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. DjNinjaRj
    May 4, 2021
    0
    Bad Game I Do Not Like Tghis Game, It Poopy HEAD This Is Not A Real Pokemon Game
  2. A-Kratonos
    May 3, 2021
    10
    Un juego sumamente infravalorado y cuyas virtudes han sido invisibilizadas por un fandom furioso, únicamente por razones externas al juego, así como completamente ajenas a su calidad.
    Galar es una región simplemente hermosa que representa una cara idealizada del Reino Unido, los personajes son carismáticos, la historia es bastante decente, y el combate es divino en cada sentido.
    El    Un juego sumamente infravalorado y cuyas virtudes han sido invisibilizadas por un fandom furioso, únicamente por razones externas al juego, así como completamente ajenas a su calidad.
    Galar es una región simplemente hermosa que representa una cara idealizada del Reino Unido, los personajes son carismáticos, la historia es bastante decente, y el combate es divino en cada sentido.

    El Gigamax es la mecánica estrella del juego y donde se cimenta todo combate importante, y la forma de representar las batallas de liga como estadios de futbol es un gran acierto.
    Musicalmente es precioso, artísticamente ni se diga. Y explorar las llanuras de Galar para atrapar pokémon es de las mejores experiencias que he tenido con un juego de la saga principal.    … Expand
  3. HappySylveon
    May 2, 2021
    10
    My favorite Pokemon game up to date, I did play the previous games but this one is just better overall, it's not amazing, just good, and the best main series Pokemon game in terms of features and the core aspect of pokemon gameplay, so it gets a 10/10.
    The only thing missing is a good story, but I'll let that slide as the DLC provides that, which you should totally get, especially crown tundra.
  4. srx
    May 2, 2021
    4
    Poor story, decent/good designs, mediocre everything else. Like seriously, the story was literally a straight line from start to finish with no interesting characters. Graphics were underwhelming. 4/10 and would be lower if not for some of the pokemon designs being cool.
  5. piscesperiod
    Apr 30, 2021
    8
    Pokemon sword is not a fantastic game, it's a good game. A few new gimmicks, but the essence of the franchise remains untouched - catch and trade pokemon. The story is not all that impressive, but the fights are fun and the music is nice too.
  6. tomashrabek
    Apr 26, 2021
    6
    Last time I've played Pokémon was in the Gold/Silver era and I have only the best memories of it. I've been really surprised to see that the game hasn't changed a bit since those times. Yes, you can cook some curries and "dynamax" your Pokémon in some battles, but nevertheless, it's still the same game with the same principles. Which is pleasant to some extent, but becomes tiring andLast time I've played Pokémon was in the Gold/Silver era and I have only the best memories of it. I've been really surprised to see that the game hasn't changed a bit since those times. Yes, you can cook some curries and "dynamax" your Pokémon in some battles, but nevertheless, it's still the same game with the same principles. Which is pleasant to some extent, but becomes tiring and repetitive very fast. I don't care about the "controversies" surrounding this game, as I've had no stakes in it, but what I do care about is the weak potential to entertain for a longer period of time and the mediocre execution. It's a pass for me, but I don't think I'll be having fond memories of this game in the future, I'll probably just forget it.… Expand
  7. MaddoxWhite
    Apr 24, 2021
    1
    There are so many things wrong with this game.
    The graphics. The national dex. The gameplay itself.
    I don't have much to say that hasn't been said already.

    The fact that this even exists makes me want to not even buy New Pokemon Snap.
    But I'm a sucker, so I already preordered it.
  8. LordJazbin
    Apr 19, 2021
    5
    I think there's too much hate around them, Sword and Shield are definitely not bad games... But after Sun and Moon that was great... This is just: disappointing. In every way. And even worse than XY.

    Good part is: Pokémon designs and music. But in terms of the story is one of the worse, difficulty is really bad, game is dull...
  9. frederik1478
    Apr 18, 2021
    7
    Fun Pokémon game that I would recommend Permadeath , Looks good sound good mechanics are very nice , It is mean how much luck it is to get the Pokémon you want in the wild area,
    front I would recommended if you lose a Pokémon don't revive it posted in the box because the game becomes much more fun when there are some steaks to the Battle because of the party experience it is easy enough    Fun Pokémon game that I would recommend Permadeath , Looks good sound good mechanics are very nice , It is mean how much luck it is to get the Pokémon you want in the wild area,
    front I would recommended if you lose a Pokémon don't revive it posted in the box because the game becomes much more fun when there are some steaks to the Battle because of the party experience it is easy enough to Recruit new Pokémon so I would recommend it    … Expand
  10. Omegazx
    Apr 17, 2021
    0
    Gamefreak just released a barely finished game with lots of underwhelming features and cut content from previous installments. The removal of National Pokédex, along with more than half of all Pokemon really put a dent on the gameplay. I guess they cannot live up to their own slogan of "Gotta catch 'em all!".

    If you are a true Pokémon fan, let your voice be heard and do not buy this    Gamefreak just released a barely finished game with lots of underwhelming features and cut content from previous installments. The removal of National Pokédex, along with more than half of all Pokemon really put a dent on the gameplay. I guess they cannot live up to their own slogan of "Gotta catch 'em all!".

    If you are a true Pokémon fan, let your voice be heard and do not buy this game as an act of peaceful protest. Vote with your wallet. Let them know that we want something better from the biggest franchise on earth. Never settle for mediocrity.    … Expand
  11. jhchoe
    Apr 8, 2021
    8
    It is good game, but it had low grafic than other nintendo game.Like Zelda...
  12. thilg881
    Apr 4, 2021
    3
    1) The Good:
    - It's a pokemon game after all, if you liked the previous games, at some degree you will like this one too;
    - The soundtrack is great; - The pokemon design. 2) The Bad; - No challenge at all; - Too many exp items; - Too short; - No side quests; - No option to turn off the exp. share item; - Too linear and no exploration at all; - Unfinished graphics - The    1) The Good:
    - It's a pokemon game after all, if you liked the previous games, at some degree you will like this one too;
    - The soundtrack is great;
    - The pokemon design.

    2) The Bad;
    - No challenge at all;
    - Too many exp items;
    - Too short;
    - No side quests;
    - No option to turn off the exp. share item;
    - Too linear and no exploration at all;
    - Unfinished graphics - The Nintendo Switch could do A LOT better;
    - Poorly animated moves;
    - No National Pokedex;
    - Not dubbed;
    - The Wild Area is bland;
    - Graphics pop in;
    - An expensive game for what is delivered.    … Expand
  13. MusicSpy
    Apr 1, 2021
    1
    diferente de tudo q a gamefreak ja fez no pior sentido, perdeu a essência dos jogos antigos que dão de 1000 a 0 nesse...
  14. marvsfontanilla
    Mar 31, 2021
    8
    Story: 8
    Graphics: 8
    Sound: 8
    Gameplay: 7
    Game Time: 40 Hours (Main Story)
    Duration: 30 Hours (Main Story)
  15. Red-Eyes
    Mar 24, 2021
    0
    Disclaimer: I honestly don't give a rat's ass about not having a National Dex and I never played (nor intend to do in the future) Pokemon PvP.

    Just to get another elephant out of the room: graphics are terrible, mostly in the Wild Area where Onixes pop up left and right and pokemons animations are anal. Done! What I liked: the Wild Area IDEA is good but the execution is terrible    Disclaimer: I honestly don't give a rat's ass about not having a National Dex and I never played (nor intend to do in the future) Pokemon PvP.

    Just to get another elephant out of the room: graphics are terrible, mostly in the Wild Area where Onixes pop up left and right and pokemons animations are anal. Done!

    What I liked: the Wild Area IDEA is good but the execution is terrible (having multiple wild areas would have been much better but Game Freak usual lazyness kicked in). The Dynamax/Gigantomax mechanic is muuuuuuuch more balanced than the no-penalty Mega-Evolution one, however it's aesthetically awful; the ideal system would be: the looks of Mega Evolution with Dyna/Giganto mechanic. Changing your team on the fly is nice too, but, since you can, why not mantain the HM system since now you can have a HM slave with no penalty.

    Now the infinite number of cons!

    Worst thing for me is how they manage to streamline and make the game easier even further beyond! At this point, Pokemon games just test your ability to read and nothing else. They even took out the articial difficulty of knowing the type of a Pokemon and attacking its weaknesses, now the game just tells you right way which of your 4 moves is super-effective.

    It's baffliing how this franchise has a target audience that ranges from 8 to 40 year-old people but they still make the game solely for children. Just put a difficulty option! Create gym leader strategies similar to what people use in PvP (or at least a goddamn Whitney's Miltank kinda strategy)! A New Game+ option, just do something!

    To streamline the game even further the map is not in a square format with bifurcations and routes conecting everything anymore. Now is in a tree format (think as if the main route is the trunk with some branches to connect some cities) with a multitude of dead-ends. In the few ocasions where a bifurcation is presented instead of needing a HM to proceed through each path now you have two guys that pretty much say "Nah! You can't pass"; that's it man! No clever obstacles just the game literally saying 'you can't pass'.

    I don't feel like talking about this garbage anymore so I'll just throw in other problems: new Pokemon are lame as **** and if you find a cool water type design you win a ball, it has only ONE ****ING CAVE IN THE ENTIRE GAME, worst possible Rocket Team iteraiton ever (now they are just one little girls fans???), godawful story, stereotypical lame characters (your friendly rival Leon takes the cake as the most annoying one), dumb clothing system because why not, no grinding system for the stronger TMs (you randomly gain them in the Raid battles, I got f*cking Dragon Claw in my first one without any effort whatsoever), no cool minigames to take a break (like Voltorb Flip, yes, I loved it), worst Battle Tower iteration and a multitude of other things.

    The Postgame? I don't know. I just beat the champion and couldn't take it anymore I didn't even start the quest to capture the legendary doggo on the cover.

    That is it. Game Freak really outdid themselves with this masterpiece. I'm done with this franchise    … Expand
  16. Extremespeed
    Mar 23, 2021
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Un juego bueno ni más ni menos, se compensa la falta de los pokemones con la facilidad que esté presenta para criar y para obtener pokemones competitivos, cabe resaltar que las incursiones es algo muy divertido, si bien no hay much o post game sin los DLC es un juego que cumplió desde mi punto de vista, lejos de ser el mejor pero también lejos de ser el peor.
    Para mi un 7.8    … Expand
  17. Nati
    Mar 14, 2021
    0
    This DLC has absolutely destroyed Pokemon Sword/Shield Ranked matching.

    Ranked is just an imbalanced JOKE now that requires zero skill or knowledge and spamming Legendaries. Urshifu is OP... I dont care about your "debate" That pokemon is OP. Not to mention other STARTLING imbalance issues that has ruined a long history of great competitive gameplay. Way to kick the hardcore fans    This DLC has absolutely destroyed Pokemon Sword/Shield Ranked matching.

    Ranked is just an imbalanced JOKE now that requires zero skill or knowledge and spamming Legendaries.

    Urshifu is OP... I dont care about your "debate" That pokemon is OP. Not to mention other STARTLING imbalance issues that has ruined a long history of great competitive gameplay.

    Way to kick the hardcore fans Pokemon, this was a rediculous decision. 0/10    … Expand
  18. lalahand
    Mar 10, 2021
    5
    The story is straight and boring. If you only wants to enjoy the adventure, then don’t buy this game
  19. AMKrishnan
    Mar 8, 2021
    8
    First of all, it may not have all Pokemon or a National Dex, but this never bothered me as I have never cared for the National Dex nor most Pokemon.

    Secondly, the graphcs could be better. There's a significant amount of pop-in and it feels very cheap. This looks like a 3DS game that has been improved in graphics. However, with the Switch being able to play games like the Witcher and    First of all, it may not have all Pokemon or a National Dex, but this never bothered me as I have never cared for the National Dex nor most Pokemon.

    Secondly, the graphcs could be better. There's a significant amount of pop-in and it feels very cheap. This looks like a 3DS game that has been improved in graphics. However, with the Switch being able to play games like the Witcher and still make it beautiful, expect Game Freak to make Pokemon look better as well. I personally think the series needs to move past this style of graphcis and go for something more realistic.
    Now this generation really has an amazing set of regional Pokemon. Really great designs, and some are very nice references to the UK. In fact, the game does an excellent job at conveying a UK inspired region from its music, to its characters using British slang, to the environments which are very clearly representations of British landmarks.

    The story of the game is surprisingly sound. I really enjoyed playing through it. The new movie cut scenes are a great addition to this and make the plot more engaging. Hop, your main rival, actually has a very decent arc, as well as other characters. There are also some surprises here and there.

    The Wild Area is beautiful to traverse through and Max Raid battles are very enjoyable and rewarding.

    I would recommend this game and I can't wait to sink a lot more hours into it.    … Expand
  20. sjc9495
    Mar 4, 2021
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I know there are a lot of mixed reviews for this game, but I personally love it. I love all the different pokemon from different regions, dynamaxing, etc. I loved it so much that I have 365 hours spent on this game. I love cooking and bonding with my pokemon, and the battles. The only problem I have with it is unless you have nintendo switch online, some of the dynamaxing battles because of bad AI take several times sometimes to beat. My pokemon that I use have good stat, good moves, and are really powerful, but I get teamed with AI's that use moves like follow me or just weak. I have to admit my least favorite pokemon to get teamed up with is wobbuffet. He is psychic, yet doesn't know any powerful moves unless he gets hit like counter& that's a fighting type move. I think the AI's should use better pokemon/ moves. I have had many occasions where I'm the only one standing and my "helpers," have died a lot on 5 star battles. If I was to personally tell the creators how to improve the game, it would be get smarter AI to help a little with five star battles.… Expand
  21. Tonico8
    Mar 2, 2021
    0
    I only could enjoy the first 2hours, afterwards it's an empty game, without any work behind. The routes are a completely garbage. The difficulty is insulting.
  22. Lachlan5
    Feb 28, 2021
    5
    Boring and uninspired Pokémon game and is a major letdown although some of the new Pokémon are relatively cool and still not able to change the camera angle for **** sake
  23. PoliLord
    Feb 26, 2021
    4
    When they said that we will have just some pokemon i felt sad but i really tried to forget that and give a chance to the game. The truth is that game is very beautiful when we speak about graphics and atmosphere of the pokemon universe but the difficulty is too easy and that fact take from us the hustle that was training to become a Master. The game is too easy to be remarkable
    The    When they said that we will have just some pokemon i felt sad but i really tried to forget that and give a chance to the game. The truth is that game is very beautiful when we speak about graphics and atmosphere of the pokemon universe but the difficulty is too easy and that fact take from us the hustle that was training to become a Master. The game is too easy to be remarkable
    The dinamax is too easy to counter, is just use sleep poder OR something similar
    I will not re-play the game    … Expand
  24. ladiebird
    Feb 24, 2021
    2
    I really wanted this game to work, but it didn't.

    I liked a couple things; the league tournament and new gyms were really nice. A lot of the new Pokemon are very interesting and well-designed, which makes me want to use them. The designs of many of the characters were also very good. Nessa, Bea, Hop, Bede and Marnie were some of my favourites, but their personalities didn't really live    I really wanted this game to work, but it didn't.

    I liked a couple things; the league tournament and new gyms were really nice. A lot of the new Pokemon are very interesting and well-designed, which makes me want to use them. The designs of many of the characters were also very good. Nessa, Bea, Hop, Bede and Marnie were some of my favourites, but their personalities didn't really live up to their designs in my opinion. That might be because the game lacks any interesting animations and voice acting, something which is really noticeable at certain points (at Piers' gym, for example). Finally, the character customisation is really nice, despite the fact that you can't customise your face, and at the start of the game your hair and eye colour has to be compatible with your skin (for some reason).

    A few of my main gripes:

    1. For a switch game, it's pretty ugly. I really liked some of the towns and one or two routes, but choppy animations, boring battle backgrounds and out-of-place animations ruin it. The wild area makes this especially obvious, with large empty areas, dark lighting, Pokemon popping into existence out of nowhere and weird looking trees. The berry trees look completely different from the normal ones, which is weird, but both are strange and look out of place beside the cleaner character models. The wild area itself is a fun addition, but would be a lot better if there was more effort put into it.

    2. The gameplay is about as repetitive as expected. There is barely any innovation on the traditional formula, which is sad, and the super-effective system makes things very easy, but the same can be said for every other Pokemon game before it. I know the game is mostly aimed at children, so I won't let the difficulty level affect my view too much, but it would be nice to have some kind of difficulty options. It's just not very fun, and leaves no room for interesting strategies.

    3. GameFreak was blatantly obvious about cutting corners to get this game out as fast as possible with a smaller team. I initially wasn't mad about Dexit (they probably have to cut Pokemon out at some point) but the (paid) DLC adds a lot of these Pokemon back in. DLC isn't worth the price tag, especially when you consider the game as a whole.

    For me, at least, SwSh was the final push I needed to stop buying new main-line Pokemon games. I didn't buy the Sun and Moon games because I was bored by Kalos, and wish I'd stuck to my guns for this title. Spend your money elsewhere.    … Expand
  25. Warbringer
    Feb 21, 2021
    1
    No story. No Pokedex. Not all Pokemon available. Only handholding. Content locked behind DLC. Content locked behind third party apps like "Pokemon Home" "Pokemon Bank" "Nintendo Switch Online". Gamefreak lied to all of us and they admited it.
  26. DustyT33
    Feb 18, 2021
    7
    It's not the best Pokémon game, but it's not the worst, and is definitely not as bad as a lot of people say it is. Mediocre and average is the best way to describe it, but it doesn't deserve the 0 and under 5 review bombing by people that probably haven't even played the game. Now, to the good and bad parts of this game.

    The good: The cities and towns are beautiful. The graphics are only    It's not the best Pokémon game, but it's not the worst, and is definitely not as bad as a lot of people say it is. Mediocre and average is the best way to describe it, but it doesn't deserve the 0 and under 5 review bombing by people that probably haven't even played the game. Now, to the good and bad parts of this game.

    The good:
    The cities and towns are beautiful. The graphics are only really "bad" in the wild area, with the muddy textures and weird weather transitions. Speaking of the wild are, despite the muddy textures, it is still very fun. One of the most fun parts of the game. Seeing all those Pokémon and trying to catch them is very cool, and it's epic early game to see and getting attacked by Pokémon too strong for you to catch. I like the new Pokémon, and even in the grass Pokémon show up in the overworld, like let's go Pikachu and Eevee, which is also cool. Pokémon camp is very cute, and a great replacement for Pokémon amie and refresh. The post game is meh, but the DLC, especially the crown tundra adds a lot of content, with the roaming legendaries, relatively interesting plot, and fun dynamax adventures, which are probably more fun if you have friends. I played it solo and online with strangers though.

    The bad:
    Main story is mediocre and linear. There are no branching paths like the old 2d Pokémon games, and you are handguided and constantly told where to go in the game. It's starting to be a trend with the recent 3ds games. Maybe great for kids that doesn't know what to do, but very boring and annoying for veteran fans and players. Speaking of "it's for kids", it's also very easy. Much easier than the old Pokémon games, which is also another trend in the newer 3ds games. You can easily overlevel, especially with the exp share that you are unable to turn off, which is incredibly stupid, and underleveled npcs and broken exp candies. A lot of the animations are kinda lazy, for example, the animation of double kick is literally just the Pokémon jumping in place, with no actual kicking animation. And the old Pokémon models are reused from the previous games, just re-textured, which makes the dex cut at the launch of the game stupid.

    But other than that, it's still a Pokémon game, so it's core gameplay is still fun. So is it worth it? I don't know, for sure, but I think it's overpriced. So if you want to skip this entry it's fine, but if you're fine with the price and likes Pokémon, why not. So if you just want to try the game, maybe wait for a discount. The physical copy DLC bundle seems ok right now and it has more resale value if it turns out you don't like it than buying the DLC separately.    … Expand
  27. yertre
    Feb 14, 2021
    4
    I've played 2 good Pokemon games, neither of which were part of the main series. It's no secret that the Pokemon franchise has been stagnating for years, but this game feels like Gamefreak are just trying to see how little effort they need to put in to keep the fans happy.

    I think that this game is so disappointing to me because this SHOULD have been a great game. There was so much    I've played 2 good Pokemon games, neither of which were part of the main series. It's no secret that the Pokemon franchise has been stagnating for years, but this game feels like Gamefreak are just trying to see how little effort they need to put in to keep the fans happy.

    I think that this game is so disappointing to me because this SHOULD have been a great game. There was so much potential and they blew it. I really wish people would stop giving Gamefreak a free pass in these matters. As for the franchise, I'm probably never touching a Pokemon game again.    … Expand
  28. Danbearz3
    Feb 11, 2021
    6
    Man ... this isn’t a bad game ... by any means ... but as far as a Pokémon game goes .. it’s just too damn easy !! Come on Nintendo like ... Pokémon is already easy ... stop making it easier . Stop taking out cool **** . Stop with the bull**** dlc ... idk ... I’ll still play it cus it’s the newest Pokémon game and it’s where most of my Pokémon are ... but there needs to be more of anMan ... this isn’t a bad game ... by any means ... but as far as a Pokémon game goes .. it’s just too damn easy !! Come on Nintendo like ... Pokémon is already easy ... stop making it easier . Stop taking out cool **** . Stop with the bull**** dlc ... idk ... I’ll still play it cus it’s the newest Pokémon game and it’s where most of my Pokémon are ... but there needs to be more of an endgame / postgame ... more like x and y or gold and silver ... I want more of a challenge . Also the music in this one is just not that great .. kinda annoying . And the graphics could be wayyyyy better .... like Pokémon colosseum had more impressive graphics ... for the time it came out .. and then the fact all the Pokémon aren’t even in it I mean come on ... next Pokémon game needs to be better . Way better… Expand
  29. nemnel
    Feb 11, 2021
    10
    Ignore the haters this game was one of the best pokemon games. Every single character was realistic and wonderful. Hop was the best rival since Blue. I had more fun playing this game than almost any of the others. I know why people didn't love it, but I think the criticisms are overblown and boring.
  30. hamunochan
    Feb 10, 2021
    1
    Massive disappointment from what it could have been. Nothing new was added, anything presented here have either been done before or have been done better by other in different games. Seems rushed, unfinished, would be ok for a DS game, not for a home console. Lazy design.
  31. 1mooey
    Feb 9, 2021
    0
    Lazy game developers make it a sub par game! Linear paths and stupid gimmicks!
  32. FloorFlower
    Feb 6, 2021
    2
    I was so disappointed by this game. It added nothing new to the franchise and is insultingly easy. I feel so bad I payed as much for this as I did for Breath of the Wild.
  33. 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
  34. Gantelmann
    Jan 30, 2021
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pokemon Schwert und Schild sind die ersten ableger der Hauptreihe, die es auf die Heimkonsole geschafft haben.
    Wenn man davon absieht das es auf älteren Konsolen diverse Spin-Offs gab.
    Die Anzahl der Pokemon in diesem Spiel sind unterirdisch. Man muss sich erst diverse Monster per Dlc freikaufen obwohl nachweislich alle schon ingame sind.
    Die Grafik hat höhen aber auch viele Tiefen.
    So ist es auf normalen Routen noch recht hübsch anzusehen aber wenn es dann in die Naturzone geht... Naja Spiele des N64 sahem teils besser aus. Wennan im Online Modus unterwegs ist, für den man ja leider bezahlen muss, sinkt die Fps Zahl ins Bodenlose.
    Es wurden auch viele Attacken gestrichen wie zb. Verfolgung. Die Stimmung in den Arenen ist Super. Zwar wird einem die Dynamax funktion etwas aufgezwungen aber das ist ok dafür ist die aufmachung der Arenkämpfe gelungen. Was jedoch nicht gelungen ist, ist die Story. Alles fängt gut an man lernt seinen Rivalen kennen der mitten in der Story seine Midlifecrysis durchlebt und auch den Champ. Man bekommt früh seinen Starter und lernt auf dem Weg zur Liga auch noch allerhand Charaktere kennen. Der Kern der Story, das Böse Team, ist eigentlich nichts weiter als die Wish version von Sonne und Mond. Böses möchtegern Team macht probleme und ist nicht ernst zu nehmen und die ach so nette Firma ist der wahre Schurke. Was aber mehr als nur vorhersehbar ist. Allgemein ist ab Score City der Tiefpunkt der Story erreicht. So muss man unter anderem auch ein dummes Katz und Maus spiel mit einem der Mitarbeiter führen was ziemlich ins lächerliche gezogen wird. Der Champ Kampf wird mitten in der Liga unterbrochen nur um den "Plott" einzuführen. Fazit zur Story: Schlechteste in ganz Pokemon. Das late Game ist monoton und langweilig wenn man die Dlc außenvorlässt. Die neuen Pokemon finde ich persönlich gelungen. Was auch sehr angenehm ist, ist der Zucht Support. Die Minzen sind eine gute ergänzung um nun wirklich jedes Pokemon was man mal bis dato hatte und auch verfügbar ist zu einem brauchbaren Kämofer zu verwandeln.
    Die Dyna Raids sind nicht fordernd oder spaßig diese fressen nur zeit.
    Am Ende kann man nur sogen es hätte mejr sein müssen als das was es ist. Ansätze waren zwar gut aber die setzung war katastrophal und man kann nur hoffen Gf lernt aus dies desaster und lässt sich fürs nächste mal mehr Zeit.    … Expand
  35. Suza
    Jan 28, 2021
    0
    No good story
    No good visual
    No challenge
    No new good features
    No all pokemon
    Need Nintendo Online
    Need DLC
    Need Pokemon Home
    Why this game even existe.
  36. Jejeff
    Jan 23, 2021
    0
    Gamefreak stopped in 1996. Terrbile technical issues, animations and lacks challenge.
  37. HellsaintED
    Jan 20, 2021
    6
    After seeing the evolution of other Nintendo franchises in the Switch like "Mario Odyssey" and "Breath of the Wild", it is just lame to see Pokemon receive little to no evolution at all, it is a 3DS game with a Switch price tag.
  38. Pddragon12
    Jan 20, 2021
    4
    While this game is fun the play when compared to the other Pokémon games it carries over all the problems the other games have then makes new ones. I truly hope that the Pokémon company does better with their next game.
  39. ArmFlailingTube
    Jan 15, 2021
    5
    [TL;DR] Not worth a full $60 but not a total disappointment either. Lot’s of fun to be had but not really any replay value.

    First things first, this game is not as bad as some people are making it sound but it falls short in many areas. Pokémon Sword and Shield deliver on being a basic pokémon experience, eg: three starters, rival, eight gyms, champion, blah blah blah we've all been    [TL;DR] Not worth a full $60 but not a total disappointment either. Lot’s of fun to be had but not really any replay value.

    First things first, this game is not as bad as some people are making it sound but it falls short in many areas. Pokémon Sword and Shield deliver on being a basic pokémon experience, eg: three starters, rival, eight gyms, champion, blah blah blah we've all been here before.

    First, the wild area is fun but only for a bit since it can get stale quickly with little to do aside from catching pokémon. It’s pretty cool that you can see other players running around ingame with you but I've heard that the framerate can drastically drop.

    No national dex wasn’t too big an issue for me but it’s completely understandable why someone would be upset about it. I was disappointed that I couldn’t bring in a few of my own favorites from previous titles.

    The clothes customization is lacking in options. A lot of stuff looks the same and there aren’t enough clothes stores.

    Animations are jagged and uninspired. People have been complaining about this since X&Y.

    The music is just okay. Most of the tracks sound like too many instruments are playing at the same time. Overall forgettable OST.

    The story is really where the game falls short. As said, it is a basic pokémon story so your goal is to become the champion although, I do still wonder how a child who started their training yesterday is capable of defeating several adults who have been training for years.

    The game does hold your hand a lot and constantly drags you around the map kicking and screaming. There are many ways to go but only one way that you can go. In fact, the game has you loop back around in the other direction to go back to a place that you already were like three times in an effort to pad out the runtime.

    This is because Galar is smaller compared to previous regions. It does try to make up for that by having pretty scenery, some of the best we’ve seen in the series, but this doesn’t work since you can’t interact with anything at all aside from a few park benches.

    Gym battles are the most fun thing in this game however, you can only repeat them if you pair with them in a tournament. Battling in an actual stadium and having a crowd to cheer you on is a nice touch of aesthetic. Also, the Gym Leader battle theme is the best in the game. I liked how the whole Gym Challenge thing was portrayed as an actual official region wide tournament than something you do because your mom kicked you out of the house.

    The characters are all one note in that they have precisely one personality trait which usually adds up to be either: is so pumped to be here or is so far up their own ass that everyone else is feeble and insignificant. Some of them do have their own story arcs but they're all pretty much the same in that they all revolve around learning the importance of not giving up and trying your hardest which is pretty standard for pokémon but, again, the purpose of a sequel is to build on previous titles whether it be through story or gameplay.

    Voice acting still doesn’t exist in Pokémon and it dawned on me that is was going to be a glaring annoyance when, at the very start of the game, a dude in suit walked out onto a stadium and started giving a speech with his mouth moving and his body emoting but no sound coming out. Just a text box at the bottom of the screen. This game desperately needed voice acting and it may even have saved it. Some of the characters even have english accents which you can read in the subtitles but these accents don't provide any spark due to them not being able to give the person any character. It's also worth pointing out that this is a game for children, a demographic not know for their top-notch reading comprehension so, making the whole story come through text probably wasn't the best design choice anyway.

    Even less helpful to the story is the new criminal gang, "Team Yell". Aside from the pathetic name, Team Yell only exist to block your path when the road forks so you go the way to the place where the story wants you to be at that time. Unlike previous evil gangs, they have no part to play in the overarching plot of the game. They are only here because the formula demands it.

    So to sum it up, I think that it's fair to say that this game was a disappointment. A lot of missed opportunities, unused technological advancements and a few controversial decisions are what led to this game receiving the score that it did. I’d wait for the price to drop down to like $40. Fun game but has little to do once you beat the main story. Will be using careful consideration before buying the next one.    … Expand
  40. Welkinz
    Jan 14, 2021
    7
    They added new features and did make the game more interesting. However the 3D graphic in background is quite ugly, and I can feel they were rushing in making the latter part of the game.
  41. 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
  42. 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
  43. Mister_Jey
    Jan 12, 2021
    8
    → Attrapez-les tous !
    Étant fan des jeux Pokémon depuis tout gamin, je ne pouvais pas passer à côté du petit dernier. Celui-ci reprend fidèlement le concept tout en ajoutant quelques nouveautés. L'histoire est comme d'habitude avec la franchise, plutôt enfantine. j'ai trouvé que les développeurs se la joué petit bras avec les terres sauvages, qui servent à remplir un grand morceau de map    → Attrapez-les tous !
    Étant fan des jeux Pokémon depuis tout gamin, je ne pouvais pas passer à côté du petit dernier. Celui-ci reprend fidèlement le concept tout en ajoutant quelques nouveautés. L'histoire est comme d'habitude avec la franchise, plutôt enfantine. j'ai trouvé que les développeurs se la joué petit bras avec les terres sauvages, qui servent à remplir un grand morceau de map avec beaucoup de Pokémon disponibles, et quelques mécanismes qui ne resteront pas franchement dans les annales. D'ailleurs côté créatures, il y en a un bon paquet présent à attraper. Du côté des graphismes, c'est très chouette. Bien qu'il ne soit pas parfait, il propose néanmoins une aventure digne de ce nom et franchement très agréable.

    Sortie en novembre 2019 / Développé par The Pokémon Compagny.    … Expand
  44. 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
  45. Kchewz
    Jan 6, 2021
    4
    $80 price tag, $20/year pokemon home subscription, two $30 DLCs. Yet the quality and functionality from the 3DS pokemon games are equal, and these games costed $40... Both Sword and Shield have its pros such as cool new pokemon, incredible music and DLCs were more memorable and enjoyable than the base game. But poor graphics, boring dynamax mechanics and dynamax raids, the mobile camp etc.$80 price tag, $20/year pokemon home subscription, two $30 DLCs. Yet the quality and functionality from the 3DS pokemon games are equal, and these games costed $40... Both Sword and Shield have its pros such as cool new pokemon, incredible music and DLCs were more memorable and enjoyable than the base game. But poor graphics, boring dynamax mechanics and dynamax raids, the mobile camp etc. were all lacklustre. For the largest franchise in the world, expectations were much higher. For someone who grew up playing Pokemon Battle Revolution in 2006, I was expecting this type of quality at the very least.… Expand
  46. Doomy_Doomy
    Jan 5, 2021
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After waiting a year to purchase this game due to the bad reviews and press, do not believe the bandwagon. I have been playing Pokemon since I was child and my first game was Pokemon Diamond and I fell in love with the franchise. Sword is another advancement for Pokemon that I am enjoying. I got the game on the 24th for $40 and have already put 25 hours into the game. Now like with past titles the end game content is lacking and I don't see a lot of legendaries to be caught without paying for switch online which is a bummer, but the story telling has gotten better. I do believe team yell could have been better, but the idea of going against the establishment of wishing stars and staying true to your roots is a good meaning to teach kids. As well, it goes to show that not every organization has the best interest. I wish they would have went more in depth and embraced the dark of the story, but it was good for what it was for a children's game. I loved Hop. He may have not been a rival, but he was a good partner to explore the game with and to go through his character arc. He makes a lot of dumb decisions, but it is nice to see him grow. Bede I thought was handled well and I looked forward to every encounter to beat his cocky attitude. As well the professor in this game is awesome. I loved being able to go on a journey with her and watch her grow. The after game is about an hour or two of extra content and it was fun. I like the idea of your character and Hop being the two new heroes of the region and Hop wanting to be a professor. Now, my only complaint is the hand holding. It is too much and for me it would been cool if the game let you figured it out on yourself, especially since we live in the world of the internet now compared to 2007. I had fun, the graphics are good in hand held mode (I play my switch only in handheld), battles were fun, and the game is relatively easy if you a veteran player. Found myself getting stuck at certain battles because I was under prepared and didn't take the game lightly. Exp share didn't bother me cause I hated grinding in other games and the national dex is not a big deal. Majority of players do not finish the dex and I would prefer to keep the amount of Pokemon under 500 per game so it is not overwhelming and kills my motivation to catch them all. I think this game is worth picking up and I am happy with it. I'm glad I gave it a shot and didn't listen to all the misinformed and entitled spoiled players who want their cake and to eat it too. This game was everything I personally wanted from a mainline 3D Pokemon game and I am happy with it. I hope you enjoy the experience. Should note I will most likely not buy the DLC since I am not a big fan of DLC content to begin with. Oh, and before I forget the wild area is a good idea, but it is lacking with replay-ability unless you are into grinding for xp candies with dumb AI trainers. Would have prefer cycles of only certain days you can catch certain Pokemon.… Expand
  47. LiirThropp
    Jan 4, 2021
    5
    I don't know if it is me getting older or the developers becoming lazier, but I didn't enjoy it as much. It did have some positive points, though.
    What I liked:
    -Removing the cap on EV medicine. -Variety of Pokemon in relatively early game. -Better movesets for some past gen Pokemon -Egg moves can now be added to already hatched Pokemon What I didn't like: -The dex cut, especially    I don't know if it is me getting older or the developers becoming lazier, but I didn't enjoy it as much. It did have some positive points, though.
    What I liked:
    -Removing the cap on EV medicine.
    -Variety of Pokemon in relatively early game.
    -Better movesets for some past gen Pokemon
    -Egg moves can now be added to already hatched Pokemon
    What I didn't like:
    -The dex cut, especially because the reason provided for it was to do better animations and I just didn't see that.
    -Excessive hand-holding throughout the game story.
    -Post-game is ridiculously short.
    -No way to change to a Hidden Ability
    -Removal of several moves and the Dynamax mechanic simplified the PvP aspect to a point where it's just boring.
    All in all, it feels like an unfinished game. I would rate it higher if the DLC content was available from the start or added as free updates, since it fixes some of the issues the game had.    … Expand
  48. BeeSting1
    Jan 1, 2021
    5
    Too easy. Too basic. Too shallow.

    The Good - music is good. Gym battle remix sounds cool. - some good quality of life changes, like being able to access the PC box from anywhere. - the new wild encounter system is better because it makes the Pokemon feel more organic, like if you randomly ran into a squirrel or a bird in real life, which are what Sword and Shield depicts.    Too easy. Too basic. Too shallow.

    The Good

    - music is good. Gym battle remix sounds cool.

    - some good quality of life changes, like being able to access the PC box from anywhere.

    - the new wild encounter system is better because it makes the Pokemon feel more organic, like if you randomly ran into a squirrel or a bird in real life, which are what Sword and Shield depicts.

    The Bad

    - although the graphics are better, all the character models still move very robotically.

    - the game is way too easy. Easier than any of the previous Pokemon games. I hardly caught any Pokemon and only fought battles what's trainers that I came across on route but still every gym battle and major battle was super easy. The only slightly challenging battle was the very last one. Don't the devs understand that fans who have played their main Pokemon games are in their 20s and 30s now? Why have they did they dumb down the experience even more? This is a main title for long time fans. Why would they take steps backwards in terms of gameplay difficulty and depth?

    - The simplicity of the game rendered many of the items, berries, and other buffs you find absolutely useless. You can get through the game using nothing but maybe some potions.

    - There's a huge crowd cheering you on every gym battle, and you are praised as the upcoming Pokemon champion left and right, and by the end of it when you do attain that title, it feels empty and like a bunch of lies. It's like beating Sekiro or Dark Souls 3 with an infinite health hack. You can brag and get all the praise you want from friends, but secretly inside you know you didn't earn it. There was no challenge. It was like taking candy from a baby. That's what I felt after completing Pokemon Sword. There was zero satisfaction. I didn't overcome any obstacle. I simply held W, and walked straight through a park.

    - much of the dialogue is way too cheesy. People simply don't talk like that in real life. After all, these are depictions of humans, so I feel they could have made the dialogue more organic.

    - the dialogue choices that you make in the game do not have any impact on the outcome even in the short term.

    - the game emphasizes on the importance of super effective moves, yet there is no ability or item that scans the opponents stats for weaknesses. How is a new player who doesn't know about the Pokemon in later generations supposed to know what weaknesses Pokemon has. This makes the choice of what Pokemon to use luck based. Sure I can just choose any random pokemon, and throw out their strongest move. But this makes the battles very shallow, and out of my control.

    - hop kisses your ass too much. The way he treats you makes him feel like a little **** It's very unnatural.

    - piers and Marnie constantly calling each other bro and sis is so unnatural. I get it if they said it the first couple times to let the audience know, but every time after that just becomes weird.

    - Dynamaxing doesn't add any depth to the battles. Just a bit more status effects to moves. It's all for show.

    - There is nothing particularly interesting about the plot. No twists. No turns. It was very predictable what was going on and who was going to be the bad guy. Old Pokemon games usually had a spooky ghost region with a slightly creepy atmosphere and back story, but every area in Sword and Shield felt so shallow. Besides looking different, there was no interesting narrative there.

    - Team Yell made no sense. Their only purpose was to cheer on Marnie and Piers. And they randomly block paths for citizens for the stupidest reasons.    … Expand
  49. 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
  50. 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
  51. 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
  52. 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
  53. 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
  54. drumguru
    Dec 21, 2020
    10
    Who cares if the game doesn't have a National dex.. This game is awesome map is big, wild Area are fun..
  55. Otts
    May 13, 2020
    0
    Unfinished product sold with cut content at a full price. Glitchy and disrespectful with its consumers and fanbase. A loveless cashgrab rushed to the market from the highest grossing media franchise in the planet. Underperforming software for the current generation standards. Shameless and sad.
  56. 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.
  57. danelakeforu
    Dec 17, 2020
    5
    Same old boring formula with a different gimmick and lazy cut scenes without voice acting and charging fees for something which was free in previous generations...and charging extra for a dlc which should've been included in the main game...that's it for me, goodbye Pokemon video game series.
  58. 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
  59. Dufy
    Dec 13, 2020
    5
    Pudieron hacer algo aún mejor por eso pongo neutro para unos fue bueno y para otros malo mi punto de vista algo simple
  60. UmAlguem
    Dec 13, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. O jogo é bom pra franquia mas podia ter sido mais ambicioso, a trilha sonora é perfeita e o jogo é divertido.… Expand
  61. mtkf
    Dec 9, 2020
    3
    A very very disappointing cash grab from Game Freak and Nintendo. There is no reason this game couldn't have been on the 3ds as a $40 game. It looks horrible compared to most games on the switch, is a buggy mess, has massive pop-in issues and no post game content whatsoever unless you shell out another $30 for the dlc, which is also half assed. Worst mainline pokemon to date, which is sadA very very disappointing cash grab from Game Freak and Nintendo. There is no reason this game couldn't have been on the 3ds as a $40 game. It looks horrible compared to most games on the switch, is a buggy mess, has massive pop-in issues and no post game content whatsoever unless you shell out another $30 for the dlc, which is also half assed. Worst mainline pokemon to date, which is sad because it could have been stellar if some actual love and care went into the development of the game.… Expand
  62. 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
  63. FunkyVonFresh
    Dec 2, 2020
    1
    An utter embarrassment of a game, and a complete waste of your money and time. The game lacks content, largely thanks to intentional corner cutting on GameFreak's part. This entire game feels dull, uninspired and overall cheap. Despite the promise of a more open world, Pokemon feels more linear than ever. This game is easy in the most boring way, and feels more like it was made forAn utter embarrassment of a game, and a complete waste of your money and time. The game lacks content, largely thanks to intentional corner cutting on GameFreak's part. This entire game feels dull, uninspired and overall cheap. Despite the promise of a more open world, Pokemon feels more linear than ever. This game is easy in the most boring way, and feels more like it was made for toddlers than an audience with any semblance of a brain. The region of this game feels smaller than ever with large empty wastelands and uncreative routes in-between the tiny feeling towns and cities. The story is plain and forgettable. I used to love this series. Gamefreak, get your **** together.… Expand
  64. mattsinv
    Dec 2, 2020
    7
    Not as bad as others say it is. Wild Area is a very good addition to the series. The story is pretty lackluster and the battles during it are very easy to the point where it gets pretty boring. Even though there are these problems, it is still a pretty enjoyable and fun game.
  65. blueshiny
    Dec 1, 2020
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. i picked up pokemon sword Christmas last year i would say that it has a great story and great selection of pokemon though the removal of the national dex and the Sudan difficulty spike around the third gym is very frustrating. even with the expansions it which you cant access till post game so their really isn't much to do with them in conclusion the game is really good with a few flaws… Expand
  66. Arfon
    Nov 30, 2020
    6
    If you're looking for a revolutionary Pokémon game that will take the franchise to its limits, look elsewhere. By buying this $60 game you'll meet with a lot of restrictions that we didn't had in previous games, if you want the complete experience you'll need to pay $90 and the NSO. Is a NO from me. But if you're looking to just play another Pokémon game and that's it, this is your game.If you're looking for a revolutionary Pokémon game that will take the franchise to its limits, look elsewhere. By buying this $60 game you'll meet with a lot of restrictions that we didn't had in previous games, if you want the complete experience you'll need to pay $90 and the NSO. Is a NO from me. But if you're looking to just play another Pokémon game and that's it, this is your game. Despite its many flaws, it is still pretty enjoyable.… Expand
  67. GuruJoeyy
    Nov 27, 2020
    3
    I can't recommend enough that you skip this generation. It isn't worth it, there is nothing about this title that makes it worth purchasing. It is literally a 3DS game ported to switch yet charging a higher price and taking away many of the positives of even the worst of the old generations. Lack of pokemon variety, lack of interesting systems, you're better off replaying any olderI can't recommend enough that you skip this generation. It isn't worth it, there is nothing about this title that makes it worth purchasing. It is literally a 3DS game ported to switch yet charging a higher price and taking away many of the positives of even the worst of the old generations. Lack of pokemon variety, lack of interesting systems, you're better off replaying any older generation pokemon and guaranteed to have more fun. I would have written this review on launch but it didn't quite occur to me.… Expand
  68. 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.
  69. 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
  70. juancarlosq10
    Nov 26, 2020
    9
    I really enjoyed my time with Pokemon Sword, sure it is not the most impressive game graphically or story wise, but compared to the previous entries in the series like Pokemon SM and Pokemon USUM this game made me remember the joy there is to find in Pokemon Games. I found Galar really interesting and the settings simply cool. The game focuses mainly on becoming Champion which I reallyI really enjoyed my time with Pokemon Sword, sure it is not the most impressive game graphically or story wise, but compared to the previous entries in the series like Pokemon SM and Pokemon USUM this game made me remember the joy there is to find in Pokemon Games. I found Galar really interesting and the settings simply cool. The game focuses mainly on becoming Champion which I really liked because usually I simply don't like the story in other Pokemon games, so I liked not wasting much time on it, I also really liked the new Pokemon. Simply put this is a fun game and that is what I expect from a Pokemon game… Expand
  71. immarooned
    Nov 22, 2020
    10
    This game… is truly something else.

    Hear me out. I love this game. A lot. I’m just gonna get that out of the way right now. So if all you wanna read are the negative reviews (which you’ll find plenty of…) then get the heck out of here. I have my gripes, which I’ll get to in a bit… but overall, the positives outweigh the negatives by SO MUCH, that it’s hardly worth a rating reduction.    This game… is truly something else.

    Hear me out.

    I love this game. A lot. I’m just gonna get that out of the way right now. So if all you wanna read are the negative reviews (which you’ll find plenty of…) then get the heck out of here. I have my gripes, which I’ll get to in a bit… but overall, the positives outweigh the negatives by SO MUCH, that it’s hardly worth a rating reduction. It isn’t at all, to me.
    The game is so well-thought-out and just… fun. It really felt like a Pokemon game, despite there being so many new features. Like Dynamaxing, and the open-world style of the Wild Area. I mean, it’s pretty hard to incorporate a sense of nostalgia into a battle that has none of the mechanics or styles of the original games. This game achieves it. And I love every second of it.
    I can tell so much work went into this game. The attention to detail, the humor, the animations. Everything is amazing. The game builds up tension like a movie. There’s a real story there. And while it may not be fair to say things about the other games, saying they’re inferior because they don’t have animations, but it may just be true. In the old games, if you lost, then it’s just… “Oh, I lost… well, time to go crush the Elite Four.” In this, I’m nervous. It plays out battles so well, and the tension is real. Although playing out battles is a problem I actually do have with this game. Not in storyline-important battles, but in the wild. When grinding in the old games, the wild Pokemon were often far inferior to you and you can wipe them out in a second. In this, when you battle them, it takes about as long as a regular trainer battle and about as hard. When grinding, you just want to get them out of there and keep going, right? But no, in this it takes 20 minutes to defeat a wild Meowth.
    I have no problem with the difficulty level in this game. I guess I’m just terrible at Pokemon because I had a lot of trouble, contrary to everything everyone else says. I didn’t often lose all my Pokemon (only 4 or five times the whole game) But I did have to often run back and forth between Pokemon centers and other stuff, and I used them less and less throughout the game, but medicines played a major role in my survival. Seriously.

    The story for this game is kind of all over the place but in a good way. There are some plot points that are brought in and then only used at the end of the game, or other things. The main post-game story is pretty short, and the characters brought in are well-developed but just feel thrown in, because the post-game is so short. The post-game actually kind of feels like the actual storyline, so much (SPOILERS HERE!) so I forgot I was even the champion. (SPOILERS END HERE!) It comes down to preference whether or not you think that’s a good thing. I do think it is, but there’s a chance that I have a bias and just want to love this game. Because I do. I do love this game.

    The game is pretty funny. Funniest Pokemon game since Ranger, actually. There are pretty noticeable character arcs, which isn’t something you get in a game normally. Hop is a really likable character (as are all of them) and every single character is memorable and plays a part in the story. My problem with Hop is that he is constantly challenging me, sometimes right before or after I battle, and either I’m in deficient health already, or I’m going to be in deficient health when I go into my next battle.
    
So that’s a bit annoying.

    There’s actually a lot more to do for post-game, I haven’t quite done it yet. I won’t be touching the DLC content for this review, just the immediate post-game.

    Game Freak lied to us?! I don’t care! Honestly, I’m not enveloped in international media at all. I had no idea that Game Freak said anything about the Pokedex. Honestly, after a little bit of time spent in comment wars over whether or not this game is a masterpiece or an abomination, I still don’t know what they lied to us about! I assume the Pokedex. Anyway, 1,200 Pokemon is DEFINITELY enough for me. Isn’t that more than it was in the whole franchise when it came out?

    The Wild Area is a step in an amazing direction. I can’t wait to see what Game Freak does with it in future games. It’s basically open-world now, it’s fantastic! By now I've been playing post-game for a week, and still haven’t discovered everything in the open-world part of the game.

    The graphics and animation are gorgeous. I don’t think Game Freak made them cartoony because of laziness, and in my opinion, it shows. Amazing.

    Hilarious and well-developed characters make the game really fun to play.

    I really like how straightforward it is. For the direct story (SPOILERS HERE!), at least, it’s just, beat this gym, then beat this gym. Beat all of the gyms until you get to the Championship. All the while subtly hinting at the ulterior storyline.

    I love this game so much.

    Ten. Out. Of. Ten.    … Expand
  72. 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
  73. JoKeR_AlexS
    Nov 20, 2020
    5
    Este comentário é universal nas minhas reviews. Apenas quero dar nota aos jogos e caso queiram saber mais alguma coisa sobre o jogo, aconselho a ver outras reviews ou até mesmo a experimentar o jogo.
  74. 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
  75. MasterMike000
    Nov 19, 2020
    2
    Story wise, it's extremely forgettable and unoriginal. This is the most generic and uncreative Pokemon story next to X/Y. The story in this game, brings nothing new to the franchise, it's literally the same boring story that Gamefreak keeps repeating. Compared to the other games that have an interesting story like in Gen 4 and Gen 5...this game brings nothing new or anything interesting toStory wise, it's extremely forgettable and unoriginal. This is the most generic and uncreative Pokemon story next to X/Y. The story in this game, brings nothing new to the franchise, it's literally the same boring story that Gamefreak keeps repeating. Compared to the other games that have an interesting story like in Gen 4 and Gen 5...this game brings nothing new or anything interesting to the Pokemon world or lore. It's literally, and I mean LITERALLY just fight the gym leaders, reach to the tournament, get interrupted by the villain and you need to stop the strong/legendary Pokemon that just popped up out of nowhere. This with maybe 3 scenes of exposition coming from Sonia...that's the story of Pokemon Sword/Shield from what I played. Like, the developers didn't even bother showing us a cutscene of how the strong/legendary Pokemon appeared or came.

    Character wise, none of them really stand out from the rest of the series because of how uncreative or poorly they were written. Your rival Hop is the most annoying rival up to date, who literally stops your path every 5 minutes and wastes your time and repeats the same sentence, “I ShOuLd HaVe KnOwN yOu HaVe MaStErEd TyPiNg”. It doesn't help that is character goes literally everywhere throughout the story, from wanting to be the Champion, to feeling weak after losing to Bede, to wanting to be a professor...BUT still challenges you at the Champion Cup after beating the main game. Rose being the villain of the story is extremely rushed and comes out of nowhere. Yes, we knew he was the villain before the game was released, but his reveal of being a villain LITERALLY comes up in the very last second of the game for no reason what's so ever. Bede was such a disappointment because while he's an actual rude rival like we always wanted, but sadly his team is complete joke because of how pathetic easy they are too beat. The first half of the game, all his Pokemon are ALL Psychic type and the second half of the game, they are ALL Fairy type. Marnie...she's just there in the game for some reason. She literally has no impact to the actual story in the game. Team Yell...give them a medal for being the worst evil organization in the entire Pokemon franchise. You can't take them seriously, they're simply annoying, There's literally nothing interesting or unique about Team Yell.

    Gameplay wise, it's LITERALLY the exact same battle animations from X/Y, except that they introduced Gigantamax and Dynamax which is easily the worst mechanic compared to Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves. Not only is it broken and really unbalanced, but it was poorly designed with how you obtain a Gigantamax Pokemon. Unlike Z-Moves or Mega-Evolutions, where you can simply use the require item on the Pokemon you already have and raised…In Sword/Shield, you need to replace and catch the same Pokemon again when it’s in its Gigantamax form. So that Rookidee that you caught at the beginning of the game and bonded with it till it became a Corviknight…throw it in the PC because it won’t be able to Gigantamax. The Wild Area and the Max Raids battles…oh my God, it’s awful. The Wild Area has ugly textures, terrible pop-in and the fps drops like crazy when online. Coming from the biggest media franchise of all time…the Wild Area simply looks unacceptable. It doesn’t help that the Wild Area is introduced way too early in the game and you have no reason whatsoever to go back to it after the first time. The Max Raids battle on the other hand, when offline, are broken. You might battle and want to catch a 5-star Gigantamax Charizard…but the NPC trainers, that are your teammates, are using a Togepi or a Magikarp. Yup, because that makes sense when you’re battling against a giant Level 60 Charizard.

    Finally, the game lacks content. Not just the National Dex, I’m taking about the extra content that game offers. I mean, the fact that Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver or Pokemon Black 2/White 2 (2 DS games) or even Pokemon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon (a 3DS game) have more content and have more duration than a Nintendo Switch game (which remember, being charged full price)...is pathetic on Gamefreak. The Post-game shouldn’t even be considered a Post-Game because all you are doing is literally catch the legendary Pokemon from the box art, which from all the previous titles, were in the MAIN game. Even the DLC is not enough because the Isle of Armor expansion is terrible.

    The only good thing that I can say about this game is the Crown Tundra (which has a better and more interesting story btw), the soundtrack and the gym battles actually feel like an exciting event. it felt like something that's actually grand and important like in the anime. But other than that...This is easily one of the worst Pokemon games. I can't argue against people who dislike Pokemon games because this game...is everything that shows why people hate/dislike Pokemon games    … Expand
  76. Gregnator
    Nov 19, 2020
    7
    Pokemon sword is a fully 3d full fledged Pokemon game.
    The story isn't the greatest, but compared to the other Pokemon games it's fairly okay.
    No voice acting makes many scenes feel empty, and the obvious copy/paste attacks they ripped straight from the 3DS version, makes me wonder why they decided to remove many pokemon that could be found in previous versions. Hackers have been plaguing    Pokemon sword is a fully 3d full fledged Pokemon game.
    The story isn't the greatest, but compared to the other Pokemon games it's fairly okay.
    No voice acting makes many scenes feel empty, and the obvious copy/paste attacks they ripped straight from the 3DS version, makes me wonder why they decided to remove many pokemon that could be found in previous versions.

    Hackers have been plaguing online, and seemingly no change in sight.

    The game is fun, it could've been more, perhaps that the dlc makes for an interesting addition.    … Expand
  77. mla88
    Nov 17, 2020
    6
    (Note: I don't have the DLC, so this review is for the base game only)

    It's okay, but there isn't much content for the price and it's surprisingly unpolished. The story is very poorly paced. Much of the NPC dialogue isn't interesting, which is a shame because I'd like to know more about the gym leader characters through their dialogue (though, we do get some backstories for them on    (Note: I don't have the DLC, so this review is for the base game only)

    It's okay, but there isn't much content for the price and it's surprisingly unpolished.

    The story is very poorly paced. Much of the NPC dialogue isn't interesting, which is a shame because I'd like to know more about the gym leader characters through their dialogue (though, we do get some backstories for them on the back of their league cards, which is a good addition.)

    The routes are bare bones and feature little exploration. The wild area is a good idea, but it would be better if it had more landmarks and areas to explore (including caves and dungeons).

    The online functions are poorly implemented; it is not possible to simply "refresh" the list of stamps to find active raids, which is a strange omission. The max raid battles themselves feel like a chore, because there is little to no strategy involved. This is due to the boss's shields, and the fact that the boss frequently nullifies any stat changes. So, there is no point in trying to use any interesting strategies, just spam the A button to use a super effective attack over and over, while waiting for all of the lengthy animations and text boxes to play out. It's really tedious and boring.

    I bought the digital version, but I would recommend others to buy the physical version instead, so you can trade it in when you're done with it.

    Positives: It's far better than Let's Go and I did have some fun playing it. Also, many of the Pokemon designs and character designs are quite good.    … Expand
  78. 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
  79. GlacebrousFrost
    Nov 16, 2020
    6
    para ser mi primer juego de pokemon dentro de la saga principal tiene una buena jugabilidad que te atraer, en especial si sons de farmear bastante como nosotros, la crianza es simple perfecto para los nuevos, la zona silvestre es una gran idea pero lo deben perfecionar para comvertirlo en un mundo abierto ,apartado grafico es promedio deben mejorarlo , mientras que la historia no es ni muypara ser mi primer juego de pokemon dentro de la saga principal tiene una buena jugabilidad que te atraer, en especial si sons de farmear bastante como nosotros, la crianza es simple perfecto para los nuevos, la zona silvestre es una gran idea pero lo deben perfecionar para comvertirlo en un mundo abierto ,apartado grafico es promedio deben mejorarlo , mientras que la historia no es ni muy buena ni muy mala lo de siempre, si vale la pena comprarlo o no dependera unicamente de tu gustos y si realmente lo quieres jugar, mi nota final es un 6 de 10 .… Expand
  80. doproyee
    Nov 15, 2020
    0
    i was so disappointed about Game Freak. they don't deserve such fame for this game.
  81. 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
  82. Tri9322
    Nov 10, 2020
    8
    Pokémon Sword and Shield are not perfect. Not at all. They are missing Pokémon, have not the best story and don't look amazing. But, they're fun. It is fun to see the nice graphics (which I think look good but others don't), it is cool to explore the game and catch new Pokémon. It is fun to play with your Pokémon in Pokémon Camp. It is fun to shiny hunt, to try and get dex completion, itPokémon Sword and Shield are not perfect. Not at all. They are missing Pokémon, have not the best story and don't look amazing. But, they're fun. It is fun to see the nice graphics (which I think look good but others don't), it is cool to explore the game and catch new Pokémon. It is fun to play with your Pokémon in Pokémon Camp. It is fun to shiny hunt, to try and get dex completion, it is just a fun game that I enjoy. I just hate seeing constant negativity on the internet, and personally find these games very fun.… Expand
  83. ValkyriaDG
    Nov 7, 2020
    7
    Un Juego muy interesante y entretenido. Peca por Algunos lados como en la historia o en la dificultad, pero si te gusta el universo de Pokemon lo vas a Disfrutar.
  84. 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€.
  85. KunkMast3rFl3x
    Nov 5, 2020
    7
    Pokemon Sword and Shield Offer many innovations that make the late game actions of competitive team building and Shiny hunting more manageable to the average player. In turn making those activities more open to a wider fan base than what has historically been the same repeat tournament players over and over again. This does make the game have a longer breath, even before the DLCs, as youPokemon Sword and Shield Offer many innovations that make the late game actions of competitive team building and Shiny hunting more manageable to the average player. In turn making those activities more open to a wider fan base than what has historically been the same repeat tournament players over and over again. This does make the game have a longer breath, even before the DLCs, as you try to create the best version of you favorite pokemon. I myself have the best quality pokemon I've ever had in the 20 years of me playing the game. It almost makes me want to release any pokemon i brought over through Pokemon Home and start again. However, the one aspect that Game Freak has introduced, maintained and insisted on since Generation 3, the storied RPG element, is very lacking. The story mostly suffers from logical breakdown of character motivations and the presence of an NPC who is more active in the story than you, the PLAYER CHARACTER, are.
    Chairman Rose's plan is lacking in explanation, though not for a lack of a lot of dialogue with him. his protege and the interactions you witness with him are also confusing come the finale. Sonia continuously keeps pointing out topics in the Galar environment that go nowhere (ie the power plant on Route 3). Even Leons presence muddles everything up as he is.
    It seems like characters were created to solve problems that GF couldn't solve within their narrative skills for fear of making a game too grown up. So they talked down to all players, instead of writing intelligently. This in turn makes the main game something you begrudgingly speed run through just to get to the point where you can perform all the endgame material, shiny breeding with better odds, and competitive online play. This is sad because the DLC segments are a blast to play and much better constructed to competition and exploration.

    [Personal Thought-only makes sense it you've played the game]
    Personally, I would have combined certain characters and made subtle changes to the story to make motivations feel more legitimate. i.e. Rose and Leon as one character. Rose/Leon is the reigning Champ (and energy supplier for Galar), but is hinted at that he's cheating somehow. Hop keeps fighting people who say his brother cheats-which gives him a bigger arch (other than just being bad at pokemon battles) for the game to be better than his brother. The rest plays out the same just with more streamlined scenes and dialogue.
    Also get rid of Shielbert and Swordward-do something else. Like just damage control after the incident with Eternatus.    … Expand
  86. ATamashiro
    Nov 3, 2020
    0
    This game is incomplete in many ways, bad graphics, animations, bugs, glitches and not worthy of a mainline pokemon game on switch. There is no excuse for making such a bad game.
  87. 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.
  88. DaHomeaSimpzon
    Oct 28, 2020
    8
    Before I stated my thoughts on the game, I don't condone review bombing as they may have never played it before. The reason why I am making this is because the review bombing of the game on Metcritic just bothered everyone. I want to let you know I had played the game (Yes, I had both versions) and let me tell you the designs of the characters and the new Pokemon are great. If there thingsBefore I stated my thoughts on the game, I don't condone review bombing as they may have never played it before. The reason why I am making this is because the review bombing of the game on Metcritic just bothered everyone. I want to let you know I had played the game (Yes, I had both versions) and let me tell you the designs of the characters and the new Pokemon are great. If there things that Game Freak needs improve on is the National Dex (which they already did with the DLCs), the graphics, the storyline and other issues. Maybe an update would be perfect to improve the games. Even though I am bothered with the price of the game and the DLCs, it still hadn't stop me from liking Pokemon. Even though the games had some bad moments, Game Freak was trying their best as they can.… Expand
  89. DaniyalIslam
    Oct 23, 2020
    5
    I’ve been a longtime fan of the series forever. I’ve grown up with Pokémon, and it saddens me to say that this game is not the direction I hope the series takes. With antiquated designs and stuck in the last graphics and gameplay, this game desperately needs a breath of fresh air from Game Freak’s clutches.
  90. Brainlegs
    Oct 22, 2020
    9
    Love it! Perfect game to play working from home. Same Pokemon style and fun to project on the big screen.
  91. SammyDelicious
    Oct 20, 2020
    1
    Pokemon blue, red, yellow, gold, silver and crystal are easily some of my favorite games of all time. I have replayed them countless times. I have waited for 25 years for a 3D pokemon game and this game was an insult to any lifelong, diehard pokemon fans. I don't have enough space to list everything that is wrong with this game so I'll keep it short.

    This Game Is Not Fun. Plain And Simple.
  92. Chores
    Oct 10, 2020
    2
    The core mechanic is broken, the game is too easy. There is no challenge in battles at all, you need to set your own rules to have fun. It is possible to beat the game without any Pokémon deceased.
  93. Zequila
    Oct 10, 2020
    2
    An incredibly boring and repeatitive game. Unbalanced and with ton of cut contents, short and with a very poor graphic. Worst level design of the series and and very little areas to exploring. It's enough?
  94. Twilwind
    Oct 10, 2020
    6
    Game Freak could have made a better game. The story is too short, and the graphical quality is terrible. Still, there are advantages. The Online Battle function is more balanced and the Internet connection is stable. By the way, I love Galarian Ponyta!!!
  95. Peacepiperf20
    Oct 7, 2020
    2
    Probably one of the worst pokemon games extremely easy and rushed but pokemon apologists wont agree and will tell you its great just look at the ratings.
  96. NakedWizard
    Oct 7, 2020
    4
    Pokemon Sword has great new pokemon designs, a few beautiful places and some nice new mechanics. But, overall, this game has so many problems that I simply cannot recomend it to anyone.

    Graphics and animations: It looks and feels exactly like a HD version of a 3DS game. That's not a metaphor, that's not a joke. Pokemon sword and shield are upscaled 3ds games. It is really disapointing    Pokemon Sword has great new pokemon designs, a few beautiful places and some nice new mechanics. But, overall, this game has so many problems that I simply cannot recomend it to anyone.

    Graphics and animations: It looks and feels exactly like a HD version of a 3DS game. That's not a metaphor, that's not a joke. Pokemon sword and shield are upscaled 3ds games. It is really disapointing to see those battles with almost no movement on the TV screen, and the characters animations are robotic and unatural in a way I've never seen in a console game.

    Difficulty is inexistent in this game. This is the easiest entry in the franchise and that says a lot. It is also one of the most handholding entries (comparable with sun & moon) and sometimes it seems like you are only pressing A.

    The wild area was the biggest promise of this game (and for god sake, it's only an open 3D area), but turns out it's only another big disappointment. This part of the game has big performance issues, including heavy pop-in, frame rate drops and terrible textures. Besides that, the area seems empty and there's not really much to do after you try the dinamax raid battles a few times (spoiler: these battles are boring too).

    Overall, the game feels empty, childish and unfinished. Unacceptably bad for a console game, even more if you consider it's one of the biggest and more profitable game franchises.    … Expand
  97. BakaShinji
    Oct 5, 2020
    6
    While Sun and Moon generation pushed the boundaries of the 3DS, this game looks lazy. Cool new Pokémon and new mechanics, but it lacks some challenge. It's so easy that it looks like a joke.
    SM had a deep, interesting and capvitating story, this game have no story at all (or it is so bad that it would be better not to have one).
    In the end, it's still fun to play, but it feels like    While Sun and Moon generation pushed the boundaries of the 3DS, this game looks lazy. Cool new Pokémon and new mechanics, but it lacks some challenge. It's so easy that it looks like a joke.
    SM had a deep, interesting and capvitating story, this game have no story at all (or it is so bad that it would be better not to have one).
    In the end, it's still fun to play, but it feels like Gamefreak took a step back.    … Expand
  98. WeeklyFurball
    Oct 2, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Sword and Shield were a mediocre addition to a franchise beloved by many. Many of the features loved by longtime fans, like the national dex, were removed for no apparent reason. The cities and towns feel like facades, and are only there to give the illusion of a world outside of the playable area. Whereas other games in the franchise, like Black and White, had cities divided up into different areas, with homes and buildings being able to be interacted with, and NPC’s inside to chat with. This is still present in Sword and Shield, but to a much lesser degree, where the only buildings you can enter are shops, Pokémon Centers, and gyms.

    Moving onto the next subject, gyms. In previous games, gyms provided some degree of challenge that needed to be completed before one could compete with the gym leader, such as puzzles, or battles with NPC trainers. This is absent in Sword and Shield, with the gyms being no more than a single battle. These leader battles are, for the most part, underwhelming. The only real challenge is when a leader activates dynamic, lasts for 3 turns, then it’s back to normal battle gameplay. Despite their shortcomings, Sword and Shield do shine in some aspects, one of these, for me at least, are the designs of the Pokémon. The creativity behind the Galarian forms and the Galarian Pokémon are nothing to scoff at. The designers did a great job with designs and concepts. For example, they were able to turn an apple into a dragon.

    Pokémon Sword and Shield are, for the most part, mediocre additions to the Pokémon family, but despite their shortcomings, do shine in some aspects. This review does not include all the aspects I wanted to cover, simply because I don’t want to drag this review on for too long. If you are considering buying Sword and Shield, I can’t say for sure if you will like the game. It all depends on how you go into the game, and your knowledge of it going in.    … Expand
  99. Ge0rge_097
    Sep 30, 2020
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Cuando me compré el juego pensaba que lo iba a disfrutar como los anteriores, grave error. La historia es el mayor aberración de aborto que jamás había visto en mi vida, es super aburrida, y ademas las nuevas mecánicas no son nada originales, por favor ¿enserio me vas a quitar a las mega-evoluciones con esta estupidez de volver a los pokemones grandes? Ademas las físicas son malisimas, voy en la bici y de la nada me salta un snorlax a nivel 60 cuando apenas voy a nivel 35. Lo peor de todo son los dlc, perfectamente pudieron poner a la isla de la armadura en el juego principal en ves de ese horrible post-game tan repetitivo. Que no hayan puesto a todos los pokemon no me parecía la gran cosa, pero después de anunciar que los volverían a poner después fue una pésima jugada ya que ya se había establecido un competitivo sin necesidad de poner a los otros pokemones, yo de verdad pienso que es el peor pokemon de la saga principal.
    HORRIBLE    … Expand
  100. Kijuger
    Sep 29, 2020
    1
    A shame, millions and millions of dollars available to make this product and we find ourselves with a disastrous technical sector, and as has already been pointed out by many other users, they must begin to understand that the main fanbase of the game is not children and therefore to stop with ridiculous and cringe dialogues, scenes and characterizations etc, it's time to give us someA shame, millions and millions of dollars available to make this product and we find ourselves with a disastrous technical sector, and as has already been pointed out by many other users, they must begin to understand that the main fanbase of the game is not children and therefore to stop with ridiculous and cringe dialogues, scenes and characterizations etc, it's time to give us some well-made and mature character models, because for several generations now, especially male models are ridiculous and too childish. $ 60 At day one for very few new pokemon and recycled assets (ALREADY RIDICULOUS IN THE PREVIOUS), and someone justify them with the addition of dlc($$$$$$), as if $ 60 for a product with zero commitment were not 'already' too much. The end that pokemon has made is one of the many demonstrations of how the video game industry has become today: games comparable to the most lousy pizzas to be put in the microwave, in short, products without a soul and respect for those who pay and give the possibility developers to bring bread home.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 87 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 87
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 87
  3. Negative: 0 out of 87
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 30, 2020
    80
    Sword & Shield stumble in a few areas and history may not be kind to them, but they're setting up a future that I'm excited to see. [Issue #44 – January/February 2020, p. 73]
  2. GameCritics
    Feb 6, 2020
    75
    I enjoyed my time with Pokemon Sword and Shield, but I ended feeling conflicted. I appreciate many of the changes and felt that it generally respected my time, but I almost felt like a passive participant. The more complex gym challenges had a meatier role, but the narrative shouldn’t have been shoved to the side. Overall, I would recommend it to players who want to have a Pokemon experience, but this one won’t stick with me the way the older ones have.
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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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