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
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  1. llamaboy
    Feb 3, 2022
    4
    The game is not good. Poor story, poor graphics, poor gameplay. The only reason I don’t rate it lower is because there is still fun to be had in competitive.
  2. Vadu1337
    May 27, 2020
    3
    Worst Mainline Pokemon Game yet! The New Pokemon are uninteresting. The Open World is done really really poor. Story line is boring. Even though I was a former Pokemon Fan I'm definitely gonna skip the Pokemon Games from now on unless many many things change.
  3. Winnd
    Jun 3, 2020
    1
    Not have all pokemons
    This game is a mix of the legend of Zelda ocarina of time with pokémon snap
    Ps2 Graphics
    3d models taken from Nintendo 3ds
  4. pipechile
    Jun 21, 2020
    0
    nintendo masssss de lo mismoooo... necesita aires nuevos... ya me tienen hasta la recha¿¿ con sus pokemin
  5. sabiogamer
    Jun 19, 2020
    0
    Un juego Recortado, eh incompleto, muy mal, le falta mucho por delante, y recortaron el juego solo para cobrar mas. las gráficas son las peores
  6. Lindagamer
    Jun 20, 2020
    0
    El juego esta incompleto, y te lo venden a trozos , las versiones anteriores tienen mas contenido que este.
  7. Alfonso933
    Sep 5, 2022
    2
    terribles gráficos, limitado número de pokedex, mundo abierto poco interesante, innecesario dlc y una vez más, título que separó a varios fans de la franquicia.
  8. Diego271094
    Jun 21, 2020
    0
    Una basura completa juego lineal sin historia sin sorpresas aburrido una basura completa la peor generacion de todas pokemon escupo y estafa
  9. TestingTest123
    Aug 2, 2020
    2
    Lazy and rushed game for $60

    - National Dex was cut due to spending more time on "High Quality Animations". Turns out that animations were severely neutered as we have NPCs and the legendary pokemon walking and turning around on the spot in cut-scenes, battle animations were supremely lacking in anything special and quite alot of them were recycled from previous games, no backgrounds    Lazy and rushed game for $60

    - National Dex was cut due to spending more time on "High Quality Animations". Turns out that animations were severely neutered as we have NPCs and the legendary pokemon walking and turning around on the spot in cut-scenes, battle animations were supremely lacking in anything special and quite alot of them were recycled from previous games, no backgrounds for battles (and the fact the backgrounds look so bad that people actually thought they were terrain effects). In the end, only some of the cut dex was then later slowly drip-fed into the game by the form of its 30$ DLCs on top of a $60 game.

    -Graphics look like a PS2 game. You have already seen the screenshots, I don't need to say more.

    -Pokemon designs are honestly subjective, although I did like some of the new designs.

    - Pokemon isn't known for its story so I don't really have much to say, other than that the characters were presented as quite emotionless due to having no voice acting or anything and the actual plot itself was very predictable.

    -The dynamax gimmick was essentially a more lackluster mega-evolution and z-moves combined, which had very little innovation. Now, less strategy is needed for online play as dynamaxing essentially gives your Pokemon more HP and free stat boosts when using some very high base damage moves (max moves).

    -The game is a corridor walking simulator (not counting the wild area) as you literally just walk forward with the occasional battles in-between. Spikemuth literally has only one pokemon center and one gym.

    -Wild area is a big desolate piece of land to roam around in with nothing to do but catch pokemon, battle some trainers, search for items and raids. Pokemon will literally pop in from nowhere for you to catch. The animations for wild pokemon roaming are just bad or overly simple with examples like wingull and steelix that just float around which seriously ruins the experience.

    -Difficulty is just piss easy when you have an exp share that cannot be turned off. I had to try to avoid some battles just so i can make my time just a little bit more challenging. Overall the most difficult part of pokemon battles is mashing A non stop and trying not to fall asleep from boredom.

    -For $60 there really isn't really much postgame content to dive into other than raids, online battling, another battle tower clone and the legendaries. Fans have been asking for years to bring back the battle frontier or literally anything that is not just a battle tower clone but Gamefreak again is either not listening or too lazy to implement more content for postgame, instead charging 30$ for DLC.

    As someone who had been playing Pokemon games since Crystal, I can say that the series is quickly going downhill when Gamefreak realizes that they can ship out a half finished game and then try to justify that with poor excuses and casuals/consoomers will just blindly buy anything Gamefreak throws out.    … Expand
  10. MrZendom
    Jun 24, 2020
    4
    Well the game is playable, but gamefreak gave a **** about the community and cut a lot of content, just to release in a paid DLC, and no one expectet all 800 pokemon to be obtainable in the base game, but the fact, that they reused EVERY character model and all the animations from sun and moon paired with the fact, that you cant even trade to pokemon up like you could the last 15+ yearsWell the game is playable, but gamefreak gave a **** about the community and cut a lot of content, just to release in a paid DLC, and no one expectet all 800 pokemon to be obtainable in the base game, but the fact, that they reused EVERY character model and all the animations from sun and moon paired with the fact, that you cant even trade to pokemon up like you could the last 15+ years makes it much worse.… Expand
  11. Swampie2
    Jun 24, 2020
    1
    This game is a travesty. If you like Pokemon games, don’t play this one. This game feels like it was slapped together in a week.
  12. 64152110
    Jun 24, 2020
    2
    Many people say they are good games despite all of their many flaws and the dex cut (among various other different cuts), but for me, all of that just ruined the entire Pokémon experience...

    Generally, I don't usually get mad at people when they have an opinion that differs from mine. However, when their opinion affects my lifestyle in a negative way, it's hard not to get mad. I am a    Many people say they are good games despite all of their many flaws and the dex cut (among various other different cuts), but for me, all of that just ruined the entire Pokémon experience...

    Generally, I don't usually get mad at people when they have an opinion that differs from mine. However, when their opinion affects my lifestyle in a negative way, it's hard not to get mad. I am a huge Pokémon fan, and I want the new games to have the quality Pokémon games use to have before... but if fans *do not mind having little innovation in the new games alongside less and less of the legacy content*, Game Freak won't want to put it there; instead, GF will just find this to be an excellent opportunity to explore their consumers.

    But I don't want that, I hate what they are doing, I hate the Sword and Shield cuts, but
    I still love Pokémon.

    Observe, Game Freak has basically already told us that this new "We are cutting random content that was always in the pasts game in this new game. Worry not... maybe (just maybe) we'll include part of it behind a paywall. Also, prepare yourself, because there are probably going to be other cuts in the next new games. What features are we cutting? We can't say" design filosophy is going to be their standard business model from now on.

    Some people apparently do not care for the cuts in gen 8 whatsover, but I do - to the point I refuse to buy new Pokémon games until all the Pokémon species plus the Megas are back. If not enough fans boycott/backlash the games enough, GF won't change a thing. By buying SwSh and making it the fastest selling Nintendo Switch game of all time, people just make the goal to convince Game Freak to put everything back in a single Pokémon game even harder than it already was.

    If things stay like this, people like me will never get what we love - another great Pokémon games, one tat lets us have a great time with all of our favorite Pokémon Friends.    … Expand
  13. adicer01
    Nov 3, 2020
    3
    Animation, Story and Performance a complete disaster. But the music and character models (expcect for hope) are very good. To sum a very disappointed game.
  14. publicitystunt
    Jul 8, 2020
    0
    I’ve played every single Pokémon game and I can inform you that this is the worst game in the franchise. Gamefreak decided to cut more than 55% of all Pokémon to take more of your money with dlc. Second if they were gonna do that at least make the game good, this game is complete trash, when it comes to story and difficulty. I could give this game to a 5 year old and they would be able toI’ve played every single Pokémon game and I can inform you that this is the worst game in the franchise. Gamefreak decided to cut more than 55% of all Pokémon to take more of your money with dlc. Second if they were gonna do that at least make the game good, this game is complete trash, when it comes to story and difficulty. I could give this game to a 5 year old and they would be able to beat it. In Gen 6 to Gen 7 (excluding the Let’s Go games) the exp share was OP but at least you could turn it off, but in these games you don’t have an option. This makes every battle easy as hell. Also the friendly rival is trash, his Pokémon will always be 2-5 levels below yours. Also the lack of post game hurts. It’s like they took X and Y’s lack of difficulty and lack of post game and called it Pokémon Sword and Shield. Lastly they took away not only mega evolutions but also z moves, making the gameplay predictable. It’s safe to say that gamefreak doesn’t care about their fans, they only care about money… Expand
  15. Igortxu
    Aug 6, 2020
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. LA PRIMERA PARTE DE ESTA RESEÑA NO CONTIENE SPOILERS, EN CUANTO HAYA UN MÍNIMO DETALLE SOBRE LA TRAMA HABRÁ UN TEXTO INDICANDO QUE CONTIENE SPOILERS

    Para empezar, me parece una vergüenza que este juego sea el TERCER juego más vendido de la historia de Pokémon, superando casi a POKÉMON ORO Y PLATA. Me da igual que no estén todos los Pokémon y no le deseo el mal a ningún trabajador de Gamefreak pero es que la calidad de este juego respecto a entregas anteriores es pésima.

    -Es un juego de Switch, una consola muy potente la cual ha podido soportar The Witcher 3 y tiene juegos con muy buenos gráficos como Mario Oddyssey o Zelda Breath Of The Wild, sin embargo la segunda entrega de Pokémon en Switch y comienzo de la octava generación visualmente es horrible. No me quiero extenderme mucho aquí pero las texturas son de muy baja calidad, los arboles parecen un chiste, tiene graves problemas de distancia de renderizado en humanos, objetos y sobre todo en Pokémon del área silvestre, esto te corta un montón la experiencia. Los modelos tienen una calidad decente pero los humanos al moverse parecen robots y no solo humanos si no también muchos Pokémon y animaciones de combate. Hay algunas animaciones muy buenas pero en general son o recicladas de 3DS o vagas, por ejemplo que un Pokémon haga cabezazo y su animación sea dar una patada o que un Pokémon haga doble patada y su animación sea un saltito. Esto era justificable debido a las limitaciones de la 3DS y que era una portátil pequeña pero en una consola como la Switch esto es lamentable.

    -Sin duda lo peor de este juego es la narrativa, Pokémon en las últimas generaciones como en la quinta o en la séptima nos había entregado narrativas excelentes, cuyas historias paralelas tenían una cohesión excelente y un desarrollo de personajes excelente como con N en Blanco y Negro o Lyllia en Pokémon Sol y Luna, aquí, como decirlo, la narrativa es una p*** m*****.

    A PARTIR DE AQUÍ HAY SPOILERS

    -El comienzo de la aventura es genial, se siente fresco y algo nuevo que ahora el desafío de los gimnasios se torne deportivo y anual en vez de algo que cualquier entrenador cuando alcanzase la edad de 10 años pudiera hacer, se siente en una región nueva y fresca donde no estamos solos si no que hay más entrenadores que aspiran a ser campeones. Aquí tenemos 3 rivales (Sin contar DLCs) Paul, nuestro amigo de toda la vida que podría haber sido un rival excelente pero su equipo al principio es un chiste (Cuando atrapa al Pokémon legendario tiene un equipo bastante compacto), que le costaba escoger al inicial fuerte al nuestro? No pido que nuestro amigo sea un rival que se crea el p*** amo y que nos insulte etc, solo pido que si lo derrotamos al menos que sea justo y no que en cuanto le ganes te sientas mal por que el pobre es un entrenador pésimo. Su arco es sencillo, su hermano es el campeón, quiere ser igual de fuerte que él, es muy malo, venimos nosotros y otros rivales los cuales le revientan y algunos lo humillan e insultan haciéndole dudar de su sueño y tiene una crisis de identidad en la que decide cambiar su equipo por completo incluido su Pokémon de toda la vida Wooloo al cual lo deja en el PC. Finalmente su hermano se da cuenta de lo que le han hecho y le motiva a seguir con su sueño, le ganamos en la liga, queda fuera del torneo, SE PONE A LLORAR y que es lo primero que hace su Lionel cuando ve que su hermano ha sido descalificado y que su sueño se ha derrumbado? Invitarlo a una cena para celebrar NUESTRA victoria, ole tú. Los otros dos rivales simplemente están desaprovechados, Roxy podría haber sido un buen personaje pero aparece 3 veces en la aventura y no muestran nada más allá de su relación con su hermano o el Team Yell y Berto era un rival muy interesante pero su equipo es un monotype, sencillo y encima cuando parece que íbamos a ver como le pasaba lo mismo que a Paul la líder de gimnasio se lo lleva y la próxima vez que lo vemos ala, ya es el nuevo líder, ha cambiado de equipo y se cuela en la liga en donde nadie le hecha a pesar de estar calificado. Pero sin duda ahora que estamos hablando de la liga me toca hablar de Rose. Rose no es un villano pero si el antagonista y bueno, como decirlo, su motivación es absurda, literalmente quiere destruir Galar solo por que en 1000 años va a haber una crisis que será inevitable, en 1000 años eh, no dice nada de que si no la detienen ya es imparable, simplemente dice que es en 1000 años y como él quiere mucho a Galar por que no desatar un caos en la región en vez de avisarle a las futuras generaciones de lo que se viene y que la tecnología del futuro se encargue de solucionar la crisis? Que va, mejor como este juego no tiene un equipo villano vamos a ser nosotros los que desatemos a Eternatus, el Pokémon más fuerte y destructivo de la historia y vamos a capturarlo para usar su energía a pesar de que pueda destruir la región entera, claro que sí.    … Expand
  16. doproyee
    Nov 15, 2020
    0
    i was so disappointed about Game Freak. they don't deserve such fame for this game.
  17. rssslll
    Dec 19, 2020
    0
    I figured out a way to weaken an over-leveled Onix at the beginning of the game which was pretty exciting but when I tried to catch it the game just said, "No. You're not allowed to do that." Wtf. That's literally the point of Pokemon.
  18. S3go_F
    Nov 5, 2020
    1
    Odio este juego, tiene cosas buenas como la música y ya. Todo lo demás es una decepción enorme, gráficos malisimos incluso para nintendo switch, historia penosa y sin sentido, bugs y muchísimo más. Este juego deberia valer 5€ y no 60€.
  19. FungusPhil
    Nov 27, 2020
    1
    I am very disappointed that Game Freak added paid DLC to an unfinished game. Hopefully they'll try harder for the next games, but as long as Pokemon continues to be the world's highest-grossing franchise, the chance of that happening is very low.
  20. Goblinking5
    Nov 12, 2020
    0
    I can never get past the first GYM out of boredom and I had to push myself to get that far. Too easy, annoying charaters (not all but they keep popping up). Honestly I really wanted it to be good and to like it but I was just very disapointed. Due to the constant exp share I can't do battles without very easily becoming overpowered. Its not good when I have to spend most of my timeI can never get past the first GYM out of boredom and I had to push myself to get that far. Too easy, annoying charaters (not all but they keep popping up). Honestly I really wanted it to be good and to like it but I was just very disapointed. Due to the constant exp share I can't do battles without very easily becoming overpowered. Its not good when I have to spend most of my time avoiding the main gameplay (batttles and catching). While catching pokemon giving you exp is very welcome the ease of becoming overpowered makes it more an issue than a comfort.… Expand
  21. sera1
    Nov 17, 2020
    0
    Pretty small step from the 3DS version, a game for a console that is capable of a game like Zelda BOTW shouldn't just be stamped off with a 3DS-Feeling game. The big cut in the Pokedex is my opinion a big mistake, compared to all the reused skins it just feels lazy. I wouldn't mind the cut if we got some new and awesome sprites for the new Pokemon, but everything here seems pretty reused.Pretty small step from the 3DS version, a game for a console that is capable of a game like Zelda BOTW shouldn't just be stamped off with a 3DS-Feeling game. The big cut in the Pokedex is my opinion a big mistake, compared to all the reused skins it just feels lazy. I wouldn't mind the cut if we got some new and awesome sprites for the new Pokemon, but everything here seems pretty reused. Another big nope from me is the lame world, the potential of the nature zone isn't used fully and the lack of content on the routes is just a disaster, boring walks and some couple of fights aren't what i call a "long time adventure". This feels also approved by the fact that EP sharing is always on, there no need to grind before gym fights. Overall its not a bad game but it has its own fight with many missing content, like who thought its a good idea to cut the GTS and put it on a phone app?? Pokemon Sword just gives me the feeling of "laziness" and "filling the market with a new entry". Gamefreak could and can do better. Also i would prefer a open world game like Borderlands, big free explorable areas. after playing this game, ike i read it in many other reviews i don't think Gamefreak is ready for a open world game like BOTW.… Expand
  22. Animal34all
    Nov 20, 2020
    4
    I loved the older titles in the Pokémon franchise, and I even loved Sun and Moon, but this game takes away the wonder and enjoyment I had with other games. This is Pokémon at its worst, and it is only going downhill at the moment. While other games such as Breath of the Wild has flaws, it makes up for it with its outstanding gameplay. In Sword however, it just feels slow, painfully boring,I loved the older titles in the Pokémon franchise, and I even loved Sun and Moon, but this game takes away the wonder and enjoyment I had with other games. This is Pokémon at its worst, and it is only going downhill at the moment. While other games such as Breath of the Wild has flaws, it makes up for it with its outstanding gameplay. In Sword however, it just feels slow, painfully boring, and the only reason it is a 4 is because of the Crown Tundra, otherwise it is a pretty stale game.… Expand
  23. DergKuzunoha
    Nov 22, 2020
    0
    I played the whole game, DLC and all. Definitely wasn't worth the money. Its a good.. 3DS game. The anims reused despite promises of better anims. The musics still good but the wild area is bland as hell. It tries to do a dq 11 and fails horribly. The 3ds can handle the wild area ngl. Its okay.. but not a good switch game
  24. ThaBiscuit
    Nov 27, 2020
    3
    My first pokemon game was emerald and it was awesome to me that it captured me into the pokemon game, since that I always played the main line games from pokemon and can't help to imagine what would it be like if pokemon game goes to console. Here we are with the new revolutionary example of transition of other major nintendo franchise like mario oddysey, zelda botw, animal crossing newMy first pokemon game was emerald and it was awesome to me that it captured me into the pokemon game, since that I always played the main line games from pokemon and can't help to imagine what would it be like if pokemon game goes to console. Here we are with the new revolutionary example of transition of other major nintendo franchise like mario oddysey, zelda botw, animal crossing new horizon and I can't help to see pokemon sword and shield and be dissapointed. Recycled animation, rushed game, popping npc and pokemon, bad quality of texture and animation, lazy writting, not enough cintent for 60 usd game, cutting corners everywhere, if this is what pokemon main line games future looks like, I think I am done with this franchise for a foreseeable future. Pokemon has the resources to do it right if they wnated to and it was clear that they decided to not focus on the main line games and direct their resources elsewhere, maybe, waht do I know but in my opinion this game is not worth the title of a main line pokemon game and sadly I regretted buying it.… Expand
  25. Logsdond4
    Dec 7, 2020
    1
    I have been a fan of Pokemon since I popped that red cartridge into my neon green gameboy color decades ago. Pokemon Gold and Silver were a revelation; even Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire were alright. But year after year, the formula has become more and more stale. Pokemon Sun and Moon were the first Pokemon games I just couldn't finish. I was hoping for something unique with the first consoleI have been a fan of Pokemon since I popped that red cartridge into my neon green gameboy color decades ago. Pokemon Gold and Silver were a revelation; even Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire were alright. But year after year, the formula has become more and more stale. Pokemon Sun and Moon were the first Pokemon games I just couldn't finish. I was hoping for something unique with the first console games. I was sorely disappointed. I spent a few days playing and have not picked it up since. Nintendo, please revitalize this franchise. Not worth your time, use your 60 dollars to buy Breath of the Wild.… Expand
  26. Nyx108
    Dec 17, 2020
    0
    Terrible game. I was so disappointing. Longtime fan of the series and finally a home console release and it looks, plays and feels like **** It’s boring repetitive and not creative. 0 effort for the game and it breaks my heart to see this
  27. maxreviews
    Dec 21, 2020
    0
    Dynamaxing is a horrible gimmick in which the whole game revolves around so I hope you like it, so much focus on the story when it is lacking and more full of holes than a cheese grater. The animations were better on the DS version and the game is clearly unfinished in multiple ways. If you are a super hardcore fan, own a Nintendo switch, and have 60$ that you really don't like staring atDynamaxing is a horrible gimmick in which the whole game revolves around so I hope you like it, so much focus on the story when it is lacking and more full of holes than a cheese grater. The animations were better on the DS version and the game is clearly unfinished in multiple ways. If you are a super hardcore fan, own a Nintendo switch, and have 60$ that you really don't like staring at I guess I would recommend this but even then I would highly advise against it.

    TL;DR Wait for the next pokemon game, play lets go if you haven't, pick up a handheld or emulate some of the older more complete titles, or just find a different game to invest you're time into.    … Expand
  28. Badgaime
    Dec 23, 2020
    0
    Absolutely no passion for the game worst main game of them all rushed no endgame to easy dont have more to tell just a bad game
  29. SwShDie
    Dec 28, 2020
    0
    When will this game be succeeded?? GameFreak cut corners in order to make the 2019 release date as it seems they release a mainline Pokemon game every year. But lo and behold, this steaming, half ***-ed pile of a game is still the current main game as 2020 is ending. We want a new main Pokemon game in order to leave this one to rot away (and to get the bad taste out of our mouths if GameWhen will this game be succeeded?? GameFreak cut corners in order to make the 2019 release date as it seems they release a mainline Pokemon game every year. But lo and behold, this steaming, half ***-ed pile of a game is still the current main game as 2020 is ending. We want a new main Pokemon game in order to leave this one to rot away (and to get the bad taste out of our mouths if Game Freak doesn't mess up that one too). Even a month with Sword/Shield is far too long.… Expand
  30. makdizzle
    Dec 29, 2020
    3
    What a let down. This game has so much potential but is such a watered down, thoughtless version of what makes Pokemon great. I hope you enjoy nothing but easy gym battles where you match Pokemon weaknesses, because there's virtually nothing else this game has to offer. There are routes you travel and catch Pokemon, the wide open area, but no side quests, few to no interesting rare PokemonWhat a let down. This game has so much potential but is such a watered down, thoughtless version of what makes Pokemon great. I hope you enjoy nothing but easy gym battles where you match Pokemon weaknesses, because there's virtually nothing else this game has to offer. There are routes you travel and catch Pokemon, the wide open area, but no side quests, few to no interesting rare Pokemon to pursue... I'm so bored of it after fighting the 8 gym battles I don't plan on finishing it...and I got this game for free. DO NOT buy this game, use your money elsewhere.… Expand
  31. JohnnyBanana99
    Dec 31, 2020
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Before starting my review, I want to say that I had good expectations for this game before playing it, as these are the first main pokemon games on a home console I was expecting a huge revolution for the saga. Addressing some issues, I think the pokedex cut was necessary, there are now too many pokemon and this was going to happen sooner or later (that doesn't mean GF can lie though). Reusing models is not that big of a deal they are well made... What I’m saying is I don't hate this game because of controversies, I just want to review this game as any other game... and I must say it's a disaster, it doesn't hold up in any department.

    *EXPLORATION: My biggest issue with this game. For me pokemon was always a game about exploring the world around you but in this game and just like in pokemon sun&moon routes feel like corridors except this time it feels more accentuated without any hidden paths nor mistery. Routes' only purpose in this game is to connect point A to point B unlike any other pokemon game where you could find other sub-areas like the power plant in gen 1 or shoal cave in RSE for instances.
    As for the Wild Area, it's completely empty and spreading some pokeballs over the place with useless items doesn't solve the problem, everything mildly interesting in this area is just decoration like the watchtower ruins or the lake of outrage. The wild area is just a flat terrain with the layout of an "old times route" (you can't just call it “route” since now it means corridors) and with the false impression of "open world" they give you by letting the player handle the camera.
    Lastly, towns and cities are full of inaccessible buildings and there’s nothing to do other than buying items or clothes and beating the gyms.

    *COMBAT: So as everyone says the game is easy you already know what I’m going to say: exp share bad, rival gets the weaker starter to yours, Sonia gives you a ton of revives, etc. But i want to focus mainly on dinamax and gigantamax.
    They should have sticked to megaevolution, I already thought that Z moves were a "nuke button" but now with dina/gigantamax you get 3 turns of that. Megaevolutions at least were more circumstantial in the sense that it changed the pokemon's typings, abilities and stats in a way that sometimes it could play against you (for ex: pokemon losing speed, gaining weaknesses due to the typing changing, etc), on the other hand dina/gigantamax is just a power boost that makes you win instantaneously without any negative consequences

    *PLOT: Almost non-existent, and the story is told almost entirely in speech bubbles by Sonia. The plot is driven by a boring villain with stupid motivations.

    *CHARACTERS: I'm unable to care for any of the 3 rivals, Leon doesn't have a personality, Sonia doesn't let me go anywhere without talking for over 3h, Rose is stupid, Oleana's personality is that she's Rose's assistant, the Gym leaders are OK, just OK, and don't get me started on the royalty brothers from the postgame, they are unbearable.

    *ANIMATIONS: I won’t say much but there are only 2 combat animations for each pokemon which doesn't look good for a good part of the moves. Outside of battle you will see a lot of moments where the screen fades to black to avoid animating the characters, there are moments where the screen doesn’t even fade to black and the characters are still not animated.

    *MUSIC: Probably the best thing of this game but still (and this is to my liking), the music sounds cheap, as in it is mainly made by computer and not instruments, in previous games you could already hear orchestrated themes, in Sw&Sh you get very generic rpg library themes.

    *POSTGAME: Lacking, the episode of the royal brothers is poorly written, boring, and even frustrating at some point, once you finish it the only thing left is the battle tower.

    *CONCLUSION: It’s a boring and rushed game without any incentive to ply it other than "it's pokemon", and it's a terrible game, nobody should defend this; it fails as an RPG, as an open world, as a game by home console standards, but as a pokemon game apparently not because people would buy anything that says “pokemon” in the title. This game would still be a bad game even it had come out for the Gamecube, it makes some mistakes that are unforgivable for any game. I could keep highlighting bad aspects of this game all day: performance issues, graphics, character customization, pokemon camp, the curry mechanic which CONTRIBUTES NOTHING TO THE GAME, immersion, etc. There are a lot of issues I haven’t talked about that I despise in this game, but I think these are the most important aspects to highlight.
    I won’t talk about the DLCs because I haven’t played them, but since it must be built from the base this game has established, I doubt making 2 new areas and introducing some pokemon is going to change this game’s problems.
    I give this game 1/10 (and not 0/10) because it has Yamper and I love corgis.    … Expand
  32. Tacobel
    Jan 10, 2021
    0
    So gamefreak where to start.. the game was just not good to start at the graphics Mario Odessey BOTW Animal Crossing did look better the wild area was empty did lagg if you played online and it did look like a Ps1/2 game. The story wasnt much better it just didnt make much sense the ''Evil" team was just garbage and the handholding from your rival is just not what people want. The game hadSo gamefreak where to start.. the game was just not good to start at the graphics Mario Odessey BOTW Animal Crossing did look better the wild area was empty did lagg if you played online and it did look like a Ps1/2 game. The story wasnt much better it just didnt make much sense the ''Evil" team was just garbage and the handholding from your rival is just not what people want. The game had just to less to explore everything was liniare and cave were the most boring ever. Postgame was not wat it needed to be the DLC didnt even got any trainers and is just not worth it. You need to pay for Pokebank Pokemon HOME dlcs and the games. Dynamax is broken not fun raids are super super slow. This were the worst games. There is no difficult even if the game is for kids, kids like game with more difficulty exploring replayability but it just wasnt worth more than playing 1 time. There are much more things that i want to say but i hope they will improve the game into a great game like dragon quest or square enix i dont want to call gamefreak lazy but the game speaks for themselve. I think if they rework raids and the wild area ( More like randomize the world and make some encounters super super rare ) then it would be more fun. Raids en Y-comm need a full rework Y-comm is just worse than gen 7 and 6 it dont work really well. Raids need a maybe more dynamic fast fun to do not a slow pace maybe raids where 30 people join fast paced. There just need more replayabilty in the game Battle Tower wasnt enough more multiplayer battle frontier like or challenge battles. Maybe some puzzle battles. Trainers with strats that are more difficult swapping Pokemons. Trainers with even Legendary Pokemon. Make Bosses and evil team worth fighting it also the rivals. I just want the games to be good it comes from the heart. I just want to be the next games be good and fans are afraid that the games could be worse and worse. Maybe some good events with exclusive events of pokemon forms Spikey ear Pichu for example maybe pokemon with exclusive moves pokemon with hats like pokemon go armored mewtwo. Dynamic events or quest to have more interaction with trainers rivals professor like other RPG. I hope gamefreak improve the games in the next year the is so much potential in the games but i want them to make the best Pokemon game in years… Expand
  33. Mccheese
    Jan 13, 2021
    0
    Another year passes, and so another pokemon game releases; and with every year, it gets more and more shallow. Game Freak starts to realize that their games will make infinite amounts of money even if they put little to no heart into them
    SW/SH was a lie, the 3DS models, the horrible mechanics, and the concept of the wild area the game revolves around were badly executed in the games;    Another year passes, and so another pokemon game releases; and with every year, it gets more and more shallow. Game Freak starts to realize that their games will make infinite amounts of money even if they put little to no heart into them
    SW/SH was a lie, the 3DS models, the horrible mechanics, and the concept of the wild area the game revolves around were badly executed in the games; leaving me with a barren, soulless field of ocarina of time trees and pokemon appearing only when I am very close to them.

    Another massive problem this game has is the garbage online experience.
    The removal of the GTS, is in itself, proof of GFreak's laziness when trying to improve the game experience; but the lack of polishing with the game's main online experience (wild area's small, bland fields) was tangible. The immense frame rate drop whenever I connected to the internet made playing online to "camp" with a friend unbearable (one of the few mechanics that the SWSH team actually tried to polish).

    Game-wise SW/SH is bland, unimaginative, and outright insulting:
    the constant handholding, the low difficulty, and the unremovable XP share made these games, in particular, the easiest of the franchise.
    Dynamax is probably the worst mechanic ever written:
    competitively it has been banned from SWSH's own online competitions at a certain point, and the removal of other mechanics and other pokemon (which I'll get to in a bit) made the competitive landscape barren and filled with power creep, making it extremely boring.

    Apart from the low difficulty and unimaginative mechanics, SW/SH were the first games to date that removed the national dex, cutting it in half and locking it behind a paywall.
    Not only that, they removed other various features like mega evolutions, Z moves and some moves, all to "improve animations" (which, of course, did not happen in the end).

    I won't expand on how much hatred I feel for these games, as I'd probably surpass the character limit, but I'll end this review with a question:

    would you spend the equivalent of 1 copy of Zelda Breath of The wild for this pretentious, insulting, untruthful 3DS garbage?
    make the right choice and don't give money to the ones that don't deserve it.    … Expand
  34. JaidenReviews
    Jan 13, 2021
    2
    For literally the highest grossing media franchise in the world, this game is absolutely a shallow disappoint of a product. The Pokémon franchise is something that is dear to me, so it is disheartening to see them continue to churn out annual/biannual releases that are clearly rushed and uninspired. They have the potential, the resources, and the ability to make a fantastic game, and yetFor literally the highest grossing media franchise in the world, this game is absolutely a shallow disappoint of a product. The Pokémon franchise is something that is dear to me, so it is disheartening to see them continue to churn out annual/biannual releases that are clearly rushed and uninspired. They have the potential, the resources, and the ability to make a fantastic game, and yet this is what they produce? They need to hire more devs, give the games more time in the oven, and release something on the scale that Pokemon should be at, instead of these cash grab nightmares.

    Art and graphics: There are a handful of stunning locations that don't even look that great in actual gameplay. The rest of the game either looks generic/uninspired or downright unappealing (i.e. the entire wild area). There are a few great looking cinematic cutscenes and that's as close as the game gets to looking good. The towns/cities are scaled weirdly and have little to explore, making them and the world feel fake and unengaging (which has generally been a problem in the games ever since they went 3D). The battle animations range from fantastic to laughably terrible. Most are reused from past games, which doesn't help their case. Additionally, despite being on a more powerful console, the Pokemon still don't scale properly in battle (despite them being able to accomplish that in Pokemon Stadium over 20 years ago), so it again looks fake and unengaging. Any cutscene that isn't pre-rendered looks terrible, especially when the NPCs turn in place, which they didn't bother to animate properly at all. Overworld animations, especially for a lot of roaming Pokemon, aren't great, and sometimes they just straight up cut to black to avoid animating a scene. There's so much more I could say here but I feel like I'm rambling.

    Story: It was just so bad and dull and uninspired. A lot of people say Pokemon games don't need a good story, but I disagree. I like to be engaged with a storyline, and I feel like the Pokemon world has SO many stories to tell. But this game doesn't do that. It sidelines you into pointless cutscenes at every turn (especially early in the game where you can't go ten seconds without Hop interrupting you), while barely using cutscenes to develop the plot. And the plot that's there is just so basic and unenjoyable. There's no plot twists (that aren't completely obvious), all of the characters aren't compelling and/or are underutilized, and it generally just feels like a story written for a 2 year old. Even in the few instances when cool things are supposed to happen in the story, they literally don't let you see it or engage with it and only tell you about it afterward. Even compared to past Pokemon stories (which have mostly been fairly simple, with a few exceptions), this story is just SO noticeably worse. And that's not even touching on the absolute disaster that is the post-game story.

    Design: Linear. This game is so linear. Like, there are no off-the-beaten path areas, there's no choice in where to go, the entire map is a STRAIGHT LINE. They literally arbitrarily block you from going to the next area until you clear the gym/necessary story segment at EVERY city. Like, arbitrary boundaries are justifiable sometimes, but this game has reduced exploration to nothingness, which is the OPPOSITE of what the franchise should be going towards. It makes the world feel tiny and fake and ruins any charm that it may have had. Pokemon is not a franchise that can still be compelling in a small linear world with little to explore, especially considering the lackluster story. The "World of Pokemon" is kind of the whole concept behind the franchise. It has always relied on the scope and potential of the world to stay compelling. But this game does not feel like the "World of Pokemon," there is no wonder or wow factor, the world just feels empty and tiny.

    Wild Area: This area is basically supposed to address the critique I made above. It's a huge, completely free roam area with tons of Pokemon and locales and it is the worst part of the game. The Wild Area, first of all, has no significance to the story or the rest of the game. You can ignore it completely and just run through it in 5 minutes to the next location and it won't effect the rest of the experience at all. Second of all, it's generic and ugly. There's nothing visually interesting about the wild area, and it's noticeably uglier than the rest of the game. The different weather areas just hard cut into one another and it lags a lot. But worst of all, it's just empty. There's nothing interesting to explore nor secrets to find. There's nothing of value in the wild area. This are was meant to capitalize on the "World of Pokemon," and yet even the Pokemon often feel out of place in the environments and only sparsely populate the area.

    There's more I can talk about, like how the EXP share can't be turned off, but I've hit the character limit. This game is SHALLOW    … Expand
  35. moonlightbef
    Jan 31, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I personally enjoyed sword and shield. But that does not mean I can't say that these games are objectively bad. Because they are. The problem is that I and a lot of others have become addicted to this franchise and can not escape it. Leading into every fan buying every new game over and over, despite the game decreasing in quality. First, Sword and Shield are very rushed games and there are a lot of examples to illustrate this. For example, despite how gorgeous all the towns look, they are lacking content wise. There is not really anything else to do in the towns besides battling the gym leader, earning your badge and move on to the next town. Part of the reasons why I like pokemon so much, immersing myself in each different region and learning how a pokemon world would look like with human elements, is gone with this. Another example is how lacking the story is, if you even can call it a story at all. In previous games, besides becoming the champion, you had the quest of saving the world from a evil team that is up to no good. In sword and shield this part of the story is completely disregarded. Team Yell does not play a part in how the story progresses. Every time you encounter team yell all you do is battle the same two grunts, with the same two pokemon in the same empty background as always.
    The worst thing of all they mushed the evil team hideout/evil team leader in a gym challenge. So instead of getting a proper story with an evil team hideout that you have to clear all the way up to the boss, we just get a gym challenge. How the game serves its story becomes even more insulting to the player when they literally don't let you experience events that happen, but simply tell you it happend, by showing pictures or dialogue. So what happens in the end? They mash all the story in the last section of the game. The only bit of real storytelling begins at the moment you battle the champion. Chairman Rose reveals himself as the 'bad guy' by spouting some gibberish about how the world is going to end in 1000 years if we don't gather dynamax energy or something. Then you progress in what is maybe the worst couple of minutes of pokemon 'gameplay' that the franchise has ever seen.
    You have to battle the same grunt and his TWO POKEMON 4 times in order to get access to the hideout of chairman Rose, because every time you beat him he runs away to another spot on the square. After reaching rose tower you step into an elevator. there you battle the same two grunts, with two pokemon, over and over and over, and during all this, in what is suppose to be a moment of tension , as youre breaking in the chairmans hideout, the most upbeat silly tune plays during all the battles. you can't make this sh*t up: (its called "storming rose tower" look it up on youtube). So after this 'exciting' elevator ride you finally reach the top of the tower where Rose is hiding. You battle her crazy assistant and then all the plot of the game is explained to you with, yes you guessed it: PICTURES! 10/10 well done game freak. I went to all that mindless padding just for the story to be explained through some pictures! Youre immediately teleported back to the city after this btw. The thing is guys, i have legit a hundred more bad things to say about this game, but i realized this site won't let me type more than 5000 characters, so ill have to end it on this note. I also think other people have already talked about other flaws of the game.    … Expand
  36. danishdhanshe2
    Jan 8, 2022
    1
    It's been a year since the release. I just remembered how I rushed through the game to know what happens canonicaly in the game and never replayed it again like previous versions. Because the base game of sword and shield was so bad I was not motivated towards purchasing the dlc's of it as well. A game I wouldn't recommend to a friend.
  37. katiekat1389
    Oct 2, 2022
    0
    They cut out my favorite pokemon and slapped him behind a pay wall months later.

    The backgrounds in the battles never matched where you were in the overworld, Pokemon phasing in and out of existence depending on if you're close enough for them to render in, the "wild area" was just disappointing, and some of the routes/cities just look bad (textures, rendering, animation, etc)    They cut out my favorite pokemon and slapped him behind a pay wall months later.

    The backgrounds in the battles never matched where you were in the overworld, Pokemon phasing in and out of existence depending on if you're close enough for them to render in, the "wild area" was just disappointing, and some of the routes/cities just look bad (textures, rendering, animation, etc)

    GameFreak really dropped the ball with this one    … Expand
  38. reneatseyes
    Feb 13, 2022
    3
    The game is alright. Fundamentally it’s a pokémon game, however the new pokémon feep like re-textured old ones, and the wild area makes it horrendously easy to find and catch previously rare and over-powered pokemon very early. Good enough i suppose, but easy battles, uninteresting characters and pokemon make a somewhat boring game. Battle animation is also horrendous. It’s a shame.
  39. Whoopin
    Feb 27, 2022
    1
    Shameless cash grab from a billion-dollar franchise.
    Game is a one and done within 3-4 hours. Nothing really feels fleshed out, neither fights nor the amount of Pokemon added to the game, nor does the story which to be fair nobody cares for in Pokemon games. The character optimization this game delivers is poor at best with very limited choices to optimization, again we are talking about    Shameless cash grab from a billion-dollar franchise.
    Game is a one and done within 3-4 hours. Nothing really feels fleshed out, neither fights nor the amount of Pokemon added to the game, nor does the story which to be fair nobody cares for in Pokemon games. The character optimization this game delivers is poor at best with very limited choices to optimization, again we are talking about a billion-dollar franchise. The "open world" is a straight line the new feature gigantamax was a boring oversize with very limited special pokemon models. Low effort and even the shiny remain a simple switch of color pallets that you are supposed to grind for hours. Not my kinda game and really disappointed that game freak is shamelessly reselling the same boring concept for over 20 years now.
    To top it all off, they added paid dlc to this, though I can't report about the dl's contentc because I refuse to spend a single cent until they stop producing these shameless cash grabs.    … Expand
  40. Darkred401
    Mar 31, 2022
    4
    Gamefreak cant decide if they want pokemon to be a high end or casual experience and this is the ultimate result, it isnt bad as a casual budget experience however they expect you to pay a full $60 and pressure you to double dip with shield for a complete experience. Reusing the old Pokémon models isn't necessarily bad however gamefreak lied about them not reusing models and didn't includeGamefreak cant decide if they want pokemon to be a high end or casual experience and this is the ultimate result, it isnt bad as a casual budget experience however they expect you to pay a full $60 and pressure you to double dip with shield for a complete experience. Reusing the old Pokémon models isn't necessarily bad however gamefreak lied about them not reusing models and didn't include all of them to pressure you to buy other games, the dlc, and the premium plan for home. If they used new models the lack of a national dex would be completely acceptable… Expand
  41. Colyn97X
    Apr 18, 2022
    0
    This is by far, the most underwhelming Pokemon game ever made. From lack of content, bugs, laziness, performance, immersion, lies from the devs reused content, I did not have any fun or any intrest in the game, in over 60 hours of gameplay. The worst part has to be the fact that all Pokemons are not even here, even tho the one in the game are… direct rips from the USUM game ??? To sell DLCThis is by far, the most underwhelming Pokemon game ever made. From lack of content, bugs, laziness, performance, immersion, lies from the devs reused content, I did not have any fun or any intrest in the game, in over 60 hours of gameplay. The worst part has to be the fact that all Pokemons are not even here, even tho the one in the game are… direct rips from the USUM game ??? To sell DLC where all Pokemons are not there ???… Expand
  42. Jofe
    Apr 30, 2022
    1
    The worst entry in the Pokemon series. The scenario does not exist, the characters are all mediocre. The roads are just straight lines without any level-design. The game is immeasurably ugly, though being pretty wouldn't change much at this point. Galar is the most insipid region in the series.
  43. Nestrooo
    May 5, 2022
    4
    the graphics are bad, the story is bad, dynamax is bad. this game is bad and i STILL spent 1000 hours on it
  44. RocketSimp
    Jun 1, 2022
    1
    Dynamax and group raids were a gem that I wish would stay in the series and the designs were nice in this game but it just feels so empty and lackluster. The 'legendaries' they added are boring and the fact you need to buy DLC for the extra Pokémon because 'there were too many to make' despite Pokémon sun and moon managing just fine is a joke and shows where the company is at with their games
  45. KittyB
    May 18, 2022
    0
    I got this game thinkin “oh this should last me a while for the pandemic” 4 1/2 days later finished the game… wow… just wow.. to easy… frustrated the Den pokemons only works if ur Online (I don’t play to go online)

    This game was to water down to play & I didn’t like the feel of it…
  46. Kenoct
    Jun 8, 2022
    0
    It's a shame for the first entry on switch to be this lazy. The game looks like a wii game in 2019.
  47. DUELMARIO
    Aug 27, 2022
    0
    sin duda alguna aunque no lo he jugado he visto videos walkthrought y me aburrio, las animaciones como tambien los rivales dejan mucho que desear, tiene una historia terribles, misiones repetitivas? no he visto pero si es que tiene seran super aburridas, la iluminación deja mucho que desear, muchos dedos en su día se fueron hacia a the pokemon company y nintendo pero no fue del todo susin duda alguna aunque no lo he jugado he visto videos walkthrought y me aburrio, las animaciones como tambien los rivales dejan mucho que desear, tiene una historia terribles, misiones repetitivas? no he visto pero si es que tiene seran super aburridas, la iluminación deja mucho que desear, muchos dedos en su día se fueron hacia a the pokemon company y nintendo pero no fue del todo su culpa ya este juego salio y fue atacado brutalmente culpando a the pokemon company y nintendo creyendo que el juego estaba falto de pokemones y que no estaban porque querian que se mejorara la calidad, pero eso no lo dijo the pokemon company y nintendo, pues resulta que este desastroso juego fue culpa de game freak, utilizar un motor grafico que sinceramente parece de nintendo 3ds, mentir con las animaciones porque ya sabemos como se ven los juegos, la culpa de the pokemon company y nintendo es en venderlo a precio completo pero la culpa la tiene mas game freak y el juego aun a día de hoy 3 años despues de su lanzamiento sigue siendo horrible, el dlc parece que vieron el juego de bungie destiny como ejemplo a seguir y si fue una estafa de game freak les salio bien la jugada ahora muchos han perdido la confianza en game freak y el futuro de pokemon no se ve nada prometedor ahora con pokemon escarlata y purpura no parece buena señal juego que para colmo va a ser desarrollado con el mismo motor grafico como legends arceus, rivales mediocres etc, quiza esta sea la ultima oportunidad de la franquicia con escarltata y purpura y si falla los fans no van a querer comprarlo asique el odio actual a game freak esta justificado pero las amenzas de muerte no lo estan para nada asique toxicos bajenle un poco porfavor.… Expand
  48. ElVosso
    Jul 31, 2022
    0
    huge fan of the first 6 gens, but these games are so boring, monotone and suuuuuuuuper easy. I played through the entire game with one pokemon and I didnt need to use even one healing item. I know this is a game for children, but I can hardly imagine that even children can have fun with this. just play the older games, they are better.

    sorry for the bad english :)
  49. TKSwiz
    Aug 21, 2022
    3
    Pokémon Sword is not a completely horrible game, it is just a very underwhelming and lifeless. By far the biggest problem in Sword and Shield is that the main part of the gameplay, Pokémon battles, are utterly boring and mindless 99% of the time in this game. For a while, Pokémon games have struggled with ridiculously bad trainer battle design leading to games full of monotonous battles,Pokémon Sword is not a completely horrible game, it is just a very underwhelming and lifeless. By far the biggest problem in Sword and Shield is that the main part of the gameplay, Pokémon battles, are utterly boring and mindless 99% of the time in this game. For a while, Pokémon games have struggled with ridiculously bad trainer battle design leading to games full of monotonous battles, but Sword and Shield might be the worst offender yet. Even without abusing items, over-leveling, or trying to get the best Pokémon possible, the game was so hilariously easy that it was a chore to play most of the time. The only thing that feels somewhat worthwhile gameplay-wise is catching Pokémon and maybe the final few battles which were at least kind of challenging. The wild area was a nice addition that is especially exciting early in the game when you can run into over-leveled and daunting Pokémon, but even it gets stale after a while as you progress in the game. As for presentation and story, Sword and Shield is quite lacking. The story is awful and I never cared about anything happening in it for a single second. All the story dialogue felt like a waste of time and something I wished I could skip entirely. The “twist villain” is incredibly obvious and the postgame villains are terrible and border on being so bad it’s good. The graphics are straight up bad for a modern game. It’s not the ugliest game I’ve ever seen,
    especially compared to older games, but by modern standards it is pitiful that basically the biggest video game franchise ever is so far behind the curve. The music is some of the most underwhelming and forgettable of the series, there are some decent tracks but nothing that even comes close to the level of consistent highs found in earlier generations. Overall, Sword and Shield was a massive dud in the evermore disappointing Pokemon series, and proved this series desperately needed some radical changes.    … Expand
  50. kuehnau
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Pokemon Sword and Shield has been here for a bit now and after playing the game, I ask myself how much of a sequel to the legendary franchise are they?

    People are already well too aware that the National Pokedex has been slashed and a number of people's favorite and iconic Pokemon are now missing. This is a even larger slap to the face once news broke that the reasons GameFreak gave    Pokemon Sword and Shield has been here for a bit now and after playing the game, I ask myself how much of a sequel to the legendary franchise are they?

    People are already well too aware that the National Pokedex has been slashed and a number of people's favorite and iconic Pokemon are now missing.

    This is a even larger slap to the face once news broke that the reasons GameFreak gave weren't truthful. Not only are the in models based off of the 3DS version and the battle animations are lack luster, but hackers are quickly proving that it takes little effort putting back in the Pokemon that have been cut. The game feels sluggish in places with framerates sometimes dipping as low as mid 20s. Which is incredibly obvious when the game is locked in at 30FPS. I don't have any specific issues with games that do this as they still manage to look perfectly fine, in my personal opinion. The larger issue for me is, locking a game in at 30FPS shouldn't also include slow downs as if this were a video game from the early 1990s when this was all too common.

    The world in Pokemon Sword and Shield feels mostly empty and while some would like to argue the newest games are "open world", it's painfully apparent that the game is a mostly on rails experience, with small spots here and there where the developers finally allow a bit of free roaming, but once you pass that area, it's right back to the on rails experience.

    Not only that, but some of the games cities are just completely wasted. While each town could have offered unique clothing options and styles there like three cities that offer anything. Making it even more frustrating, some of the towns are literally nothing more than a direct line to a gym. Hop is really annoying, I think he makes my game experience worse with how he shoe horns players in to situations and makes all sorts of demands they have no right in making. The game is worse because of Hop. I hope future games will allow players to completely forego "rivals" if they so chose so. I get that having a rival is a trope in Anime and Video Game culture, but at the very least provide a better one than Hop if GameFreak is going to press the issue.

    There is now a hard cap on what level pokemon you can capture. And while previous games simply had Pokemon that misbehaved in battle, now the game simply refuses to allow the option to even consider trying to catch them. This is incredibly frustrating to me. I was surprised to see they removed global trading, like really? Wonder Trade is still in, but it's disappointing that they haven't put in any sort of better measurements in place to ensure jerks aren't screwing over other players with low level junk. Add to the fact you need to be subscribed to Nintendo's garbage paid online membership program and it's almost completely worthless in my opinion.

    This may be a incredibly biased complaint but I am also very unhappy with a number of the new Pokemon designs. On top of that, while some of them I absolutely love (Like Yamper), their evolved forms are hot garbage, forcing me to choose between either evolving my Pokemon and then dealing with the vile evolution forms, or keeping their better first forms, but putting my Pokemon at a slight disadvantage.

    Gigantamax as a feature isn't worthwhile in any capacity. I'll be very surprised if they continue to use this with any future games. I would have much more preferred that they had just dumped that feature and spent more time on polishing all of the other problems this game has. Even Mega Evolutions would have been better than Gigantamax.

    Team Yell is just some of the worst antagonists in the game. They look and act stupid. At least Team Rocket was run by what was essentially a Mafia boss. I don't know what GameFreak was thinking with Team Yell, but they are some of the dumbest enemies I have ever seen.

    The character customization options just plain sucks. There's a small handful of hair styles that do not change from city to city. Some cities have clothes shops where the styles change, but not nearly enough to be acceptable. Further, why is GameFreak forcing only skinny pants in the game? There's so many character models and designs of clothing. How hard would it have been to add in varying clothing options? As it is your character always looks like some dang hipster because all of their pants options are almost skin tight. I want baggy pants, just let me have that! Jesus..

    At this point if you are still even reading this review, I am sure you have realized I have a lot of complaints about Sword and Shield. But the fact of the matter is, they are still enjoyable games, it just feels rushed and crapped out instead of taking the time, focus and consideration that this franchise deserves.

    It's important for fans of these games to let GameFreak and Nintendo know that a lot of mistakes were made with this latest release, but I also wouldn't discourage anyone from trying the games.    … Expand
  51. darksideangel
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    feels like i’m watching my childhood get murdered infront of my eyes Gamefreak, stop developing your series with increasingly low effort, checked out cash grabs. Care about your fans. this isn’t cute anymore
  52. Allacar
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Very disappointing game. Over half the pokemon were cut. Over 140 pokemon moves removed. Reused 3ds models and mediocre graphics. The first main line pokemon game for switch needed more development time and polish.
  53. Daxx7
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. No puedo creer que GF la haya cagado de esta manera, una franquicia que nos acompaña desde pequeños, que es parte de nuestra niñez, diseño de los pokemon muy feos en su mayoría, también quitaron la pokedex, lleno de bugs, gráficos feos, una historia sin lógica y muchas cosas negativas que hacen de este juego el peor de todos los juegos de pokemon y del año.… Expand
  54. gah_amaral
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is by far the worst pokemon game yet , and I am so sad about this. Despite all the critics before the launch, I was really hyped for this game, but the lack of polish, the hand-holding "story", the uninspired map design, the bad cutscenes, the easy to catch legendaries ( eternatus is auto-catch and zamazenta you can use masterball), and so many more problems killed the game for me. We need to let GF knows that we are not OK with this.… Expand
  55. Alexalaparrilla
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This game is such Cash grab These games are honestly insulting and I will be surprised if people will still be playing them in a week, much less in a month.
    They are such a blatant rushed cashgrab, and the postgame is just an empty pile of fake promises
  56. AgusRemastered
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    La verdad que es una decepción esta generación, habiendo terminado el juego debo decir que me costó llegar hasta el final porque encontré al juego demasiado sencillo, la baja curva de dificultad, el sistema de leveleo parecido al de Lets Go, la baja competitividad del modo historia y, obviamente la reducida Pokédex, hacen a este juego verdaderamente insufrible y poco amigable con losLa verdad que es una decepción esta generación, habiendo terminado el juego debo decir que me costó llegar hasta el final porque encontré al juego demasiado sencillo, la baja curva de dificultad, el sistema de leveleo parecido al de Lets Go, la baja competitividad del modo historia y, obviamente la reducida Pokédex, hacen a este juego verdaderamente insufrible y poco amigable con los jugadores veteranos de Pokémon, si en un momento me llegué a ilusionar con esta generación, una vez pasado el juego me terminé de convencer de que esta entrega es un paso en falso para la saga, siendo incluso peor que la sexta y séptima generación.… Expand
  57. DrRedMD
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    The most disappointing Pokemon game ever trying to coast by on its formula alone. It's hard to say that this even meets the minimum expectations for a Pokemon game, because it very much does not. When generation 2 came out, this franchise was pushing the envelope of what could be done on the system. Now, it's a shadow of its former self; A Switch game that looks like it should be on theThe most disappointing Pokemon game ever trying to coast by on its formula alone. It's hard to say that this even meets the minimum expectations for a Pokemon game, because it very much does not. When generation 2 came out, this franchise was pushing the envelope of what could be done on the system. Now, it's a shadow of its former self; A Switch game that looks like it should be on the N64.

    The problems aren't restricted to graphics alone (although they are very much terrible). Delivering less than 100 new Pokemon, the game has the audacity to cut more than half of the full roster of Pokemon, with the developer lying that it was due to making new models. It was quickly discovered they were just importing the old ones, so if they're willing to lie about something like this, why trust them about anything else? They're cutting moves as well, despite reusing animations.

    The new feature called Dynamax is just a 3 turn size boost to your Pokemon. Nothing too exciting, but don't worry, they kept the excitement somewhat by cutting ALL Mega Pokemon and Z-moves. Gone are all those original designs, and instead we now have Gigantimax which is the same thing as Megaevolutions, but only for 3 turns, and this time given to Pokemon like Charizard again.

    I refuse to give this game what would be considered a minimal score of 3 or whatever. This game is an incredible disappointment, and the worst instalment of the Pokemon franchise. Unless something changes with the next iteration, don't feel the need to buy this, or future games.    … Expand
  58. Askwer
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Weak game, has terrible graphics for the present day. Besides having cut of content.
  59. shoUlo
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This is not Pokemon
    Unfinished product for a whole 60$. Don't waste your time and hopes for it.
  60. MoldyMarshmello
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Too many problems, too many regressions from the previous entries in the franchise. Not worth 60$ or even a cent.

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

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

    Overall, do not buy this game if you want Pokemon to improve as a franchise    … Expand
  61. Vatar
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Game Freak lied to the fanbase, claiming that Dexit, removing half the existing pokemons and preventing them from being used in the future was for the better good. But everything is a downgrade, the graphics are downright shameful, seemingly on the tier of a 2000 gamecube's game; content were massively cut out, featuring no post-game content aside from a random trainer battle tower. TheGame Freak lied to the fanbase, claiming that Dexit, removing half the existing pokemons and preventing them from being used in the future was for the better good. But everything is a downgrade, the graphics are downright shameful, seemingly on the tier of a 2000 gamecube's game; content were massively cut out, featuring no post-game content aside from a random trainer battle tower. The engine is a buggy mess, constant pop-ins and rendering issues.

    Currently as of 15/11/2019, one common bug is a crash while saving causing the wipe of ALL game saves on your switch, not only pokemon but all games.

    Please consider where your money will go to if you buy the game, to a greedy and lazy corporate, abusing their very loyal fanbase to the bones.    … Expand
  62. JettFueled
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Pokemon Sword is a game that gets carried up the ladder with higher scores due to it's merit as a Pokemon game. However, as this stands by itself, it is a very very empty and rushed game. As is tradition with Gamefreak, for some reason, they decide to randomly remove features, (A Full Pokedex, Reusable TMs, now called TRs, togglable EXP share) and add new ones no one asked for (LikePokemon Sword is a game that gets carried up the ladder with higher scores due to it's merit as a Pokemon game. However, as this stands by itself, it is a very very empty and rushed game. As is tradition with Gamefreak, for some reason, they decide to randomly remove features, (A Full Pokedex, Reusable TMs, now called TRs, togglable EXP share) and add new ones no one asked for (Like Pokemon Camp, Galarian forms, Wild Area, Dynamaxing) instead of listening to fan feedback and determining which mechanics work and which ones don't (You know, like a normal Game developer, especially an INDIE company would do? Or what a, well rounded, smart, LARGE game company would do?) because they can afford to. It's the largest grossing franchise in the world in merchandising, period.

    Pros
    I must say, they did add some great GREAT features in this game that I do enjoy. The character customization is phenomenal. The customization options for your character are where the previous games, Sun & Moon and X&Y, fell a little short. Good job to whoever worked on this.
    The accessibility of Pokemon in the wild is higher than ever. You can build a completely new team and raise them relatively quickly in the blink of an eye.
    The graphics of the character models look good. The shading was a little weird to me at first, but it's a nice touch.
    The New Pokemon. Once again, I was a little iffy about some of them at first, but I like most of them. Just like every generation, there are good ones, and there are bad ones, but overall, the designs are alright. Some of the bad designs however, look almost fake, so I'll have to rate the designs a 5/10 at best. Yamper, Scorbunny, Sobble, Grookey, Dottler, Eiscue, and a handful of others look like an clay project from a 2nd grader who doesn't enjoy arts & crafts, but Wooloo, Corviknight, and Nickit are amazing, and I'm glad they exist.

    And now, the Cons.
    Holy sweet jesus, this list is far too long. The Story is almost non existent, yet the cutscenes are just as abhorrent as they were in Sun & Moon. The absolute railroading and bland, uninspiring routes are a total yawn to navigate. Optional routes are extremely obvious, and downright optional to the point at which you look at it and ask yourself "Do they think I'm that stupid?" Yoshi's Crafted World respects my intelligence as a collectathon more than this by actually requiring at least SOME thought to try new things, and that game is legitimately made for a much younger audience.

    The Big One. The Dex Cut. #BringBackNationalDex as it's called on Twitter.
    I get it. There's a lot of Pokemon. We can't keep them all in the game forever. But they cut MORE THAN HALF of the entire National Dex, and that completely destroys the point of the Wild Area and the Pokemon accessibility if trainers can not catch and raise their favorites. They did the cut to balance the meta? Why not just set rules for your online battles and allow those Pokemon to still exist in the game?
    ..........No seriously. I want an answer to that. Are you stupid? I can't have Spheal and Shinx, but Stunky and Klink are A-OK? It makes no sense. Add limitations to the online battles, NOT THE FULL GAME!! You have two versions of the same game! The least you could do is add one half to Sword, and the other half to Shield! That would least raise incentive to tra-
    ......What's that?
    THERE'S NO GTS?? You can't trade online?? Excuse me???? Nope. -9/10 choice right here.

    Next, Recycled assets.
    Yes, all games recycle assets at some point, true. However, this is the Nintendo Switch. It is capable of handling better attack animations than the crappy default ones you've used for years. The TRs and Items that you pick up have what look like terribly compressed JPEGs of the classic pixelated icons used in FR/LG. Really? You couldn't scale up how your items are displayed? That's pathetic.

    #GameFreakLied
    The Public Relations for this game are the absolute worst. Gamefreak has always kept most of what they work on a secret, which was acceptable, because it garnered hype for the games.
    But this time around, they kept secrets because THEY KNEW how badly they messed up.
    Their excuse for cutting the Dex was said to be because they had to redo all of the models from scratch. There is evidence that that is not the case.

    The Wild Area
    What a boring waste of space. You're basically on a glorified Golf Course doing 1 of 3 things: Catching Pokemon, Picking up Items, or doing Dynamax Raids.
    Where are the elevation changes? Where are the trainers? Where are the obstacles? Why bother using the Wild Area when you can just run right through? Why is it there if it can be skipped entirely?

    I could go on forever, but just use your head. Would there have been a backlash this large if there were no problems with these games?

    Save your money. Watch a Youtube tutorial instead.    … Expand
  63. JeanyWong
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    They cut Pokemons, they cut moves, they cut frame rate, they cut graphics, they should of just cut the whole game, lol why bother, really disappointed
  64. darksoulz31
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Game is straight up trash, nothing like paying 60 quid for something that looks the same as the previous 2 generations but has even worse mechanics and an incomplete Pokedex
  65. Gandara2000
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Este juego tiene falta de demasiado contenido, no tiene pokedex nacional, megaevoluciones, movimientos z, las animaciones y modelos de los pokemon son reciclados, escenarios con graficas mediocres, la historia queda en segundo plano, su post game es demasiado corto, y se desaprovechan las unicas novedades como el area silvestre.
  66. Kophice
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Really bad game!! Game Freak is literally making fun of his fans! They think you're going to buy it whatever the crap they make! Don't buy this game! If you want to try yourself, wait a friend who already has the game finish it and borrow from him. Just not give give your money to Game Freak, they don't deserve it! At least they don't deserve for this game! But im warning you, it's not good!
  67. Honestchap
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    When you look at games like battle revolution and even pokemon stadium, the animations are superior to sword and shield. Game feels empty and recycled.
  68. IhSeVe
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    I love the Pokémon series, Pokémon Black 2 is one of my favourite games of all time, but this game have so many problems (animations, grafichs, dex cut, and more importantly the lies said by Game Freak).
    It's a soulless game, done with no efforts by Game Freak.

    P.S Sorry for the probable broken english.
  69. pico901
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This game is simply not worth 60 not even half the price! GameFreak (Masuda) Lied to us for cutting 60% of the pokedex for ''better animations'' all we seen is some dynamax animations and RE USED battle animations! this is just a quick crashgrab! out of town the graphics are simply laughable unfinished and unpolished! The trees look worse then most ps2 games the rock textures wow! theThis game is simply not worth 60 not even half the price! GameFreak (Masuda) Lied to us for cutting 60% of the pokedex for ''better animations'' all we seen is some dynamax animations and RE USED battle animations! this is just a quick crashgrab! out of town the graphics are simply laughable unfinished and unpolished! The trees look worse then most ps2 games the rock textures wow! the rocktextures! there have been massive framerate issues in dynamax battles i saw a player fishing in a town area then when the battle came the background changed to the wild area! Inhouse battles get backgrounds simply not matching with the enviroment you just battle in a void. The gym missions are so easy to the point you can just walk to the other side without anything stopping you! You get so many potions revives and all that bullcrap u find it everywhere! the game is dumbed down so much with so many missing features. This game is unfinished and unpolished even pokemon lets go pika and evee are better polished and even looking better in alot of aspects. Gamefreak failed and i will never be buying anything pokemon related ever again! ''improved animations'' when my raboot pokemon used the move headbut and it kicked instead of actually headbutting this game is the fallout 76 of pokemon and the casual fanboys will never admit this shame on you! shame on gamefreak and shame on Nintendo for letting this come out! It's all about money these days and you can clearly see it TAKE THIS L gamefreak!… Expand
  70. Edsonfloresl
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    It sucks, everything feels wrong. Gamefreak lied to all the fanbase. Everything is incomplete
  71. Xd36
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This is the rating it deserves, this was supposed to be the best Pokémon game in the entire series...and it is the worst **** you could play on your switch
  72. ReyGar97
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    A lot of errors and awful animations, really reaaaaaaally short, and when you finish the main story there is almost nothing else to do
  73. idw3i
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    If only they spent more time on creating the game and less on cutting corners. Reused assets, a lack of coherent animations and a whole lot of disappointment.
  74. hisoka-kun
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Pokemon Sword and Shield are the biggest disappointment I have encountered in video games. For decades we have dreamed of a mainline Pokemon game on a home console. Leading to the release of the "Let's Go" games, we were ensured that Sword and Shield would be games for true longtime fans. Excitement rose as people prepared for a Pokemon game on Switch with updated models and animations.Pokemon Sword and Shield are the biggest disappointment I have encountered in video games. For decades we have dreamed of a mainline Pokemon game on a home console. Leading to the release of the "Let's Go" games, we were ensured that Sword and Shield would be games for true longtime fans. Excitement rose as people prepared for a Pokemon game on Switch with updated models and animations. And most importantly, people eagerly awaited to opportunity to play with all their favorite Pokemon on a new system.

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

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

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

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

    Overall, this game is mediocre at best and insulting at worst. Here was a chance to make a refreshing and revolutionary Pokemon game as a tribute to veteran fans, after the release of the "Let's Go" games that were targeted for a more casual audience. Instead, it is a Switch game with fewer Pokemon than Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (released in 2006 on the DS), and inferior graphics/animations than Pokemon Battle Revolution (released in 2007 on the Wii). Do yourself a favor and skip this generation of Pokemon games -- not only to save yourself disappointment, but also to send a message to Game Freak and the Pokemon Company that yearly, low-effort entries with cut content will no longer yield the cash crop to which they are accustomed.    … Expand
  75. samuelglynnr
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    When considering that this is a Pokémon game for a Nintendo home console, it’s an embarrassment. Pokémon Coliseum and Pokémon Gale of Darkness for GameCube, two games which came out 15 years ago, are on par graphically and have better animations and scaling AND a better story (with a similar amount of Pokémon!). Literally look up an image of Wailord in Pokemon Coliseum and then look upWhen considering that this is a Pokémon game for a Nintendo home console, it’s an embarrassment. Pokémon Coliseum and Pokémon Gale of Darkness for GameCube, two games which came out 15 years ago, are on par graphically and have better animations and scaling AND a better story (with a similar amount of Pokémon!). Literally look up an image of Wailord in Pokemon Coliseum and then look up Wailord in Pokémon Sword / Shield and feast your eyes on the ineptitude.… Expand
  76. sgillan
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    While there are many issues with Pokemon sword and shield, I don't think they warrant giving the game a 1 out of 10. The missing Pokemon, the cut moves, the lack of post game content, the general laziness, and the developer's arrogant attitude are all working together to make sure this game deserves a 0 out of 10. I am a huge fan of previous Pokemon games, and I don't want to see theWhile there are many issues with Pokemon sword and shield, I don't think they warrant giving the game a 1 out of 10. The missing Pokemon, the cut moves, the lack of post game content, the general laziness, and the developer's arrogant attitude are all working together to make sure this game deserves a 0 out of 10. I am a huge fan of previous Pokemon games, and I don't want to see the series fail. I cannot overlook the sloppiness present in this game, however. In the end, it's the worst game ever made.… Expand
  77. Jeod69
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Shame, pure shame

    Ps1 Grafics and poor animations, even de 2d pixel grafics are better. Half pokedex Difficult is a complete joke.. Bugs Short game No postgame This game is complete disaster, only a blind fan can defend Gamefreak One of the biggest videogame companies, with millions and millions, buy new developers gamefreak, do something great, expend time and love, not this    Shame, pure shame

    Ps1 Grafics and poor animations, even de 2d pixel grafics are better.
    Half pokedex
    Difficult is a complete joke..
    Bugs
    Short game
    No postgame

    This game is complete disaster, only a blind fan can defend Gamefreak
    One of the biggest videogame companies, with millions and millions, buy new developers gamefreak, do something great, expend time and love, not this trash.

    Should have graffics like Zelda, should have an adult story, should have all pokemons, live world, all movements, and of course the difficult, my god, if you want, yo can finish the game with 0 loses, is ridiculous, the only way to make it mord hard is play with your own rules, for example, if a pokemon goes down, that pokemon is dead for me, is the only way, without this, the difficult is a joke..    … Expand
  78. Jefflocher
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    I like all the new Pokemon and the new mega evolut.... I mean giantmax forms. Honest to Arceus, I like the new Pokemon. Sword and Shield are rushed bare bones games. Pokemon should be held to the same standards as all of Nintendo's other franchises. Take your time and evolve the franchise. Just like Zelda. Just like Mario. Just like Fire Emblem. Just like Smash. Exactly like every otherI like all the new Pokemon and the new mega evolut.... I mean giantmax forms. Honest to Arceus, I like the new Pokemon. Sword and Shield are rushed bare bones games. Pokemon should be held to the same standards as all of Nintendo's other franchises. Take your time and evolve the franchise. Just like Zelda. Just like Mario. Just like Fire Emblem. Just like Smash. Exactly like every other Nintendo IP.… Expand
  79. Lairo
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    No solo es un juego incompleto y aburrido con gráficos mal hechos y animaciones ultra genericas si no que, además, esta lleno de bugs que incluso pueden borrar todos tus datos de guardado de otros juegos. Muy mal juego estoy muy decepcionado de gamefreak
  80. thezora99
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Why should I care writing an original review for this game if I can just copy paste what others wrote. I would do the same thing Gamefreak did with this entry. They recycled everything from their 3ds games and told us they need to cut the pokemon because of too much work. After Bethestas lies, this is the biggest s*** that has happened in the gaming industry this year.
  81. zanttila
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    First off, and the most important, there is no end game. You complete the sub par story and you get about 1 hour of running around and the battle tower.

    Second, I would give the graphics a 3/10 at best. The inner cities are nice, but everything outside the city seems bland. Wide open areas with strange textured trees and rocks. I understand Pokemon has never had the greatest graphics,    First off, and the most important, there is no end game. You complete the sub par story and you get about 1 hour of running around and the battle tower.

    Second, I would give the graphics a 3/10 at best. The inner cities are nice, but everything outside the city seems bland. Wide open areas with strange textured trees and rocks. I understand Pokemon has never had the greatest graphics, but when you are pulling trees and rocks from Zelda Ocarina of Time, something isn't right. I sure hope they patch in better animation and graphics and fix the buggy glitches. Pokemon uncontrollably spinning in circles, popping in and out of nowhere, freezing when you talk or go up ladders, etc.

    Some of the new Pokemon are cool, but at the cost of 400+ Pokemon isn't worth it to me. Also finding out that Game Freak lied about starting the models from scratch. They used the same models from x and y with HD textures and shading.

    I would give the game a 0 but some of the Pokemon look cool and it's a Pokemon game.

    Overall, this game is rushed. They needed the game out on a deadline because of the TCG and anime release. Pokemon games may never reach it's full potential at this rate.    … Expand
  82. Parkai
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Game feels horrendously unfinished. The starter designs are some of the worst I’ve ever seen. The story of the game feels rushed and inconclusive, with strange plot holes that should have been noticed during development. The animations (barring a few signature moves) are horrific eyesores, with models spinning aimlessly and few dedicated animations. More than half of the Pokémon roster isGame feels horrendously unfinished. The starter designs are some of the worst I’ve ever seen. The story of the game feels rushed and inconclusive, with strange plot holes that should have been noticed during development. The animations (barring a few signature moves) are horrific eyesores, with models spinning aimlessly and few dedicated animations. More than half of the Pokémon roster is also unavailable to be transferred, which has been a series staple since the early 2000’s. However, the trainer customization and card system are very fun, and the QOL changes are excellent as well. I really wanted to enjoy this game, but it left me with an awful taste in my mouth.… Expand
  83. Enima
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    This is everything wrong with the series, a terrible direction that began with X/Y. Graphics of a ps2 tie-in, anonymous soundtrack, awful pokémon design, no content, dex cut in half, more than 100 moves removed...I could sadly keep going, listing a lot of other terrible problems. As a long time fan, this is more than depressing. Disgraceful. How can a sane person give this "game" more thanThis is everything wrong with the series, a terrible direction that began with X/Y. Graphics of a ps2 tie-in, anonymous soundtrack, awful pokémon design, no content, dex cut in half, more than 100 moves removed...I could sadly keep going, listing a lot of other terrible problems. As a long time fan, this is more than depressing. Disgraceful. How can a sane person give this "game" more than 5 is beyond my comprehension. Even the most passionate fan, like me, should see through all the lies and incompetency that filled Pokémon Sword & Shield. i hope that something like this never happens again, this is the Chernobyl of video games. At this point I would prefer if the series ceased to exist, being allowed to finally rest and putting an end to those last episodes that completely and irremediably ruined it forever. R.I.P Pokémon (1996 - 2013)… Expand
  84. Gdlr777
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    After several recent disappointing installments, Pokémon continues on its downhill trajectory with Sword and Shield. With a small batch of new pokemon, with some being admittingly quite charming most come off as strange or weirdly typed. I am sure alot of people will be disappointed when they realize they cannot transfer most of their old pokemon, especially after paying a fee to keep themAfter several recent disappointing installments, Pokémon continues on its downhill trajectory with Sword and Shield. With a small batch of new pokemon, with some being admittingly quite charming most come off as strange or weirdly typed. I am sure alot of people will be disappointed when they realize they cannot transfer most of their old pokemon, especially after paying a fee to keep them in storage. The game is no where near as entertaining as games that are even half the price and it definitely stands apart from the rest of the switch lineup and not in a good way. No matter how you put it, pokemon sword and shield is not a good game, not even a good pokemon game for that matter. Game freak should be held to the same standards as any AAA game developer, especially when they have the power of the largest franchise in history to back them up.… Expand
  85. Kingrock433
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Climbing Ladders freezes the overworld. Dexit, removed moves like Hidden Power and Pursuit ruining the competitive Metagame. This is the most disappointing Pokemon game ever and hopefully will hold this title as I hope this game flops to send a message that the effort put into this game is unacceptable
  86. Criminon
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    As a fan of 20 years, I don't feel like they are even remotely making this game for me anymore. I can't support this game.
  87. The_Shabo
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    It killed my 128gb certified nintendo micro sd, this game is not even finished. Have you heard of the fallout 76 initiave? Well, it seems that Game Freak had
  88. gramefreaklied
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    This game, bruh is a scam, the new director of the game for game freak should be fired, such a liar man, this game was not even a bruh moment
  89. Dayrunner24
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    This is a bad excuse for a Pokemon game. I have played every generation, and this one takes 3 steps back for every 1 step forward. Here are the complaints summed up: 50% price increase, 500 Pokemon cut, over 100 moves cut, lazy and old animations (after this was the excuse for cutting 'Mon), no post game, Pop-in, hallway routes, game can be beaten in about 20 hours on average. Even if itThis is a bad excuse for a Pokemon game. I have played every generation, and this one takes 3 steps back for every 1 step forward. Here are the complaints summed up: 50% price increase, 500 Pokemon cut, over 100 moves cut, lazy and old animations (after this was the excuse for cutting 'Mon), no post game, Pop-in, hallway routes, game can be beaten in about 20 hours on average. Even if it takes someone 40 hours, that's too short for what we were promised. This game was supposed to redefine Pokemon, but it took too many steps back. We 'crybabies' that positive reviewers speak of should have a voice as well.… Expand
  90. Trainercool
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    These games are way too easy. Finished way too quickly and overall not worth $60. The poor quality, consistent hand-holding and lack of freedom is just unacceptable from the largest franchise in the world. Pokémon had a very very very rough jump to home console, here’s to hoping future games in the franchise learn from this.
  91. legofan3225
    Nov 17, 2019
    3
    While it sticks to the general pokemon formula, I found this game very disappointing. The baseline of catching and battling pokemon will always be fun; however, this game as a whole didn't feel worth the $60 price tag. I am ok with the dex cut, but seeing the honestly god awful graphics firsthand really put into perspective what an absolute rip off this game was. It carried over designWhile it sticks to the general pokemon formula, I found this game very disappointing. The baseline of catching and battling pokemon will always be fun; however, this game as a whole didn't feel worth the $60 price tag. I am ok with the dex cut, but seeing the honestly god awful graphics firsthand really put into perspective what an absolute rip off this game was. It carried over design flaws from the 3DS (basic animations, pop in, etc) that are completely unacceptable on a next gen console and a game that is $20 more than it's predecessors. I should have trusted my gut and never bought this game firsthand in the first place. I wish I had waited to buy after a price drop to about $40, which feels much more appropriate for this game.… Expand
  92. Innominat
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    When the Pokemon team lied us telling they put only 400 pokemon because they made new and improved 3D models and animations and you see is only a pseudo-HD port of Sun/Moon you now you deserve this. This is not review bombing, is a lot of people that believed in you and you betrayed them. Screw Masuda, screw Tajiri, and screw Pokemon franchise forever.
  93. tasd00dles
    Dec 3, 2019
    0
    Sword and Shield... Where to even start? These games, while recognizable as Pokemon games, get rid of much of what made the series great. It's pretty well known that Gamefreak cut most of the dex. At first, they claimed it was to give every Pokemon a unique animation and improve the graphics but that's demonstrably false. These are the worst graphics on any first party switch game. To addSword and Shield... Where to even start? These games, while recognizable as Pokemon games, get rid of much of what made the series great. It's pretty well known that Gamefreak cut most of the dex. At first, they claimed it was to give every Pokemon a unique animation and improve the graphics but that's demonstrably false. These are the worst graphics on any first party switch game. To add insult to injury, they claimed that the Switch cannot handle every single Pokemon model. Yeah... Okay. The 3DS, which is a much weaker system, could handle 800+ Pokemon and the Switch can't handle that and some? As if. And why is Dynamax even a thing? We had Megas and we had Z Moves. We didn't need a ridiculous new gimmick. And Galarian forms? Really? We had Alolan forms because Alola was based on a combination of Hawaii and the Galapagos. They were a reference to Darwin's finches! Why the heck do we have Galarian forms. I happily returned my copy after buying it from Walmart for $10 off. I hope this game flops so game freak realizes they can't keep giving us trash.… Expand
  94. blackabe111
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    10/10 minus one point for every of my favorite Pokemon missing from the game. I have to many favorite Pokemon
  95. DanielCarrilho
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Is this really the next generation Pokemon game for the Nintendo Switch? It's somehow worse than the 3DS Pokemon games, lacking all the features with nothing to make up for it.
  96. abaddon169
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    1-. Gotta Catch em alln't
    2-. Cortar la dex a la mitad para crear modelos desde 0 y terminar usando los mismos modelos con animaciones y modelados de escenario bastante pobres
  97. spudarcade123
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Don't take IGN seriously: their review is biased and purchased (by TPC). Here's the truth about Pokemon Sword and Shield.

    Pokemon Sword and Shield are the first ever Mainline games in the franchise to settle down on the Switch. Set in a reimagining of Britain, they fail to create the spark of wonder and excitement of generations 1 to 6, including Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire of    Don't take IGN seriously: their review is biased and purchased (by TPC). Here's the truth about Pokemon Sword and Shield.

    Pokemon Sword and Shield are the first ever Mainline games in the franchise to settle down on the Switch. Set in a reimagining of Britain, they fail to create the spark of wonder and excitement of generations 1 to 6, including Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire of Generation 7 (Sun and Moon are garbage so they are not worthy of mention).

    Pokemon Sword and Shield's world is:

    -Ugly, in every single way.
    -Devoid of the beauty and life that OR/AS brought to us.
    -Lazy.
    -Lacking in innovation and imaginiation.
    -A throwback to Sun and Moon's ugly environment and backdrops for battle scenes.
    -The worst for player character animations I have ever seen in any Pokemon game (and that's saying a lot since the isometric days of Pokemon were beyond basic).
    -Home to a boring gimmick in 'Dynamaxing'.
    -Plagued by a ridiculously LAUGHABLE UI, my God. It is so basic, that it looks like a High School student's first assessable graphic design project that failed.
    -A shameless cash grab.
    -Lacking in passion, which is a damn shame as Gamefreak loved their IP (Pre-Sun and Moon).
    -Too *easy*. A massive mistake was eliminating the Generation 2 EXP Share in favor of leveling the entire party at once, resulting in overpowering early gym leaders and gimping EV spreads and progression for Pokemon who evolve based on specific stats (Lookin at you, Tyrogue).
    -Empty, now, because of the stupid decision to remove the national dex.
    -Lacking in lower level end-game and post-game content, and content in general (the post-game is a total joke)

    As a Pokemon fan who has been raised on the franchise since my childhood days, I am mortified, disgusted and outraged by the filthy greed of TPC, the lack of spine and backbone in Gamefreak and the mutilation of our beloved franchise. Pokemon is dead.

    Tl;dr: Play OR/AS and SS/HG instead of this pathetic excuse for a mainline Pokemon game.    … Expand
  98. Gears2011
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    No lo compres, mira analisis pero obviamente no de youtuber que solo hablan de nintendo, si no de aquel que habla de todo, porque este juego realmente es una verdadera verguenza, que infantil son los perssonajes , con unicas animaciones toscas y torpes , parecen que ni siquiera en el diseño se han esforzado, No lo compren.
  99. Noraver
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    What can I say that hasn’t already been said?
    Nintendo/The Pokémon Company need to give the rights to another company. Game Freak has grown lazy, complacent, and puts no effort or passion into these games anymore.
    It definitely is sad when a game 20 years old on N64 (Pokémon Stadium 2), or a game on the Wii (Pokémon Battle Revolution) have more character/personality in their Pokémon    What can I say that hasn’t already been said?
    Nintendo/The Pokémon Company need to give the rights to another company. Game Freak has grown lazy, complacent, and puts no effort or passion into these games anymore.
    It definitely is sad when a game 20 years old on N64 (Pokémon Stadium 2), or a game on the Wii (Pokémon Battle Revolution) have more character/personality in their Pokémon than the mainline games do.
    Not to mention, better animations.
    This is no longer the company/game line I used to know and love.
    The highest grossing franchise in the world, and they can't produce a decent game on the newest console hardware?
    Pathetic, absurd, and genuinely disappointing.

    #GameFreakLied    … Expand
  100. papode
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Unfortunately, these games are a huge step back in all that the recent games have brought as innovations to the old formula from Pokémon Red/Blue. Again striking their more-than-loyal fanbase, Game Freak shows its laziness and lack of concern for what pleases players the most. The disappointments are numerous: recycled animations, bad Pokémon designs and worst of all, the fact that in this game the ubiquitous motto “gotta catch’em all” never made less sense: only 400 of the more than 800 Pokémon are not coded in the games archives. This all boils down to a mediocre iteration that deserves some criticism.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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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.
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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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