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. Themossman85
    Nov 19, 2019
    10
    I love this game in spite of that blurry tree texture.
    Critical score shouldn't be based on nitpicking before release. Also, game's fun.
  2. Hansbonnar
    Nov 19, 2019
    0
    You get less than half of the pokemon for nearly twice the price. This game just reeks of laziness...Gamefreak really is the japanese version of Bethesda.
  3. sebet89
    Nov 19, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. rápido
    não tem todos pokémon (menos que a metade)
    grupo inimigo lixo
    vilão fraco
    não tem Elite Four
    não curti o campeão
    rival lixo
    muito fácil
    história lixo
    animação fraca    … Expand
  4. Flare748
    Nov 19, 2019
    10
    The flaws are so minor they really don’t matter to me. I haven’t had this much fun in a Pokémon game since XY. I would recommend this game to everybody. Gyms are so hype now thanks to the music, setup and camera angles. The wild area is so fun and full of fun and engaging max raid that you can play online and locally. Towns look amazing on the Switch and I will be playing this game forThe flaws are so minor they really don’t matter to me. I haven’t had this much fun in a Pokémon game since XY. I would recommend this game to everybody. Gyms are so hype now thanks to the music, setup and camera angles. The wild area is so fun and full of fun and engaging max raid that you can play online and locally. Towns look amazing on the Switch and I will be playing this game for hundreds of hours.… Expand
  5. Suggema93
    Nov 19, 2019
    10
    Tendrá muchas decadencias eso no lo discuto, pero esta muy bueno este juego, hasta ahora lo que e jugado me encanta y no me arrepiento de averlo comprado.
  6. ZonaManine
    Nov 19, 2019
    9
    Gráficamente se podría mejorar, pero tampoco esta tan mal: es mas estilo a Anime. No he visto bajada de fps en ningún momento, aunque como he dicho se puede mejorar.
    La Banda sonora esta muy bien currada y más cuando estamos luchando en un gimnasio. La historia deja mucho que desear, aunque bueno.... ningún juego de Pokémon ha tenido una historia muy allá.
    La duración, pues bueno, he    Gráficamente se podría mejorar, pero tampoco esta tan mal: es mas estilo a Anime. No he visto bajada de fps en ningún momento, aunque como he dicho se puede mejorar.
    La Banda sonora esta muy bien currada y más cuando estamos luchando en un gimnasio. La historia deja mucho que desear, aunque bueno.... ningún juego de Pokémon ha tenido una historia muy allá.
    La duración, pues bueno, he tardado unas 25 horas en pasármelo y todavía me queda muchas cosas por completar (pokedex, torre batalla, etc) y la jugabilidad; hay cosas viejas que ya vimos en entregas anteriores y cosas innovadoras. El juego es mas accesible al público (mas casual). Lo mas malo es la Dex (no están todos) y la historia (que podría habérselo currado mas). En mi canal Zona Manine hago un Análisis mas detallado sobre el juego.    … Expand
  7. chronofantasy
    Nov 19, 2019
    7
    Played about 30 hours, I would say 77 out of 100. But I think I've outgrown it, so started to feel bored of it 10 hours in, and i usually only pick up a pokemon game every 5 to 10 years to see what changes there are. I miss having all the HM stuff you can teach your pokemon to do, instead it seems to go on your bike or some other mode of transportation. Being gigantic is odd to me at timesPlayed about 30 hours, I would say 77 out of 100. But I think I've outgrown it, so started to feel bored of it 10 hours in, and i usually only pick up a pokemon game every 5 to 10 years to see what changes there are. I miss having all the HM stuff you can teach your pokemon to do, instead it seems to go on your bike or some other mode of transportation. Being gigantic is odd to me at times when you can. I don't care if every single pokemon is in there or not, 500 or almost that amount is still a lot to me, when I'm still used to old school pokemon with 300 or less. I just got my last badge last night. So I'm on my way to the champion road I guess they call it, and not pokemon league. Team Yell seems dumb to me, but I guess they ran out of ideas for bad guys. Other than that, I kinda like the lore behind the sword and shield, and it's somewhat nostalgic for me, but then it also feels a little too new and fresh to have very much nostalgia.… Expand
  8. Emurkulator
    Nov 17, 2019
    10

    Yes there is some flaws such as the graphics could have been a touch better and the not being able to transfer in any pokemon from the series is a bit sad. However, NOT GAME BREAKING. The story is plain but not bad the gameplay is great and the new pokemon are pretty cool.
    Would give a better score had it actually took some risk and tried to be a more epic game like zelda and mario did
    Yes there is some flaws such as the graphics could have been a touch better and the not being able to transfer in any pokemon from the series is a bit sad. However, NOT GAME BREAKING. The story is plain but not bad the gameplay is great and the new pokemon are pretty cool.
    Would give a better score had it actually took some risk and tried to be a more epic game like zelda and mario did this generation.    … Expand
  9. SK1Y101
    Nov 19, 2019
    0
    Wonderful, impeccable, outstanding, trailblazing.
    These were the promises Game Freak made to us about this game, and yet what did we receive?
    An empty shell of a game, clearly rushed and barelypolished, without a shred of any of the former games shining features, Including, but not limited to: Shiny starters Mega-evolutions having access to every move, ever item, every Pokémon, every    Wonderful, impeccable, outstanding, trailblazing.
    These were the promises Game Freak made to us about this game, and yet what did we receive?
    An empty shell of a game, clearly rushed and barelypolished, without a shred of any of the former games shining features, Including, but not limited to:
    Shiny starters
    Mega-evolutions
    having access to every move, ever item, every Pokémon, every gym.
    The elite four existing.
    Victory road existing.
    Decent graphics,
    actually getting to play the game rather than being railroaded....
    The list of features missing in SwSh goes on.

    A glorified Pokémon go, with less effort than should be physically possible to inject into a franchise this large.
    If you want to play Pokémon, pickup Gen 4, Gen 7, hey, maybe even Gen 1 if you want; Don't expect to find anything desirable in sword and shield.    … Expand
  10. bookman
    Nov 19, 2019
    2
    I've been a long time player of pokemon, and this game is a total disappointment. I've seen so many unpolished and lazy things with this game like glitchy overworld animations, lazybattle animations, the entire world around you freezing as you climb ladders... My biggest problem with this game is the extreme handholding and linearity even by pokemon standards which was already a low barI've been a long time player of pokemon, and this game is a total disappointment. I've seen so many unpolished and lazy things with this game like glitchy overworld animations, lazybattle animations, the entire world around you freezing as you climb ladders... My biggest problem with this game is the extreme handholding and linearity even by pokemon standards which was already a low bar given the recent titles. The wild area is devoid of anything to actually explore, just the new "raid" feature which brings me to my next gripe. The new Dyanamax gimmick is a terrible replacement that cut mega evolution and z moves. Instead of interesting changes to the pokemon like type changes, unique ability changes, and unique stat distributions from the base form, Dynamax inflates your pokemon like a balloon and gives straight buffs while turning all your varied moves into straight generic dynamax moves, removing all variety of the gimmick. Speaking of pokemon sizes, none of the pokemon are properly scaled either, so you end up with weird looking results like tiny tiny waillords and Tyranitars. Do not get me started on the awful dialogue and plot of the game not to mention the WORST enemy team in all of pokemon. Losing a massive amount of previous pokemon available in the game is the crowning achievement of failure for this gen. Every game I've played I always have a Magneton on my team because it was my favorite pokemon. This is the first game I cannot do that. Many other fan favorites are cut too, so your mileage may vary.

    The only improvement in this game is overworld pokemon. That's it. It's too bad it's not in a good game because that's a great feature people have wanted for years, myself included.

    Do not buy this game. There are much better games on the Switch right now to spend your money on. Play a romhack if you want to play a good modern pokemon game in 2019.    … Expand
  11. 1_M_
    Nov 19, 2019
    6
    Just finished it. Unfortunately game is pretty mediocre. I don't have a problem with lack of National Dex (maybe because I'm a lucky bastatd, and all my favs are in), but I can objectively understand all the havoc it made. Plot in this generation is extremely dissapointing, hollow and probably the worst ever, especially with it's stupid twist, faceless and unimportant team Yell, andJust finished it. Unfortunately game is pretty mediocre. I don't have a problem with lack of National Dex (maybe because I'm a lucky bastatd, and all my favs are in), but I can objectively understand all the havoc it made. Plot in this generation is extremely dissapointing, hollow and probably the worst ever, especially with it's stupid twist, faceless and unimportant team Yell, and non-sense main antagonist's motivations. Wild area is a nice idea, but it needs alot of polishing, right now it feels borring and kinda empty, I spent there about 20 minutes during my 14 hour long walkthrough, because I didn't feel the need to spend more time in a location like this. When it comes to graphics, well... I'm a kind of person, that usually don't care about such things but damn it, some textures in Sword&Shield look very bad, company with such history and experience shouldn't let this happen, I'm pretty sure game could look so much better. New Mons are obviously a matter of taste, there are some I like very much with one of them instantly becoming one of my all time favourites, and two or three that I absolutely hate, but that's always the case, this series always was all about finding your favourites to me, no matter what they are and how they look.

    Oh, and there's a Battle Tower. Cool...

    It hurts me down to the bone to say that in my opinion Sword and Shield with their story, characters, lots of bugs, and graphic issues are dissapointing titles. Creating underdeveloped games that look like they were released too soon and needed more time for polishing isn't a way I would like Game Freak to go. I hope Gamę Freak and Pokemon Company will draw conclusions and consequences from this situation, although this is very unlikely because despite all the issues these two games are selling like hotcakes.

    In general I would score SwoShi 5/10, but that one effing cute Pokemon forced me to ad one bonus point.

    One more thing. I can understand that some players, especially new to the series may subjectively like those titles, but for the love of God. How can anyone say they're the best Pokemon games ever?!

    Also sorry for my bad English.    … Expand
  12. tAugustine1992
    Nov 19, 2019
    3
    The only two good things about this game are the Wild Area and the music. New Pokemon just seem very uninspired. Just look at the Pokemon Eiscue. It's literally just a penguin with a block of ice on its head. Even it docked mode the game had issues dropping frames while doing specific activities. Crossing a bridge using the bicycle boost caused the character to flicker uncontrollably untilThe only two good things about this game are the Wild Area and the music. New Pokemon just seem very uninspired. Just look at the Pokemon Eiscue. It's literally just a penguin with a block of ice on its head. Even it docked mode the game had issues dropping frames while doing specific activities. Crossing a bridge using the bicycle boost caused the character to flicker uncontrollably until the boost was done. There is a huge lack of post game activities. There is the quest to catch the legendary which takes a hour at most, the wild area, and a battle tower. The Wild Area is the best thing about the game but if you connect to the internet it becomes a big, buggy mess, with constant frame drops, freezing, and stuttering. Obviously you have to be connected online to raid with friends. If you don't have friends then you are out of luck seeing as trying to join random raids often ends with a failure to join screen. Nobody ever joins your raids and that just turns into sitting there hoping you get lucky.

    For the first main line Pokemon game on a home console I am highly highly disappointed in this dumpster fire of a game. I didn't even mention the National Dex crisis. I HATE that they removed 490 some Pokemon from the game and made them completely unobtainable, but I wen't into the game with an open mind and was left wishing I never picked it up.    … Expand
  13. loading479
    Nov 19, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's just a very shallow game that is fun the first 3 hours but then gets repetitive with going to each gym. It gets boring the more you progress and feels rushed and incomplete. This was my first Pokemon game and it was a letdown… Expand
  14. Rui666
    Nov 19, 2019
    10
    The game is awesome, great graphics, wild area is very different, awesome
  15. silverrobot100
    Nov 19, 2019
    0
    yo le dije a mi hermanito que elija otro juego, pero no quiso. elijio este juego y le pareció mas corto que patada de chancho. y los gráficos.....sobre todo los arboles, de N64, es increíble que no tenga voces los npcs, hasta un juego de ps1 tenia voces, y el método de juego es el mismo de hace años, agregándole algunas cosas nuevas , pero es básicamente lo mismo. Esta franquicia tieneyo le dije a mi hermanito que elija otro juego, pero no quiso. elijio este juego y le pareció mas corto que patada de chancho. y los gráficos.....sobre todo los arboles, de N64, es increíble que no tenga voces los npcs, hasta un juego de ps1 tenia voces, y el método de juego es el mismo de hace años, agregándole algunas cosas nuevas , pero es básicamente lo mismo. Esta franquicia tiene que cambiar de una vez por todas. y lo de reciclar mecanicas de 3ds....bueno es en casi todo el juego. como diria un meme de uruguay: "dediquense a laburar.... manga de kokemones"… Expand
  16. Wehr_Wolff
    Nov 19, 2019
    4
    I played Pokemon since I was 7 on my DS and some of my first games was Pokemon Pearl. I played all mainline Pokemon games after those. I was really hyped when news came out for a new Pokemon game. I had kind of mixed feelings towards Lets Go Pikachu/Eevee on the Switch because of the limited Pokemon selection and removed abilites. But because it seemed really intenional to me I accepted itI played Pokemon since I was 7 on my DS and some of my first games was Pokemon Pearl. I played all mainline Pokemon games after those. I was really hyped when news came out for a new Pokemon game. I had kind of mixed feelings towards Lets Go Pikachu/Eevee on the Switch because of the limited Pokemon selection and removed abilites. But because it seemed really intenional to me I accepted it and because they probably needed time to figure out the new Hardware/Software they now work with when it comes to the Switch.

    I really liked seeing Pokemon in HD 3D, but because I also started doing a Nuzlock of Omegaruby I realized that the biggest change to battles was at best the backgrounds. The Pokemon and there attack animations seems similiar enough to not make much of a difference. At least from my perspective it might be in HD but the animations don't make the Pokemon more lively or unique.

    The one animation I need to give big credit to tough is when you pick your Starter. This one shows exactly what I hoped for and wish was more in the game. The Starters start doing there own thing when presented to you and interact with each other showing much of there personality. But in the end it felt more like a what could have been, a tease.

    I liked the detail the cities and rooms etc in buildings got. They really made your house more lively at the start. Sadly the Wild Area pretty much dissapointed me look wise, it felts more like a big plane with some trees and lakes thrown in than a proper big open area.

    When I first heared of Dynamaxing I disliked it, but after some thought I came to the conclusion that it is better than Megas in a way because every Pokemon can do it, so even weaker, less favored ones. Also it kind of brings Z-Moves with megas together. While Z-Moves were better than megas because every Pokemon could use them aswell. But also the Megas felt way more unique than most of the Dynamaxed Pokemon. And because you can only use this feature in a really limited way I didn't use it that much in my overall playthrough. So at the end a big wasted opportunity and way less enjoyable then Megas, espacially since my high hopes.

    You really start to see how many features are Online wise lacking without Pokemon Home that will only release in the start of next year, so quite a wait to enjoy all Online features and I guess that likely you need the paid Switch Online Subcription to use it to the fullest. So I also couldn't bring some of my older friends with me yet to this new region, but now not sure if I even will do so yet.

    At first you don't notice the cut national Dex because 400 Pokemon is still a lot, basically as much as when I started playing Pokemon in 2007. But you really start to notice when your fav Pokemons aren't in the game. You can't rely on some of your older friends to help you can't use your team of your top 6 fav pokemon because certain mons are missing.

    The gyms and gym leaders and challenges can be intresting but compared to Black/White and Black2/White2 the gyms and gym leaders seem to have way less purpose, influence in the story then back then. Overall it is mostly a miss in that regard compared to what kind of infrastucture/working place and saviors story wise or else the gyms and gym leaders in the older mentioned games provide.

    Some design choices still are an eye sore to me. I like the way the champ is portrayed character wise but his design is a total failure. I am always confused how you could mix so much together. Marnie on the other hand had a pretty nice combination going on that didn't feel out of place.

    After the main story the postgame content is pretty lackluster compared to older games.

    Summery: The game if viewed as a standalone game would probably be a 6-8 because it can give you an enjoyable time, has some intresting features and ideas and looks goodish. But if you compare it to other Switch games and older Pokemon games the looks are underperforming. The story and difficulty aswell as postgame content were handled way better in older games. Dynamxing might be a nice idea of a feature but the implementation is badly execute and it should be used more often, to make it worth loosing megas and Z-moves for it. With half of all Pokemon missing and Online features being really limited until the release of Pokemon Home it is an incompelte expirience. Biggest downside considering all those negatives is that arguably that the game doesn't feature as much content and featues as older games and doesn't deliver what was promised while costing 50% more than the 3DS games. So considering all that the game would be on a 2-4. I give it a 4 because people who never might have played Pokemon or many other Switch games might still enjoy the expirience and because at times I had fun with the game. But overall a big dissapointment and it feels more like a lazy cash grab that needed to be delivered half-done before christmas.    … Expand
  17. Akayomi
    Nov 19, 2019
    7
    I got Pokemon Shield but since they're pretty much the same game, I'll paste my review here as well.

    Short version: The Good: - Refreshing feeling overall - Good character designs - Good looking graphics and animations (Half of the time, more on this down on the 'bad') - Wild Area is amaizing The bad: - Lazy animations on a lot of attacks (Which makes it even worse, considering    I got Pokemon Shield but since they're pretty much the same game, I'll paste my review here as well.

    Short version:
    The Good:
    - Refreshing feeling overall
    - Good character designs
    - Good looking graphics and animations (Half of the time, more on this down on the 'bad')
    - Wild Area is amaizing

    The bad:
    - Lazy animations on a lot of attacks (Which makes it even worse, considering some attacks have beautiful animations)
    - FPS drops on the Wild Area, even in Docked mode
    - Cutting the National Dex to "include better animations". Animations that are not in the game.
    - General unpolished feel to the game. This game needed at least 3-6 more months of development, and it could've easily been the BEST pokemon game of all time. Instead, we get a half-baked, mediocre pokemon game.

    Overall: If you enjoyed pokemon games, you will have fun. The game lacks in a lot of aspects, but it's still an enjoyable experience. I wish GameFreak would've taken more time to polish it a bit more, or at the very least that they adress the issues on patches down the line.

    Long version:
    I'm glad I bought this.

    Yes, the game has issues (FPS drops, some animations are cheap as **** it's generally unpolished, unnecesary dexit) but the game really ISN'T as bad as leakers and naysayers would have you believe. It pisses me off because if they had a few more months (say, 3 months, like Animal Crossing) this game could have been the BEST pokemon game ever. Instead, we get a half-assed mediocre game, but with enough fun stuff that it guarantees a huge profit for GameFreak, therefore they will not learn, and will continue to half-ass games, most likely. That's pretty sad.
    Also, anyone saying "the game is short!!! you can beat it in 8 hours!!" is full of **** I haven't even finished the main story and check it: 26hs and ticking. And I haven't even started doing max raids or anything endgame like that.
    The XP share turned on all the time is a pain in the ass, and we SHOULD have an option to turn it off.
    The difficulty is... very low. You can just mash A and you will probably win most fights. That being said, difficulty does spike in a few battles here and there. But most of the time it's very easy.

    Is this game perfect? No, not at all. Is it bad? Not really. It's average, or mediocre, whatever word you prefer to use. But it's fun. If you walk into the game wanting to hate it, you'll nitpick and hate every part of it. If you walk into the game wishing to have fun... well, you'll have tons of fun.

    Whether or not this game is worth 60$ is up to you to decide. For me, it should be 40$ and not a cent more. But I still bent over and paid full price. Even tho I reckon it shouldn't be full price, I personally am having lots of fun, and that makes it worth my time and money.    … Expand
  18. Thatchurr
    Nov 19, 2019
    7
    Not the best Pokemon game in the series for sure but definitely loads of fun. Great new Pokemon and designs. My main issue with game is the TMs are trash. TRs are good but dont like that they are one use and you have to raids to have a chance at getting one. Also i dont care about there not being a Nat Dex. Kind of annoying with the level cap on captures but still good game
  19. fuji97
    Nov 19, 2019
    0
    I want to participate in this Review bombing because #GameFreakLied
    Clearly this game doesn't deserve 0, but this is the only way to let Game Freak knows that we are angry.
  20. taruppuru
    Nov 19, 2019
    8
    While this game has received a fair amount of criticism, I personally found the game to be one of the best. It's the most fun I've had with a Pokemon game in a while, and I've been playing since the first Generation. It has its flaws, but I don't think it deserves the hate it's been getting.

    The graphics are bright and gorgeous. I've had some framerate drops in the Wild Area if I'm    While this game has received a fair amount of criticism, I personally found the game to be one of the best. It's the most fun I've had with a Pokemon game in a while, and I've been playing since the first Generation. It has its flaws, but I don't think it deserves the hate it's been getting.

    The graphics are bright and gorgeous. I've had some framerate drops in the Wild Area if I'm playing handheld, but it isn't terribly noticeable and doesn't take away from the experience. It looks infinitely better than the games on the 3ds. The routes and cities are all interesting and well-designed.

    While, yes, they did remove a large number of older Pokemon and moves, there is a fair number of new Pokemon and variants of old Pokemon. When a new generation comes out, you should be using the new Pokemon anyways! Take this time to make some new favorites.

    The music is upbeat, catchy, and it always fits the tone of the area you're in. Gym battles feel epic, as they should, especially once your opponent has Dynamaxed their Pokemon and the massive crowd around you starts chanting! I expected Dynamaxing to feel silly and shoehorned in, but it honestly didn't.

    Playing with your Pokemon in Camp and making curry is fun. Not too notable except that it's a fun way to see your Pokemon interact with each other. They did remove the option to "pet" your Pokemon, even though the Switch has a touch screen, which doesn't make much sense to me.

    The story of the game feels a bit rushed and sparse at times. It doesn't always feel like you as the player did anything to move the story along. The characters, as individuals, are interesting with great designs and personalities, but as a part of the story don't feel like they add much for the most part.

    All in all, I really enjoyed this game! At times, you can really feel the time crunch that GameFreak/TPC is put under to pump these games out each year. I feel like the franchise could strongly benefit from a few year break in the stream before the next generation is put out.    … Expand
  21. Mermunkaman
    Nov 19, 2019
    1
    Extremely dated and overdone combat system, uninspired story with aggressive hand holding, cut pokemon, the online does not work for me, I tried at least 20 times to get into a raid in the wild area but it never worked, the new trading system does not work for me either. The new dynamax feels shoehorned in and serves to waste your time. Just wait for the next one (if they improve)
  22. Sweetpair
    Nov 19, 2019
    0
    This is a disaster! All content is cuted away! No Pokemon from previous gens! No National pokedex! It' terrible!
  23. NovaAkasha
    Nov 19, 2019
    5
    It is not a bad game, but it really shows that it is incomplete. It needs at least 6-12 months more of development. The story is very simple and short. You can pass the game in less than 20 hours, and the content is generally poor. In addition to having several failures that a game of this generation, made by one of the multi-million dollar companies, cannot be allowed. How to lack suchIt is not a bad game, but it really shows that it is incomplete. It needs at least 6-12 months more of development. The story is very simple and short. You can pass the game in less than 20 hours, and the content is generally poor. In addition to having several failures that a game of this generation, made by one of the multi-million dollar companies, cannot be allowed. How to lack such basic things that other previous games had with no problem. (Specific funds for each zone, as an example).

    The biggest problem was the expectations they created with the excuse of cutting the pokedex for more quality. A lie.

    It's a step back, Pokemon SM / USUM, in generational and console comparison, is much better, which speaks very badly about this game. It is not worth 60 dollars.
    I do not recommend, if not, that you over money and just want to live the experience of pokemon, once again, in HD without expecting anything new or better than before.
    I hope that the next release takes advantage of all the failures that it has, to be a better game, and to meet expectations.

    Summary:
    A game with great potential wasted, for the preference of releasing games annually, instead of giving its consumers quality products. It has several errors and shortcomings that can ruin the experience. Even so, you can enjoy it, but leave much to be desired.    … Expand
  24. leon12jay
    Nov 19, 2019
    3
    This pokemon game seems like it does't fully developed. Although the graphics have got an upgrade, it still suck at 2019 level. There are even no background while battling inside building or city. In addition, the story is really straight forward and lack of depth, which lead to a short story is unacceptable.Cities feel like empty while exploring them. At least the city can have moreThis pokemon game seems like it does't fully developed. Although the graphics have got an upgrade, it still suck at 2019 level. There are even no background while battling inside building or city. In addition, the story is really straight forward and lack of depth, which lead to a short story is unacceptable.Cities feel like empty while exploring them. At least the city can have more people doing different thing to interact with people and pokemon, house with different design, more characteristics or tradition in cities and so on. There are so many thing to improve.

    The online experience is also not satisfying, I always cannot connect to the raids of other people successfully. A refresh button is missing in the page cause the player cannot really find the raids they want to battle. Cancelling the GTS system is ridiculous, which brings a lot of inconvenient to the player.

    The dynamax battle is quite interesting at the beginning but it soon become boring. It cannot do the same function as the MEGA can do, which can bring a lot of strategies to PVP. I think the company can explore more on MEGA evolution in the next game since there are still a lot of room for development and it is loved by most of the player.

    Overall, the experience is not satisfying and I think there is no excuse for gamefreak to cut the pokedex as the quality of the game is like this bad. Hoping that the company can listen to our voice to make improvement in the future.    … Expand
  25. JorrisBohnson
    Nov 19, 2019
    1
    The game is an unifnished mess that has no business of being released. Everyone has talked about Dexit or the culling of 60% of the Pokedex but more than that the game has horrible graphics, unfinished animations, empty maps, barely any content with most people finishing the game in 10 hours plus no postgame to speak off. If you are an JRPG fan there are better games on the Switch likeThe game is an unifnished mess that has no business of being released. Everyone has talked about Dexit or the culling of 60% of the Pokedex but more than that the game has horrible graphics, unfinished animations, empty maps, barely any content with most people finishing the game in 10 hours plus no postgame to speak off. If you are an JRPG fan there are better games on the Switch like Dragon Quest XI S or Xenoblade 2. If you are a Pokemon fan then I feel bad but if you want the franchise to improve you should not support this game. Vote with your wallet and let Game Freak know that this type of cashgrab is not accepted. Also there have been reports of the game corrupting save and game data on the Switch, showing how unfinished this game is.

    tl;dr Do not buy, get DQ XI S instead.    … Expand
  26. theguymandude
    Nov 19, 2019
    4
    As far as Pokemon games go this one is definitely lacking on many fronts. If you've played the previous mainline title to this on (Sun and Moon or Ultra Sun and Moon) then you will notice a lot of similarity. If you enjoyed those titles immensely you will also likely enjoy this one. However for those who have been sticking with the series for a much longer period of time, and have poured aAs far as Pokemon games go this one is definitely lacking on many fronts. If you've played the previous mainline title to this on (Sun and Moon or Ultra Sun and Moon) then you will notice a lot of similarity. If you enjoyed those titles immensely you will also likely enjoy this one. However for those who have been sticking with the series for a much longer period of time, and have poured a large chunk of hours into the games then these Sword and Shield will probably disappoint you. Many missing features that should be staples of the series at this point, including the removal of the Global Trade System. Difficulty options remain gone since Black and White 2, and an EXP share system that can't be turned off. In addition to a large chunk of Pokemon being completely gone from the game there are also moves that have completely vanished. Not to mention the game's framerate is still spotty in some areas, which is kind of baffling at this point seeing as the game really doesn't look like anything special at all.
    I can't recommend this to anyone who has a large amount of passion for the series, but for those who are just casual fans the game is probably fine for a quick playthrough. It's just a shame Game Freak can't appeal to both of those groups for whatever reason.    … Expand
  27. dschelske
    Nov 19, 2019
    4
    Good ideas, bad execution. Too easy, dynamax raids boring and easy. Breeding too easy. Pvp is to simple. Game is fun for the first 20 hours, then become repetetive with a lack of depth in the content the game provides.
  28. kombatkarrot
    Nov 19, 2019
    2
    Very linear, corridor based game in the 10 hours I have played, I am already bored of the meaningless handholding, the town map now tells me where to go so I do not need a boring NPC tour guide. I had a level 37 starter before the second gym with no real effort which tells me the XP system is unbalanced and broken. The online raid system is terrible. I have been unable to join many raidsVery linear, corridor based game in the 10 hours I have played, I am already bored of the meaningless handholding, the town map now tells me where to go so I do not need a boring NPC tour guide. I had a level 37 starter before the second gym with no real effort which tells me the XP system is unbalanced and broken. The online raid system is terrible. I have been unable to join many raids and can barely get players to join mine. The 'safari zone' is near empty. filling it with other players instead of NPC's dungeons and side quests just makes it an XP pit. I can find very little positive about this game besides the camping mechanic.… Expand
  29. Malvion
    Nov 19, 2019
    6
    Story:
    Pretty common Pokèmon story, but less invasive. Not too deep and not too easygoing. Maybe some things were similar to the Sun and Moon plot...
    Graphic: Still needs a lot of work, but it's not totally bad sometimes. Features and Post-Game: too few.. except for Shiny Hunting and Competitive Breeding you have literally nothing to do. So for the ones who can't play competitive the    Story:
    Pretty common Pokèmon story, but less invasive. Not too deep and not too easygoing. Maybe some things were similar to the Sun and Moon plot...

    Graphic: Still needs a lot of work, but it's not totally bad sometimes.

    Features and Post-Game: too few.. except for Shiny Hunting and Competitive Breeding you have literally nothing to do. So for the ones who can't play competitive the game become boring really fast.    … Expand
  30. Jaeloih1911
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This game had a lot of potential, but it's fairly lackluster, boring, and choppy, especially when compared to previous games, like Black and White and HeartGold and SoulSilver. I honestly expected more out of a Switch game.
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 87 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 87
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 87
  3. Negative: 0 out of 87
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 30, 2020
    80
    Sword & Shield stumble in a few areas and history may not be kind to them, but they're setting up a future that I'm excited to see. [Issue #44 – January/February 2020, p. 73]
  2. GameCritics
    Feb 6, 2020
    75
    I enjoyed my time with Pokemon Sword and Shield, but I ended feeling conflicted. I appreciate many of the changes and felt that it generally respected my time, but I almost felt like a passive participant. The more complex gym challenges had a meatier role, but the narrative shouldn’t have been shoved to the side. Overall, I would recommend it to players who want to have a Pokemon experience, but this one won’t stick with me the way the older ones have.
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  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Jan 14, 2020
    78
    Pokemon Sword/Shield is uncharacteristically user-friendly: now there’s no need to backtrack half across the world to heal your entire team of pokemon or to get to a particular city, for example. [Issue#242, p.66]
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