Pokemon Sword

 Switch
User Score
4.7

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 5909 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,997 out of 5909
  2. Mixed: 852 out of 5909
  3. Negative: 3,060 out of 5909
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. zdk00
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Could care less about the lack of NAT dex. That's not the problem here. Game felt outrageously rushed. Was a solid 5.5/10 for me until i reached the last 80% of the game and then it just flopped COMPLETELY. it really was a drag and i regret spending the $60 on this. I love pokemon and have always been a fan but it hurts me to say, I could never recommend this game to anyone. Just feelsCould care less about the lack of NAT dex. That's not the problem here. Game felt outrageously rushed. Was a solid 5.5/10 for me until i reached the last 80% of the game and then it just flopped COMPLETELY. it really was a drag and i regret spending the $60 on this. I love pokemon and have always been a fan but it hurts me to say, I could never recommend this game to anyone. Just feels like the devs no longer care and the rushed launch makes it seem like they are only in it for the money.… Expand
  2. LavenderVix
    Nov 21, 2019
    2
    Here's an Honest review of Pokémon sword as a long time fan:
    The graphics are pretty well, the Pokémon are cute and lovely however I felt some battle animations were lacking. The game suffered from lag and slow down in some areas, especially in the wild area. The wild area was extremely fun, however. It's easy to get distracted and lost for hours exploring and doing max raid battles.    Here's an Honest review of Pokémon sword as a long time fan:
    The graphics are pretty well, the Pokémon are cute and lovely however I felt some battle animations were lacking. The game suffered from lag and slow down in some areas, especially in the wild area. The wild area was extremely fun, however. It's easy to get distracted and lost for hours exploring and doing max raid battles. Dynamax didn't feel overly gimmicky as it was mainly reserved for raids and gym battles. Speaking of gym battles the music was arguably the best part of the game. The story felt lacking. It's suddenly just thrust at you near the end of the game and there's no real explanation as to why the events are happening, the final battle is less of a struggle and more of letting the two cover legendaries do all the work. As for the rest of the game, it's slightly challenging at the start but once you have access to the wild area it's extremely easy to become over leveled and I spent the entire game from that point on 20 to 30 levels ahead of the trainers on the routes and gym leaders. The tournament at the end was a nice change, and some of the characters actually did feel a little more developed than the last few games. There's a small bit of post game story but once that's over the game begins to feel dull and repetitive. Not having the entire Pokédex did not effect the main game however it feels like the post game is lacking and missing something that adding a few more pokémon into the wild to track down could very well fix. Online interaction feels a little bare bones. There is no GTS, and no way to communicate to a person you may be trading with what pokémon you are offering or looking for, making getting specific version exclusives pokémon difficult. Over all, it was a fun experience but the game feels rushed, unpolished, and as if something more was intended but never fully realized.    … Expand
  3. KinMonteste
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    The main problem with this game is not only the pokemon cut away but the lies of the company, if too expensive to make a pokemon game? litterally there is hundreds if not thousands of pro games developer that would done a better job free, you know why i know that? because every year fans make games from 0, new animations, new pokemon desings, attacks, textures and everything for free, butThe main problem with this game is not only the pokemon cut away but the lies of the company, if too expensive to make a pokemon game? litterally there is hundreds if not thousands of pro games developer that would done a better job free, you know why i know that? because every year fans make games from 0, new animations, new pokemon desings, attacks, textures and everything for free, but of course pokemon and nintendo do not like those people to exist and shut the game down, theres a lot of problems with this game, shiny locks, competitive change, bad meta, unbalanced pokemon, deleted attacks really used on competitive, cut of megas but mawile, sableye and abomasnow that depended on their megas, are still on the game so those pokemon again wont be used at all, mega is a fan favourite, this game was marketed as a "game for fans" ... man, we fans love this game, thats why this game hurt us so much, this is no a 0-10 because i hate this game, is the opposite, i really love this game.… Expand
  4. koopabros128
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    crap game.
    garbage story.
    Wii graphics.
    400/800 pokemon.
    Linear game.
    0/10
  5. emotionside
    Nov 16, 2019
    3
    O pior game da franquia com folga, game não empolga em nada e a wild area é uma porcaria sem sentido, para que ter vários pokemon de alto nível se não pode captura sem falar as outras cagadas, eu não recomendo não comprem até eles fazer um jogo descente e completo "Gotta Catch 'Em All" e o jogo ta muito fácil meu Deus vão a merda
  6. ryguyreiser
    Nov 16, 2019
    1
    F in the chat for Gamefreak and the Pokemon Company. Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon made me lose hope in the series, but now it is clear to see just how far low this series has come to.
    Yikes.

    Please do not support this game or you are actively telling the pokemon company to keep putting out bad, lazily made, poor quality games.
  7. BugsyNanusu
    Nov 18, 2019
    0
    A bug filled mess with less Pokemon than Diamond/Pearl. Non-existent difficulty. Graphics that look worse than the Pokemon games on the Gamecube. Do not support this cash grab!
  8. WahjahEater
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    Just stopped by to chuck a stone at Gamefreak. It's more of the same old baby a** gameplay. Not sure who gamefreak is targeting with these titles. My guess is that Japanese audience loves their grind-fest.
  9. ZeroArmada
    Nov 16, 2019
    4
    The worst game in the series. I just cannot recommend anyone to buy this game at full price. As a genuine Pokémon fan I still cought myself genuinely enjoying the game, simply because it's Pokémon. However by the time it was over, I was left sad about what it could have been. Since 3D graphics the regions have progressively become shallower and emptier. The illusion of a big region isThe worst game in the series. I just cannot recommend anyone to buy this game at full price. As a genuine Pokémon fan I still cought myself genuinely enjoying the game, simply because it's Pokémon. However by the time it was over, I was left sad about what it could have been. Since 3D graphics the regions have progressively become shallower and emptier. The illusion of a big region is there, however you can't actually properly explore any of it. The fact they put a lot of effort into the new dynamaxing system actually makes me sadder, because aparrently a completely new uneccesary mechanic was higher on the priority list then polishing the overall game, and this while they already had a completely fine mechanic called mega evolution that they just decided to drop. The new trainer customization options are really nice, yet for the truly important battles you're forced into this incredibly ugly football uniform, for just no reason. On top of it all for the firt time in the series I hated every starter design so much I just decided to release my starter at the beginning, and just picked another Pokémon instead. This is on top of all the glaring issues that have already been pointed out by many others. For the first time ever I had a Pokémon game randomly crash on me. Gamefreak just seems incapable of taking steps forward in one area without taking several steps backwards in another. To top it all off, this is the most expensive Pokémon game released to date. With nothing to justify the increased price tag, there is just no way I can recommend this game to anyone at full price. I just hope the amount of negativity and backlash will serve to finally wake gamefreak up.… Expand
  10. andrew9
    Nov 16, 2021
    2
    dont get this .
  11. sarethums
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    The game seems very aged or unfinished. My main problem is the 30 frames per second. This makes it look unpolished. If mario odyssey can run at 60 then im sure this could have too.
  12. Harrison17
    Nov 16, 2019
    2
    Es una estafa, lleno de bug, con pocos Pokémon, un mapa linial cuando prometieron mundo abierto, gráficos de la Pokémon sol y luna solo que con mas resolución. Es una estafa hecha con la ley del mínimo esfuerzo en su máxima expresión, esperó y arreglé este juego incompleto
  13. Just_Critical
    Nov 16, 2019
    4
    the game wasn't as bad as I had expected but the lack of care, time, love and design just gives the game this horrid feeling of "I don't give a **** the only thing that I would say is worthy for a place in Pokémon is the wild area. looking back at Pokémon's history you can prove the fact that they really don't care coz gold and silver for a Gameboy was made in the same amount of timethe game wasn't as bad as I had expected but the lack of care, time, love and design just gives the game this horrid feeling of "I don't give a **** the only thing that I would say is worthy for a place in Pokémon is the wild area. looking back at Pokémon's history you can prove the fact that they really don't care coz gold and silver for a Gameboy was made in the same amount of time looked better for what it was on and only four people made it fitting two regions in it, roaming legendries, a story, shinies for every Pokémon plus the old colours, 12 gyms and more this game is a disappointment and I hate to say it but this game needs to be taken off the shelfs and remade… Expand
  14. EmperorSubs
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    It's just the same old, stale pokemon release. Practically no story other then, "kid fights an evil group and becomes the champion". The characters are super one dimensional, and the gameplay is still the same as before. All they did was add a new useless gimmick.

    Now I'm a firm believer that you can have a great game series with the same gameplay for each game, but it must have a good    It's just the same old, stale pokemon release. Practically no story other then, "kid fights an evil group and becomes the champion". The characters are super one dimensional, and the gameplay is still the same as before. All they did was add a new useless gimmick.

    Now I'm a firm believer that you can have a great game series with the same gameplay for each game, but it must have a good and new story for each game. Pokemon doesn't do this.

    It's sad to see a franchise like pokemon, that has a huge budget, make such a subpar games. Compare this to a similar franchises like digimon that works with a fourth of pokemon's budget and still produces high quality games. Or at least, higher quality then pokemon.    … Expand
  15. M4TT99
    Nov 18, 2019
    0
    worst pokemon game of all time
    the graphics look horrible for a new hardware (switch) animations looks so bad
    -100 moves no full pokedex
  16. BUBA94
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    The worst Pokemon game ever. it's a drawback from the previou game and the few new things introduced don't make up for all the missing things. Just buy any other game of the franchise
  17. ExtracoinVJ
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    Un mal juego, las animaciones son pauperrimas, los graficos son malos, el area silvestre es una "idea" interesante pero mal llevada a cabo, corto y super facil.

    Estas criticas serian un poco mas que las del resto de sus entregas pero se entendia que GF no sabia hacer mas con pokemon por estar en consolas portatiles, al saltar a sobremesa no solo los jugadores de la saga si no que desde    Un mal juego, las animaciones son pauperrimas, los graficos son malos, el area silvestre es una "idea" interesante pero mal llevada a cabo, corto y super facil.

    Estas criticas serian un poco mas que las del resto de sus entregas pero se entendia que GF no sabia hacer mas con pokemon por estar en consolas portatiles, al saltar a sobremesa no solo los jugadores de la saga si no que desde GF y el mismo Masuda salieron a elevar el "hype" hablando de que la saga principal se enfocaria en los veteranos de la franquicia y habria mucho mas trabajo por parte de la compania sobre este juego y que seria lo que todo "fan" esperaba.

    La verdad, Masuda deberia seguir abrazando peluches y dejarle el desarrollo a alguien que tenga un poquito de ambicion.

    En fin, es jugable, es un juego del monton que recicla modelos y animaciones pero que al menos tiene la "inovacion" de poder saltarte unos tutoriales y poder tirar la pokebola sin tener que entrar siempre en la bolsa (Si, se mataro ncon la innovacion)    … Expand
  18. Lordkraker
    Nov 16, 2019
    4
    To make it short, this doesn't feels like a transition from 3DS to Nintendo Switch, this is a recicled 3DS game ported to switch

    Game Freak didn't even made new animations in battle and used default ones for almost every move The game story line is kinda short, and isn't the big deal Exp.Share system is awful Wild area feels empty Dynamax honestly looks a little bit dumb The reason    To make it short, this doesn't feels like a transition from 3DS to Nintendo Switch, this is a recicled 3DS game ported to switch

    Game Freak didn't even made new animations in battle and used default ones for almost every move
    The game story line is kinda short, and isn't the big deal
    Exp.Share system is awful
    Wild area feels empty
    Dynamax honestly looks a little bit dumb
    The reason this game have sold many copies is because it has Pokemon logo on it, otherwise it'll be just a Indie rpg    … Expand
  19. Zerockman
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    What a terrible pokemon game, probably the worst one ever. They didn't introduce anything meaningful, instead they removed many of the elements that made fans love the series. There is less than half of the Pokedex, GTS is non existent, Mega evolutions and Z Moves are gone, no multi battles in battle tower and the list goes on and on. The graphic issues are everywhere, frame rateWhat a terrible pokemon game, probably the worst one ever. They didn't introduce anything meaningful, instead they removed many of the elements that made fans love the series. There is less than half of the Pokedex, GTS is non existent, Mega evolutions and Z Moves are gone, no multi battles in battle tower and the list goes on and on. The graphic issues are everywhere, frame rate problems... to top this all off Game Freak continually lies and excuses themselves saying that they cut the pokedex in order to improve models and animations, the truth is that the models are the same and the animations are still **** as always, were looking at a home console 2019 game that looks and feels worse than a PS2 2001 game. I hope Game Freak is bought by a competent company that starts making meaningful games because I swear I will stop buying pokemon core series games if this goes on. Unfortunately, the pokemon games always sell a lot even if they are garbage, but that has to change fast so that GF can learn that they are terrible game developers… Expand
  20. NightFallenWolf
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    This game is basically like every other pokemon game, except it's not on a handheld console like the others and yet fails to be better. They could've just ported the 3ds games to the Switch and the experience would be the same. In fact, it would've been even better because the 3ds games at least had a full dex behind them. The people working at Game Freak should be embarrassed to sell aThis game is basically like every other pokemon game, except it's not on a handheld console like the others and yet fails to be better. They could've just ported the 3ds games to the Switch and the experience would be the same. In fact, it would've been even better because the 3ds games at least had a full dex behind them. The people working at Game Freak should be embarrassed to sell a game like this.… Expand
  21. yumguy
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    -Pokemon and moves cut -Uneventful, barren routes and landscapes
    -Cities with little to nothing to do, corridors with doors you can’t go in
    -Barren backgrounds during battles (in some areas) -Little to no rewards for exploration -Little to no postgame content -Poor, low quality animation. Everything freezes when you are on ladders. Turning animations do not exist -Poor loading and    -Pokemon and moves cut -Uneventful, barren routes and landscapes
    -Cities with little to nothing to do, corridors with doors you can’t go in
    -Barren backgrounds during battles (in some areas)
    -Little to no rewards for exploration
    -Little to no postgame content
    -Poor, low quality animation. Everything freezes when you are on ladders. Turning animations do not exist
    -Poor loading and rendering of the world. Trees and people (and wild Pokemon that can jump at you) appear and disappear as you run through
    -Linear and handheld story for what little story actually exists
    -Restricted gameplay. Cannot catch wild Pokemon a higher level than you. Cannot catch wild Pokemon that require the next gym badge. EXP share cannot be turned off. These are literal blocks to how you can enjoy the game -Small bugs
    -Game breaking bugs. One due to a specific format in the SD card, which can corrupt other files

    After a year of no new Pokemon games, some may find this fun to play through. In a way, it still is. But finish it (with an incredibly low 15 hour mark to complete it) and you will see just how little the game has to offer. No replay value. No love. There are 9 designs total of the Pokemon that I like. About 2 characters that I like. The medieval theme is always interesting to me. Shame it’s in such a bad game.

    This is a review from watching my friends and videos online. I refuse to support Gamefreak for this and so should you. If it gets the same sales as other games, it will just let Gamefreak confirm that they no longer have to put effort into their games.    … Expand
  22. Darkfruit64
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    This game had huge ambition, but was executed terribly. The animations which were promised to be of a high quality, still consist primarily of hops and a model rotating on it's axis. (including turn animations) The draw distance and pop in of characters and Pokemon is horrendous and was very hard to overlook as it happens constantly. Even during battles! Considering this was the reason forThis game had huge ambition, but was executed terribly. The animations which were promised to be of a high quality, still consist primarily of hops and a model rotating on it's axis. (including turn animations) The draw distance and pop in of characters and Pokemon is horrendous and was very hard to overlook as it happens constantly. Even during battles! Considering this was the reason for numerous cuts in existing Pokemon and features it's inexcusable. I personally would not have minded the cuts if Pokemon actually attacked each other and didn't look like lifeless statues 80% of the time, but unfortunately this failed to come to fruition.

    The game is short and insanely easy. in earlier games each battle was intense and make or break after a long trek through a cave or forest, and it felt like there were actual stakes. in this game that's not a problem due to forced EXP share and being healed very frequently between battles, therefore rendering losing a battle something you'd probably have to go out of your way to achieve. This no doubt assisted in the game's incredibly short play time. The game also holds your hand and won't let it go.

    The world feels small, far smaller than prior entries. For a next gen console game this is very disappointing, as admittedly some of the areas and towns looked great until you immediately realise you can't access any of it. (In one town you can literally only enter the Pokemon centre)

    The Wild Area was bland and where the poor graphics and animations really took centre stage. This feature was fantastic in scope but like many other features, executed poorly.

    Dynamaxing/Gigantamaxing. Feels cool the first few times you do it but then the novelty swiftly wears off when you realise it's just another one off gimmick, which is far less impressive than what came prior.

    As a lifetime fan of the series I'm thoroughly upset and disappointed in what these games turned out to be. I wanted to believe it wasn't as bad as people had been saying and that I'd have a rewarding experience, however this sadly was not the case.

    I'm giving it a 1, which is more than fair in it's current state, as these games could have been true spectacles had gamefreak been allocated more time to work on them. The 1 point stems from the games UI, the new Pokemon designs/regional variants, the streamlined approach to assembling a competitive team and some of the backgrounds and environments and the music is still great.

    I'm hoping that features can be restored in future updates and patches, but due to the current stance that gamefreak have taken, I doubt this will come to pass.

    I hope others don't make the same mistake I did. I was guided along by nostalgia, and blind to the criticism, I assure you it's well founded and accurate. Do yourself a favour and play a past entry, you'll have a much better time.    … Expand
  23. Unreal13
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    Unbalanced 3DS game with 60$ price tag...Finished the game in just 15 hours, graphics are weak, gameplay is repetitive it is basically just going from one gym to another with every NPC you speak just telling you to advance to the next gym until you beat the champion and that’s the game end of story. All in all just boring...
  24. Boujack
    Nov 18, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Gráficos de una consola de hace dos generaciones, falta de contenido y post game, animaciones reutilizadas, menos de la mitad de los polemons de la pokedex nacional siendo que en entregas pasadas hay muchos más, historia mas corta de lo debido. En conclusión un juego incompleto y hecho sin el tiempo dedicado para su venta, no lo recomiendo.… Expand
  25. QuestionSleep
    Nov 19, 2019
    2
    Como fan de la saga desde PKMN Esmeralda, este juego es decepcionante en (casi) todos los sentidos.

    Primero, el recorte de la pokédex la justificaron con que debían rehacer todos los modelos lo cual es falso, los modelos de 3DS siguen estando vigentes solo con texturas en alta resolución. Los gráficos en el overworld son decepcionantes, dignos de un juego de hace 15 años. El clima    Como fan de la saga desde PKMN Esmeralda, este juego es decepcionante en (casi) todos los sentidos.

    Primero, el recorte de la pokédex la justificaron con que debían rehacer todos los modelos lo cual es falso, los modelos de 3DS siguen estando vigentes solo con texturas en alta resolución.

    Los gráficos en el overworld son decepcionantes, dignos de un juego de hace 15 años.
    El clima dinámico está mal implementado, se ubica por zonas y si sales de ese lugar automáticamente se cambia el clima a otro. No es para nada fluido como lo hace BotW o GTA, se siente artificial y cutre.

    Las animaciones son recicladas de juegos de hace 6 años y solo cambian los efectos los cuales a veces están mal implementados como Blastoise disparando hidrobomba directo de su frente en lugar de usar los cañones, algunos están muy bien hechos como el ataque especial de la evolucion de Scorbunny, lo cual hace que se sienta muy inconsistente.

    Sobre como cuentan la historia es muy similar a Sol y Luna, te llevan de la mano todo el rato, los escenarios son más grandes pero de nada sirve si todo el tiempo te están limitando y poniéndote barricadas para que por aquí o allá no pases.

    La cinemática del inicio, de cuando te presentan a los iniciales están muy bien (algo raras por que no tienen actuación de voz pero aun así mueven la boca) pero hay otras que son con el motor del juego (la gran mayoría) donde los personajes para moverse tienen que girar como si fueran tanques.

    La música es buena y algunos diseños también están cool. Bien ahí con los diseñadores y músicos del juego.

    Terminaré con una frase de Miyamoto, un juego retrasado es eventualmente un buen juego pero un juego apresurado será un mal juego por siempre.

    Itoi, creador de Mother también en una entrevista cuenta como los programadores en los 80's no se permitían decir que no, lo que los diseñadores tenían en mente, los programadores tenían que hacerlo realidad. Una lastima que eso no se note en este juego.
    Ojalá Pokémon vuelva a su época dorada como en las primeras 5 generaciones...    … Expand
  26. Bringbacknation
    Nov 27, 2019
    0
    Ok, so we all know the games were left highly unfinished and this was justified by a “quality over quantity” approach, which ended up not being implemented at all. So instead of highlighting that issue, I’d rather spend my time explain why this isn’t a good trade off and the devastating long term consequences SwSh will have to the series as a whole. Firstly, the trade off: to be perfectlyOk, so we all know the games were left highly unfinished and this was justified by a “quality over quantity” approach, which ended up not being implemented at all. So instead of highlighting that issue, I’d rather spend my time explain why this isn’t a good trade off and the devastating long term consequences SwSh will have to the series as a whole. Firstly, the trade off: to be perfectly fair, I actually kind of see the effort here, people move their mouths as they talk, have fully and completely rendered faces and are by far the most expressive NPCs/PCs to date. HOWEVER, I might see each of these facial expressions once, maybe twice over the hundred of hours I’d typically log in a Pokemon game. Whereas the absence of the national Dex shakes the entire competitive experience to its core, every battle I do will have less possibilities and options, and every team I build is gonna have to be put together considering the forced galar meta and not the national meta. As for the series’ future. It’s now completely in jeopardy, both over the next few months and the next few decades thanks to SwSh. Firstly, in the first quarter of 2020 we will see the release of Pokemon home. A storage bank that can take Pokemon from Sword/Shield, let’s go Pikachu/Eevee, Pokemon go, and Pokemon bank, the storage system for every handheld game up until this point. However, if you notice the wording you’ll see it can only *take* from all these possible sources, as sword and shield is right now the only possible way for Pokemon to LEAVE Pokemon home, and if they don’t have a Galar Pokédex entry, they’re completely stuck there. It is currently unknown if there will be any battling or other features for these Pokemon to partake in. Additionally, in 2021 we will see what would have been the first year of the PWC that allowed the gen 8 national Pokédex to be used. Unless the issues of SwSh are fixed, this will be played on an extended Dex at best, and will likely not see the staggering meta change or rise of off meta picks we’ve seen on previous years. And finally there’s a looming threat of the regional Pokédex becoming a series norm. What if we never get the have the national Pokédex again? Some interviews have pointed towards this being an all too real possibility without intervention. Pokemon Sword and Shield did do some things right, and I’m not debating that, but the damage it did to the series as a whole is absolutely not worth the negligible benefits it brought. I would give it a DNF/10 but the scale doesn’t go that low… Expand
  27. vincentvizcaya
    Nov 30, 2019
    0
    No están los pokemon de la pokedex entera. No hay mega evoluciones. No hay nueva evolución de eevee. Muy mal para competitivo.
  28. TruthfulGamer67
    Jun 1, 2021
    0
    Pokemon Fans have no standards and they will eat up this ****

    this game is garbage and if you like it you support bad games
  29. Galenmereth
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    I never bother leaving reviews, but I just can't help myself. I just finished the main story and champion fight, and this was such a letdown. Never been this disappointed in a Pokemon game, and I've played all of them -- from Red on my monochrome Game Boy as a little kid.

    I didn't watch any pre-release footage and kept away from the media (and apparent drama) before release. I went into    I never bother leaving reviews, but I just can't help myself. I just finished the main story and champion fight, and this was such a letdown. Never been this disappointed in a Pokemon game, and I've played all of them -- from Red on my monochrome Game Boy as a little kid.

    I didn't watch any pre-release footage and kept away from the media (and apparent drama) before release. I went into the game blind. At first, it seemed good. It was prettier than ever, and everything was promising. The wild area, when I first got to it, seemed amazing. Such potential!

    As the hours went by, it became more and more clear how rushed this game was. From the poor texture work in so many places that just sprang out at you, to the baffling low draw distance on pokemon and characters everywhere -- they just pop out of the ground a few meters from you, removing any sense of immersion.

    Then there's the odd story which honestly feels like they had to cut a ton of content. It's disjointed, and has no clear arc at all. It ends the very moment it picks up.

    I could honestly go on and on, but you've probably read most of it around already. I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. I've played for 22 hours and I'm so disappointed, I don't really know what to say.    … Expand
  30. kiwi_tea
    Nov 18, 2019
    4
    Pokemon Sword and Shield are very strange entries in a franchise that I have loved since Red and Blue. Pokemon has gone through many changes, often taking as many steps backward as forward along the way - For example, in Generation 4 the great leap with the physical/special split was accompanied by a shift towards a more mystical time-and-space-hopping plot, a hard-to-navigate region, andPokemon Sword and Shield are very strange entries in a franchise that I have loved since Red and Blue. Pokemon has gone through many changes, often taking as many steps backward as forward along the way - For example, in Generation 4 the great leap with the physical/special split was accompanied by a shift towards a more mystical time-and-space-hopping plot, a hard-to-navigate region, and the metagame defining power creep of Garchomp.

    For all those leaps backward, the games maintained their charm. Platinum, the follow up to Generation 4's Diamond and Pearl, tried to fix at least a few of the early games' issues.

    Sword and Shield give me a similar sense of foreboding that Diamond and Pearl gave me. There are a lot of changes to the formula in these games, and very few of them seem to be changes for the better. I'll try to break down pros and cons.

    Pros:
    + The Wild Area is engaging (although it suffers immensely from the reduced Pokemon roster).
    + The new Pokemon are all pretty lovely. Polteageist makes me happier than I can express.
    + The inherently restricted meta-game caused by Dexit has the potential to be fresh and exciting.
    + No legendary bloat. A modest number of these.
    + Slurpuff made the cut.

    Cons:
    - Dynamaxing is not a balanced or enjoyable mechanic in any of the matches I have seen on simulators so far. Singles Pokemon now tend to end in predictable Dynamax sweeps. I hope this is not as big an issue in VGC.
    - Routes are all extremely short - corridors is an accurate description. There are not dungeons that compare favourably with Mt Moon, let alone various Victory Roads.
    - The Wild Area is fun now, but will get boring fast.
    - No substantive post-game content, which has become an ongoing issue with recent generations.
    - Villain's motivations are ridiculous. The best thing Pokemon could do for its plot problems is go back to basics - eg, baddies who want to steal Pokemon, corporations that want to exploit Pokemon as tools. Anything at all would be better than the plot nonsense we have seen since generation 4.
    - The battle tower is even more meaningless than in previous generations, with no restrictions against legendaries, and no higher tiers (eg, "Super Singles").
    - Severe lack of Kecleon would take this down to a 3, if I was feeling petty.

    I am having a lot of fun in the Wild Area. I am not missing Kecleon nearly as much as I expected I would (although I still want it back asap).    … Expand
  31. Zeolite
    Feb 26, 2020
    0
    Hardly any story. And not much to do ingame or post game. Also you cant catch all pokemon thats fine but you should at least be able to import them from older generations,
  32. srx
    May 2, 2021
    4
    Poor story, decent/good designs, mediocre everything else. Like seriously, the story was literally a straight line from start to finish with no interesting characters. Graphics were underwhelming. 4/10 and would be lower if not for some of the pokemon designs being cool.
  33. DeepDarkRex
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    The worst Pokemon game ever. Don't buy it. It's a recycled beta with the animations of 3ds, isn't the national pokedex, the z moves and the mega evolutions. Dissapointing.
  34. Hansbonnar
    Nov 19, 2019
    0
    You get less than half of the pokemon for nearly twice the price. This game just reeks of laziness...Gamefreak really is the japanese version of Bethesda.
  35. Fernox213
    Feb 26, 2020
    3
    If you like this game very much, I'm OK with you - we're just two people who expect different things from video games.

    If you think there is anything creative, innovative or challenging about this, sorry dude you're 7.
  36. Phillyundead
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Absolutely insulting. Extremely half assed. I could have gotten over it if they hadn't ouyright lied to us. Just disrespectful of Gamefreak. Nintendo has been pulling **** like this for over a decade now and no one cares. Imagine if EA, Bethesda or Activision locked game content behind the purchase of an action figure. Amiibos are what I'm talking about. Don't be surprised if they startAbsolutely insulting. Extremely half assed. I could have gotten over it if they hadn't ouyright lied to us. Just disrespectful of Gamefreak. Nintendo has been pulling **** like this for over a decade now and no one cares. Imagine if EA, Bethesda or Activision locked game content behind the purchase of an action figure. Amiibos are what I'm talking about. Don't be surprised if they start selling pokeballs with better catch rates as MTX.… Expand
  37. ccmoore12
    Nov 22, 2019
    0
    OMG THEY LIED. Enough of that crap. If you're going to have issues with the game, then make them more substantial—the animations are not a problem. No, the biggest problem this game has is the fact that gamefreak did no fully utilize the potential of 3D.

    The gameworld is still almost entirely made up of linear paths interconnecting towns. The feeling of exploration is almost    OMG THEY LIED. Enough of that crap. If you're going to have issues with the game, then make them more substantial—the animations are not a problem. No, the biggest problem this game has is the fact that gamefreak did no fully utilize the potential of 3D.

    The gameworld is still almost entirely made up of linear paths interconnecting towns. The feeling of exploration is almost non-existent. The overworld puzzles of RBY (1st gen games) are long gone and replaced with… nothing. However, there's one major ****tease, and that's called the Wild Area. The Wild Area is a beautifully realized, fully explorable 3D environment. The amount of freedom in this area is beyond refreshing.

    Now if the majority of this games overworld were fully explorable like the Wild Area, that'd be amazing, but alas it's not, which is a major disappointment. It's still a fine game, but it's just another pokemon game in my book and not what a 3D pokemon game could be and should be.    … Expand
  38. edwinborerito
    Nov 19, 2019
    4
    I'm speechless by the amount of lazyness put into these games. And fanboys who justify that mediocrity. This is NOT an indie project, this is a multi billionaire franchise, people! Just buy Digimon Cyber Sleuth The Complete Edition to enjoy a great monster JRPG on the Switch
  39. ShapeOfGaming
    Dec 2, 2019
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The new Pokémon look so different to the previous generations, so that this game doesnt feel like a pokemon game to me. I am SO disappointed of Gamefreak prefering the development of "Town" instead of Pokémon?!?!?!?! The animations have been copied and so the models of the Pokémon, and here GameFreak even lied to the community. The by far biggest reason for me not to buy these games is the missing NationalDex #bringbacknationaldex and the fact that GameFreak lied to the community here. Also the choice of the Pokémon that exist seems so random. I just can highly recommend you the videos of m00sician or Sambzockt, if you are German, or DistantKingdom if you want a proof that the animations were just copied, they explain really great what I mean.
    I also hate the "pop-up" effect of the NPCs.
    Nevertheless I like the design of the new Galar-Region as well as some decisions they made referring to online battle and breeding.    … Expand
  40. Serperion
    Nov 18, 2019
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. There are a lot of things to go over with these games that do things which are good, bad and interesting, no way to simply fit them into a 5000 character review so I'm going to have to summarize sorry.

    Positives
    - Several QoL improvements that although very minor add to the game experience (stuff like being able to buy tons of Pokeballs and getting the Premier Balls without having to explicitly buy them in sets of ten)
    - Definite improvement in terms of the Rival Character personalities
    - Hop is the first good main rival in the series since Hugh in B2W2
    - Raihan the 8th Gym Leader adds some genuine challenge to the game with his Weather orientated team

    Interesting
    - Wild Area presents an interesting concept for implementation of open-world experiences into Pokemon
    - Opal's quiz-element to her Gym makes for an thought provoking addition to battle mechanics for the series in a less gimmicky method
    - Sonia's character arc and thus the Box Legendary Plot is a nice deviation from the standard "Villain wants to take over the world" plot for previous Box Legendaries

    Negatives
    - Bede's character is just dropped for half the game and has a very abrupt heel-face turn at the end
    - While Team Yell are fun non-villain antagonists, the real villains Macro Cosmos lack any presence or build-up coming very abruptly at the end of the game
    - Gym Leaders lack personality or character development which is a significant downgrade from previous generations
    - Excluding the aforementioned Raihan battle most of the game is terribly easy due to the combination of the Exp. Share and characters having a tendency to only use a single type
    - Restrictive nature of the Gym Badges to catching Pokemon that are of a higher level
    - Lack of exploration both in terms of optional locations as well as in the Routes and Dungeons in general, excluding Route 6, Route 8, Glimwood Tangle and some of the Gym Challenges I can't really consider any of this game to actually be maze-like or challenging from a puzzle perspective which is somehow even inferior to Sun/Moon
    - Dynamaxing's functionality is incredibly niche and yet also quite broken, the three turn limit doesn't actually mean much for the game since the tactics always end up being the same for each time Dynamaxing is available
    - The Wild Area although an interesting concept falls flat in execution due to it being boring to explore and lacking methods of exploration, I would compare it to Hyrule Field from Ocarina of Time as both are vast and open and seem to be a way for each game to flex the strength of their systems yet while they are as vast as an ocean they're only as deep as a puddle in terms of content
    - Removal of numerous features from previous games, this is an issue with the series as a whole but that doesn't excuse Sword/Shield from it
    - Post-Game plot suffers from the same issues as the Delta Episode in ORAS and the post-game itself lacks much content in general especially compared to pre-Gen VI generations.

    The most disappointing thing about this game is that there is clear potential here between interesting characters, QoL improvements, interesting new concepts and a solid return to the Gym format but because of the critical errors in; plot, pacing, difficulty, exploration, puzzles and content. I cannot see this game being recommended anything higher than a 5 (6 if you ignore the graphical issues).    … Expand
  41. Xxdaniels751xX
    Feb 11, 2020
    3
    Perhaps in another circumstance I could have supported a downloadable content like the one proposed by Game Freak, but never given the current circumstances. Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield has turned out to be a launch that, despite successful sales, raised a lot of controversy. I don't think there was a worse time than this to announce an expansion pass with these characteristics. ThePerhaps in another circumstance I could have supported a downloadable content like the one proposed by Game Freak, but never given the current circumstances. Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield has turned out to be a launch that, despite successful sales, raised a lot of controversy. I don't think there was a worse time than this to announce an expansion pass with these characteristics. The Pokémon brand has deteriorated during the past 2019 due not only to a video game that does not include all the Pokémon, but to an improved communication by The Pokémon Company.… Expand
  42. Wences
    Feb 23, 2020
    3
    The most dissapponting videogame of 2019. I really waited for it but I feel that people who grew playing Pokémon are not the target audience now.
  43. Impossibro
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    It's quite amazing that for 60$ a 2019 can cut so much content that past games had. Not even just Pokemon, but animations, gameplay and overall content. Definitely one of the worst Pokemon games.
  44. 1mooey
    Feb 9, 2021
    0
    Lazy game developers make it a sub par game! Linear paths and stupid gimmicks!
  45. FishLegs
    Nov 21, 2019
    1
    Watching your favorite game get bogged down by bad gameplay, low quality management, and piss poor animations and graphics hurts a lot. Playing these games since childhood especially stabs you in the throat just because of how much games like these mean to you.
  46. 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
  47. firex
    Nov 20, 2019
    0
    Bajones de FPS, las " raids " con bots cuando no entra nadie, esto hace en muchos casos imposible tirarlas, ya que te ponen pokemons que no pueden ni atacar, no puedes intercambiar directamente con tus amigos, es mediante codigo, muchas veces la raids nisiquiera se cargan, historia MUY corta y muy facil, mecanica de curry innecesaria, sobretodo cuando pones la escusa del tiempo en laBajones de FPS, las " raids " con bots cuando no entra nadie, esto hace en muchos casos imposible tirarlas, ya que te ponen pokemons que no pueden ni atacar, no puedes intercambiar directamente con tus amigos, es mediante codigo, muchas veces la raids nisiquiera se cargan, historia MUY corta y muy facil, mecanica de curry innecesaria, sobretodo cuando pones la escusa del tiempo en la cantidad de pokemons añadidos, muy mala gestion por parte de GameFreak, cada vez nintendo pierde mas calidad es sus productos, de momento creo que el juego no vale el precio de salida, si en algun momento cambian estas cosas, modificare la puntuacion.… Expand
  48. carreracarrera
    Nov 16, 2019
    1
    No puedo mas que darle un 1 debido a la falta de respeto de ofrecer un producto con afan de engaño...ni en graficas, musica, voces, historia, jugabilidad, ni batallas esta en 2019. Parece.de generaciones pasadas. Ademas esto de sacar dos versiones iguales no es mas que un timo de venderte un juego incompleto en dos partes a precio full ambos
  49. Oksanen4
    Feb 7, 2020
    0
    Worst pokemon game ever made. Boring world, NPCs, dull world and new pokemons
  50. dschelske
    Nov 19, 2019
    4
    Good ideas, bad execution. Too easy, dynamax raids boring and easy. Breeding too easy. Pvp is to simple. Game is fun for the first 20 hours, then become repetetive with a lack of depth in the content the game provides.
  51. adversebeast
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Creo que este juego nunca va a evolucionar, así como Mario y Zelda se han reinventado siempre, Pokémon sigue siendo lo mismo cada juego, mecánica estática, tuve la primera game boy, jugué cada generación... que mal camino ha tomado esta franquicia. Pensaba que con el salto a consola grande el juego iba a mejorar, pero no, un juego fácil (cada generación mas fácil y aburrida), ni jugarCreo que este juego nunca va a evolucionar, así como Mario y Zelda se han reinventado siempre, Pokémon sigue siendo lo mismo cada juego, mecánica estática, tuve la primera game boy, jugué cada generación... que mal camino ha tomado esta franquicia. Pensaba que con el salto a consola grande el juego iba a mejorar, pero no, un juego fácil (cada generación mas fácil y aburrida), ni jugar nuzlocke es un desafio. Adiós, me voy a jugar Pokémon Esmeralda.… Expand
  52. Bowsertheboss
    Nov 25, 2019
    4
    Found myself constantly wishing I was battling, as the battle system is the only part of the game that doesn't make me want to vomit. If you are planning to get it just for the pokemon, I suggest waiting until the pokemon prison comes out, so that you can get your collection and then immediately dump the game at your local failing Gamestop, because there is literally nothing to do beyondFound myself constantly wishing I was battling, as the battle system is the only part of the game that doesn't make me want to vomit. If you are planning to get it just for the pokemon, I suggest waiting until the pokemon prison comes out, so that you can get your collection and then immediately dump the game at your local failing Gamestop, because there is literally nothing to do beyond the 17 hour campaign besides sit there and wonder why Martin and his solrock were coded.… Expand
  53. loserkid182
    Mar 5, 2020
    4
    Una lastima que no consigan hacer un juego decente que niños y adultos puedan disfrutar, no necesitan genios guionistas de cine, un equipo de personas competentes serian capaces de con 10 consejos hacer una buena historia, pero por desgracia tenemos otra entrega mas de la franquicia que caerá en el olvido.

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

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

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

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

    En fin, una lastima que al final la gente dejara de comprar estos juegos por la baja calidad que tienen y ya vendrán las lagrimas de la compañía.    … Expand
  54. MusicSpy
    Apr 1, 2021
    1
    diferente de tudo q a gamefreak ja fez no pior sentido, perdeu a essência dos jogos antigos que dão de 1000 a 0 nesse...
  55. Emb34
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Un merecido 0 para devolver un poco de amor que dieron al DS... Aparte aparenta ser un juego mediocre en comparación con sagas de épocas anteriores
  56. Ohmmega
    Nov 21, 2019
    3
    What to say... the game doesnt meet a switch game quality, it’s nothing more than a 3ds game with high resolution texture. The world feels small and empty, the new pkmn are ugly , overall its a very boring game
  57. nochillpatrick
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Very Short game. Animations are bad, glitchy everywhere. The open world is boring when there’s not many NPCs and they just orb magically when you reach them. Be honest this is literally a 3DS unfinished game to the Switch. I don’t want to make curry, it’s dumb.
  58. Raohh
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    No me gusta ver los estadios a cada rato y la pelea contra el campeón es un chiste y la liga un estadio?
  59. Blbstein
    Nov 26, 2019
    1
    Pokedex is terrible! I can't accept non trading trough versions of Pokémon games.
  60. FlyingPiloswine
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    Its Death by a Thousand Cuts in this entry. That is to say, although I do feel the original magic of Pokemon in this entry, it is marred by an endless slog of annoying and downirght insulting design choices. I am going to just cut right to the chase:
    -If your pokemon are even 1 level lower than the wild pokemon, it's catch rate artificially plummets. It will cost you 8-10 pokeballs to    Its Death by a Thousand Cuts in this entry. That is to say, although I do feel the original magic of Pokemon in this entry, it is marred by an endless slog of annoying and downirght insulting design choices. I am going to just cut right to the chase:
    -If your pokemon are even 1 level lower than the wild pokemon, it's catch rate artificially plummets. It will cost you 8-10 pokeballs to catch a level 18 with red HP and a status condition if all your pokemon are level 17. If that same pokemon was level 16, it would take 1-2 pokeballs. This has been confirmed by a few online news outlets, as well as my own experience.
    -The route design is absolute garbage. Its just straight alleyways with some scenery. There is no exploration. Even fan-made games have more complex and interesting level design (*cough* Prism *cough*).
    -EXP Share is impossible to turn off. You can use one pokemon the whole time, and all your pokemon will level up at practically the same rate. There is no incentive to train any of them individually.
    -Dynamax offers no strategic value. Your pokemon becomes so OP that it basically guarantees you 3 KO's on the enemy team. (one for each turn of Dynamax)
    -There is no GTS. The online trading functionality is utterly broken. The only way to trade is to: know someone personally; contact them through call or text; somehow decide which pokemon to trade without being able to share your collections or your intentions in-game;schedule an exact time to trade;share a 4 digit password with eachother, which someone could accidentally use as well because its only 4 digits long.
    -The characters and story is a total bore. I was excited at first because it has some My Hero Academia vibes, but there is no depth. The rival has two lines that he repeats ad nauseum: "I want to be the best, and type matchups."
    -Your rival picks the TYPE DISADVANTAGE POKEMON. Which means you will just steam roll him without even trying. I picked Grass, he picked Water. What an absolute joke.
    -The wild area has multiple forms of "invisible walls". You just literally are not allowed to throw a pokeball at certain levels of pokemon, and you are not allowed to cross a bridge until you have X number of badges.
    -There is no fast travel cutscene. You don't need HMs anymore, but the replacement for "fly" doesn't even have the courtesy of showing you a tiny cutscene like literally every pokemon game since the dawn of time.
    -You are still wearing ridiculous safety gear when you ride a bike even though thousands of games rated E for Everyone never do this.
    -You can't wear hats with certain haristyles, even though there are only about 10 hairstyles in the entire game. I am a game developer. I know how easy and simple this is to do. Its just a mesh variant. Completely asinine how I can't wear a hat with medium length hair.

    There are plenty other small gripes and things that made me sad throughout my time. I played about 10 hours until all of this together made enjoying the game too difficult. Its a dang shame because the world is awesome, and so are most of the pokemon designs. Its just all of these things that come together to show that Gamefreak doesnt really care about players who want even the tiniest fraction of challenge in their experience.    … Expand
  61. Shaydows
    Mar 2, 2020
    0
    Even though this was a rushed mess, I would have given this at most a 2/10. However, Gamefreak lied to the entire fanbase about why it's so bad and not a complete game. That combined with my original score makes this a easy 0/10, I wish it could be lower.
  62. Mikilike
    Nov 22, 2019
    1
    Graficos anticuados, lineal hasta decir basta, solo 400 pokemon, los nuevos pokemon son cutres, es una basura gigante
  63. Swordt
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Very disappointing game for a home console. Pokemon have so much potential, but Gamefreak is overwhelmed. Thats it for me. X and Y were not bad, but then the games are getting worse and worse. For me its only a RIP Off. :(
  64. Ekkonick
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    Bad animations,bad modeling,bad starter evolution,bad legendery pokemon,bad textures and lier gamefreak
  65. 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
  66. DimasC21
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. honest opinion, this game was great if you playing it as an innocent child who love pokemon, but as a fan from red and blue, and i go trough every main line pokemon games
    this game is really disappointing...

    positive about this game

    - Character Design: Although the character developments was shallow, but i really love this game character design, they just feels like came out of the fairytale, and the detail in the design is so good, they look hilarious and Great

    -Customization: okay, you can custom your main character from the early town you reach, with bunch of selections that you can use
    and dont forget now our character have an expressions lol

    Music: the music was badass man, i can play it over an over, and keep feels the excitement


    Now the Negative

    Dynamax & Gigantmax: they feels off, maybe some people will like it, but not me, the design was so-so (except toxitricity, and garbodor) they feels ridiculous, better than a z-move but worse than a mega evolution

    Gameplay: its was too easy, the game give so much confidence to the player, and that bad for me, we got no difficulties in beating this game, and the mintz? exp share? cmon i need more challenge

    pokemon: not about the dexit, but 60% of the pokemon dont feels like a pokemon, okay when i said this, lets talk about what should pokemon look like "pokemon can be cute, or can be scary, or cool but they must look like a monster that you can befriends with" i hear it from some interview, and look at the design, who want to befriend with eternatus?? or orbettle?? or the five ball thing??
    they didnt looj friendly to me...

    Story: Meh, i dont feels like playing pokemon

    4/10
    Great games yet very disappointing

    i hope they can make a greater pokemon games next time    … Expand
  67. newgamessuck
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    As a father who's seen many people make bad life choices based on pop culture advice, I take away one point for the old guy on Route 3 telling kids to "live how you want" I have known a lot of people who would still be here or would be much happier if they hadn't listened to bad advice like that. As a gamer I take away one point for Hop, the most obnoxious game character since Cait Sith.As a father who's seen many people make bad life choices based on pop culture advice, I take away one point for the old guy on Route 3 telling kids to "live how you want" I have known a lot of people who would still be here or would be much happier if they hadn't listened to bad advice like that. As a gamer I take away one point for Hop, the most obnoxious game character since Cait Sith. Minus one point for atrocious and clunky pacing and all around bad storytelling. Minus one point for hideous art-design choices, in particular, the weird, solid yet bouncy gelatin hair. I have to take one more point for hiding the earbuds on a random N.P.C. in Motostoke rather than being allowed to turn off Pokemon voices in options from the beginning. I would like to take a point for choosing the skip movies option not skipping completely unnecessary in game exposition sequences that tell people thing even younger kids could tell through inference but I won't because I don't know if skipping in-game sequences was possible.
    I do like the max raid battles in the wild area, even though I would have liked to have seen another wild area in a different sort of environment I can understand technical limitations preventing that from happening, considering how bad the draw distances are and and how confusing the layout of just one area is(minus another point). While I don't particularly like or even remember any of it after playing(other than one riff from Hop's theme which reminds me strongly of "Kaze Wo Tsukinukete" and Michael Jackson's famous "Black or White") it isn't bad enough to lose any points from me.
    On the good side; in addition to having a nice local co-op endgame, in the form of Max Raid Battles that I can enjoy with my whole family, I do also appreciate the option to change clothes and hairstyles to make our character appearances more tolerable than they could have been.
    I also like the camping and curry making.
    In conclusion (T.L.D.R:):
    The game is too bad to recommend buying or opening, if still unopened, but not so bad that, having opened it, I would trade it in for what little I would get for it versus doing the max raid battles whenever a new Pokemon shows up on the schedule.    … Expand
  68. palhum
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    This is a 3DS game up-scaled, yet it has less content than the 3DS games. It offers way less content than its predecessors, and it's generally a downgrade to everything this franchise ever contained. The game has a short length, a minimum amount of content to do, a dumbed down nonadjustable difficulty, and poor graphics for what the console can do. It cuts off mechanics to dumb down theThis is a 3DS game up-scaled, yet it has less content than the 3DS games. It offers way less content than its predecessors, and it's generally a downgrade to everything this franchise ever contained. The game has a short length, a minimum amount of content to do, a dumbed down nonadjustable difficulty, and poor graphics for what the console can do. It cuts off mechanics to dumb down the already simple game play, offering little to no variety in competitive play.… Expand
  69. JIN2344
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Really? Waiting for 3 years? Nintendo you just blow my mind:( that might be the worst Pokemon series ever.
  70. Speedwagon55
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    Playing Pokemon Sword and Shield was a refreshing experience tbh. I liked the region, the new pokemon, the refreshing arena challenge system, the idea behind the wild area and the new characters. And u also dont even notice the dex being cut. Nonetheless, this doesnt change the fact that this game is a technical MESS. I won't complain about the underwhelming graphics, but running throughPlaying Pokemon Sword and Shield was a refreshing experience tbh. I liked the region, the new pokemon, the refreshing arena challenge system, the idea behind the wild area and the new characters. And u also dont even notice the dex being cut. Nonetheless, this doesnt change the fact that this game is a technical MESS. I won't complain about the underwhelming graphics, but running through the wild areas with stormy or snowy weather feels like watching a power point presentation, thanks to permanent lags and short freezes. Its so bad, that it literally HURTS MY EYES after a while. Permanent input lags and bugs make the controlls really annoying, exspecially after leaving the loading screen or fights. (i tried it out with multiple controllers) Those thing will be exspecially annoying after you finished the game. I really try to keep having fun completing the pokedex, but those technical issues make it impossible. I simply have no motivation to keep searching for the left pokemon, because running through the wild areas for hours is simply a simply unbearable experience. And completing the dex by trading pokemons online is NOT an option. The online functionalitys are partially unuseable, exspecially the like trading funtion. You'll just get matched with a random stranger and have no way of communicating with each other. You cant even express which pokemon you would like to have. You'll simply randomly offer pokemon that aren't even equal in rarity or strenght until someone quits the process. And if you are lucky enough to find someone who is actually willing to trade pokemon that are beyond lvl 5, you'll never be able to trade od fight with him ever again. Simply because you cant add strangers as a friend. There is no option to add friends ingame or to your nintendo account.

    I don't like the hate this game is getting, because its mostly directed towards the #dexit or the graphics and not towards the ACTUAL problems the game has.
    Nonetheless, this game is trash, a disgrace for the whole franchise and an insult towards the fanbase. That's simply my unbiased opinion.    … Expand
  71. rob778899
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Game Freak needs to get their act together. The sheer lack of effort that was inputted into these games is absurdly palpable. Pokemon Sword and Shield in no way amount to the quality expected of a true home console Pokemon game. Us Pokemon fans deserve better than this. I sincerely hope Pokemon Sword and Shield flop, and that Game Freak learns their lesson from this whole debacle. The Pokemon community will not tolerate laziness on behalf of Game Freak. We demand quality. Otherwise, Pokemon may as well have no future.… Expand
  72. ZacharyMe
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    As a lifelong Pokemon fan, I can not say I am fan of where this series is going. The #1 highest grossing multimedia franchise shouldn't have to lie to their consumers based on important details. The cutting of over half of the current pokedex is a big deal, no other way to spin that.
  73. Commiekiller
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Half-assed game with below 3DS graphics, awful in-game campaign, no post-game content, the animations are so bad not even a beginner would commit such gaffes. The national Dex was wrongfully cut in more than half of what it should be in the name of "quality" and "balance", but the game lacks either of them. This deserves a nice 0.
  74. Trey1616
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    Honestly disappointing.
    Here’s to hoping they listen to their community for the next game....though I doubt it.
  75. Caim-Horus
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    Too little game content for $ 60 2019.
    Graphics even for the switch is outdated. Online chips do not work correctly, and in fact battles and raids that are essentially not really needed.
  76. Theco
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    Jogo inacabado, cortaram metade da dex, modelos de Sun and moon, animações horríveis
  77. mightgal
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    This game is completely mediocre. There are a lot of bugs and the price is very high. The good parts do not outweigh the bad parts. You might even have fun with it, but you will still be throwing your money in the trash, and next year GF releases a full version of this game for the same amount. By the way, no cuts you made for this game are justifiable.
  78. rykuo
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    PURE GARBAGE.

    Please HELP POKEMON: DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!

    SHORTEST POKEMON GAME EVER and $60!! DISASTER!!
  79. Franlord1500
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    Tengo el Pokemon Sol y luna en mi repisa y no se porque disfrute mal este, quizá porque ese fue hecho con amor, con pasion, se esforzaron (quiza) en lograr que este videojuego sea uno de mis favoritos, no se porque tengo que tolerar las mentiras, no me importa los recortes (aunque me duelan que existan en una consola como la Switch con SMB Ultimate y Breath of The Wild), a mi me molestaTengo el Pokemon Sol y luna en mi repisa y no se porque disfrute mal este, quizá porque ese fue hecho con amor, con pasion, se esforzaron (quiza) en lograr que este videojuego sea uno de mis favoritos, no se porque tengo que tolerar las mentiras, no me importa los recortes (aunque me duelan que existan en una consola como la Switch con SMB Ultimate y Breath of The Wild), a mi me molesta que se me mienta, que se me diga que este videojuego sea la hostia y se me llame toxico, porque este juego cuesta lo mismo que SMB Ultimate, Mario Odyssey, TLOZ BOTW y Three Houses, videojuegos que fueron hechos con amor… Expand
  80. Maynardewm
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    I’ve never rated a game before, but for this I had to. I couldn’t get past the first 10 minutes the game was so bad. I started to worry with the first step, where my character flew across the screen at lightning speed inside a tiny house. I could seriously move from one side of the house to the other in less than a second. It’s like they set the character run speed for a much much largerI’ve never rated a game before, but for this I had to. I couldn’t get past the first 10 minutes the game was so bad. I started to worry with the first step, where my character flew across the screen at lightning speed inside a tiny house. I could seriously move from one side of the house to the other in less than a second. It’s like they set the character run speed for a much much larger and open environment, and kept it the same for the indoor spaces. The dialogue had so many grammar mistakes and was so childish. I had to keep reading sentences over and over, and often I was just like “this sentence is so poorly worded it doesn’t make any sense”.

    The constant blank loading screens!!! You take three steps and it’s another loading screen. One dialogue scene and another loading screen. What the heck???

    The music is horrendous... I couldn’t believe it. It is like terrible MIDI music from the 90s. The menus and UI are jittery and insanely poorly animated. The characters are poorly animated. What is this mega gigantic Pokémon form? Huh??? Why... how... for what purpose? I literally yelled out loud in laughter when your rival says to the sheep to stop tackling the gate, says “that’s better”, and then the sheep keeps just tackling the gate. “I thought it was done!” I yelled. If within the first ten minutes of the game you present to the user poor graphics, poor character movement, bad grammar, bad music, bugs, half of the time you’re in a loading screen, and a completely nonsensical storyline, all I wanted to do was return it.    … Expand
  81. Aniki-rin
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    This is a unfinished, unpolished game for the full price. Lies were told about removing mechanics and Pokémon for the sake of game quality and yet the final product is worst than the handheld games. Not worth the price or the critic bought reviews.
  82. Lucashomem
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    Lazy design, feels like a port from the 3DS, story is boring and rushed, characters are not charismatic.
  83. DaveyJones2142
    Nov 17, 2019
    4
    Pokemon Sword is not a bad game. There are great moments within the game, and some parts can be very fun. However, the main attraction of the game, catching and battling with Pokemon, is severely lacking in terms of difficulty and aesthetic. The game is laughably easy. I was able to beat the entire game with little struggle, often being several levels above my rival and gym leaders. IPokemon Sword is not a bad game. There are great moments within the game, and some parts can be very fun. However, the main attraction of the game, catching and battling with Pokemon, is severely lacking in terms of difficulty and aesthetic. The game is laughably easy. I was able to beat the entire game with little struggle, often being several levels above my rival and gym leaders. I often rarely used multiple Pokemon, only using them in main battles (gym leaders and such) because they leveled automatically due to the automatic exp share. As a game supposedly designed for long-time fans (of which I count myself as one), this game does not live up to what I came to expect. The animations were extremely disappointing. While the Pokemon themselves were very nice to look at and had very nice shading, the attack and battle animations felt very familiar after playing the 3D games. There were rarely any actual animations, with most moves either being a physical attack animation, a special attack animation, or, to my disappointment, a simple turning of the model accompanied by a paltry move effect. This already felt stale in XY and Sun and Moon, and I had hoped a game on the Switch would be more expressive, especially on such a crucial and major part of the game. The main gimmick, Dynamaxing, is fair enough on its own merits, and it is very entertaining and adds a great effect to the battle. However, when comparing this to Z-moves, and especially Mega-evolution, it seems lacking, especially when most of the Dynamaxing is simply a Pokemon becoming larger than usual. The writing is still sub-par, unsurprising, yet the story became somehow worse than previous titles. Since XY, the main story has became somewhat... odd, but not lacking. All in all, the games were not designed from the ground up to be on the Switch, and would seem much more at home on the 3DS. Framerate issues and simply awful PR by Game Freak has left an extremely bad taste in my mouth, and despite what good moments the game had it is simply not up to standards with what a Pokemon game should, and could, be.… Expand
  84. ji-0
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Delete the most terrible this life story, Pokemon 60 percent compared to a hell of a quality such as graphics and motion, and even motion by a rehash. Pokémon and things that appears unnatural, a terrible design of the new Pokemon.
  85. MQ116
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Cutting the National Dex, so that they could completely remake new models, was a disappointment already. When it turns out that it was all a lie anyway, we are left with bad/reused animations, absolutely identical models, and distrust in a developer who has consistently been lazy and unimaginative for years. That alone, the lie about the models, is enough for me to rate this game asCutting the National Dex, so that they could completely remake new models, was a disappointment already. When it turns out that it was all a lie anyway, we are left with bad/reused animations, absolutely identical models, and distrust in a developer who has consistently been lazy and unimaginative for years. That alone, the lie about the models, is enough for me to rate this game as terribly as I can.
    However, the one thing that I will say about this game in the positive side is that if they hadn't lied, I would've been content with it as it is. The Wild Area is fresh, tho definitely feels buggy and could've looked MUCH better. Online features are so far incredibly limited and also buggy. This game plays like every other pokemon game does, so it's base gameplay is still decent, but for the move to Switch absolutely nothing is improved from previous titles.
    This game is ridiculously easy so far, in that the forced EXP share makes all of your pokemon almost ten lvls higher than any trainer you face, and you will constantly get free items and healed. This would be fine, as SW/SH are supposed to be accessible to the people who played Let's GO and mix traditional gameplay with that, except that this was marketed as a game for longtime fans.

    All in all, if you truly love pokemon, it still plays well, but it is hardly a step forward in any way. I truly hope pokemon games will be given to a competent team who actually care (cuz gamefreak seems to care more about Town, which I think we should boycott). This isn't Nintendo's fault, it is Gamefreak for lying and consistently cutting corners, and I am now sick of it. Animating every single Pokémon for every single move would be possible, but we aren't even asking for that, we are asking for mediocre animations, reused models (that were future-proofed? Why lie?), and more than 48% of the pokemon to be included. There is no story btw, just Gyms and a terrible, boring "rival."    … Expand
  86. pennybazinga911
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    And I thought the 3DS games were the worst in the series...

    You are paying $60 for... 8 hours of gameplay Frame drops NPC Flickering Boring battle gimmick, make your pokemon BIG. (what) Easy peasy lemon squeezy gameplay Majority of the pokedex cut (I'm not mad because my pokemon didn't get in... cause he did.) Short draw distance Low res textures Reused assets from a game    And I thought the 3DS games were the worst in the series...

    You are paying $60 for...
    8 hours of gameplay
    Frame drops
    NPC Flickering
    Boring battle gimmick, make your pokemon BIG. (what)
    Easy peasy lemon squeezy gameplay
    Majority of the pokedex cut (I'm not mad because my pokemon didn't get in... cause he did.)
    Short draw distance
    Low res textures
    Reused assets from a game that's nearly a decade old
    Time stopping ladders
    Save corruption
    Jesus christ is this a boring game

    Buy Gen V instead.    … Expand
  87. pia-chu
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Odio que no tenga la pokedex nacional y que no pueda transferir los pokemones de mis juegos anteriores, muy enojada por eso. Además, gráficas no dignas de la consola, el juego es caro y se acaba en 30 horas. No lo vale, ya no seguiré comprando más juegos en preventa
  88. Shid
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    They lied and used 3DS game models and animations and they didn't even include all models in the game.
    Not to mention the innumerous bugs, horrible graphics and lousy finish.
    Do yourself a favor and don't buy it!
  89. 21emertxerofv
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Worst mainline Pokemon game in terms of story and in-game content. Definitely not worthy of a $60 console price. Do not buy this game. The developers don't deserve the support.
  90. whitesngamne
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    This game sucks. Not a good Pokemon game. Hopefully Gamefreak can learn from all of this backlash for the next mainline game.
  91. thesagegreatv
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    This is VERY EASILY the worst mainline Pokemon game I've ever played. #GameFreakLied
  92. Magicsaber
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    That is not my expectation of what came next after Let's go!
    No freaking surprises!
    Terrible design of Pokemon!
  93. ScottyWired
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    It's a Pokemon game. The core mechanics of it are impossible to mess up. But that's it. It's a Pokemon game.
    It has turned into a yearly release franchise like Call of Duty or FIFA and the amount of content shows.
  94. caching12
    Nov 17, 2019
    1
    Pretty much an up-scaled 3DS Pokemon game where GameFreak painfully rushed because of upper management and the holiday season (ngl, this game is going to make Nintendo/TPC bank $$$). Borrowed the game from a friend and finished it over opening weekend, but this is much worse in terms of gameplay difficulty, quality, depth and post-game material compared to Sun/Moon (which that gen alreadyPretty much an up-scaled 3DS Pokemon game where GameFreak painfully rushed because of upper management and the holiday season (ngl, this game is going to make Nintendo/TPC bank $$$). Borrowed the game from a friend and finished it over opening weekend, but this is much worse in terms of gameplay difficulty, quality, depth and post-game material compared to Sun/Moon (which that gen already took a nosedive in difficulty) and the previous generations we've gotten accustomed with.

    Adding to the fact that developers have been pretty dishonest to the fanbase, it's disheartening to put a product out there where it results with the fanbase noticeably and entirely split. Questionable feature omissions from past generations and things you would expect as a triple-A Nintendo game would deliver got lost en-route. As a fan who has played since Gen 1 and who still believes the Pokemon mainline game can still flourish, I'm going to give them a chance, going to wait and see whether GameFreak listens to fixing a few things for the next update in this gen. If the updated version fixes a majority of the complaints, then I will support and purchase the game.

    But right now, Pokemon can do better and this kind of development work/decision-making should be frowned upon. Not going to support by purchasing this "vanilla/rushed" version of the game. Listen to your fans, both the casual and the hardcore, and that'll take this game for generations to come. SSBU is the prime example where listening to both casual and the hardcore fans can go a long way.    … Expand
  95. DannyDarkness15
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    Really disappointing, a mediocre game with lots of flaws that could be fixed with a little of care but gf didnt even tried.
  96. Eric3742
    Nov 17, 2019
    0
    It's just insulting the treatment that Gamefreak gave to this game, it was supposed to be the game that would set a path to the future pokemon games but what we got was a game that somehow is more mediocre than XY not only by having an efortless work out on it but even cutting off some of the things it got right, as a a pokémon fan I hope they get it irght the next time because this isIt's just insulting the treatment that Gamefreak gave to this game, it was supposed to be the game that would set a path to the future pokemon games but what we got was a game that somehow is more mediocre than XY not only by having an efortless work out on it but even cutting off some of the things it got right, as a a pokémon fan I hope they get it irght the next time because this is everything except what a game developer company should do.… Expand
  97. katttdillehay
    Nov 18, 2019
    1
    Cut pokemon available in previous games. Very glitchy. Bad animations for a jump to a more powerful system. Clear lack of respect for longtime fans. Lots of hand holding. Embarassing.
  98. r1ch4rdbono
    Nov 18, 2019
    4
    Sadly one o the worst games of the franchise. I could spend hours listing what I dislike so i'll point the good aspects that for me are resumed in the new pokemons and cities(but this could be more, they are diferent just by the design, but you found the same thing in every city, nothing unique).
  99. Paladore
    Nov 18, 2019
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Terrible game. Garbage battle animation.. why are we still swiping at the air and not at Pokémon.. garbage dynamax dynamic. Within the first hour I saw 3 reused character models.. game is pretty much on roller coaster tracks.. when are we getting a real Pokémon game. Huge disappointment. Don’t get me started on all the retarded looking new Pokémon and names. Red and blue is the best… Expand
  100. 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
Page:

Awards & Rankings

79
#79 Best Switch Game of 2019
1
#1 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 87 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 87
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 87
  3. Negative: 0 out of 87
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 30, 2020
    80
    Sword & Shield stumble in a few areas and history may not be kind to them, but they're setting up a future that I'm excited to see. [Issue #44 – January/February 2020, p. 73]
  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.
    Read full review
  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Jan 14, 2020
    78
    Pokemon Sword/Shield is uncharacteristically user-friendly: now there’s no need to backtrack half across the world to heal your entire team of pokemon or to get to a particular city, for example. [Issue#242, p.66]
See all critic reviews »