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. JackReviews
    Dec 20, 2020
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I bought both Sword and Shield and was very underwhelmed. The game could be very ugly at some points, there was 0 game after catching the legendarys, and half time game was DLC. The game was also VERY easy I only lost twice once to Leon once to the dragon gym leader. Yes you can do a nuzlock and it’s very fun but that’s self imploded rules not the game. I don’t think it was worth the 60$ price tag and I wish I hadn’t bought both. If you want to play it be my guest but if I were to recommend a Pokémon game it wouldn’t be this one.… Expand
  2. Traumvita
    Sep 6, 2023
    4
    Baby hand holding simulator. Looks like an up res 3DS game. Limiting options. Can’t explore without someone telling me where to go. Worse Pokémon game to date. A shame because the setting was interesting
  3. snocown
    Jun 1, 2021
    4
    A heartbreaking experience. Not even counting the Pokémon cut from the dex. Such a hand holdy experience. Too linear.
  4. EasyGamerBoi
    Jun 10, 2021
    4
    I’ve never experienced a game that brought out such vivid anger & disappointment from me until this one. Pokémon has been on a steady decline for years in terms of quality but this was undeniably the breaking point. I know it’s all been said before but Dexit should have NEVER happened. Cutting major content while increasing the price of your product is always an L & I don’t care how manyI’ve never experienced a game that brought out such vivid anger & disappointment from me until this one. Pokémon has been on a steady decline for years in terms of quality but this was undeniably the breaking point. I know it’s all been said before but Dexit should have NEVER happened. Cutting major content while increasing the price of your product is always an L & I don’t care how many Nintendo apologists throw themselves into the fire over this pile of crap. This game should have been delayed for another year at most to get it right & it’s incredibly frustrating because there’s glimmers of hope in this trainwreck. The gym battles are actually an event this time & got me hype everytime, the visuals don’t always look terrible in spots, the new Pokémon roster took some getting used to but there are many gems among them like Appletun & Toxtricity, & I did enjoy the max raid system a lot more than I thought I was going to. At this point in the game’s lifespan I’m completely burned out on just about everything though. Despite my criticism, I played this game for 400 HOURS. That’s mostly from shiny hunting in max raids & being the only new Pokémon game out in a while. The DLC is overpriced tbh but the Crown Tundra alone was infinitely better than anything else this game had going for it. My biggest problem with this game’s existence is the pitiful excuses the developers gave for its shortcomings. Focusing on “higher quality animations” as a reason for cutting over half the Pokémon in the dex is a load of bull, especially since we got very few of those animations in the final product. Then adding some of them back later saying “it was always planned this way” is damage control 101 & y’all know it. Pokémon is a stagnant bubble waiting to burst & the sooner they get GameFreak’s crap together, give them a workable budget & timeframe, then they can maybe avoid a potential Pokècrash. Because this is unacceptable. I can’t believe this is the same studio that gave us classics like Platinum, HGSS & Black n White. While the game can be fun at times & has things going for it, it pales in comparison to the rest of the series (I’d still rather play this than any Gen 1 game though). Pokémon, GET YOUR SH*T TOGETHER.… Expand
  5. Jullai
    Jul 10, 2021
    4
    I tried to enjoy it, but I ultimately found it to be too easy and linear. Parts of the game seem lazily slapped together, and the story is lackluster. It's OK because it's still a pokemon game where you can fight and collect, but it needs some love put into it.
  6. Foxylary
    Apr 3, 2023
    4
    A lot of good ideas poorly executed. The idea of ​​the dynamax is not so bad, the new creatures are cool, fighting in stadium is great, gym leaders are charismatic, character customisation is pretty good and the country has a good atmosphere. But it's extremely ugly and empty. The npc's are all the same (there are often clones next to each other), there are no voices, no cutscenes, theA lot of good ideas poorly executed. The idea of ​​the dynamax is not so bad, the new creatures are cool, fighting in stadium is great, gym leaders are charismatic, character customisation is pretty good and the country has a good atmosphere. But it's extremely ugly and empty. The npc's are all the same (there are often clones next to each other), there are no voices, no cutscenes, the game is designed as a 2D game. The "main story" unfolds by itself without us havin any role to play. There is no epic moment, no plot twist, no real story after all. The game is much too easy, so much so that I tried to add more difficulty by myself. When I remember Pokemon Blue or Silver, even Black... Did they try to makes peoples dumb and lazy by avoid the frustration of difficulty ? And what about difficulty options ?! There is no options to organize Pokemon Boxes. It's that hard to make ?! The list is long and it really is a beautiful mess. Because of laziness, lack of time or developers ? I don't care. Releasing a product like this is insulting. When I see that they added content that should be in the base game for 25€, I find it disgusting. There are no excuses, Game Freak don't put any effort on it, it's just easy money. I bought it second-hand years after its release because it's the only game on Switch that has all my favorite creatures and despite everything, it's not so bad next to Pokemon Scarlett Violet, that's to say the level of this last game. Looks like they want to see what the players were willing to accept.… Expand
  7. SnorlaxGeek
    Jan 29, 2022
    4
    Jogo feio, e pouco original. É um absurdo o que a Gamefreak está fazendo com a franquia Pokémon.
  8. Lil_Caucasian
    Jan 29, 2022
    4
    Very disappointingly dated for a Pokemon game. It feels like something that I would play on the 3DS, and even then that system had much better games. Sad to see such a great franchise stagnate like this.
  9. dragonblade
    Feb 1, 2022
    4
    A bunch of half baked ideas put into one package. I will put as much effort in this review as gamefreak has put into this game.
  10. Xaboss
    Jul 19, 2022
    4
    A simply bad game, bad graphics, dynamax sucks, bad pokedex, horrible plot...
  11. 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
  12. SoManyGoblins
    Jul 23, 2020
    3
    Looks and plays worse than any other AAA switch game, the popping is terrible. Somehow animations don't look any better than Pokemon Stadium. Everything annoying from the old games UIs is still here, it's like a game from over 10 years ago. Plot has always been silly in past games, but this is pathetic and senseless. Music is somehow the best and the worst in the series.
  13. streame
    Jun 21, 2020
    3
    This game was the biggest disappointment for me. They announced many new features, but it's literally the same game we have been playing for 20 years. The wild zone is useless and I have a feeling they just added it to make it 'different' from other parts. Even the story is THE SAME!!! The only pasrt of the game I enjoyed was these 2 hrs after beating the last gym, with these 2 stupidThis game was the biggest disappointment for me. They announced many new features, but it's literally the same game we have been playing for 20 years. The wild zone is useless and I have a feeling they just added it to make it 'different' from other parts. Even the story is THE SAME!!! The only pasrt of the game I enjoyed was these 2 hrs after beating the last gym, with these 2 stupid "royals". aside from that - I was charged 60 bucks for the same old game. Disappointed.… Expand
  14. Coaltergeist
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    While there are many issues with Pokemon sword and shield, I don't think they warrant giving the game a 1 out of 10. The missing pokemon, the cut moves, the lack of postgame content, the general laziness, and the developer's arrogant attitude are all working together to make sure this game fails, which is disappointing. I am a huge fan of previous pokemon games, and I don't want to see theWhile there are many issues with Pokemon sword and shield, I don't think they warrant giving the game a 1 out of 10. The missing pokemon, the cut moves, the lack of postgame content, the general laziness, and the developer's arrogant attitude are all working together to make sure this game fails, which is disappointing. I am a huge fan of previous pokemon games, and I don't want to see the series fail. I cannot overlook the sloppiness present in this game, however. In the end, it isn't the worst game ever made, but it doesn't come close to being good.… Expand
  15. LuisFRBplus
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    No tengo ningun incentivo para seguir jugándolo, atrápalos todos? Hace mucho que quedo atras!!
  16. ioxon
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    All in all, this game seems like a rushed release. Easy money trying to cater to fans (mostly new I think) and maybe some old ... but not me. Already looking forward to the next iteration where they give it the attention it deserves and actually make it Switch worthy.

    Sure, it has the charm of any Pokemon game you'd expect but today, we are expecting better graphics than this crap. I'm    All in all, this game seems like a rushed release. Easy money trying to cater to fans (mostly new I think) and maybe some old ... but not me. Already looking forward to the next iteration where they give it the attention it deserves and actually make it Switch worthy.

    Sure, it has the charm of any Pokemon game you'd expect but today, we are expecting better graphics than this crap. I'm sorry. Also, I've heard the new pokemon that replaced the slew of pokemon that were removed - they are re-hashed with same specs or something but new name/look. That's a horrible thing to do to your fans.

    Anyway, I give it a 3 because it's not broken really as a game - it works and plays well and does what you'd expect as far as a pokemon game is concerned, plus some new things that are cool - sure - but do much better next time Game Freak. If you want to sell a $60 game for a system like the Switch, you can't make it a 3DS game and just drop it on the Switch without putting effort into higher textures (better/new engine if you need to).

    If you're going to not put effort into a better graphic presentation and actually give more attention to the new Pokemon (especially if you're removing old classic and oft loved pokemon), don't go open world like this. If you're going open world for future games, make it aesthetically pleasing to system expectations.    … Expand
  17. Dragonfire14
    Nov 24, 2019
    3
    Right off the bat I will say that strictly judging Pokemon Shield as a video game it is a much higher score, I would score it about a 6.5/10. Pokemon as a concept for a video game works very well, and any studio would be hard pressed to make a game in the series that is both a let down and not fun. The problem is when you judge it compared to the other games in it's series. Pokemon ShieldRight off the bat I will say that strictly judging Pokemon Shield as a video game it is a much higher score, I would score it about a 6.5/10. Pokemon as a concept for a video game works very well, and any studio would be hard pressed to make a game in the series that is both a let down and not fun. The problem is when you judge it compared to the other games in it's series. Pokemon Shield is a terrible Pokemon game.

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

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

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

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

    What is unfortunate is that this game could of been amazing. GF could of put a lot more effort and passion into it and it would have been an entirely different experience. There are some quality of life improvements in the game, and the music is amazing! The feel of the gyms also is something I didn't expect to love. They really hype you up for those battles, and I loved it. If GF didn't cut any corners Pokemon Shield would of been the best in the series I have no doubts, but with all the negatives and flaws it has it comes out as one of the worst.    … Expand
  18. Fumetic
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    As these are largely the same games, I have pasted my Sword review here. I will say however that I do prefer the exclusives in Sword however, which was why I picked it for my playthrough.

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

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

    Overall, the game just isn't terribly good. It's not worthy of a 1 or 2 for sure, as there are some good points, but for now, it will have to stay at 3. The length isn't much of an issue as some may say it is, because it's not too much shorter than average, but the Wild Area feels disappointingly flat and bland, and there's not enough content to make up for the removed content or even ignoring that, it's just not something I'd recommend getting for full price, especially as someone who's not supremely rich and has to pick and choose carefully when buying expensive Switch games like this. There's not enough bang for your buck with these games. Do yourself a favor and shop around for another game before choosing this one, and if you HAVE to get this because it's Pokemon, I'd at least say postpone the purchase until they iron out that save bug or it becomes available for a little cheaper.
    Cheers, and happy hunting (for a different game that is).    … Expand
  19. Sydius4
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    Pokemon Sword and Shield is a good handheld game. But it dont look like a Switch game with the best graphic. The story of the game is averageand the animation mostly the same. And still they have cut more than half of the pokemon, because of balancing...
    The truth is they didnt worked with eno
    ugh people to do the project and cut the pokedex. Pokemon become easier since Sun and Moon. They    Pokemon Sword and Shield is a good handheld game. But it dont look like a Switch game with the best graphic. The story of the game is averageand the animation mostly the same. And still they have cut more than half of the pokemon, because of balancing...
    The truth is they didnt worked with eno
    ugh people to do the project and cut the pokedex. Pokemon become easier since Sun and Moon. They want to cash in for the new Pokemon Go Players and dont care anymore for the hardcore loyal fanbase anymore. They can easily can eat all pokemon but they think they didn't have to.    … Expand
  20. Lyudegul
    Dec 23, 2019
    3
    Historia lineal, con poca repercusión y que te sueltan a cuentagotas. postgame casi inexistente. El team yell es lo mas prescindible del mundo.
    0 exploración, ya no necesitamos usar movimientos de campo como destello o fuerza para explorar algún sitio. Falta un legendario al que sea complicado llegar, como los tres pájaros en rojo y azul, lugia en oro y plata o Rayquaza en R/Z/E.
    No hay    Historia lineal, con poca repercusión y que te sueltan a cuentagotas. postgame casi inexistente. El team yell es lo mas prescindible del mundo.
    0 exploración, ya no necesitamos usar movimientos de campo como destello o fuerza para explorar algún sitio. Falta un legendario al que sea complicado llegar, como los tres pájaros en rojo y azul, lugia en oro y plata o Rayquaza en R/Z/E.
    No hay calle victoria, ni ninguna otra cueva a parte de la de las primeras rutas.

    El area silvestre está desaprovechada, podrian aprovechar los distintos climas para evolucionar pokémon pero no, Glaceon, Charjabug o Leafeon evolucionan por piedras...

    En resumen, es un tutorial de 20 horas para empezar luego a criar e irte al competitivo.
    El competitivo ha matado a los buenos juegos de pokémon.    … Expand
  21. DoctorZack
    Nov 22, 2019
    3
    Absolute disaster.

    It maintains a basic level of competency with a new idea or two, but that's literally the only thing going for it. Everything else isn't just "bad" its genuinely a painful experience.
  22. PokeMaster22222
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. There's so many problems with it:

    1) Pokemon models reused from XY; only change is lack of compression (which was previously needed for 3DS), and shading. 2) Pokemon animations are incredibly static, lifeless and basic - Tomb Raider on the original PlayStation had better animations. 3) Move animations are still incredibly basic and lifeless too; Tail Whip, for    DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. There's so many problems with it:

    1) Pokemon models reused from XY; only change is lack of compression (which was previously needed for 3DS), and shading.
    2) Pokemon animations are incredibly static, lifeless and basic - Tomb Raider on the original PlayStation had better animations.
    3) Move animations are still incredibly basic and lifeless too; Tail Whip, for example, just flips the user around and shakes them about - no actual tail movements. Double Kick is still just basic hops instead of actual kicks, a la Battle Revolution.
    4) NPC movement is incredibly stiff, static, and robotic.
    5) Insane amounts of pop-in.
    6) Overworld uses very low-quality assets for trees and the like.
    7) Pokemon in the Wild Area aren't tied to any thematic area, just wander about, and generally look very artificial and lifeless.
    8) Over 470 (~60%) of 809 older Pokemon completely removed.
    9) A slew of moves removed.
    10) Mega Evolution removed.
    11) Dynamax isn't exciting or a worthwhile innovation, since it's a temporary scaling-up of regular models only able to be used to specific areas.
    12) Pokemon model size scaling is way off; Pokemon are way too tiny compared to what they should be. For example, Tyranitar and Wailord should be huge; instead, they appear smaller than the Trainers.
    13) Box Legendary battle has no music.
    14) Game is incredibly linear, I've heard.
    15) There's an insane amount of free heals and auto-heals present, EVEN DURING THE ELITE FOUR CHALLENGE. You know, the challenge where you traditionally had to go through five battles in a row, relying on whatever healing items and general strategies you had?
    16) Permanent Exp. All effect ruins any kind of challenge, and there's no way to turn it off, unlike the 3DS games.

    Game Freak LIED when they said they made brand-new models; they never officially told us how many Pokémon were missing, or how many moves were missing. This game feels incredibly rushed and incomplete, yet Game Freak has no plans on patching the missing content in.

    If you're looking for a good RPG on the Switch, try Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Fire Emblem: Three Houses or Octopath Traveller. If you're looking for a good Pokémon game, get a New 3DS XL and buy Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire and Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon - hell, buy Platinum, HeartGold or SoulSilver, Black or White, and Black 2 or White 2, since these DS games are still by far the best Pokémon games I've played.

    DO NOT SUPPORT SUCH LACK OF EFFORT. DO NOY BUY POKÉMON SWORD OR POKÉMON SHIELD.    … Expand
  23. GongHawkeye
    Nov 19, 2019
    3
    I'm one of those who bought the game even knowing all the issues that were surrounding the game. The thing is that I cannot recomend this unless you're a hardcore Pokémon fan.

    The game itself it's enjoyable, but you cannot just get over all those little and big details: Poor graphics, lack of post game, Dexit....you can find way more things on the internet but basically this is the main    I'm one of those who bought the game even knowing all the issues that were surrounding the game. The thing is that I cannot recomend this unless you're a hardcore Pokémon fan.

    The game itself it's enjoyable, but you cannot just get over all those little and big details: Poor graphics, lack of post game, Dexit....you can find way more things on the internet but basically this is the main problem: Pokémon sword and shield are not bad games, they just cannot be accepted as a good standard for the franchise. This is not an step forward but another step back on the record of the main game saga.    … Expand
  24. Xxdaniels751xX
    Feb 11, 2020
    3
    Perhaps in another circumstance I could have supported a downloadable content like the one proposed by Game Freak, but never given the current circumstances. Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield has turned out to be a launch that, despite successful sales, raised a lot of controversy. I don't think there was a worse time than this to announce an expansion pass with these characteristics. ThePerhaps in another circumstance I could have supported a downloadable content like the one proposed by Game Freak, but never given the current circumstances. Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield has turned out to be a launch that, despite successful sales, raised a lot of controversy. I don't think there was a worse time than this to announce an expansion pass with these characteristics. The Pokémon brand has deteriorated during the past 2019 due not only to a video game that does not include all the Pokémon, but to an improved communication by The Pokémon Company.… Expand
  25. Meemai
    Nov 21, 2019
    3
    I wanted to be excited for this. I wanted to love it, as Pokémon has always been a game franchise near and dear to me.

    But this is just all around lazy. It is certainly not the bold new step forward that establishes Pokémon´s "strong new position" on home consoles that we all hoped for. It is not even half a step in that direction. Rather, it feels like half a step backwards, even from    I wanted to be excited for this. I wanted to love it, as Pokémon has always been a game franchise near and dear to me.

    But this is just all around lazy. It is certainly not the bold new step forward that establishes Pokémon´s "strong new position" on home consoles that we all hoped for. It is not even half a step in that direction. Rather, it feels like half a step backwards, even from the 3DS titles which I already was not too fond of.
    SwSh somehow feels even more linear, simplified and handholdy than recent 3DS entries; Outside of the Wild Area, everything must be done in an exact step-by-step order. The towns that you visit are also pathetically simple in design, essentially boiling down to a couple of straight lines with very little to offer in terms of exploration. Complex dungeons, buildings and mazes are, of course, nowhere to be found either, so the Escape Rope (now a key item) is completely redundant.
    And you needn´t worry about any sudden tough battles either, as any remotely threatening opponent will make sure to ask you if you´re ready and let you prepare (not that you would need to). I´m sure Gary Oak is twitching in his grave.

    All of this, not to even mention the most glaring issues like Dexit or how the games look, sound and feel like straight up 3DS games lazily ported to the Switch. It feels like no efforts were made, right from the start, to develop these as actual high-budget 2019-worthy console releases. It feels like they were intended for a 3DS release (and even then, they would be inferior to games like SM) and just jumped ship to Switch as an afterthought.

    What I would like to see from the franchise in the future, considering the disaster that has been the 3DS era (of which I also count SwSh to be a part of), would be:

    Cut all ties with GameFreak as developers with regards to Pokémon, and let someone else handle the next project. My suggestion would be a team consisting of some key talent from the Octopath Traveler team, and a handful of cherry-picked Pokémon lovers (someone who can be for Pokémon what Christian Whitehead was for Sonic the Hedgehog).
    Ditch the entire notion of Pokémon in 3D, and aim instead to make the ultimate 2D experience, with "HD 2D" like Octopath had, and gorgeous sprite art. Pretend that the last 10 years of Pokémon never happened, and just make this next project a complete reboot. Really appeal to fans of the early games, and have mysterious legendary creatures hiding away in complex mazes on remote islands and all that. Do the "Pocket Monster: Origin" thing, where you can challenge gyms in any order, and the gym leaders pick their teams based on how many badges you already have.

    Please, #MPGA (Make Pokémon Great Again)    … Expand
  26. paulshoreline
    Jan 9, 2020
    3
    Pokemon might be the most regressive game series in existence, and I might be done with the franchise after SwSh. Gone are the winding caves or intricate forests. Gone are the hidden areas or secret events. Gone are the puzzles, the ominous enemy bases, and any semblance of a challenge. Sword and Shield are a joke; empty, boring, and utterly devoid of any challenge. Always on EXP sharePokemon might be the most regressive game series in existence, and I might be done with the franchise after SwSh. Gone are the winding caves or intricate forests. Gone are the hidden areas or secret events. Gone are the puzzles, the ominous enemy bases, and any semblance of a challenge. Sword and Shield are a joke; empty, boring, and utterly devoid of any challenge. Always on EXP share turns the difficulty to zero and destroys what little replay value there might be. The story is borderline nonexistant - even by Pokemon's shoddy standards for storytelling. The Wild Area is little more than a grind with no real exploriation - just mindlessly raids over and over. There is no endgame - just a simple battle tower that always ends with Leon. Somehow these games feel even more hollow than Let's Go, and have significantly less content than all of the previous mainline entries. The much-hyped graphics do not look improved over Sun and Moon, and the Pokemon models are very obviously identical. Throw in Dexit, and it is really a wonder that Game Freak pushed these games in this abysmal state.… Expand
  27. rob_innes23
    Mar 14, 2020
    3
    I’ve been a Pokémon fan for a very very long time, more or less my whole life.

    I can’t say I’ve fully enjoyed an instalment in the franchise since Black and White 2... 8 years ago. Even still, I put up with X and Y’s vapid storytelling and Sun and Moon’s mediocrity because the core elements of the game were still fun to me. Sword and Shield truly excited me conceptually as it was the    I’ve been a Pokémon fan for a very very long time, more or less my whole life.

    I can’t say I’ve fully enjoyed an instalment in the franchise since Black and White 2... 8 years ago. Even still, I put up with X and Y’s vapid storytelling and Sun and Moon’s mediocrity because the core elements of the game were still fun to me.

    Sword and Shield truly excited me conceptually as it was the first time GameFreak would be delving into a proper home console with a substantial increase in horsepower over the handhelds.

    My imagination and hopes ran wild at the possibilities of a new Pokémon game on the Nintendo Switch. But as footage of the game was leaked and the developers started discussing and showcasing it, my honest hopeful excitement turned to confused ambivalence.

    The wild area looked cool sure, but the graphics looked exactly like they did in Sun and Moon, with a HD facelift. The animations looked dreadful and considering that creating “higher quality animations” was their excuse for axing more than HALF of the Pokédex from the game, doubt and dismay began to replace my anticipation for these games.

    They came out. I played Shield. I finished it and felt totally and utterly cheated. The narrative is non-existent, the characters are rehashed from previous entries and are more two dimensional than the games from 1996. The battle formula of course is more or less set in stone and can’t really be changed but there is such an utter lack of innovation, they play and look exactly like they have for the last 7 years, just with slightly more polished graphics. The wild area is a buggy, unfinished mess that still harbours the games most fun elements. The idea is fantastic conceptually but the execution is so haphazard and rushed, that it fails to achieve anything it sets out to do on an immersive level. The enemy team are completely un-intimidating, uninteresting and uninspired. A bootleg Team Skull. The twist villain is the most predictable part of this thin storyline and literally just allows himself to be apprehended upon defeat. The game is just unbearably simplistic in every conceivable way. Dynamaxing is such a lame gimmick, the novelty wears off after the fourth time seeing it. Mega Evolution was so much more interesting and had way more potential, hell even Z moves are cooler and more unique than this. It’s just scaled models with the occasional unique change, but these unique “gigantamax” models are very few and far between, not to mention a pain in the ass to get for yourself.

    Not to mention that the game is just feebly easy, with every opponent in your way getting utterly flattened with little to no effort for extra training. The constant and fixed use of the exp share mechanic makes training Pokémon feel so much less fulfilling. You could catch one and literally never use it, but if you keep it in your party it will just raise itself via piggybacking off of the exp that it’s teammates gather. I practically sleepwalked through this bore fest, as my input made little difference to the inevitable outcome of victory.

    This game feels like it was phoned in. Nothing more than a shoddy port from 3DS era technology that’s been rushed out and shipped for full price in time for the Christmas shopping.

    And after all that disappointment and GameFreak's broken promises, they now have the blatant audacity to try and make us give them even more money for an expansion pass full of content that should’ve been in the initial game at release. Especially considering I spent £50 for a game that took me 15 HOURS to complete blind, from start to finish including the pathetic amount of endgame content. The handheld games that cost nearly half the price took me at least double the time to complete on my first play through because I took my time and actually cared about the actions I took while playing. I didn’t to care in these games because they pretty much played themselves.

    This expansion pass is the final straw for me and this franchise I think. I can’t take this constant disappointment anymore. Something needs to change dramatically and fast for me to continue caring about this creatively bankrupt, once great franchise.

    Thanks GameFreak, for ruining something I used to hold dear for the sake of monetary gain.    … Expand
  28. Hyo
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    I love this series, I first played Pokémon Blue and Pokémon Yellow both, borrowed from a friend, but for me, it all started with Crystal since it was the first I actually owned. As the series keep evolving it kept adding new wonderful ideas... From the secodn generation we already got a lot of new wonderful things: they added a Female Character, Two Regions, the Pokégear, they dividedI love this series, I first played Pokémon Blue and Pokémon Yellow both, borrowed from a friend, but for me, it all started with Crystal since it was the first I actually owned. As the series keep evolving it kept adding new wonderful ideas... From the secodn generation we already got a lot of new wonderful things: they added a Female Character, Two Regions, the Pokégear, they divided Special into Special Attack and Special Defense. We got Apricorns and Special Pokéballs, Move Tutor, the Battle Tower, Breeding and Shiny Pokémon. We then lost Apriconrs the Pokégear and the Battle Tower, but got Abilities, Secret Bases, Weather, Natures, Double Battles, Pokémon Contests and the -Battle Frontier. We then lost Weather and Battle Frontier. But got Global Trade System, Pokémon Super Contest, The Underground. We lost the last one and got C-Gear, Pokémon Dream World, Entralink, Pokémon Musical, Seasons, Sprite animations, Triple Battles, Rotation Battles, Battle Subway.

    We finally jumped to 3D and lost a lot of stuff for Custom Clothing and Characters, Mega Evolutions, -Horde Encounters, Super Training, Sky Batlles and Pokémon-Amie. then we got -Alola Forms, Battle Royal, Z-Moves, Island challenges, Poké Rides, Hyper Training, Festival Plaza and Poké Pelago.

    We then jumped form handheld to a main console, and lost: Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves and 400 Pokémon for a big empty Wild Area, Dynamax and Gigantamax, Max Raid Battles. Y-Comm and -Pokémon Camp, Permanend Exp share...

    This was the first main Pokémon game on a not only handheld device. We were expecting the best game in the series, but instead we got half baked game, rushed to meet merchandise and anime deadlines. I don't care about the Pokédex, but, losing all those features, Mega Evolution, the justification that they had to do it, to make better animations... It was too much, I feel betrayed, they told us Let's Go was to appeal the Pokémon Go player-base, and that they'd have something for fans of the main series later. Well, this game certainly doesn't feel made for fans, who is it for? OLM, Inc.? Pokémon Center? **** this game, **** Gamefreak, **** the Pokémon Company and **** Nintendo.    … Expand
  29. Pariah_0
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    As JUST a Pokémon game, the rating would be higher, maybe a 5 or 6. But as a video game compared to others of a similar genre this is a hard 3. On top of the drastic content cuts made from previous (already declining) mainline Pokémon games, this game in particular has severe graphical, hardware, and gameplay issues that are just irredeemable for a triple A franchise. The new mechanic isAs JUST a Pokémon game, the rating would be higher, maybe a 5 or 6. But as a video game compared to others of a similar genre this is a hard 3. On top of the drastic content cuts made from previous (already declining) mainline Pokémon games, this game in particular has severe graphical, hardware, and gameplay issues that are just irredeemable for a triple A franchise. The new mechanic is not creative at all and dumbs down the combat instead of following the tradition of adding an extra element. The new designs are lazy and uninspired. I was sincerely expecting more from this franchise. Can not recommend.… Expand
  30. cepanutis
    Dec 15, 2019
    3
    [REVIEW IN SPANISH]

    Lo primero que quiero dejar claro es que no soy ni un hater de pokémon ni de nintendo, solo un jugador que cuando un juego es bueno lo dice y cuando es malo, también. Y aquí comento las sensaciones que me ha dado este juego tras haberlo finalizado, ni más ni menos. AL TEMA: > Dificultad nula debido al absurdo nuevo sistema de Rep. Exp de esta generación. >    [REVIEW IN SPANISH]

    Lo primero que quiero dejar claro es que no soy ni un hater de pokémon ni de nintendo, solo un jugador que cuando un juego es bueno lo dice y cuando es malo, también. Y aquí comento las sensaciones que me ha dado este juego tras haberlo finalizado, ni más ni menos.

    AL TEMA:

    > Dificultad nula debido al absurdo nuevo sistema de Rep. Exp de esta generación.
    > Rutas vacías y sin alma. Lineales, cero exploración.
    > Animaciones del paleolítico, quitando 4 o 5. Ya no solo en combate si no en general.
    > Entre alguna medalla y la siguiente hay literalmente 10-15 minutos de juego, sin palabras.
    > Los pokemon nuevos en su mayoría muy flojos a nivel artístico.
    > El rendimiento del area silvestre en el modo online mejor ni mencionarlo.
    > El team Yell es el peor de la saga y sus motivaciones son un chiste de mal gusto al jugador.
    > Personajes olvidables 100%. Paul es irritante.
    > La historia ni te engancha ni despierta el más mínimo interés, y encima pasa casi todo en la última hora y media.

    Cosas buenas que mencionar:
    > Algún que otro diseño que está muy bien.
    > Cambios de calidad de vida como lo de los motes o recordar movimientos en cada centro.
    > Los desafios de gimansio (me parecen el camino a seguir aunque aquí no se han hecho demasiado bien, pero hay margen de mejora).

    En definitiva, por lo que nos dan, me parece que es un juego de 20€ y me arrepiento de haber pagado por él más del doble de eso, siendo sincero. No justifica su precio, es un producto inacabado en el cual se nota que han faltado tiempo y recursos. Algo inconcebible viniendo de una compañía de este tamaño.

    Que no olviden nunca que si son algo es gracias a los títulos consoleros de la franquicia, no gracias a los jueguecillos de móvil con microtransaciones. Que parece que es lo único que les importa ahora. NO todo es dinero a veces señores.    … Expand
  31. FluffySpartan
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    its a cash grab with low effort in it. everyone expected a great and big game wich the pokemon series deserve after so many years and the most powerful console nintendo ever made.

    pokemon is the biggest franchise on this planet and they give nothing back to the fans ! how about giving the license to another studio wich cares about the players?

    gotta catch them...... few
  32. Grave2363
    Jan 19, 2020
    3
    The game just feels incomplete, the pop in of npc's can be at times jarring, the wild area feels lazy and empty, not to mention has the worst performance when online, the main feature. alpha sapphire, and ultra moon felt more complete. platinum, black & white, and black 2 & white 2, were just better games. The online just feels tacked on. The game is laughably easy compared to previous games.
  33. Treacle
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Rule number one of being a game developer should be that you never LIE to fans, but GameFreak doesn't believe in that rule.

    Unfortunately due to the laziest of the developers this games does not hold a candle to the previous versions of the game. Over half of the pokemon have been removed, the given reason being that there was not enough time to remodel every single character. Despite    Rule number one of being a game developer should be that you never LIE to fans, but GameFreak doesn't believe in that rule.

    Unfortunately due to the laziest of the developers this games does not hold a candle to the previous versions of the game. Over half of the pokemon have been removed, the given reason being that there was not enough time to remodel every single character. Despite this, the same models used in XY and all other recent games are used here, although retextured. Due to this massive culling of designs, you will no longer be able to transfer your teams from previous games to this one, unless you somehow predicted which designs would be 'approved' for continued use. They have given the possibility of holding your characters for you in the subscription service 'Pokemon Home', but with no guarantee of them showing up again in a game again. Even if they do it could be 10+ years down the line.

    The Pokemon designs themselves are as great as ever, about the only redeeming factor of the games. Some of my personal favourites are Appletun and Wooloo. Dynamax and Gigantamax are a cool new feature, but not really worth the removal of Megas and Z-Moves. As always, GameFreak favourite Charizard gets a Gigantamax form while all other starters (including the new ones) are ignored. Charizard is the only returning starter in the game, with only the other Kanto starters and Alolan starters even having the option of being transferred.

    Gameplay wise it is your standard pokemon game, fight trainers, get badges (while wearing an ugly football kit this time), defeat the villains. As usual with every game 3DS era and onward, there are no true dungeon like areas or puzzles (too hard for modern children apparently), and the postgame is basically non-existent. No Battle Frontier here or even legendary hunting here. Previous games had features like Contests, Secret Bases, the Underground. Despite being on a much more advanced console, all of these side quests and postgame content has been cut to make the games more 'streamlined'. According to the developers, this is due to having to compete with mobile games.

    Overall it is a pretty shallow version of what the game should be. It was promised as a game for long time fans, but if you have played anything older than XY, there isn't much here for you. If you want a great Pokemon experience, any of the original main series DS or GBA games are where you should look.    … Expand
  34. ToadieTo
    Jul 26, 2020
    3
    Very disapointing game. Graphics are horrible. The amount of pokemon is reduced for no real reason. The story is non-existent compared to other pokémon games. The only good thing is that some pokemon have a good design.
  35. MadMaxxieXD
    Nov 26, 2019
    3
    Very lazy, the animations are very bad still, moves coming out of random parts, inconsistent sizes(things like Wailord are knee high, or Tyranitar being bigger than you our of battle then suddenly toddler sized in a game based around turning Pokemon huge), crazy pop in, the raids are ridiculously repetitive, online is awful and clunky, can't refresh stamps until game randomly decides to soVery lazy, the animations are very bad still, moves coming out of random parts, inconsistent sizes(things like Wailord are knee high, or Tyranitar being bigger than you our of battle then suddenly toddler sized in a game based around turning Pokemon huge), crazy pop in, the raids are ridiculously repetitive, online is awful and clunky, can't refresh stamps until game randomly decides to so you have loads of old raids that you waste time trying to queue for only to get an error, no GTS so the only way to trade is randomly, you can't even see what you're getting until you confirm the trade, no way to communicate when trading or in raids, it's basically impossible to get Pokemon from the other game without a local friend to trade from. No Postgame, the story is very bad and short. You'll have fun playing online if you play competitive but if not, this feels worse than the 3DS games. There's less than half as many Pokemon, the story is even shorter online is much worse. Unless you play competitive online, skip these games, it's a rip off and very pathetic coming from the biggest media IP in the world.… Expand
  36. IkOzael
    Jul 11, 2020
    3
    It's the same mediocre games we've been gettin' for 20 years but worse. The story an' post-game is hella shallow. Characters are meh (though y'know Bea, Sonia, Nessa, Marnie... (Gloria's a different case)) but some had potential. The pop-in is atrocious. Feels like the inverse effect of the Green Baby's Stand from JBA: Stone Ocean was put on everything. The Wild Area sounded cool inIt's the same mediocre games we've been gettin' for 20 years but worse. The story an' post-game is hella shallow. Characters are meh (though y'know Bea, Sonia, Nessa, Marnie... (Gloria's a different case)) but some had potential. The pop-in is atrocious. Feels like the inverse effect of the Green Baby's Stand from JBA: Stone Ocean was put on everything. The Wild Area sounded cool in concept, but should've been on the same level as Breath of the Wild's overworld, like with Galar in general. Pokémon Camp is buggy an' the curry thing is a li'l interesting but that Pokémon eating cutscene... yeah, that stuff could've been better. The gameplay is as dull an' lifeless as its ever been, especially with the gimmicky Dynamax, but the animations were supposed to be generally improved... except they weren't. While this game does have some quality of life features, it strips away others like the GTS only to sell it back in subscription form an' bein' able to turn off EXP Share. I'm personally not one to "catch 'em all" since I jus' prefer the variety of Pokémon bein' present assumin' I don't feel like catchin' 'em later or whatever, but the reasons for cuttin' over half the Pokemon from the National Pokédex are dumb, mainly because they tried to dance their asses around it. I get that would've happened sooner or later which is why you don't mindlessly churn out the same-ass formula every year. But hm, who cares? They got kids, nostalgia hoes, etc. to keep 'em well-stocked on money. Give it room to breathe instead of aligning it alongside the Pokemon anime that's also pretty lame. This series was already at a decline a looong time ago, but damn.

    The Isle of Armor is mundane DLC. I'm not surprised. The only thing I like outta this one is, as you could guess, Klara for pretty obvious reasons (*grabs Wacom Cintiq Pro 13*). Somethin' about 'er gives off vibes that made me like the Hex Maniacs so much. But for real, the dojo feels like a post game's replacement. Some other things I like are the li'l cutscenes with Kubfu an' bein' able to travel with one of my Pokémon, but that one is shut down by the fact it's only while I'm in the Isle of Armor, but even then it has it's own problems which never existed in Let's Go. One particularly bein' the movement speed of some Pokemon. God... Damn... Does Slowpoke among many others move like glacial molasses. Ironically, this is in the same area where you were jus' chasing three stampeding Slowpoke a few minutes ago. The new Rotom Bike design is real cool with the black trail it has an' it made me like the bike a li'l more since I preferred skates. The outfit for it is way better, too. Better than the "clown suit" one in my opinion.

    Now to wait on the Crown Tundra, I guess (goddamn, I hate wastin' money)...

    Anyway, online is worse than it was in the past games. Frame rate drops are all too common. GTS was stripped away among other things for this slow-ass tag alert system that is Y-Comm. The only reason to ever use it would be for Surprise Trade or Max Raids which is near pointless 'cause of an abusable exploit that basically ruins it for other people who want to join. It's not like it'll be worth your time anyway since there's no strategy involved because the best way to beat 'em is jus' hit really hard. Anything other than that gets hella negated as if the Dynamon is Gold Experience Requiem but even hittin' hard is a crapshoot 'cause o' the limited damage they take. Oh, you can forget playin' Max Raids offline. The NPCs have critical errors for brains and/or straight-up have weak Pokémon that're actually more like handicaps for yourself. Notice how they all have Focus Sashes because they're so useless. You'll often have at least two on your team online though 'cause o' what I already talked about. By the way, why the hell doesn't GF do updates if they wanna talk about balancing? They've been able to do that since the 3DS days, but nope. None o' that. Gotta coax that money outta your wallet.

    While I still love Pokémon, I'm gonna look into Digimon, Temtem, fan games, etc. at this point. An' I'll most likely stick to drawin' Pokémon stuff instead of buyin' their "new" game.    … Expand
  37. Dazar
    Nov 20, 2019
    3
    A lot of reviewers are saying this is the best Pokemon game ever. How? Look, it has the fundamental bare bones stuff, but it also has a lot of crap and cut out good parts. Lets start with the ones I have the greatest issue with. So, this game was touted as being for the long-time and competitive fans. I disagree.

    First lets look at the EV system. You can no longer see what your exact EV    A lot of reviewers are saying this is the best Pokemon game ever. How? Look, it has the fundamental bare bones stuff, but it also has a lot of crap and cut out good parts. Lets start with the ones I have the greatest issue with. So, this game was touted as being for the long-time and competitive fans. I disagree.

    First lets look at the EV system. You can no longer see what your exact EV values are. Which sucks. You can not instantly reset all EVs, you need to use berries specific to each stat. Where do you get these berries? The stupid boring Max Raid battles. You have to farm them. There is no berry garden to cultivate them in this game either. Have fun with that.

    The GTS is gone as many are aware, but now you need to use both Nintendo Online service as well as communicate with the person you want to trade with before you start. Have fun using Discord or this game's Wonder Trade (I know it is called something else) to get version exclusives that you may want (HA Darmanitan is going to be fun to try and get for shield).

    Lets talk about Max Raid and dynamaxing. They are boring. Now I never liked Z-moves all that much but they were more interesting than dynamaxing. The fact that the Megas were also cut for this
    crap sucks. The number of moves you have when dynamaxed is so limited and brainless. I believe all status moves become a glorified 'protect' as well. Even Z-moves had more varied effects. The worst part is you are pretty much forced to use it unless you want to get a lot of your guys killed in gyms.

    We already know about the dex cut so there is no reason to talk about it in too much detail. That said the animations outside of battle are nice, but very pointless and should not have had resources put into them.

    It has fun moments, but whereas there was stuff I used to enjoy (like the gym and the battles to become champ) this game has made me dread it. A majority of the new Pokemon I like, but for the first time they actually created Pokemon I dislike. Five of them. This game gets a 3 out of 10 for going backwards in too many ways and adding forced unpleasant mechanics. Hopefully, gen 9 comes out better, but I am concerned. Due to gen 8 being the basis of the possible gen 4 remakes, I have no hope for those games. I do hope they patch some problems out, but can in no way patch everything out. Also, turn autosave off for this game.

    Edit: The games sold well. Expect the drop in quality to continue.    … Expand
  38. vitin
    Nov 5, 2020
    3
    O jogo tem pontos positivos e eu consegui me divertir bastante com ele, mas a preguiça da Game Freak deixa ele ainda mais odiável. Os gráficos lembram o DS, a National Dex em si é um problema enorme, a história é bem mais simples que os outros Pokémon e ele acaba sendo bem curto. Pro preço dele, não diria que vale a pena, melhor comprar algum jogo anterior.
  39. maplepecan
    Nov 16, 2019
    3
    This game is clearly rushed, unfinished, and unpolished. The brings good new features with the wild area and free cam, but this game looks like a 3ds game that's been up-scaled everywhere else. There is so much pop in that is glaring and embarrassingly bad. The textures in the wild area are simply put, bad. The environment freezes when interacting with things, when you fish the pokemon andThis game is clearly rushed, unfinished, and unpolished. The brings good new features with the wild area and free cam, but this game looks like a 3ds game that's been up-scaled everywhere else. There is so much pop in that is glaring and embarrassingly bad. The textures in the wild area are simply put, bad. The environment freezes when interacting with things, when you fish the pokemon and grass around you stop moving. The story is very stale, characters like Hop and Leon aren't interesting in the slightest, and team yell are just a nuisance and feel like they were just thrown in. This story was bad, even for pokemon standards.

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

    I wanted to see something new for this series, a leap forward for the first console main series release. Instead it this is a 3ds game made for the Switch that tells a story worse than one of the 3ds titles. Game freak took one small step forward, and two giant steps back    … Expand
  40. Lersotakus
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Pokedex no no no noooooooooooooooooooooo potencia diabloooooooooooooooooooooo
  41. Nozum
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    First off all i am new to the pokémon games, i have never touched another game in the series. So i was quite exited to start my journey into this universe.

    Im having a OK time playing this. I like the gameplay, story, and actually be able to go around catching all these different Pokémons. With that being said, there are 2 things i cannot understand and accept, with a game released in    First off all i am new to the pokémon games, i have never touched another game in the series. So i was quite exited to start my journey into this universe.

    Im having a OK time playing this. I like the gameplay, story, and actually be able to go around catching all these different Pokémons. With that being said, there are 2 things i cannot understand and accept, with a game released in 2019 for this price. The graphics and animations. Playing this on a 65" TV is actually pretty embarasing. All i can think of while playing is how ashamed i am to have payed $60 for this. Im pretty sure my PlayStation 2 games looked better than this. For a price tag of around $25 - $30 this would be a whole different story. But $60 for animations and graphics like this, is just insane.    … Expand
  42. Breo2019
    Nov 19, 2019
    3
    You need to understand game freak that you are not Pikachu, you have to evolve and make a whole new rpg pokemon game, the one we have been dreaming and waiting for.
  43. Ringo00
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Reposting from my Pokémon Sword review, since they are the same game:

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

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

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

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

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

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

    In conclusion, every single previous Pokémon entry, including the Let's Go games, has more to offer than this game. I would severely recommend replaying or revisiting older Pokémon games you might not have played if you want you nostalgia fix.    … Expand
  44. 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
  45. moonronic
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    (LONG LEGITIMATE REVIEW, NOT A REVIEW BOMB) sword & shield is the final nail in the coffin to this once outstanding franchise's good name; a franchise that was once packed full of depth & content & defying the limits of the GB, GBA, DS & 3DS has slipped into mediocrity to a point where it is v noticeable. this game is mediocre, it is not dreadful, but it is not much better than any of the(LONG LEGITIMATE REVIEW, NOT A REVIEW BOMB) sword & shield is the final nail in the coffin to this once outstanding franchise's good name; a franchise that was once packed full of depth & content & defying the limits of the GB, GBA, DS & 3DS has slipped into mediocrity to a point where it is v noticeable. this game is mediocre, it is not dreadful, but it is not much better than any of the 3DS games, yet it is double the price, on the powerful switch console, & has half of the main core content (the pokemon), gone (which would be fine, but there is little that makes up for the content lost). any parent looking to buy this to entertain a child; this will not do the job for long. if they got this at the holidays, don't be surprised if they are done with it by new year. in the past, i used to slowly play games due to not having the money for new ones, but i can't imagine mini me being able to do so for these; the story is swift (& it has as much depth as a child's paddling pool) & gaining levels is easier than ever.

    for any hardcore, older fans, as a long time fan myself who has played most pokemon games, disregarding the "dex controversy"; they are passable. they are essentially a 3Ds pkmn game on the nintendo switch. if you thought there would be any large improvements since the x/y 3Ds games... there's been v few. the good parts are flashy gimmicks & little more which will likely be gone by next gen, so no point becoming attached to them anyway (dynamax, the wild area, etc). it's not worth 60 dollars, not when it sits on a store shelf next to mario odyssey, luigi's mansion, breath of the wild & more. if you want a similar experience; ultra sun & moon is 30 dollars less with a better story, all the pokemon still there, & just as many features as these games... but, if sifting through a slightly fun, but quickly boring field in a rushed game with awful pop-in & just generally subpar graphics for the switch (comparable to the wii at its worst), then going into an admittedly fun but swiftly dealt with town & gym, onto a boring linear corridor path w awful music to progress a shallow story & beat the game in the grand total of a week at most, again, for double the price of the previous games which are far better, then this game might be up your alley. but it's not all bad, a slightly improved character creator, tiny quality of life improvements, & slightly better graphics than a 3Ds game (which isn't a hard thing to surpass on a console format), are worth an extra 30 dollars right? even if you do have this money to spend, why settle for the bare minimum for it?

    i realise im going on, but this is a franchise that meant something to me, others had disney, had other companies which defined their childhoods, for me it was pokemon. here's a cheesy analogy, but a fitting one: sword & shield is like candy. it is packaged nicely, it's flashy & fun (mainly the stadium gym battles), all glittery & bright colours, when you consume it, it does the job, it makes you feel happy for a moment, then you forget you've consumed it at all. "but this is a children's game, isn't it meant to be fun?" yes, & it is. but, the older pkmn games were fun, had more content & more fleshed out content, appealed to nearly any demographic, & lasted just as long. mario, zelda, every other nintendo franchise out there that also appeal to children (although yes, they do have their own flaws), have games more akin to fine meals on the switch. they're fulfilling, have depth in their craft, are presented beautifully, with intricate little details, & you will probably remember the experience for a long time. & yet, they are the same price as sword & shield, which was so buggy upon release, it corrupted many people's consoles. it's ironic how the most famous franchise on earth is about creatures evolving... & it's unable to evolve & catch up to every other nintendo name out there at the moment. after playing it, i want to return it. it's sad to see it sitting there on my shelf next to much superior & older pokemon & non pokemon games which could entertain anybody of any demographic for much longer.

    TLDR; the games are so mediocre, that it's miserable to imagine what it might of been. potential was there. instead we have this glittery, zombie-like waste of money, able to hide how plain it really is through quickly boring flashy sections, from a company that clearly doesn't have its heart in it anymore. yet, it's double the price & with half as much content as the prior games. if you want a better long term experience packed with depth & content for cheaper, try nearly any other pokemon game.    … Expand
  46. Magenta1991
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    5 horas con el juego y ya estoy por encima del nivel de todos los entrenadores del juego. La introducción tarda más de media hora por si sola y no haces más que caminar del punto a al punto b, mínimo tuviera musgo bonito para mirar como en Death Stranding pero no. Los gráficos parecen tomados del proyecto de Unity de algún fan con demasiado tiempo libre y no de una de una compañía5 horas con el juego y ya estoy por encima del nivel de todos los entrenadores del juego. La introducción tarda más de media hora por si sola y no haces más que caminar del punto a al punto b, mínimo tuviera musgo bonito para mirar como en Death Stranding pero no. Los gráficos parecen tomados del proyecto de Unity de algún fan con demasiado tiempo libre y no de una de una compañía multimillonaria con la franquicia de mayor renombre en el mundo de los videojuegos. Una vez que termina la introducción los personajes no dejan de interrumpir tu camino para llevarte de la mano y hablarte de lo genial que es ser un niño y atrapar Pokémon. Hop es Hau 1.0001 y no han tenido pena siquiera de reutilizar sus animaciones de la forma más descarada. Porcierto que los personajes se muevan por casillas y tengan que girarse para caminar a la Resident Evil 1 en pleno 2019 en una consola tan poderosa como la PS3 es para echarse a reír y llorar al mismo tiempo

    Las rutas son cortas, los escenarios poco inspirados, las ciudades son pasillos adornados con uno o dos personajes y todas las casas iguales, el área salvaje es una zona safari glorificada y vacía. El curry solo son pokepoffins con otro nombre (de todas las cosas que la gente pedía de vuelta han traído la única que a nadie le importa). Se nota el nulo interés hacia su trabajo y su deseo por querer ganar dinero estafando niños. Me da pena por los Pokémon que debutan en esta región pues no se merecen quedar atrapados en este juego paupérrimo (porque seguramente más de la mitad no vuelve para la próxima entrega). Tengo más diversión jugando Pokémon Go en mi casa girando el disco de la pokeparada que hay encima mío cada 5 minutos que lo que ganó jugando esta kusoge de juego. Planeaba regalarle el juego a mi sobrino está navidad para iniciarlo en el juego pero mejor será que le dé cualquier otra cosa. Nadie merece que este sea su introducción a la saga. La historia por cierto es peor que la de Sun/Moon y X/Y combinados. No entiendo por qué han sacado la GTS    … Expand
  47. PewPewMcP
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    The theme of Pokémon Sword and Shield is: limit.
    They limit your selection of Pokémon to catch
    They limit the pool of moves Pokémon can learn from, including some moves signature to Pokémon, like Heal Order to Vespiquen They limit where and when you can catch Pokémon in the open area They limit when you can use Dynamax and Gigantamax, the games signature battle mechanic. They limit your    The theme of Pokémon Sword and Shield is: limit.
    They limit your selection of Pokémon to catch
    They limit the pool of moves Pokémon can learn from, including some moves signature to Pokémon, like Heal Order to Vespiquen
    They limit where and when you can catch Pokémon in the open area
    They limit when you can use Dynamax and Gigantamax, the games signature battle mechanic.
    They limit your ability to explore a world with the series's now signature heavily railroaded storytelling techniques They limit the difficulty setting of the game by forcing Exp Share to always be on
    They limit your ability to change the sound settings by forcing you to first find and interact with the right NPC.
    Pokémon Sword and Shield are mediocre entries that take two steps back for every one step they take forward.    … Expand
  48. phoenixsaturn
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    The core of the Pokemon experience is there (albeit in a highly stripped and watered down version compared to past entries in the series), but the entire game lacks polish. Apart from the Wild Area, there is very little to explore in this game. Routes are linear hallways designed to move you from A to B. The game's animations are very poor and for the most part recycled from previous 3DSThe core of the Pokemon experience is there (albeit in a highly stripped and watered down version compared to past entries in the series), but the entire game lacks polish. Apart from the Wild Area, there is very little to explore in this game. Routes are linear hallways designed to move you from A to B. The game's animations are very poor and for the most part recycled from previous 3DS entries. The rushed nature of the game is also very apparent after gym 5, as the game becomes extremely streamlined and the animations dip in quality substantially after this point. I would not be surprised to hear that this game was rushed out the door for the Christmas season.

    Overall, the entire game can easily be completed in 12 hours, there is little to do after the end credits, and what you can do gets repetitive very quickly. While you play you will be faced with busy, grating music that will make you desperate to go out of your way to find the NPC that will allow you to MUTE it. While the game is not fundamentally broken it is not at all worth the retail price and I would recommend purchasing any of the older Pokemon games rather than buying this one.    … Expand
  49. InsaneSeishiro
    Nov 23, 2019
    3
    While they are certainly not the worst games in the series at the current point in time, they are the worst Pokemon games, relative to their launch by a landslide.

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

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

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

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

    If you really crave a pokemongame, this will still do the trick, it still gives you that positive feedback loop of discovering new pokemon, catching them and evolving them, but overall, I would recommend playing USUM instead.    … Expand
  50. SiberyanZ
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Same as the Sword review, the amount of reused content, technical issues and blatant incompetence that this game shows are by far the objective demonstration that this is the worst game in the series thus far.
    Having been a long time fan of the series i can't help but feel incredibly disapponited with its direction and decisions, from the removal of fan favourite pokémons (more then half    Same as the Sword review, the amount of reused content, technical issues and blatant incompetence that this game shows are by far the objective demonstration that this is the worst game in the series thus far.
    Having been a long time fan of the series i can't help but feel incredibly disapponited with its direction and decisions, from the removal of fan favourite pokémons (more then half of them) or the removal of important moves for the competitive side of the game, like Hidden Power or Return, to the introduction of mechanics that are unoriginal and uninspired like Dynamax and Gigamax, this game feel like a cheap copy and paste of Sun and Moon ported to the Switch with even less content and rushed to meet the holiday season time frame.    … Expand
  51. NormalReview
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Pretty much the same as my Sword review... except Eiscue's in it.

    Please, don't let this franchise continue like this. The flaws that were there are still here after 2 generations and instead of listening Game Freak decides to lie to their fans instead. If you can have fun with these games good for you.
  52. FGDireito
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    I was going to give this game a solid 5, it's not a bad game but neither it's a great game, this is just fine, but the more I think about it the more disappointed I get.
    This is a 60€ game it as to be compared with its Switch peers of the same price and not like it's a random indie game, this game rightly deserves the tough love that it's getting, just because it's Pokémon doesn't make it    I was going to give this game a solid 5, it's not a bad game but neither it's a great game, this is just fine, but the more I think about it the more disappointed I get.
    This is a 60€ game it as to be compared with its Switch peers of the same price and not like it's a random indie game, this game rightly deserves the tough love that it's getting, just because it's Pokémon doesn't make it automatic free from criticism.
    The technical issues in this game are just unacceptable for 2019, pop-ins everywhere in a very small 10m radius makes the world feel empty and bland. Animations look so stiff and outdated, why does the world freezes around me while I fish or climb ladders? Why are some background battles just white voids when even the Let’sGo games had that right? The textures quality is all over the place too, the worst ones are in par with Nintendo64 and the best ones are 3DS quality, but please don’t forget that this is a Switch game.
    The camping is quite cute actually but shallow, pokéjobs are ok but forgetful just like the whole dynamax thing is just a gimmick, the wild area looks like the main selling point this time but it’s just meh, a nice idea but really poorly executed and with almost no exploration after the first full run, the world is pretty much a straight line, there is no kind of exploration, do you remember places like Mt. Mortar, Seafoam Islands or Whirl Islands? There is nothing like that here, the most dungeon-like exploration you will get is something like Viridian Forest and it never gets more difficult than that.
    The game difficult is non- existent like the post-game, also why is the exp.share mandatory? Give us more options, don’t take them away...
    I don't even care about the lack of National Dex drama, but I do understand why people are upset about it, also the National Dex was cut with the excuse on delivering better animations and a more carefully crafted game but the overall game polish is worse than ever, plus lots of other cut content, the quality of the game is 100% more important than not having all the Pokemon for sure. I would rather have a high quality game with 100 Pokemon than a stinker with 1000 Pokemon. When will we get battle animations like Pokémon Battle Revolution? Aren’t battles the main selling point anyway? We shouldn't be here comparing animations from OG Pokémon Stadium (1998) with Sword/Shield, yet here we are, how is this acceptable!? This is Pokémon they have deep pockets they can make it, hire or outsource more people if you need.
    I am not going to talk about the new pokémon designs since that is a subjective opinion, but I quite like Dragapult.
    For me pokémon peaked with HG/SS and the highest point of its ambition was BW/BW2, Pokémon Sword/Shield feels and looks like a rushed game, it needed that extra year and more ambition to become something special...    … Expand
  53. naashinashi
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Aside from the most polarizing controversial decision ever made in the Pokemon History in not allowing to transfer many pokemons you've caught by only permitting the ones seen in Galar region in, there are several other flaws on this game that just makes it really frustrating and not worthy only playing for people expecting a more robust pokemon adventure. The game feels at many timesAside from the most polarizing controversial decision ever made in the Pokemon History in not allowing to transfer many pokemons you've caught by only permitting the ones seen in Galar region in, there are several other flaws on this game that just makes it really frustrating and not worthy only playing for people expecting a more robust pokemon adventure. The game feels at many times incomplete, lacking in many areas as seen from many of the buildings and specially large landmarks such as a church not being able to enter, cities being just large corridors with its really usefulness being the pokemon center and the gym.

    The change into a very linear game and the large amount almost empty cities hurts the charm of it. Your rival interrupts you several times and the amount of cutscenes is comparable to Sun and Moon if not larger. You can skip movies, but cutscenes are not skippable(except the tutorial one). The linearity increases when you realize routes are just corridors and there are essentially NO dungeons in the game. There are caves but nothing with a more or equal complexity like Mt. Moon, Rock Tunnel, Silph Co. Mt. Coronet etc. There is not even a Victory Road in the game.

    Another point I want to touch is the Wild Area, which is the biggest main feature in the game. The Wild Area just as the trailers showed and I have experienced; is a large slob of terrain with open camera and its own weather system (that tends to change quite abruptly). You can meet several pokemons in there (many of them are very high level, which you cannot catch until you have a gym badge for its equivalent level). The problem with wild area is that it's rather barren, with not much to do besides catching some pokemon and doing max raid battles. While going around the wild area, at times it laggy just as if there were some frame drops( and even worse if you go online with your friends there) the pop up distance for pokemon is very short, so a lot of times pokemons and berry trees can pop at a point blank distance or extremely close from your location which is pretty jarring and it can have you unwillingly bump into them.

    There are many other aspects I've disliked on this game and very few I actually liked, in overall it's just your normal pokemon experience, a new region, new pokemon to find except there is much less to do and even more baby first game than let's go pikachu and eevee and other previous entries, also there is not much to do post game. I just wished that there was more investment and ambition put in this game, because as it is right now, it's not worth $60.    … Expand
  54. Kwafka
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    An embarassingly terrible RPG built on lies and cut content. Go play dragon quest or something
  55. Smartins2000
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    these are the same game and deserve the same review

    got the game as a present from a friend as he did not want to be playing it alone the gameplay is the same as ever, this is not bad but its everyting else that bogs the experience down like the cutscenes with your "rivals" or the drawn out fights that made me actually fall asleep at some points (granted i worked that day, but im a    these are the same game and deserve the same review

    got the game as a present from a friend as he did not want to be playing it alone
    the gameplay is the same as ever, this is not bad but its everyting else that bogs the experience down
    like the cutscenes with your "rivals" or the drawn out fights that made me actually fall asleep at some points (granted i worked that day, but im a programer so how tired can that be?), some music was B A D normally pokemon has decent to godlike music and to have some tracks this horrendous is unaceptaple
    the final nail in the coffin for this game is the inflated price tag, you wont feel like you got your moneys worth out of the game, this game is inferior to ultra sun and moon and even those games where unaceptable to some degree witch was excused because the 3ds was a underpowerful system, but now?
    TL;DR: buy soulsilver, still SS but much better    … Expand
  56. EpicGamer420
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    We live in a society where gamefreak can get away with making a half baked game and changer 60 dollars. With only a fraction of old pokemon and not even 100 completely new pokemon.
  57. 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
  58. 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
  59. 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
  60. 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
  61. ScarletSpider
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    A non review bomb review.

    I beat the game at around 12 hours. Post game is an extra 2 hours and some gimped Battle Tower, otherwise my playtime would be a little over 8 hours. There were a few good things in this game. Characters expressions are more varied than the soulless expressions from Sun/Moon. Interiors looks pretty, although some are cut/paste. Nice QoL changes such as being    A non review bomb review.

    I beat the game at around 12 hours. Post game is an extra 2 hours and some gimped Battle Tower, otherwise my playtime would be a little over 8 hours. There were a few good things in this game. Characters expressions are more varied than the soulless expressions from Sun/Moon. Interiors looks pretty, although some are cut/paste. Nice QoL changes such as being able to change natures for competitive. Some of the new Pokemon look really, REALLY good. Some great designs.

    The story was pretty bland and baffling, even by Pokemon standards. For all that was cut, Gamefreak hasn't provided enough content to justify paying $60. The game is missing 60% of the Pokemon roster, moves have been cut, there is no accurate size scaling despite the gimmick being giant Pokemon, forced EXP share with no toggle means you'll be over leveled and nearly one shotting every opponent. Tons of empty corridors, no dungeons, and TMs are split between TMs and TRs. Most TRs can only be used once and most are necessary for competitive. You'll have to grind raids for it which can be a bit annoying clearly meant to pad out the game's post game. The game is graphically unimpressive in 2019 and some weird overworld bugs are present such as extreme pop ins, the world freezing when you climb ladders/mount your bike, etc. Alas, it's just another Pokemon game I have to regrettably sell for my money back. Very disappointed.

    I truly love this franchise but management at The Pokemon Company International clearly don't know what they're doing with the brand in terms of the mainline games. Trying to keep these games releasing yearly is decreasing the quality of the product. Gamefreak had just gotten past using sprites 7 years ago, and spent even less time in the 3D era, now they're dealing with HD assets are are clearly struggling to adjust. Gamefreak needs help but TPCi is not making it easy for them.    … Expand
  62. Cpt_Calico_Jack
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Despite this franchise's long-awaited arrival on a full console, Pokémon does nothing but disappoint with its 3DS-level graphics and PS1-esque animations. This comes especially disappointing to long-time fans of the series who were told that roughly 50+% of the previous existing Pokémon were not programmed into this installment so that the developer could focus on graphics and animations specifically.… Expand
  63. Ferrox
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    While a lot of people might give this game either a 10 or 0 in the hope to somehow "balance" the score to what they believe it actually is, that leaves reviews as unreliable. This game isn't a mere 0, but it also definitely isn't a 9 or 10. Let's discuss the good and the bad.

    The good: -Streamlining the proccess of making a competitive pokemon: This also has some downsides for the    While a lot of people might give this game either a 10 or 0 in the hope to somehow "balance" the score to what they believe it actually is, that leaves reviews as unreliable. This game isn't a mere 0, but it also definitely isn't a 9 or 10. Let's discuss the good and the bad.

    The good:
    -Streamlining the proccess of making a competitive pokemon: This also has some downsides for the satisfaction of breeding your own but it makes it a lot easier for those unwilling to put in the time, as well as change your beloved in-game capture during a playthrough into a powerful warrior.
    -The Gym Challenge: In previous games, challenging the Gyms was just something you did to progress the story. They were fun, sometimes forcing you to change up your team, but other than a unique sprite with special song it felt like story-wise it was just what kids were supposed to do. Here it feels like an actual choice was made. It is a carreer path in the Pokémon World, and people love seeing it. You are like your favorite sport star, gaining fame and entertaining the masses as you rise in the rankings. The battles in the Stadiums with an audience feels like a big event.
    -The challenges leading up to the Gym Battle: Combining the best of both traditional Gym Battles and the Island Challenge, there is a trial to prove yourself before facing the Gym Leader. And while some are better than others, it is more satisfying to do it this way than to just beat up a few Gym Trainers in normal fights.
    -The new Pokémon: it wouldn't be a Pokémon game without the titular beasts. And while not all are equally great, there are definitely a few that charm or impress you. Just look at Wooloo.
    -Several inovative ideas: GameFreak has finaly tried to join the current scene by experimenting with some new ideas like a small open-world setting with varying levels, a free camera, online multiplayer, but this unfortunately leans more towards, well...

    Unfortunately we come to

    The bad:

    -The graphics: While Pokémon might have never placed itself as a powerhouse graphicswise, it usually had a style uniquely their own with decent graphics. Unfortunately, decent is rather too generous to call this game's graphics. While it has been said many times before, the trees and vegetation call back to the era of N64. Shadows flicker, the water is horrible,...and then we have to talk about
    -The pop-in: NPC's, trees, pokémon. When you move it simply jumps into existance. This is a problem that games for years have dealt with in different methods: loading only what is visible on the screen, using lower-res models for those in the distance...and with a camera always angled just the way the develloper wants, it should have been easy to recognise just what needs to be loaded when and what could be ignored. Speaking of which
    -The camera: GameFreak was proud to show of the Wild Area, where you could roam free and encounter many pokémon and look all around you. Unfortunately it is still relatively small, with too little to do, and even that is restricted. It's not as beautiful as you'd like, and as for the Pokémon, they hardly move, pop-in jarringly, and even if you're ready to face a challenge
    -Pokemon capture is limited by badges: While it might seem like letting a newbie trainer try their hand at capturing a level 40 pokémon would be unballancing the game, take into account that it is their choice to do so, they have to win that fight and capture them first with their underlevelled pokémon, and even if they trained their Starter up to LV100 through sheer grinding, they'd still be barred by the game. And if it is a Shiny, too bad. Speaking of Shinies
    -Overworld Sprites come in one color only: Even Let's Go showed of wether you had a Regular Pokémon or the ellusive Shiny before you battled. A simple palette swap should have done that here, but it's not, so you have to engage each pokémon and hope to find them shiny during that encounter. But overworld or in battle,
    -The models are unchanged since X & Y: The root cause of the #GameFreakLied trend, Sword&Shield still use those same models AND animations as the 3DS games, with slightly upscale textures. This might not have been so bad if they hadn't promised (and yes they did) that they HAD to remake them from scratch because they couldn't transfer them over and therefore
    -Not all Pokémon are in: Less that half or all existing Pokémon are in the game, and the rest will never be here. Considering the models and animations are all there waiting, this feels like a big disapointment to long-time fans. Because what else will you do when you finish the game? Because
    -The Game is SHORT: Both in story length and routes, there is very little to do. 10 routes, some with only 2 patches of grass and
    -No post-game: Other than a more limited Battle Tower there is no battle facility or option to transfer in non Galar pokémon to fight or try a new game with.

    Conclusion: Good ideas but bad execution.    … Expand
  64. Reviewk
    Nov 25, 2019
    3
    Pokemon as a series deserves far better than this. Content from previous games has either been cut entirely or rebranded as something new when it isn't. "Innovations" like the wild area and its free camera have been in games since the late 1990s and Pokemon is just now catching up despite even games like Fire Emblem Echoes having a free camera in its dungeons on the 3DS. Combine that withPokemon as a series deserves far better than this. Content from previous games has either been cut entirely or rebranded as something new when it isn't. "Innovations" like the wild area and its free camera have been in games since the late 1990s and Pokemon is just now catching up despite even games like Fire Emblem Echoes having a free camera in its dungeons on the 3DS. Combine that with a very low level of content, including 2 legendaries to hunt as opposed to 13 times as many in the 3DS release from half a decade ago, a battle tower with 2 modes as opposed to the 7 from a 2010 DS game, fewer pokemon than a 2006 DS game, and a measly 15 hour playtime when you don't pad it out and focus primatily on story progression, and you get a game with little to offer and will be forgotten by this time next year when the next new game is out.… Expand
  65. MattAttack218
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    As a video game it’s ok...as a Pokémon game it is by far the worst main line generation ever. If you’re new to the series you may not be as bothered but if you’ve been around awhile it’s blatantly obvious how much corner cutting there was in creating this game. Models are pulled directly from the 3DS and they don’t use the switch to anything near it’s full capabilities. It’s the most handAs a video game it’s ok...as a Pokémon game it is by far the worst main line generation ever. If you’re new to the series you may not be as bothered but if you’ve been around awhile it’s blatantly obvious how much corner cutting there was in creating this game. Models are pulled directly from the 3DS and they don’t use the switch to anything near it’s full capabilities. It’s the most hand holdy game I’ve ever played with basically no difficulty and they took the ability to self impose a higher difficulty level away. Almost half of all Pokémon are cut from the game with no real reason ever given by Gamefreak. This series has been in a steady decline since gen 5 (although the gen 3 remakes on 3DS are an exception). Almost no post game content at all and a very short game which lacks replay ability because of how much of a cake walk it is. I have so many complaints that I can’t get them all in a line. By far the worst Pokémon game I have ever played and I’ve been around since gen 1. Gamefreak doesn’t care about quality anymore. I’m sure this time next year they will release another “Ultra” type version that is closer to a complete game but still utterly lacking. #GameFreakLied ****… Expand
  66. Brizius1996
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    This game is a f****** mess...We're in 2019 and a game like Pokemon sword and shield is Simply unacceptable. The graphics are WAY inferiore to manu PS2 games, the models are the same of previous 3ds games of the saga, animations are recycled and they' re Trash, characters and Monsters move like robots or sometimes they' dont even move when they' should do. Bycicle flies for no reason andThis game is a f****** mess...We're in 2019 and a game like Pokemon sword and shield is Simply unacceptable. The graphics are WAY inferiore to manu PS2 games, the models are the same of previous 3ds games of the saga, animations are recycled and they' re Trash, characters and Monsters move like robots or sometimes they' dont even move when they' should do. Bycicle flies for no reason and water doesn't move while pokemons are swimming in It. They cut more than half of the roster and over 100 moves Without any reason. The storto is super short (around 15 hours) and there Is NO POST-GAME. Dynamax battles are Just stupid, Raids are boring and the wild Is EMPTY. I Just wasted my money… Expand
  67. Randomscrub420
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    As I fan I’m crushed by this entry. Such a sad attempt made to be “fresh”. This entry will need a ton of post launch updates to be worth buying. I’ve been looking forward to a hard core Pokémon rpg on on a console, I feel like game freak stole money. I hope one day we get a game with competent A.I. Even if I need to beat the game on the original difficulty. I would like to see game freakAs I fan I’m crushed by this entry. Such a sad attempt made to be “fresh”. This entry will need a ton of post launch updates to be worth buying. I’ve been looking forward to a hard core Pokémon rpg on on a console, I feel like game freak stole money. I hope one day we get a game with competent A.I. Even if I need to beat the game on the original difficulty. I would like to see game freak not to add half baked idea like the dynamax feature. This has been the saddest battle mechanic I’ve ever seen! How ever shedinja made the snap this is solid, but the nerf him buffwondergaurd… Expand
  68. icarols
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    All the game is poor optimized and no national dex. No way to play this. Pokémon deserves better!
  69. ForrestGump
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    GameFreak went too far with this one; the most bare bones Pokémon game I have ever played with an added insult of a $20 price increase. On top of the ridiculous decision of cutting Pokémon in this game, it has a plethora of serious issues that definitely need to be addressed. The lifeless animations, severe lack of post game, incredibly linear gameplay, the excessive cut scenes, howGameFreak went too far with this one; the most bare bones Pokémon game I have ever played with an added insult of a $20 price increase. On top of the ridiculous decision of cutting Pokémon in this game, it has a plethora of serious issues that definitely need to be addressed. The lifeless animations, severe lack of post game, incredibly linear gameplay, the excessive cut scenes, how ANNOYING Hop is, removing of fan favorite features and replacing them with shallow variations are just some of the glaring issues with the game. To me, though, what is the worst offense is how EASY and hand holdy the game is. the always on experience share makes the game too easy and removes any semblance of a challenge and your team is always overpowered. There are essentially infinite heals all throughout the game too that also removes the worry and strategy of handling injured Pokémon and how to work with that. The wild area is cool though, does get a little stale after awhile but a welcome addition. Worst Pokémon game I have played BY FAR and I have played every single generation… Expand
  70. Alvarezz916
    Nov 16, 2019
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Not really sure how I feel about this game. I’ve been having fun playing, but graphics definitely are not good, looking at games that came out two years like Mario Oddesy and Breath Of the Wild. Pokémon Sword and Shield lack in a lot of areas.… Expand
  71. falloutcoyote
    Nov 16, 2019
    3
    Overall feels like a rush job by a half-rate studio, not one of Nintendo's flagship titles. The game is weirdly buggy, looks bland and recycled and just...overall lacks content. For the little bit of content that is there, since I can't import a lot of my favorite Pokemon from previous titles I can't even get the usual replayability I would out of the game.

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

    I have tried to keep positive during all the online hate and had high hopes all the way up to launch since Gamefreak said they would use that extra time from the cut content to add new animations and polish the game, but this is basically a rehashed 3DS game (and a bad one at that) with a higher price tag, half the content and the worst gimmicks yet (looking at you Gigantamax/Dynamax/Raids). For how well Nintendo's been doing with the Switch and its flagship titles so far, this is a confusing inexplicable mess and the first game in awhile that just doesn't feel like its worth the money.    … Expand
  72. Deivi
    Nov 16, 2019
    3
    Tiempo atrás se dijo que era para fans veteranos, que recortarían la pokedex para hacer las cosas desde 0 y tanta chingadera.
    El juego tiene malos gráficos, es sumamente fácil, reutiliza elementos, animaciones de combates paupérrimas y para ser un salto generacional esta terrible 3/10
  73. Trovosko
    Nov 16, 2019
    3
    Feito nas cocha Qualidade gráfica a baixo do lets Go.
    (E dos demais jogos da Nintendo)
    Game Freak muito preguiçosa.
    Eu quero meu Crobat XD
  74. Ambimunch
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    I'm a big Pokemon fan (bought every game since Ruby/Sapphire) and I noticed the slow deterioration of the Pokemon games' quality over the last 7-years. Each time these shortcomings would be tolerated by us, the fans, because having a new entry in our beloved franchise was reason enough to buy the games, start a new journey and go on an adventure. However, with the disaster that is Sw/Sh, iI'm a big Pokemon fan (bought every game since Ruby/Sapphire) and I noticed the slow deterioration of the Pokemon games' quality over the last 7-years. Each time these shortcomings would be tolerated by us, the fans, because having a new entry in our beloved franchise was reason enough to buy the games, start a new journey and go on an adventure. However, with the disaster that is Sw/Sh, i feel I cannot look past all the issues this time...

    The graphics are mediocre, some of the worst on the Switch compared to other 1st party games. Textures at times rival GameCube games, from 15 years ago. The animations and models are identical to the 3DS games, stiff and not expressive. There is a complete lack of voice acting for the games. The game is full of limitations, like non stop road blocks preventing you to progress without getting a mandatory tutorial forced on you, the inability to turn off exp share (making the game balance wack, you'll always be over-levelled making the game very easy), the post game is non existent, and the Pokemon themselves, the main reason to play the game - have been cut down by over 50% compared to the 3DS games. We can no longer import our collection from our older games, making all those years of collecting event pokemon/legendaries/perfectly trained pokemon/and shiny hunting pointless. What a disaster to have the 1st games on the Switch (nintendo's most powerful console to date) be worse than old DS games from 10+ years ago. Shame on you Game Freak. Never have i had less fun with Pokemon than with these games. If other "bad" entries in this series were "okay" or roughly 6/10, then Sw/Sh are half the games those are, and I cannot give them more than a 3/10. They're bad.    … Expand
  75. Sparkbomber
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    Pokémon Shield was advertised as THE leap forward for the series: more powerful hardware, new features, better graphics and new Pokémon. Then the bad news started trickling in. No national dex with most Pokémon of prior generations cut out, no mega-evolutions, no Z-Moves. It got worse: factually the same models and animations, endless graphical glitches, the game potentially autosaving toPokémon Shield was advertised as THE leap forward for the series: more powerful hardware, new features, better graphics and new Pokémon. Then the bad news started trickling in. No national dex with most Pokémon of prior generations cut out, no mega-evolutions, no Z-Moves. It got worse: factually the same models and animations, endless graphical glitches, the game potentially autosaving to the detriment of your Switch, handholding worse than Sun/Moon/Lets Go and paywalled online play.

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

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

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

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

    Otherwise, I'd recommend Pokémon Uranium, Disc Creatures and Monster Sanctuary for an actual game over this crud. If GameFreak somehow reads this review: fire the executives who pushed for an early release and damn please do patch the worst of it out, okay? Ideally a patch to the game's slug or something. If you do, I'll gladly revise this review.    … Expand
  76. LarsCramer
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    CONS:
    The dex cut. You can't transfer non-Galar mons outside of a small handful. Pokemon Home is not a solution, I like my mons on a physical cartridge I own and not on a server who knows where. Pokemon Bank won't last forever, eventually it won't be possible to transfer from older games at all.
    Reused models. It would be obvious even if I wasn't actively thinking about it because of you    CONS:
    The dex cut. You can't transfer non-Galar mons outside of a small handful. Pokemon Home is not a solution, I like my mons on a physical cartridge I own and not on a server who knows where. Pokemon Bank won't last forever, eventually it won't be possible to transfer from older games at all.
    Reused models. It would be obvious even if I wasn't actively thinking about it because of you guys. It looks bad.
    The opening drags. Before you can challenge the gyms, you have to talk to like three other people.
    The game crashed. It only happened once, but I still prefer my AAA games to not crash.
    Characters disappear when you're far away. The only reason I didn't realize this was a problem at first was because I'm nearsighted IRL.
    The entire plot with the chairman. You go break into his building because the plot says so, then there's a weird non-animated cutscene, and finally an anticlimactic boss fight where the version mascots do most of the work.
    I'm about to fight the champion, and I don't feel anything.
    Postgame consists of a series of battles against Dynamax pokemon at gyms and a couple of rematches. Battle Tower is as barebones as they come.

    PERSONAL GRIPES:
    Hop is an idiot

    PROS:
    Random encounters were changed to be less annoying, and there are plenty of overworld encounters
    Most of the gym leaders have good designs and fun personalities (grass dude still looks weird tho)
    Bede and Marnie are alright rivals    … Expand
  77. Silvallymadeit
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    My copy of Sword and Shield came in the mail a bit early yesterday, and while Sword and Shield are pretty cute games, I have to admit there are some glaring problems that make this game feels like it was needed to bake in the oven a tad bit longer. For starters, I just want to say I never cared for the controversy surrounding these games about not being able to transfer all of yourMy copy of Sword and Shield came in the mail a bit early yesterday, and while Sword and Shield are pretty cute games, I have to admit there are some glaring problems that make this game feels like it was needed to bake in the oven a tad bit longer. For starters, I just want to say I never cared for the controversy surrounding these games about not being able to transfer all of your pokemon, so this review is in no way biased towards that. There are, however, other issues that did drag down the experience for me. I often ran into performance issues. Frame drops, trees or objects randomly popping up in view; and while at times the game does seem beautiful and comfy, at other points the game almost seemed sloppily put together.
    The games are far too easy to the point of boredom, even for a Pokemon game. I felt myself being overleveled very quickly. I was often taking down opponents only in one singular attack, despite not going out of my way to fight many monsters. The new EXP share, which spreads experience across your whole party, seems to amplify this problem. It seems as if the game was not balanced with this feature in mind, as my entire team were several levels ahead of our opponents for most of- if not, the entire game. The adventure lasted roughly about 12 hours for me to complete, which is awfully short for an RPG, and there isn't much you can do after the journey is over. Might I add this game only has 10 routes, previous entries having about 30ish.    … Expand
  78. demo207
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    With a new console at hand, obviously expectations for a full refresh are high. And yet again, they were not met. Being one of the highest grossing video game franchises ever, you’d think budget wouldn’t be an issue, as it isn’t. However, greed took place and wherever corners could be cut, they were. Same handholding linear story, same dated abysmal graphics that resemble textures fromWith a new console at hand, obviously expectations for a full refresh are high. And yet again, they were not met. Being one of the highest grossing video game franchises ever, you’d think budget wouldn’t be an issue, as it isn’t. However, greed took place and wherever corners could be cut, they were. Same handholding linear story, same dated abysmal graphics that resemble textures from 2002, same everything. The fact that fans were promised a ground-up refresh and that turning out to be a complete and blatant lie for a cash-grab just adds insult to injury. Really disappointed that lifelong fans can’t get redeem the benefits of supporting a franchise for so long. This game was a slap in the face. Do not waste $60 on a 2012 3DS port with updated cutscenes to make use of the Switch’s graphical capabilities. Believe the controversy. Where’s there’s smoke, there’s definitely fire.… Expand
  79. MelonDestiny
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    I tried to like this game. I really did. The laziness just shows through in too many spots though. Not letting you wear bought uniforms into the gym challenge? What's the point of them then? Forget the big issues, there's so many little spots where the game could have been improved but Gamefreak just didn't even try. Easily the most disappointing game in the series.
  80. BigbellyKaos
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    No innovation outside of the wild area, which is the only redeeming quality. Sad the main line games have been neglected to this level. It’s become so formulaic and no heart in any of the game. The towns are empty, the story is empty, the characters have degraded so far from the previous generations. This was an opportunity to bring a new breath of fresh air into this long main series ofNo innovation outside of the wild area, which is the only redeeming quality. Sad the main line games have been neglected to this level. It’s become so formulaic and no heart in any of the game. The towns are empty, the story is empty, the characters have degraded so far from the previous generations. This was an opportunity to bring a new breath of fresh air into this long main series of games. Which is at the heart of the biggest franchise on the planet.… Expand
  81. Mieszko
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    Pokemon Sword and Shield, where to begin... First we need to understand this is a mainline Pokemon title and needs to be reviewed and compared to all those that came before it. You cannot base the review solely on this game in and of itself. With that said let's begin.

    Graphics: 5/10 This is a Nintendo Switch, first party AAA title and it definately does not look like it. The    Pokemon Sword and Shield, where to begin... First we need to understand this is a mainline Pokemon title and needs to be reviewed and compared to all those that came before it. You cannot base the review solely on this game in and of itself. With that said let's begin.

    Graphics: 5/10 This is a Nintendo Switch, first party AAA title and it definately does not look like it. The framerate runs at 30FPS and due to this you would think that the game would look at least on par with something like The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. It doesn't. The shadows are low resolution and update slowly and infrequently. The textures are basic and lackluster. The animations are dry, boring, predictable and repetitive. Considering GameFreak promised graphical fidelity and Nintendo backs them and this franchise with everything they have, this is a massive dissapointment. The framerate cannot even hold 30FPS at times and because of the aforementioned graphics there is no excuse for choppy framerates.

    Gameplay: 6/10
    What can I say? This is a Pokemon game and it delivers on that, but it is the same Pokemon game it always has been. Choose your starter Pokemon, beat eight gyms, catch some Pokemon along the way, grind them up in level, beat the champion of the region. Game complete. The only reason it gets a 6 and it a 5 is because of the Wild Area. The Wild Area allows you to roam around and actually see Pokemon live around you. This was every childs dream in 1995 and kw its here. But it's one area of the map and nearly separate from the story. So it's underwhelming.

    Story: 2.5/10 I wont spend much time here because I dont want to spoil anything. But - Spoiler Alert- there is nothing to spoil. It's the same game we have come to expect as stated in the gameplay section. Meet your rivals, battle your rivals, beat some gyms, find the villainous team. Capture some legendary pokemon and defeat the team to save the world. Defeat the region Champion. Yay, incredible...no. The story is not doing this game any favors.

    Multiplayer: 1.5/10 Multiplayer? What multiplayer. Of course you can battle other players online but aside from that established standard from over a decade ago what else can you do. Encounter some random players in the Wild Area, that's pretty much it. You cannot rome the Wild Area with your friends, you cant battle wild Pokemon with your friends, you pretty much cannot do anything with your friends except for battle them of course. But that is a feature we expect and they dont get any points here for giving a Pokemon game Pokemon battles because without them it isnt a Pokemon is it?

    Replayability: 5/10 This is where Pokemon usually shines. But in Sword and Shield it really stabs you where it hurts. The game features 50% of the Pokemon in the franchise. This means that you lose out on using some of what may be your favourite Pokemon in battles both online and in singleplayer. You cant catch them all, you cant breed them all, you cant battle them all. This doesnt sound like Pokemon anymore, this sounds like a sideshot. The multiplayer game suffers greatly because of this for obvious reasons and breeding pokemon for fun or competitively takes on a terrible new face. If you have a favorite Pokemon make sure its in the game before you buy it. The story offers no replay value and the post game has taken a real beating in this title. You can still battle to your hearts content but this is a very very mediocre Pokemon game in this department.

    Corporate Transparency: -1 Review Point Normally I would end a review here and give a final rating but this game deserves one last paragraph dedicated to it. GameFreak promised us graphical fidelity. They promised new 3D models for everything in the game. They promised us this at the expense of cutting 50% of the creatures we grew to love since the 1990's. They lied. The models are reused, the animations are terribly lifeless, the story is empty, the game is choppy and feels very incomplete. This only matters because they took a franchise and milked it for the name. So for corporate transparency this game loses one point off the final review.

    Graphics: 5
    Gameplay: 6
    Story: 2.5
    Multiplayer: 1.5
    Replayability: 5
    Total: 20/50

    Which equals: 4/10 minus 1 point due to corporate transparency. Giving this game a solid,

    3/10    … Expand
  82. Crypt96
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    Initially, the game is fine. The graphics seem to not have a poor resolution when you start off. For A nintendo switch game, everything should be clean. There are hiccups in FPS when entering battle while playing on the TV, but in handheld, the game runs smoothly, Ive only had a few drops in FPS. The render distance is abysmally bad. I have seen indie developed games with a larger renderInitially, the game is fine. The graphics seem to not have a poor resolution when you start off. For A nintendo switch game, everything should be clean. There are hiccups in FPS when entering battle while playing on the TV, but in handheld, the game runs smoothly, Ive only had a few drops in FPS. The render distance is abysmally bad. I have seen indie developed games with a larger render radius. The animations of the pokemon in the overworld are lifeless, and I feel they could have put more effort into make the pokemon world feel less like Pokemon GO, and more like other swtich titles (Breath of the Wild, for example, the creatures have some life and react more lively when you approach them) the animations in battle are subpar to previous titles, specifically the the attack animations. There are Nintendo 64 titles where the animations are far superior and more believable to this game. I dont mind the reused animations, what I do mind is saying you cut so many pokemon off from the game to say you were making new models and animations, when the only thing "new" are the gigamax models and the new pokemon to the Galar region. on a side note, I had high hopes for the Galar region Ponyta, because he is so cute and the Rapadash is so ugly. The same can be said with Wooloo. His evolution is so ugly. on a side side note, how can they pass the perfect opportunity to make a male and female Wooloo evo with a sheep and ram. (rant over) The companion is nice, but he is an idiot for the first battle. If I were him, I would want to be better than my friends. I would have picked the grass type to counter Sobble, but instead, he is the pathetic type who is programmed to be weak against you. he had two starting pokemon this time, thats new, but insignificant compared to the rest of the game as I progressed.

    The overworld suffers from the same fate of linear corridors, like sun and moon. the visuals are very colorful, but they distract you from the poor resolution you get from certain objects which throw your immersion off. the ground of the overworld reminds back in the PS2 days where the ground has poor resolution textures but the grass, that is thrown here and there, distract you from this. the damn trees get worse as you progress. you will find pretty trees and background props early on, but they get worse as you progress... why? why not fix all the trees, instead of the beginning few?

    I want to get back to the battling models because the pokemon are not scaled to size in the battle scene. we either grow a few sizes larger then our pokemon, or the pokemon get smaller, because every pokemon has about the same size in the battle scene. I am upset I spent money on this game after a while because my first gigamax, dynamax, whatever it is called, is awful. there is a significant performance drop in battle. the only other time I see my Switch have performance issues is in Xenobade Chronicles 2, when I am lvl 82+ in the Gormott province fighting the T rex looking monster with 8 or 9 vloffs hitting me because my AoE attacks aggroed them. In my example, there are 14+ high quality models that are animated very precisely to look as life like as possible, and the giant T-rex i am trying to kill that is larger than my camera zoomed out to max range that is also animated finely and lively. The last thing I want to point out is that only after all this, the Switch is also computing the huge amount of damage each unit is dealing to each other in a frantic race to keep the game from dropping below 26 FPS, its a mess (a fun, chaotic mess). All Pokemon sword and sheild have are 2 big models and the trainers. the models of the Pokemon are not lively or beautifully animated. they are just standing there and the game is not calculating anything, they are only in the idle pose. and the game stutters from this. How can the switch even have FPS problems when only loading 4ish models? After my first encounter with dynamax, I turned off my switch and sold my copy to some poor soul online. If the devs were not going to put their time into this game, then it is not worth my time. This is borderline "the game will sell because it is Pokemon." I feel like an idiot purchasing this game.    … Expand
  83. Billhous
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Same game (more or less) with some new features and some missing features. Game play is good if you enjoy pokemon. Graphics are pretty bad for modern console release. Can't speak too much for the full scale of content here as im only 5 hours in but it seems thinner than usual though.. #thankyougamefreak… Expand
  84. Azuris
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    Well, the Formula is still ok, but the lack of old Pokemon, with the Reason that the Animations and Graphics are so good and then delivering this, is just something i can not support.
    I could support a Game with Graphics that are not high end, but has a really good Content, but this Game has not.
    Aside from letting many Pokemon out and some Gameplay Mechanics like the Mega Evolutions,    Well, the Formula is still ok, but the lack of old Pokemon, with the Reason that the Animations and Graphics are so good and then delivering this, is just something i can not support.
    I could support a Game with Graphics that are not high end, but has a really good Content, but this Game has not.
    Aside from letting many Pokemon out and some Gameplay Mechanics like the Mega Evolutions, the Game has nearly no Endgame.
    Gamefreak has become lazy or decadent    … Expand
  85. Achiyugo
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    Hilarious. The rating matches the percentage of Pokémon left in the game. RIP
  86. BobaSkidz
    Nov 18, 2019
    3
    THE MOST RELIABLE REVIEW LACKING MAJOR SPOILERS

    Truly Disappointed with this release, as an avid Pokemon fan it's frustrates me to see such a lack of effort endorsed into this game in comparison to its predecessors. This game was mediocre in the greater sheme of things at best within the view of my eyes aswell as what seems to be the majority outside of Gamestop and IGN. Establishments    THE MOST RELIABLE REVIEW LACKING MAJOR SPOILERS

    Truly Disappointed with this release, as an avid Pokemon fan it's frustrates me to see such a lack of effort endorsed into this game in comparison to its predecessors. This game was mediocre in the greater sheme of things at best within the view of my eyes aswell as what seems to be the majority outside of Gamestop and IGN. Establishments such as IGN claiming that this is the greatest game of the franchise is quite repulsing considering the time and effort Game Freak put into its other titles, in contrast to there modern day ethic which is highly juxtaposed to past titles and as a result this means that Game Freak will continue to construct this level of negative quality continously.

    Objective Praise
    The game is beautiful with some great visuals and locactions and captures the feel of English Culture within the Galar Region. The game also has a flourishing new roster of Pokemon which intertwine eloquently with the shortened roster of the Pokedex. The introduction of the wildlife area and new mechanics such as the Rotom Bike, Dynamax and Crowd Atmosphere enhance the games emersion, and online interaction has became a satisfying new haven for players.

    Subjective Criticism
    This game has the worst overall plot line in Pokemon history lacks any form of integrity in its formula and lacks characters of significance and their personalities remain very one dimensional and bland.
    As there is no Evil Team within the games for the first time in franchise history (with Team Yell working alongside the player and Marline co-operatively) the games story seems disfigured as it seems there is no sideplot beside the Gym Challenge and the pacing of this game seems very confusing and lacking and due to the poor region design its very lackluster.
    The limited Pokedex is also highly damning and lingers in the mind of Pokemon veterans throughout the course of the game that such a vast quantity of Pokemon are inaccessible such as some of the fan favourites in Venasaur and Blastoise aswell as others, irrespective of the fact Game Freak had already designed the models for those Pokemon in the game; aswell as the updated switch character models for the Let's Go Games for the original 151 which they refused to include. Finally there are numerous bugs and glitches which interfere with the games emersion significantly which removes it from its potential experience. Conclusion
    This game feels very rushed and a poor reminder of the significance this developer has to the gaming industry and it almost feels Game Freak is disrespecting its own creation which is frightening for future games in the franchise as the duration of time and commitment declines every single title removing the anticipation for future projects. There is incomplete texture designs, poor writing poor creativity which is highly frustrating as the potential for this game was so high and is ultimately a shame becouse the potential for this game was so high apon release. For long time fans, this game may be deemed inacceptable such as myself, however this game indicates a good outlook on the Pokemon world aided by its visual direction. This game is by no means a terrible game as the is plenty of thrill and enjoyment that can be received remains. However I am happy it is receiving the negative critism outside of IGN that I feel it deserves as hopefully it can act as as a stepping stone to improve on future projects.

    It's establishments like IGN that accept mediocrity and overpower the use of the games visuals and take priority over the other aspects of the game which is ultimately the reason why Game Freak will deem this project a success regardless of the smaller organisations as the larger organisations accept this.    … Expand
  87. Floobersman
    Nov 19, 2019
    3
    Despite the fact this generation of Pokemon games feature some of the best new Pokemon and the best new exploration features since Gold/Silver. This game shows a lack of GameFreaks willingness to improve their games to the high quality of a AAA game which would be expected from highest grossing video game franchise in the world. The game feels like a game that highly underutilizes theDespite the fact this generation of Pokemon games feature some of the best new Pokemon and the best new exploration features since Gold/Silver. This game shows a lack of GameFreaks willingness to improve their games to the high quality of a AAA game which would be expected from highest grossing video game franchise in the world. The game feels like a game that highly underutilizes the power of the Switch and still uses the same graphics and mechanica for a smaller handheld console. Being a fan for many years it is frustrating that Game Freak will not change their practices and bring the Pokemon franchise the a better quality of game with their first leap onto a large console.… Expand
  88. dirvin
    Nov 20, 2019
    3
    Very underwhelming Nintendo Switch title. It felt as though they took a 3DS game, added very little unimportant features, made the game super easy and also cut a lot of content that people originally enjoyed about Pokémon such as being able to catch all of the Pokémon, instead of having a limited Pokédex. The graphics are also horrible for a main entry title and the animations areVery underwhelming Nintendo Switch title. It felt as though they took a 3DS game, added very little unimportant features, made the game super easy and also cut a lot of content that people originally enjoyed about Pokémon such as being able to catch all of the Pokémon, instead of having a limited Pokédex. The graphics are also horrible for a main entry title and the animations are horrible. I’ll be selling my copy very soon.… Expand
  89. Dreadwolf85
    Nov 20, 2019
    3
    Lazy game design. Pokemon still dont hit each other and some moves are not even animated your pokemon just bounces about like a statue abit. The game is also mind numbingly easy with nearly every encounter being a one shot to win.
  90. Plopflop
    Nov 22, 2019
    3
    they tooked my favorite mons!! All of them!!!!! It plays like a normal pokemon, nothing special...well less features the the other games but i am used to that. it feels like they take my pets away and it hurts
  91. BassClef94
    Nov 24, 2019
    3
    It’s clear to see why this game gets so many poor reviews- the story is atrocious first of all. The plot is nearly nonexistent, the characters are terribly developed, and the dialogue is so bad I stopped trying to read it about halfway through. The “evil” team isn’t evil at all, just annoying, and the villain doesn’t even seem that villainous. He’s no Giovanni, Archie/Maxie, Ghetsis, etc.It’s clear to see why this game gets so many poor reviews- the story is atrocious first of all. The plot is nearly nonexistent, the characters are terribly developed, and the dialogue is so bad I stopped trying to read it about halfway through. The “evil” team isn’t evil at all, just annoying, and the villain doesn’t even seem that villainous. He’s no Giovanni, Archie/Maxie, Ghetsis, etc. The story isn’t there. If this were any other game besides Pokémon it would be the worst game in history. Next is the graphics and wow were they hit or miss. Some beautiful moments, some terrible moments. The human models are basically lifeless except for one or two facial expressions, but luckily the Pokémon kind of make up for that. The whole world does in fact look like something from 1 or 2 console generations back like we all feared and there are so many graphical/frame rate issues it distracts from what little story there is. But despite all of that, I had FUN playing the game and I guess that’s all that matters. Pokémon battling is addicting and that’s all this game really aims for- addicting battling. It’s terrible to look at but it’s still fun to play. Now do I feel a strong urge to play it again like I often do with other Pokémon games? No. I will take several months off before I even think about trying to main story again. Gamefreak created a fun game packaged into a terribly created world. Let’s all hope they’ll eventually get it right.… Expand
  92. ZephyrSunDragon
    Nov 27, 2019
    3
    What a disappointment.

    The good: 1. There's new pokemon. 2. The graphics look really good in some areas. 3. The gym presentation feels more immersive and exciting, treating it like a real sports competition with other competitors that fits really well into the setting. 4. The wild area in theory. The bad: Literally everything else. Everything else about this game is literally a    What a disappointment.

    The good:
    1. There's new pokemon.
    2. The graphics look really good in some areas.
    3. The gym presentation feels more immersive and exciting, treating it like a real sports competition with other competitors that fits really well into the setting.
    4. The wild area in theory.

    The bad:
    Literally everything else. Everything else about this game is literally a HUGE step backwards for what is supposed to be a "new era" of pokemon on a mainline console.

    1. This might be the smallest region yet... the SMALLEST. I guess the wild area compensates but a large open field with a movable camera is hardly innovative. But the camera is fixed everywhere else. And there's these awful hallway like routes and caverns that leave no room for exploration at all. Sun and Moon was bad enough as it was, but this is just so much worse.

    2. Way too easy. This as been a problem for the last few generations but it just makes the game boring and forgettable. Pokemon has so much potential to be engaging with the amount of strategies available. It seems like such a waste. Also the force exp. share is absolutely horrid.

    3. Story is the worst it's ever been. Everything happens on the side and you don't get to see any of it. Now would've been the perfect time for high quality cut scenes but we don't get to see any of it. There's not even a cut scenes for flying to town to town like every other game. The only cutscenes we get this time is boring NPC dialogue. When the DS and 3DS had more exciting cutscenes, you know you messed up.

    4. Arguably less side activities than any other previous game. Definitely less than X&Y, Sun and Moon, and Diamond and Pearl. They removed so many beloved features. The one that hurt the most for me was not included following overworld pokemon like in Let's Go.

    5. Gamefreak lied to us about dexit. They said they were cutting pokemon because of expressiveness and "high quality animations" when the pokemon's animations are literally IDENTICAL to the 3ds games. The only new animations I've seen are the ones for the new pokemon.
    The pokemon are like dead lifeless puppets with no emotions. The battle animations on the Wii and gamecube looked better!

    6. The graphics look bad in other areas. Obviously an improvement compared to previous pokemon titles but total garbage compared to other switch games.

    The fact that they played this up to be the "next evolution of pokemon" and the "ultimate pokemon game" is complete **** While I will give some credit to the art director for the atmosphere of the region and new creature designs, this is clearly the least ambitious and most bare bones pokemon game I've ever played. I'm sure there were devs who were passionate about this project but the higher ups clearly didn't care or just didn't have the time.

    I hope this outrage is a wake up cake because changes NEED to be made. For being the first mainline game on the home console, this is just unacceptable. I'm glad people are angry. I'm glad the japanese fans are angry. I seriously hope we can get a new development team for future pokemon games because pokemon deserves better than this.    … Expand
  93. WillyViking
    Dec 3, 2019
    3
    De principio es un juego que logra atraparte debido a la exploración de una nueva región y los nuevos pokemon (en mi caso evite ver las filtraciones) que aparecen, pero simplemente la baja dificutad termino por cansarme, pokemon que aguantaban ataques de gigamax quedando en 1 ps porque no quería ''darte pena'', repartir experiencia obligatorio que hizo que mínimo superara a los rivales yDe principio es un juego que logra atraparte debido a la exploración de una nueva región y los nuevos pokemon (en mi caso evite ver las filtraciones) que aparecen, pero simplemente la baja dificutad termino por cansarme, pokemon que aguantaban ataques de gigamax quedando en 1 ps porque no quería ''darte pena'', repartir experiencia obligatorio que hizo que mínimo superara a los rivales y lideres de gym en 10 niveles usando 6 pokemon en la ''aventura'', amigo/rival hincha pelotas que no estuvo ni cerca de derrotarme 1 miserable pokemon, mapa super lineal que no representa ningún desafío durante el trayecto, el team yell es un chiste... y en lo técnico popping demasiado notorio y molesto de ver, animaciones muy poco pulidas en diferencia a los de 3DS... En fin, una decepción total, ya que de tan solo imaginar como sería un pokemon (antes de que anunciaran escudo y espada) en nintendo switch me hacia explotar la cabeza, más cuando estaba jugando BOTW por primera vez.… Expand
  94. Herbyy
    Dec 10, 2019
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The routes were way too short compared to previous games which destroyed any sense of exploration and made it feel rushed. The cities and towns were just there, there were no activities or mini games only the gyms and Pokémon centers which made it really boring. The story was bland and the plot twist at end came out of nowhere and tell yell is the worst team in the series by far. I was really hoping to love this game but I just ended up being super disappointed. I really hope gamefreak learned their lesson and give us a much better game that ya Pokémon deserve next time.… Expand
  95. OTMRUSH
    Dec 11, 2019
    3
    Not the best Pokémon they have released. The game it’s self is not that bad but if you’re big into shiny hunting don’t even bother... I’m 83 hours into Pokémon shield and still haven’t gotten a single shiny. I’ve breezed and hatched over a thousand Lapras eggs and battled over 1000 zigzagoon and the list goes on. It’s kind of ridiculous
  96. N7NormandySR2
    Dec 16, 2019
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A below average Pokemon experience. The national Dex and graphics are the majoritys complaints it seems and I can respect that. It's not something that bothers me a lot though. Biggest things that get me are the inability to play the game ranked. Sure they made it easier to grind out comp. Pokemon but what's the point if I can't even find someone to play ranked with? Last game session I spent an hour and a half searching and found 1 person. One before that spent an hour to find nobody. Ranked is completely broken so I'm forced to go play casuals and all that happens there is playing against legendaries or cheated g max Pokemon. I've played for 200 hours so far and at least 100 of it has been going for ha pokemon or grinding up comp. teams for ranked. Now I'm realizing it was a complete waste of time since can't play against anybody. By far worst game in the series. There are some innovative things I enjoy like I said about being able to grind comp. mons easier but that's really about it except some of the new mons designs. Either than that. Meh. Worst story as well imo with the worst antagonists. Almost felt forced in for no reason. End game is weak as hell compared to sun and moon. Hopefully GF steps it up next gen and actually starts putting in a lil effort instead of putting in the bare minimal. 1 more thing. WHY NO MASS RELEASE FEATURE. Releasing Pokemon 1 at a time is absolute insanity. Thought I might try my hand at shiny grinding but not a chance without that feature lol seems Niantic is a bit smarter than GF when it came to that. Take a page out of their book GF. All in all there's things that I like but only a few and out of all the Pokemon games it's definitely the weakest. Thanks to any for reading my rant!… Expand
  97. Sureshot125
    Dec 27, 2019
    3
    Game is completely uninspired and a complete mockery of the franchise. Asides from the state’s fiascos, you get the sense that there is very little passion in the game. The dialogue and story feels quite awkward, and many Pokémon in the new generation feel almost like a focus group as opposed to the previous generations. The mechanics feel like they’re made for someone who is barely payingGame is completely uninspired and a complete mockery of the franchise. Asides from the state’s fiascos, you get the sense that there is very little passion in the game. The dialogue and story feels quite awkward, and many Pokémon in the new generation feel almost like a focus group as opposed to the previous generations. The mechanics feel like they’re made for someone who is barely paying attention to the game, and isn’t actually interested in the world. In short, it seems like a game that they made “because they had to” with arbitrary changes and very little effort or passion. I’d rather they take new spins and stories on the previous regions than introduce more scope with so very little added to the quality of the world. This feels like a dilution of the franchise and a cash grab, not a Pokémon game. And frankly it’s heartbreaking.… Expand
  98. Liam247
    May 5, 2020
    3
    Pokemon Sword and Shield feel like ports of 3DS games with awful visuals, with cut content that they're now trying to sell us, and an overall soulless experience
  99. Guipal
    Jan 19, 2020
    3
    Achei as novas formas bem genéricas, são divertidas, mas faltam movimentos, o pós game ficou muito repetitivo e, além disso, a impressão que tive foi que o jogo foi "capado" também no pós game pra ser vendido pelas DLCs que foram anunciadas. Uma pena pois é uma franquia que sempre gostei muito e parece que cada vez mais qualquer conteúdo que fuja da história principal é ausente de caprichoAchei as novas formas bem genéricas, são divertidas, mas faltam movimentos, o pós game ficou muito repetitivo e, além disso, a impressão que tive foi que o jogo foi "capado" também no pós game pra ser vendido pelas DLCs que foram anunciadas. Uma pena pois é uma franquia que sempre gostei muito e parece que cada vez mais qualquer conteúdo que fuja da história principal é ausente de capricho já que o foco do mercado agora é vender qualquer adicional por DLC. Uma pena… Expand
  100. JoeTG9
    Jan 22, 2020
    3
    These games are fun. That's the only good thing about them. They show the complacency and lack of innovation that has plagued game freak for years. These games are fun, but extremely lazy.
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 89 Critic Reviews

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