The GTS was removed
    9. The entire world around you freezes in time when interacting with certain items such as a ladder
    10. Pokemon Sword and Shield cost 50% more than its predecessors

    Not recommended    … Expand
  43. hisoka-kun
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Pokemon Sword and Shield are the biggest disappointment I have encountered in video games. For decades we have dreamed of a mainline Pokemon game on a home console. Leading to the release of the "Let's Go" games, we were ensured that Sword and Shield would be games for true longtime fans. Excitement rose as people prepared for a Pokemon game on Switch with updated models and animations.Pokemon Sword and Shield are the biggest disappointment I have encountered in video games. For decades we have dreamed of a mainline Pokemon game on a home console. Leading to the release of the "Let's Go" games, we were ensured that Sword and Shield would be games for true longtime fans. Excitement rose as people prepared for a Pokemon game on Switch with updated models and animations. And most importantly, people eagerly awaited to opportunity to play with all their favorite Pokemon on a new system.

    These games provide the smallest and most overdue improvements while removing many of the features that make Pokemon games special.

    The ability to use all the Pokemon you've captured and trained over the years? Removed. In fact, over half the Pokemon are unplayable in these games. This is the infamous "Dexit" issue, where GameFreak decided to remove the National Pokedex. The issue is not the lack of National Dex, but the fact that data for over half the Pokemon have been removed from these games. So not only do hundred of classic Pokemon not have Pokedex entries; they cannot even be transferred to these games. It has now been confirmed that models of Pokemon in Sword/Shield are virtually identical to the future-proofed models first created for X/Y two generations ago. There was literally no reason for Game Freak to remove ANY Pokemon, except to ensure that fans will pay for Pokemon Home in a few months.

    GameFreak's excuse for such a blatant omission was that they used the time and resources to focus on animations instead. Anyone with eyes can see that this game has graphics and animations on par with games released for N64 (see the trees in the new wild area) to Wii. The game does not look on par with other current-gen games that were released at the beginning of the Switch life cycle. While series like Zelda and Mario released the best-looking entries on the Switch, Sword/Shield look like slightly upgraded 3DS games.

    The saving grace of Sword and Shield is that they have the name Pokemon in the title. The game plays like any other Pokemon game. You catch and train Pokemon as you progress to beat eight gymleaders and become the Pokemon champion. Some of the new Pokemon designs are pretty cool; but they in no way justify the elimination of over half the previously introduced creatures. This core Pokemon gameplay, which has been unchanged for decades, is the only reason that professional game critics reviewed the game so favorably. It seems a Pokemon game can score a solid "8" just because it plays like any other game in the series. Negative gameplay aspects include a permanent experience share, causing you team to be constantly overleveled with minimal effort, and rendering the game too easy for veteran players. Additionally, a cutscene-heavy and rather short story remains as linear as Sun/Moon with constant handholding which eliminates any sense of freedom or excitement. The new "dynamax" and "gigantamax" mechanics seem cool for about five seconds, until you realize they are just an inferior replacement of mega evolutions Z moves.

    Overall, this game is mediocre at best and insulting at worst. Here was a chance to make a refreshing and revolutionary Pokemon game as a tribute to veteran fans, after the release of the "Let's Go" games that were targeted for a more casual audience. Instead, it is a Switch game with fewer Pokemon than Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (released in 2006 on the DS), and inferior graphics/animations than Pokemon Battle Revolution (released in 2007 on the Wii). Do yourself a favor and skip this generation of Pokemon games -- not only to save yourself disappointment, but also to send a message to Game Freak and the Pokemon Company that yearly, low-effort entries with cut content will no longer yield the cash crop to which they are accustomed.    … Expand
  44. Jeenny18
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Simplesmente amando a região de Galar!! Mesmo não tendo a NationalDex há muitos Pokemon!! A Wild Área ficou incrível, a mecânica dos Pokemons aparecerem na grama ficou incrível!!… Expand
  45. aleqhz
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    I was very eager to see Pokémon on a home console after decades of handheld version. I even rushed through all previous Gen just anticipating this one, but .. Simply put, I'm disappointed.

    There was so much potential for a great game but it turned out into a game with rehashed and up-scaled 3DS graphics, very poor animation, very bland environment and extremely short playtime (finished    I was very eager to see Pokémon on a home console after decades of handheld version. I even rushed through all previous Gen just anticipating this one, but .. Simply put, I'm disappointed.

    There was so much potential for a great game but it turned out into a game with rehashed and up-scaled 3DS graphics, very poor animation, very bland environment and extremely short playtime (finished the game in 18 hours..) saying 40~50 hours is really stretching it. I didn't even mind the cut in the Pokédex eventhough my favourites didn't make it out to Galar region, but I was at least hoping there will be more post-game content than a 1~2 hours mini-story.

    I don't believe this game deserves the high metascore, nor its price.    … Expand
  46. sgillan
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    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 post game content, the general laziness, and the developer's arrogant attitude are all working together to make sure this game deserves a 0 out of 10. 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 post game content, the general laziness, and the developer's arrogant attitude are all working together to make sure this game deserves a 0 out of 10. 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's the worst game ever made.… Expand
  47. mjgway
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    Life long Pokefan here. I am absolutely loving the game so far. The occasional graphical clunkiness is there, but it doesn't deter from the gorgeous, inviting aesthetic and overall warmth of the game. In fact, I would say that this is by leaps and bounds the most visually captivating entry in the entire series. Care was quite obviously put into just about every nook and cranny, from theLife long Pokefan here. I am absolutely loving the game so far. The occasional graphical clunkiness is there, but it doesn't deter from the gorgeous, inviting aesthetic and overall warmth of the game. In fact, I would say that this is by leaps and bounds the most visually captivating entry in the entire series. Care was quite obviously put into just about every nook and cranny, from the exquisite music to the extensive outfit options. Also of note is the fact that I have experienced absolutely no bugs or frame drops anywhere in the game. I haven't been this excited and glued to my controller in I don't even know how long. If the hate campaigns spoiled your interest in the game as they nearly did mine, rest assured that the game is an absolute joy.… Expand
  48. Hisoka4lyfe
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Terrible unfinished product. Do not buy as it tells Nintendo that this level of quality is acceptable and it is not.

    We deserve better. Pokemon deserves better.
  49. Rolawa
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    As somebody who has played this I can tell you it is not worth the buy. Especially at full price. It honestly is worse than previous installments in the series and fails to make use of the better hardware available in the form of the switch. Honestly if you want a Pokemon game on the switch play Let's Go. It somehow manages to be better than this. Story was uninspired and boring. Way tooAs somebody who has played this I can tell you it is not worth the buy. Especially at full price. It honestly is worse than previous installments in the series and fails to make use of the better hardware available in the form of the switch. Honestly if you want a Pokemon game on the switch play Let's Go. It somehow manages to be better than this. Story was uninspired and boring. Way too much handholding. No challenge and it results in a boring game. Camp was neat but felt like a mediocre version of Amie New Pokemon are kinda cool. Happy with the scorbunny line personally

    Graphics look worse than a Nintendo 64 game. Some lag. More than I would expect. Pop in is terrible. Makes the overworld pointless Characters are rehashed or not at all interesting

    Animations look like a pitch somebody gave to an animator but the animator died before fixing them

    The list of removed features were not improved upon or replaced. Dynamaxing was uninspired and often made the models look worse. Absolutely not worth the cost of the game. Fails to make use of the switch hardware. Game freak continues to fail to listen to what people actually want out of the games. It instead delivers poor rushed games that get worse with every installment    … Expand
  50. VultureMovie
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Creatively and morally bankrupt.
    For some reason the game has less features than a previous title that cost 20 dollars less.
  51. Rikyun
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    As a Pokémon game it has the core mechanics every other Pokémon game has: battles and catching pokemon. However this is not the only thing a console Pokémon video game should have. This however makes the game trigger the nostalgia, but this feeling fades too soon due to all the lacking aspects, the glitches and the intrusive "story" plot, which is basically your "rival" telling you to goAs a Pokémon game it has the core mechanics every other Pokémon game has: battles and catching pokemon. However this is not the only thing a console Pokémon video game should have. This however makes the game trigger the nostalgia, but this feeling fades too soon due to all the lacking aspects, the glitches and the intrusive "story" plot, which is basically your "rival" telling you to go to another gym.

    Pros: Nice looking exteriors. - Nostalgia trigger when spotting old and loved Pokémon spawn and watching them HD. - Dialogues during battles are new and brings a little of life to the action - Dynamaxing is a cool concept - Camp and feeding your Pokémon is funny, more so when you bake a bad food.

    Cons: No story at all - The main events from a story feel distant as you can´t join them - Straight lined game play - Easy leveled - No post game - Unfinished settings - No dungeons nor challenging Puzzles - 10 -15 hours of Gameplay - No post Game - Glitches - No high quality animation - non memorable characters- Intrusive dialogues and cinematics - No real challenge - Not a $60 worth game - No real villain - No real rival - Dynamxing, even tough feels cool at first, gets boring too soon - No visible shynies on the outer world - Void world for in door battles - No animation for flying - One use only technical moves - Wrong animation setting for fishing - No free fishing - No interaction with pokemon in the outside world like swimming, running or riding.    … Expand
  52. Knabben
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    #GamefreakLiedToUs
    Charging 60$ for an incomplete rushed game should be a crime.
  53. Alanandrade
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    Large wild área, Nice graphics, amazing customization, awsome new pokemon, good new fwatures
  54. loldave87
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This game is a true wake up call how low the bar actually is for Pokemon games. Even if GF released this game is this sorry state and included all Pokemon there would be very little amount of complaints. This only proves the entire series is just being carried by the Pokemon that are available. Aside from 65% of the Pokemon from previous generations being cut and also some very popularThis game is a true wake up call how low the bar actually is for Pokemon games. Even if GF released this game is this sorry state and included all Pokemon there would be very little amount of complaints. This only proves the entire series is just being carried by the Pokemon that are available. Aside from 65% of the Pokemon from previous generations being cut and also some very popular Pokemon being excluded this game falls flat in a lot of aspects. This game didn't meet some of the very basic expectations. This game is very short, almost no content for post game, no GTS. This game proves how incredibly lazy GF has been.

    Content cut: They have removed 65% of the Pokemon in this game including some very popular and liked ones. They have removed 144 Pokemon moves and excluded 99 moves. Reused models, reused animation etc. GF has been caught lying to their fan base they couldn't put all Pokemon in their game because they couldn't reanimate and remodel all Pokemon while they have never remodeled or reanimated any of the Pokemon in this game. All of them were reused work.

    Performance: Constant graphics issues. Game looks extremely mediocre at times. Game is being constantly downscaled making the game look extremely bad at times.

    Content: Game is extremely short. First streamer beat the champion around the 14 hour mark, while he did skip a fair amount of trainer battles. Other streamers are clocking around 16-20 hours. Post game is almost non-existent. Almost no extra content. This game from a gameplay/post-game stand point is inferior in almost every way to the previous Pokemon games. There's also no GTS. 20 dollar increase for less constant than their 3DS or DS games with subpar graphics and removal of features.    … Expand
  55. Elaami
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This game has nothing special, and it sold a lot of copies only for being pokemon There is not effort or love for the pokemon games anymore
  56. Prequarantine
    Nov 15, 2019
    6
    This game is not the game for long-standing Pokemon fans that was promised last year. Few of the new features are new. This should have been a game similar in scope to other Nintendo franchise on the Switch, but it really isn't. Ultimately, this is just another Pokemon game. Hopefully next year the game will be improved, as this release feels half baked.

    The positives: +A minimum    This game is not the game for long-standing Pokemon fans that was promised last year. Few of the new features are new. This should have been a game similar in scope to other Nintendo franchise on the Switch, but it really isn't. Ultimately, this is just another Pokemon game. Hopefully next year the game will be improved, as this release feels half baked.

    The positives:
    +A minimum of 20 hours of new adventure
    +New Pokemon
    +Raids
    +Overworld Pokemon!
    +Game is Pokemon and includes many Pokemon you have always loved
    +Breeding made even more approachable, allowing more people to dip into the competition
    +Game will likely maintain the majority of its sale price for at least a year
    +Dynamax adds an interesting fusion of megas and z moves

    The negatives:
    -Overworld Pokemon are currently not capable of being shiny
    -Half of all Pokemon removed, including many days favorites like Greninja, Dragonite, and Metagross. Even Arceus is removed.
    -Roughly 150 moves removed. Most of these are irrelevant, but there are some very notable removals that threaten the balance and encourage rain teams more than ever, which were very strong already.
    -the endgame is essentially just the battle tower and raids. Something larger would have been nice.
    -GTS REMOVED
    -Game feels incredibly unpolished, including many bugs
    -no ability to set difficulty of game or turn off experience share, or turn off the forced healing given at ever corner. Game is incredibly easy as a result. You will find yourself bored.
    -Very few routes
    -No real dungeons
    -The removal of megas and z moves. Megas were incredible because they turned awkward Pokemon into powerhouses, fixing many of their flaws and making them finally usable. Gigantamax essentially reset this important progress.

    Overall, this game is fun for the 20 hours it lasts, but for its price and console, it really leaves you wanting a lot more. The game as a whole feels half baked. 6/10.    … Expand
  57. fishforbrains
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Where to begin..Seems like a huge money grab. Reused pokemon models, fixed camera (in 2019?!?!) Terrible terrible graphics, like n64/ps1 bad. WAY too easy and no way to change hardness. If this is what the pokemon series is now I'm over it. Plenty of amazing games out there that deserve a purchase over this garbage. Huge fail gamefreak.
  58. BadThingsHappen
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Pokemon Sword And Sheild are the worst games in the series, dont let THANKYOUGAMEFREAK and others like IGN lie to you, the models sre re-used, the game is overall very boring, the new pokemon forms (the only things that come close to new models) are boring and ugly, Skip this entry and wait for the next one with the full dex #Gamefreaklied
  59. Epiq122
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    Excellent entry very fun.
  60. Regunner
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Podria haber sido en 2d que no cambiana nada el juego.ni la camara podes mover ,el juego es miy corto y no tiene buena historia
  61. Gevlyn
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    This is no longer Pokemon at it's core. The brain dead easiness of these games combined with bugs and graphical disasters left and right are insulting. From a 20+ year fan and current competitive player, this has been the biggest disappointment in my gaming career. We deserve better.
  62. samuelglynnr
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    When considering that this is a Pokémon game for a Nintendo home console, it’s an embarrassment. Pokémon Coliseum and Pokémon Gale of Darkness for GameCube, two games which came out 15 years ago, are on par graphically and have better animations and scaling AND a better story (with a similar amount of Pokémon!). Literally look up an image of Wailord in Pokemon Coliseum and then look upWhen considering that this is a Pokémon game for a Nintendo home console, it’s an embarrassment. Pokémon Coliseum and Pokémon Gale of Darkness for GameCube, two games which came out 15 years ago, are on par graphically and have better animations and scaling AND a better story (with a similar amount of Pokémon!). Literally look up an image of Wailord in Pokemon Coliseum and then look up Wailord in Pokémon Sword / Shield and feast your eyes on the ineptitude.… Expand
  63. Melgill
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. #bringbacknationaldex
    #gamefreaklied
    Every pokémon is someone's favourite, this is just unacceptable!    … Expand
  64. Alberto_Barbosa
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Was it really hard for gamefreak to copy/paste models from 3ds games?
    But lackluster pokedex it's just a tip of the iceberg. This game is lacking half of the features from previous games. Instead, gamefreak added some **** ones like dynamax, that can only be used in some(!) raids and gym battles.
    This is just sad and pathetic, and there's no excuse for this kind of laziness. Gamefreak    Was it really hard for gamefreak to copy/paste models from 3ds games?
    But lackluster pokedex it's just a tip of the iceberg. This game is lacking half of the features from previous games. Instead, gamefreak added some **** ones like dynamax, that can only be used in some(!) raids and gym battles.

    This is just sad and pathetic, and there's no excuse for this kind of laziness. Gamefreak released unfinished product, and even if i wanted to, i can't defend pokemon SnS. So far, worst game in the series.    … Expand
  65. Kevin12
    Nov 15, 2019
    6
    El juego es más de lo mismo en torno al pokemon de toda la vida, con mejoras gráficas evidentes. Sin embargo se nota que Game Freak no ha explotado la capacidad de la Switch especialmente en las animaciones que lucen genéricas y mediocres. El mundo es vacío y te obliga a continuar la historia lineal, y no explorar el mapa
  66. slothvan95
    Nov 15, 2019
    5
    Pokémon Shield is your average run off the mill Pokemon adventure. The characters are charming, the new creature designs are wonderful, and the adventure itself is lackluster. It is not that these games are bad games, they’re just not great games, and they certainly do not live up to their own potential. Routes are nothing more than a straight line without diverging paths or things toPokémon Shield is your average run off the mill Pokemon adventure. The characters are charming, the new creature designs are wonderful, and the adventure itself is lackluster. It is not that these games are bad games, they’re just not great games, and they certainly do not live up to their own potential. Routes are nothing more than a straight line without diverging paths or things to discover. The wild area is empty, and bland. The towns lack any sort of side quests, or personality of their own. Sure, these games will always scratch that new Pokémon itch, but gosh darn if it wouldn’t be wonderful to see these games live up to what they could ultimately be.… Expand
  67. amandamagliaro
    Nov 15, 2019
    7
    Switch is a better console than 3DS, so I was expecting more. But anyway, I was still surprised with the game and the news in this new generation
  68. MattTom
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    The worst Pokemon ever. I cant have my favorites Pokemon, it is like playing Street Fighters without Ryu and Ken, but with a bunch of new characters. It just doesnt make any sense.
  69. GIN11341
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    D O N 'T B U Y IT !
    #Gamefreaklied
    There is too much Pokemon to catch them all.
    Please cut more dex and Pokemon.
    And the quality of this game is too high to run on my Nintendo Switch, so it keeps crashing again and again.
  70. MoldyMarshmello
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Too many problems, too many regressions from the previous entries in the franchise. Not worth 60$ or even a cent.

    -Poor animations and frame drops, animations will freeze up in the overworld when climbing a ladder -Over 150 cut moves -Only 400 Pokemon in the national dex -Incredibly short 8 hour main game with absolutely no postgame or replay value -Have to pay 20$ for Pokemon Home    Too many problems, too many regressions from the previous entries in the franchise. Not worth 60$ or even a cent.

    -Poor animations and frame drops, animations will freeze up in the overworld when climbing a ladder
    -Over 150 cut moves
    -Only 400 Pokemon in the national dex
    -Incredibly short 8 hour main game with absolutely no postgame or replay value
    -Have to pay 20$ for Pokemon Home and another 20 for the GTS

    Overall, do not buy this game if you want Pokemon to improve as a franchise    … Expand
  71. Jeremiahgottwal
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Have loved this series my entire life but just cannot bring myself to keep playing this one. Dex cut was bad enough but everything else is lackluster at best
  72. Onimaru
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    Yeah have some problems but be real, which game does not? Still a good game and new graphics 10/10 from me.
  73. Fer_O
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Finish-able within 15 hours, recycled and lackluster animations... though I normally wouldn't be against it, they justified cutting over 60% of national dex for supposedly "high quality, made from scratch animations". No GTS, crippled move selection, not one single of my favorites made it, except Eevee. Some of the new designs I found likable but that just doesn't make up for it... So sad,Finish-able within 15 hours, recycled and lackluster animations... though I normally wouldn't be against it, they justified cutting over 60% of national dex for supposedly "high quality, made from scratch animations". No GTS, crippled move selection, not one single of my favorites made it, except Eevee. Some of the new designs I found likable but that just doesn't make up for it... So sad, I really wanted to love this game as a loyal fan since 20 years ago... GF lost the way and totally drifted away from their true fans, maybe it's time for us to move away from pokémon... Why did they had to rush this game?… Expand
  74. ReyGar97
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    A lot of technical problems and awful animations, ir crashed on my switch and I lose my progress and the one from Luigis Mansion too
  75. GGSamurai
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Do not recommend to longtime fans. Repetitive gameplay on top of the fact that most people's favorite Pokemon most likely aren't in this
  76. Ziop98
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Low quality graphics, Game Freak lied about dexcut connected to new models and better animation, the story is probably the worst for a main line pokemon game, no post game, bad soundtrack, just 3 legendary, new pokemon desgins suck. Probably is worse than LGPE, which was in my opinion the worst pokemon game until this
  77. 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
  78. 300549248
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Disappointing, save your money please. Dexit for terrible animations, Gamefreak **** up on this one
  79. 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
  80. Duelz
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    I am disheartened and very disappointed. I can’t believe this is the path Gamefreak chose to go down.
    Pokémon Shield is an unfinished and unpolished pile of crap.
    Save your money don’t buy this game!
    Return the game while you still can!!
  81. Pepe4k
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    Es el mejor Pokemon en cuanto a contenido y entretenimiento, eso nadie puede negarlo. Mejor juego del año con diferencia.
  82. FoolPhilosopher
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Lets talk beyond the obvious dexit controversy. This pokemon game highlights that Gamefreak does not think that the gaming demographic that wants challenge, variety, and quality is worth pursuing. The graphics are bland, the game refuses to let you be alone to breathe/explore for a moment, the difficulty is nonexistent even for a pokemon game, which are already traditionally pretty easy.Lets talk beyond the obvious dexit controversy. This pokemon game highlights that Gamefreak does not think that the gaming demographic that wants challenge, variety, and quality is worth pursuing. The graphics are bland, the game refuses to let you be alone to breathe/explore for a moment, the difficulty is nonexistent even for a pokemon game, which are already traditionally pretty easy. Make no mistake, this is Gamefreak phoning it in. There are so many game devs out there pouring their heart into their projects, and they are much more worthy of your time than this hacked out half-hearted garbage.… Expand
  83. Khan2308
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    una real mierda pero claro los CONFORMISTAS y CASUALS diran lo contrario, 3 años segun ellos desarrollando estos titulos para que? para ver ese asqueroso popping? para ver las animaciones y modelados reciclados? para ver los fallos con los npc? todo mal. gamefreak a caido en la mediocridad.
    quiero un pokemon de calidad y no en estas condiciones, se merece todas las criticas negativas por    una real mierda pero claro los CONFORMISTAS y CASUALS diran lo contrario, 3 años segun ellos desarrollando estos titulos para que? para ver ese asqueroso popping? para ver las animaciones y modelados reciclados? para ver los fallos con los npc? todo mal. gamefreak a caido en la mediocridad.
    quiero un pokemon de calidad y no en estas condiciones, se merece todas las criticas negativas por lo mal echo que esta el juego.    … Expand
  84. Allacar
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Very disappointing game. Over half the pokemon were cut. Over 140 pokemon moves removed. Reused 3ds models and mediocre graphics. The first main line pokemon game for switch needed more development time and polish.
  85. ILovePokem0n
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    So, for starters, I have played the game. Second of all, I'm a huge fan of this beautiful franchise ever since I first got into the series.
    That said, I have huge issues with these games. I'll list them:
    > The map is small and devoid of any meaningful content. Even compared to prior games like USUM or even XY, the map is with only ten routes and not a single real dungeon quite    So, for starters, I have played the game. Second of all, I'm a huge fan of this beautiful franchise ever since I first got into the series.
    That said, I have huge issues with these games. I'll list them:
    > The map is small and devoid of any meaningful content. Even compared to prior games like USUM or even XY, the map is with only ten routes and not a single real dungeon quite underwhelming and the hyped Wild Area is indeed almost embarrassing. The lack of any dungeon or anything to explore in this region is just sad.
    >The Wild area. It is just... so empty. Not much to do, not much to see, and those few structures that are scattered around have no or only little available interactions with the player. This is also the part of the game that looks quite awful with weird textures that could have been directly imported from Colosseum or even Stadium and some weird shaders like on the water textures where Pokémon barely look natural.
    >The plot. I see that GF at least tried to present us a villain that actually has some comprehensible intentions and motives, but the execution was a clear downgrade compared to the last four generations. Instead of building the story up with dialogues or battles, the game follows a simple 'From-A-to-B' scheme and in the end, only shoehorned the villain in. It's just sad because I actually liked the villain, but he was clearly 'dumbed' down a little bit to make it clear that he is evil. The intrusive and distracting interactions with the champ, your rival and Sonia didn't help the plot to become better.
    > The post-game. It's not existing. Seriously. After the short main quest, you only get to catch the cover legendary and an inferior version of previous battle towers. You could also do some raid battles and some rematches, but that's it. There is no new post-game route or city to visit, there is no expansive battle facility to explore, and overall, just feels bland and uninspired and a clear step back from previous games.
    > The difficulty. Like so many things of these games what you could and should expect from a game released on a home console, it is missing, the forced XP share isn't helping. Even without any raid battles, such as I did, you're usually at least two or three levels above your next gym leader and the NPCs don't use any tactics. There was only one battle where I had to seriously think about what to do next (Raihan), but overall, it's toddlers-levels of difficulty, just insulting even to children or young teens. USUM, even though also criticized for its lacking difficulty, at least had some difficult battles against Necrozma, the totems, Lusamine and the champ. So it's nothing that you can't expect from Pokémon.
    > Last but not least, the unjustified Dexcut. The game was already lacking so many things, and they've doubled-down on it by cutting out more than half of the Pokémon and some one hundred moves. They've tried to explain it with the hard work of upgrading to the animations and the models and while the former I'll mention later, the latter wasn't true and thus a lie told by GF to justify an unjustifiable offense against the very core of Pokémon: collecting.
    But there was also some good stuff!
    >The competitive scene has become more accessible and refreshing with some much-needed QoL improvements like nature mints.
    >Some of the animations look beautiful, although most of them have to fight with the bad quality of most textures used in the game.
    > It's still a mainline Pokémon game, it's very core is still fun, at least at the beginning.

    Overall, sadly, one of the worst and most controversial entries of the series, after my honest experience. The good and bad sides of the games must be honestly discussed without any toxicity or harassment of either side, and I hope GF will for once listen to its consumer base. There are other, far better games out there for the Switch, and they should be used as a Christmas present for children or those who stayed a child inside. But not this one, the negatives far outweigh the positives, and with honest corporate reviews gone, I tried my best to showcase the good and the bad of the game.    … Expand
  86. Saxophilist
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    This game introduces over 80 new pokemon and new training mechanics that makes EV training much easier. It deserves points just for that.
  87. Atmoslink
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    A shadow of it’s former self, Game Freak continues to demonstrate that they have no idea what makes a game fun and run well too. Large features were removed from past generations and in return we see a price increase. Everything from the graphics to the gameplay points and Sword and Shield being a lazy port of a terrible 3DS game.
  88. HectorHbo
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Wea malaaaaaaaaaaaa game freak chupala hasta que la dejes brillosa, wea malaaaa
  89. Malvolo
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    Muy divertido esta la octava generación buenas mecánicas el cambio gráfico de 3ds a switch se nota. El juego esta muy fácil pero para eso esta el competitivo. Lo más malo que tiene pokemon es su comunidad tóxica siempre es lo misma negatividad cuando sale un nuevo juego de Pokémon. Mientras muchos se llenan de ardor la gran mayoría disfrutamos en nuestra nintendo switch otro gran juego deMuy divertido esta la octava generación buenas mecánicas el cambio gráfico de 3ds a switch se nota. El juego esta muy fácil pero para eso esta el competitivo. Lo más malo que tiene pokemon es su comunidad tóxica siempre es lo misma negatividad cuando sale un nuevo juego de Pokémon. Mientras muchos se llenan de ardor la gran mayoría disfrutamos en nuestra nintendo switch otro gran juego de Pokémon.… Expand
  90. g33b
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Pokemon sword and shield are woefully incomplete not only compared to their predecessors but also the developer’s very own claims about this generation’s capabilities.

    The game is not only a glitch filled mess but show a lack of compassion and care for a series that goes back more than two decades. The story itself lasts 20 hours at most when focusing on completing the game and the wild    Pokemon sword and shield are woefully incomplete not only compared to their predecessors but also the developer’s very own claims about this generation’s capabilities.

    The game is not only a glitch filled mess but show a lack of compassion and care for a series that goes back more than two decades. The story itself lasts 20 hours at most when focusing on completing the game and the wild area gets stale faster than you would expect. To give this claim context, I can spend anywhere between 40-70 hours completing any of the generation 3-5 games. Oh and post game? Post game consists of being a glorified errand boy for 3 hours.

    To buy this installment is not only to say you are ok with Gamefreak's shortcomings, but it is to promote Gamefreak cutting corners in the future. To conclude, please don't buy this game as is, it is no where near worth the $60 price tag.    … Expand
  91. Vartemis
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    To see the franchise sink to lying to players and cutting out half the content is beyond disappointing. The quality drop is apparent and I will not be purchasing future titles.
  92. Metacritic90
    Nov 15, 2019
    5
    While the gameplay was enjoyable and has a fresh concept in an open world, there were way too many flaws in the game to give it a good score,first of all, the game was way too easy and fast compared to other game, completed it within the first 24 hour of the game, but not only that the full party exp share makes it so easy to get pass anything without much grinding which let's you clearWhile the gameplay was enjoyable and has a fresh concept in an open world, there were way too many flaws in the game to give it a good score,first of all, the game was way too easy and fast compared to other game, completed it within the first 24 hour of the game, but not only that the full party exp share makes it so easy to get pass anything without much grinding which let's you clear the game even faster than Mostyn oteer game not to mention u can switch out pc pokemon at anytime anyplace, the part where you can't catch overleved pokemon is also annoying, if you can't cathc it why even bother making them. Available in the open world in the first place?? The story is very mediocre just like most games didn't expected much from it, and the animation is just bad in a lot of ways, the fog, the background, how when you climb ladders the game freeze feels way too lazy from gamefreak.I like the dynamax system it was fun and refreshing but why make it an only gym battle thing and you can't use it in the wild, that's kinda pointless after a while when u beat the game and can't use it outside. But my biggest problem is the dexit, sure I understand cutting out some of the pokemon so that we can try out new ones but why on earth cut off all the starter lines and legendary which are the icon pokemon for the past games in 2 decades??? I can't Even trade off my starters that I breed for so long to get shiny perfect Iv into the new games whats the point? This game feels way t o rushed just so they can make a new generation and get the TV series ongoing and the merch to sell better too, I hope the next game gets a better improvement and maybe even include more than 600 pokemon's and let the fans be happy with it, anyways since I'm finished with this game Im probably going to resell it, my hopes weren't high on this game yet after playing it I was still kinda disappointed with it. It was enjoyable at best but I Would rather play the old games that has more challenge to it… Expand
  93. Shinob1
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Absolutely dissapointed, the game it's horrible, a lot of bugs, no national dex, less pokemons, horrible gameplay, horrible graphics. It's not worth pay 60 bucks for this, please, don't waste your money.
  94. Capcom_X
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    no hay nada que destacar es un juego muy inferior a sus entregas anteriores es malisismo y con ese pooping es todavia mas malo el juego parece un juego de ps2
  95. gamergirl69420
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    This game is awesome! I've been playing Pokemon from a young age, and I must say this will make a fine addition to my collection, and this game makes hard every time I play it. (hard working)
  96. waladislau
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Bring back nacional das, de want a full game experience, with ALL pokemons!
  97. Pedrosky
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    una real porqueria en verdad no se esforzaron nada es un juego de 3ds en hd las animaciones mal echas recortes en items, tm-hm, pokemon etc etc y como si fuera poco un pooping horroroso
  98. Xd36
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I can't find something good in it, so this la the rating it deserves, you better go play Digimon instead of this ****… Expand
  99. PokeFan1988
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    >Characters are generic
    >Story is really bad, even worse than XY
    >Cutscenes and handholding everywhere >Open world is bland and soulless >Graphics and animations are still garbage despite that being used as an excuse for dexit >Overworld Pokemon literally phase into existence when you walk near them >Pokemon scaling is horrible, Wailord still looks tiny >Moves like Return and Pursuit have    >Characters are generic
    >Story is really bad, even worse than XY
    >Cutscenes and handholding everywhere
    >Open world is bland and soulless

    >Graphics and animations are still garbage despite that being used as an excuse for dexit
    >Overworld Pokemon literally phase into existence when you walk near them
    >Pokemon scaling is horrible, Wailord still looks tiny
    >Moves like Return and Pursuit have been deleted for no reason, even signature moves of Pokemon that are in the game like Heal Order Vespiquen.
    >Assets have been proven as reused despite Game Freak saying they had to remake everything
    >Megas and Z-Moves have been deleted
    >Permanent EXP share
    >Charizard shilling


    Utter garbage, and I'm a huge Pokemon fan    … Expand
  100. CriticalCanadi
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Removed all the features. Removed most of the pokemon. **** graphics.

    Absolutely unplayable.
Page:

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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