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. WeihanZhang
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    My friend I am advise please avoid bad game. Not allow purchase support Game Freak Masuda insect bottom coomer.
  2. IWantOffGFsRide
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    I wanted the game to be good. I thought LGPE was just testing the waters for GF. I trusted GF. But nope! Now LGPE is the direction the series is going now.

    Please, Masuda and Ohmori, go have sex with the smartphones you're so obsessed with. Then marry them, have children with them, and get accused of rape by them. Get screwed.
  3. supradeluxx
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    Honestly, I let some skepticism get to me about the quality of this game. I wanna tell you that people do have a right to complain. But don’t be so ungrateful that you miss out on this title, because with my score it is WORTH the buy and the time. I only hope gamefreak takes seriously the complaints and I hope you take seriously the melodrama free review of this game. Now the mechanicsHonestly, I let some skepticism get to me about the quality of this game. I wanna tell you that people do have a right to complain. But don’t be so ungrateful that you miss out on this title, because with my score it is WORTH the buy and the time. I only hope gamefreak takes seriously the complaints and I hope you take seriously the melodrama free review of this game. Now the mechanics have some qualities of past titles, and newer qualities such as the encounters. I find myself smiling at the OP free roaming Pokémon that will hunt and squad wipe a underpowered team. Graphically it is more pleasing. Sounds are still 8 bit ish. Abomasnow roar sounds like a electric guitar. There was a lack of trainers on route 1 and 2 which I felt was disappointing. But there are great encounters to balance it out.… Expand
  4. I_Play_Soku
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    It's depressing how bad the series has gotten since 10 years back to now. This is considered by some to be the first mainline pokemon game to be on a TV console. And what we get is a pokemon game that uses the same engine as XY. That game was made on a the 3ds 6 years ago. Gamefreak has unironically become Japanese Bethesda except they are graced by developing games for the hugest grossingIt's depressing how bad the series has gotten since 10 years back to now. This is considered by some to be the first mainline pokemon game to be on a TV console. And what we get is a pokemon game that uses the same engine as XY. That game was made on a the 3ds 6 years ago. Gamefreak has unironically become Japanese Bethesda except they are graced by developing games for the hugest grossing franchise to date. The music is off in a lot of places (a few picked are good/alright), One of the shortest games and easiest games to beat, even with cutscenes. The cut of pokemon that everyone complains about. The crappy dynamax mechanic that has no purpose than to advertise the game without being much of a benefit to gameplay. Most routes are literal corridors. The list goes on... Awful game. I hope big changes are made in the near future or else pokemon is dead to me… Expand
  5. SucyQ
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Community was told that half of the Pokedex was removed in order to focus more time on remaking the models for the ones they were keeping and to improve the animations. This did not happen, not only are the in-game models the exact same as previous generations, but many of the animations are also recycled from other games as well. The Pokedex cut wasn't even told to Japanese fans either,Community was told that half of the Pokedex was removed in order to focus more time on remaking the models for the ones they were keeping and to improve the animations. This did not happen, not only are the in-game models the exact same as previous generations, but many of the animations are also recycled from other games as well. The Pokedex cut wasn't even told to Japanese fans either, the majority of them are going to be going in blind thinking all is normal.

    It's a shame, what should've been another mediocre title from Game Freak has been marred by them flat-out lying to the community that's supported them for years. The graphics are mediocre, maybe a little better to what you'd find on 3DS titles, but not indicative of what the Switch can do. The game is buggy beyond belief, reports are going around of lost save data on the game, on OTHER games on the Switch as a result of downloading this game off E-Shop. The gameplay is the same as usual, it's pokemon what do you expect? Dynamaxing is just a gimmick that was put in place of MegaEvos and Z-moves.

    I could go on but you know what Pokemon is, just imagine Sun and Moon but with less content that's Sword and Shield.    … Expand
  6. linkking
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    Como juego, pkm SS cumple perfectamente con que un titulo nesecita, no muchos tienen la capacidad de entender desiciones de cocepto como el supuesto poping que en realidad esta puesto de esa manera con intencion para q a cada paso que de manera repentina te aparezca pokemones a los cuales seguir, y asi muchos otros detalles mas, muy divertido y con amplio postgame a explotar,
  7. JosephPatterson
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    Game Is alot better than expected amazing end game and better accessibility to competitve
  8. Hotcozmo
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    I am new to the world of Pokémon. This seemed to me like a good place to start. From what I can tell so far it is a well crafted and thought out game. The animations are great. The graphics are cute and serve their purpose. And the best bit is it is approachable enough for my and my son to play together :)
  9. BooWaa
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    So I've played at least 10 hours of this and I can't believe this is what was released as the next mainline game of Pokémon.

    There is little good with this game, while many of the towns do look good and there have been graphical improvements, sadly everything else is just bad. Awful animations that don't belong in a game of this calibre. Removed features once again. The insane amount of    So I've played at least 10 hours of this and I can't believe this is what was released as the next mainline game of Pokémon.

    There is little good with this game, while many of the towns do look good and there have been graphical improvements, sadly everything else is just bad. Awful animations that don't belong in a game of this calibre. Removed features once again. The insane amount of hand holding that has been a staple since generation 7.

    The railroad gameplay is mind numbing with characters consistently popping in and laying a load of text upon you with no freedom to play the game as an RPG. The wild area is boring fast. The new gimmick is stupid and makes me wonder why they removed Megas for this. The main good thing about this game is the core gameplay, because it's a Pokémon game so it's still the exact same that's been loved for twenty years without changing. But it needs to change, Pokémon deserves more than this, and a more expensive game should turn people away.    … Expand
  10. darla
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Galar is charming, new pokemon designs are on point. QOL features are abundant and welcome. Dexit, though, omg so bad. It restricts the avenues of play tremendously. For example: I play to hunt shinies so I can play new regions with my shiny favorite mons that I spent days catching/breeding. Some play to catch them all. No longer possible. Some just want to play with even one or two ofGalar is charming, new pokemon designs are on point. QOL features are abundant and welcome. Dexit, though, omg so bad. It restricts the avenues of play tremendously. For example: I play to hunt shinies so I can play new regions with my shiny favorite mons that I spent days catching/breeding. Some play to catch them all. No longer possible. Some just want to play with even one or two of their favorites regardless of whether or not they invested time into raising them. Not possible if your favorite mon didn't make the cut. THEY ALSO GOT RID OF THE MOVE PURSUIT. Where is the logic in that? One of my most competitively relevant moves is now rendered nonexistent. WHY? Literally why. These review channels and critics online say it is very competitively friendly, but how is removing hundreds of mons and a handful of very meta relevant moves comptetive friendly? The QOL changes they added to nature changing are amazing, the restriction removal of vitamins is amazing, but if I can't do it on my shiny Latias, what the heck is the point? I just want to bring my favorite pals into the new region and GameFreak has come out and said that isn't how I'm supposed to play the game anymore. I'm beyond offended that they are trying to tell me that how I play the game is wrong after fostering such an inclusive gameplay experience for decades. How does this "policy change" make sense? Even with all the good in the game, the general laziness of the development and the cutting of so many features paramount to what Pokemon meant to me for my entire life leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth. This is not the Pokemon I have played in the past. Might as well change the name to something else with how different it is even from the last few generation which were also fairly developmentally lazy. Also what the heck why are Mega Evolutions cut too? I'm rambling at this point but holy crap that is so much cut content, how can you justify this for the first mainline console Pokemon game, something that has been hyped for years? Answer me that batman.… Expand
  11. zanttila
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    First off, and the most important, there is no end game. You complete the sub par story and you get about 1 hour of running around and the battle tower.

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

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

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

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

    Overall, this game is rushed. They needed the game out on a deadline because of the TCG and anime release. Pokemon games may never reach it's full potential at this rate.    … Expand
  12. JeanyWong
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    They cut Pokemons, they cut moves, they cut frame rate, they cut graphics, they should of just cut the whole game, lol why bother, really disappointed
  13. ProudGenwunner
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    This game is really flawed, and it's really, really hard. Not as hard as I feared, because I thought the difficulty would be way too high for the length of the game, and this is only one game. But it is really, really hard. It's a game about a woman fighting a monster who is just trying to destroy everything she loves. It's about a woman trying to kill her own lover in front of him, andThis game is really flawed, and it's really, really hard. Not as hard as I feared, because I thought the difficulty would be way too high for the length of the game, and this is only one game. But it is really, really hard. It's a game about a woman fighting a monster who is just trying to destroy everything she loves. It's about a woman trying to kill her own lover in front of him, and her lover being very much willing to let her. It's about a woman getting pregnant by the monster she's fighting, and the baby being kidnapped by the monster. And it's about this whole crazy, emotional, slow-motion narrative where you're doing all of these things and then this thing that happens later. And there's a lot of really cool, interesting themes and things happening here, and I'm really glad that they got it down to two hours, because that's what makes this game so good.… Expand
  14. Kiohara
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    jogo pokemon desde o game boy, essa minha nota não tem nada ver com natinal dex, é apenas uma critica pela preguiça de uma desenvolvedora gigantesca como a GF de fazer o jogo nas coxas e vender pelo olho da cara, zelda Breath of the wild é um exemplo do que se pode fazer no switch se tiver vontade, pokemon teve muita coisa reaproveitada das versões anteriores como movimento dos personagen,jogo pokemon desde o game boy, essa minha nota não tem nada ver com natinal dex, é apenas uma critica pela preguiça de uma desenvolvedora gigantesca como a GF de fazer o jogo nas coxas e vender pelo olho da cara, zelda Breath of the wild é um exemplo do que se pode fazer no switch se tiver vontade, pokemon teve muita coisa reaproveitada das versões anteriores como movimento dos personagen, pokemons e a câmera fixa da rotas do jogo ( apenas a wild área é mundo aberto), o que não é o problema, e deveria ter dado tempo de sobra pra melhorar outras questões do jogo, como, ataque dos pokemons, e polimento gráfico, um exemplo é o double kick, o sprite do pokemon simplesmente da dois pulinho sem movimentação alguma, parece um papelão a versão digital do jogo é leve, cerca de 9gb e pouco e o switch ja demonstrou que aguenta o tranco, então sem desculpas, pokemon let`s go tem um gráfico MUITO melhor que o sword and shield… Expand
  15. The_Shabo
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    It killed my 128gb certified nintendo micro sd, this game is not even finished. Have you heard of the fallout 76 initiave? Well, it seems that Game Freak had
  16. MortoeRisorto
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Disappointing. The culling of more than 50% of the Pokédex (and more than 100 moves as well) was supposed to provide us with a phenomenal experience Pokémon experience; improved graphics, gameplay, features etc. I haven't see any of that. Instead, the game had considerably less content than its console precedessor, implying that the developers take for granted that their beloved fanbaseDisappointing. The culling of more than 50% of the Pokédex (and more than 100 moves as well) was supposed to provide us with a phenomenal experience Pokémon experience; improved graphics, gameplay, features etc. I haven't see any of that. Instead, the game had considerably less content than its console precedessor, implying that the developers take for granted that their beloved fanbase will buy anything and that effort isn't needed at all for them to sell millions of copies everytime.… Expand
  17. Calibur-X
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    La generacion pokemon mas mediocre hasta la fecha, un insulto para los fans de pokemon y los usuarios de switch, una estafa perpretada por una compañia que obviamente le queda demasiado grande lo de programar juegos de ultima generacion. El boom de pokemon go ya presagiaba este futuro donde game freak es la nueva square enix/ubisoft
  18. Revoltado
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    - ~400 pokemon
    - movimentos apagados
    - Pokemon com tamanhos desproporcionais - Modelos antigos, por preguiça não mudam nem a posição dos pokemon desde a gen 6 - Soundtrack ruim no geral, com algumas exceções - 99% dos pokemon tem o grunhido do game boy - Endgame curto sem muito o que fazer - Gráfico bom, animações ruins e muitas vezes reaproveitadas - Pior liga de todas as    - ~400 pokemon
    - movimentos apagados
    - Pokemon com tamanhos desproporcionais
    - Modelos antigos, por preguiça não mudam nem a posição dos pokemon desde a gen 6
    - Soundtrack ruim no geral, com algumas exceções
    - 99% dos pokemon tem o grunhido do game boy
    - Endgame curto sem muito o que fazer
    - Gráfico bom, animações ruins e muitas vezes reaproveitadas
    - Pior liga de todas as gerações, e como resto do jogo também utiliza reaproveitação
    - Cooking system (gosto pessoal, odeio essa mecânica em todos os jogos)
    - Sem legenda pt-br
    - Preço alto pelo baixo conteúdo
    Estranho as revisões de sites "especializados", pois o jogo parece ser produzido para jogadores novos, minimizando os custos e priorizando os ganhos reaproveitando e cortando conteúdos    … Expand
  19. Johan_Holland
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Graphics are mediocre than what is capable of putting out; removed more than half of the Pokemon; removal of 144 moves; removal of mega evolution / z-moves; the story is short and shallow; no "new quality" animations for older Pokemon even though that was promised; recycling of 3D models from the DS-era which would be fine if they didn't lie about it; unskippable cutscenes which makesGraphics are mediocre than what is capable of putting out; removed more than half of the Pokemon; removal of 144 moves; removal of mega evolution / z-moves; the story is short and shallow; no "new quality" animations for older Pokemon even though that was promised; recycling of 3D models from the DS-era which would be fine if they didn't lie about it; unskippable cutscenes which makes second playthroughs tedious; still a lot of handholding which could be removed if the player had an option in difficulty; games were not designed around forced EXP Share which makes the player quickly overpowered; there is no post game content outside of a rehashed Battle Tower and raid battles; dynamaxing is limited to gym battles and plot-related fights; the scaling of Pokemon is bad which makes the Pokemon seem way smaller than he really is in battle; removal of the GTS fuction; badly polished battle backgrounds that sometimes don't make sense where you character is currently fighting; sound track is uninspired; many Pokemon are shiny locked; frame rate issues; Wild Areas are underwhelming; no animations for flying or similar actions even though previous games had them; cities are devoid of any meaningful content; extremely shallow use of Britain as the main inspiration of the region; fishing is restricted to specific areas; pandering to specific region (Kanto); Pokemon in the OW do not interact with their environment in any meaningful way; game was advertised "for long time fans" which it clearly isn't; constant lying from the developers and games cost way too much for what it's giving.

    There is so much potential with this franchise but it just won't be used.    … Expand
  20. Louissmroy
    Nov 15, 2019
    6
    Ok... So I really wanted to give that game a 1.. But 5h in and I'm still having fun.. I'm pissed about dexit and graphique, but the game is fun. I hate the rival, camp is boring, wild area is meh.. But its a pokemon game.. And i think i could enjoy one no mater what..
  21. Jota20
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Juego mediocre: graficos de ps3, corto (14h), postgame nulo, diseños de pokemon peores de lo normal, personajes planos, historia mucho peor que la de sol y luna, inestable, bugs; y todo ello recortando el contenido de anteriores entregas: quitando la mitad de los pokemon, todas las megas y z moves, eleminando movimientos... gamefreak espabilad por favor!!! Os estais cargando la saga deJuego mediocre: graficos de ps3, corto (14h), postgame nulo, diseños de pokemon peores de lo normal, personajes planos, historia mucho peor que la de sol y luna, inestable, bugs; y todo ello recortando el contenido de anteriores entregas: quitando la mitad de los pokemon, todas las megas y z moves, eleminando movimientos... gamefreak espabilad por favor!!! Os estais cargando la saga de nuestra vida… Expand
  22. Pretzels
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Oh boy where to begin with this one..

    Pros -Some of the new Pokémon designs look fantastic -Gyms are back and they’re just as great as they were in prior games -Character designs are phenomenal, we’ve come a long way from generic sprites in Pokémon centers, now every generic npc looks unique and is cute too boot Unfortunately is is where the pros end. Cons -The game is too short, the    Oh boy where to begin with this one..

    Pros
    -Some of the new Pokémon designs look fantastic -Gyms are back and they’re just as great as they were in prior games -Character designs are phenomenal, we’ve come a long way from generic sprites in Pokémon centers, now every generic npc looks unique and is cute too boot Unfortunately is is where the pros end. Cons
    -The game is too short, the entire story can be beaten in around 8-10 hours just like UsUm
    -No post game. Long gone are the days of the battle frontier which added an extra 9 or so facilities, now all we get is a generic battle tower from ruby and sapphire which can be beaten in around 3 hours give or take
    -No national dex. The biggest problem with the lack of post game is made more apparent with the lack of a national dex that added the additional content of trying to catch them all. You can be more than 80% done with the galar dex once you’ve cleared the main story. -No elite 4. Yep, no elite 4 or victory road. The final challenge before the champion is to re-battle the gym leaders you’ve already beaten before, and their number of Pokémon don’t increase nor does the challenge. -Lack of challenge. This is the next major point, there is just virtually no challenge in the game. B/W2 offered a hard and normal difficulty, but every game that followed it did away with that feature and unfortunately SwSh does the same. Couple this with the xp share function always on and no option to turn it off you are always going to be overleveled for trainer battles and gym battles. -10 routes. There are only 10 routes in the entire game, some of those routes are as short as 5 second walks such as route 7-8.
    -Wild area feels dead. You’re the only person in the wild area and it feels absolutely dead. BoTW managed to place enemies all over the map and wandering NPCs, but SwSh doesn’t do that. Pokémon pop up randomly, but there is absolutely no one in the wild area apart from you.
    -You can’t catch higher level Pokémon without the requisite gym badge, this means that if you encountered a level 28 shiny you won’t be able to catch it until you get your third gym badge in the wild area. Good luck getting that shiny to spawn again.

    All in all I don’t recommend the game. It costs $60 but has less content than a DS game that came out in 2010. For $50 you can get Dragon Quest XI:S for the switch, it has 100+ hours of the main game and another 30+ hours for the post game.    … Expand
  23. darksoulz31
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Game is straight up trash, nothing like paying 60 quid for something that looks the same as the previous 2 generations but has even worse mechanics and an incomplete Pokedex
  24. SilphExec
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    This looks like a 3DS game in 2019. For example, Gamefreak STILL has no idea how to program diagonal movement, and it would be funny were it not so pitiful. Everything feels rushed and unfinished. The wild area is barren. So many buildings are empty and inaccessible. Key cutscenes are eerily silent, as they clearly ran out of time to compose music for them. There are fewer trainers andThis looks like a 3DS game in 2019. For example, Gamefreak STILL has no idea how to program diagonal movement, and it would be funny were it not so pitiful. Everything feels rushed and unfinished. The wild area is barren. So many buildings are empty and inaccessible. Key cutscenes are eerily silent, as they clearly ran out of time to compose music for them. There are fewer trainers and secrets on each route than ever before.

    On a more personal note, my favorite legendary (Ho-Oh), starter line (Feraligatr), and Pokémon in general (Politoed) were all cut from the game, with no roadmap or promise of their eventual return (#ThankYouGamefreak, you monsters). Moves have been removed that literally make certain Pokémon unviable (what will Unknown do without access to Hidden Power? And the stated rationale for the cull is laughably false: animations are just as wooden as ever, and clearly inferior to anything achieved in Genius Sonority's Pokémon games 15+ years ago.

    Everything about these games smacks of a rushed development schedule. For part of its development, Gamefreak's already tiny development force of 150 people was dividing its attentions between Little Town Hero, LGPE and this. We're talking about a multibillion dollar corporation, and they can't even hire more people to make sure their first "fully-fledged" Pokémon game on an HD console is a) good, b) polished, and c) actually has all the Pokémon in it. The sanctimonious and tone deaf response from Ohmori and Masuda is reminiscent of Blizzard at its most obtuse, "you think you want all the Pokémon in your Pokémon game, but you don't." "We've heard your complaints, but we're not going to do anything about it." But worse than all the self-inflicted controversy, these are just bad games. I have no idea what the pro reviewers are thinking (probably desperate to keep their early access privileges or benefit from ad sales of the game *cough*IGN*cough*, but these are in no way ambitious titles as is often claimed. Look at any other first party title on the Nintendo Switch if you want to understand what I mean. Zelda Breath of the Wild? Ambitious, clearly a work of passion. Super Mario Odyssey? Ditto. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? The gang's all here, need I say more? Pokémon Sword and Shield? A cheap, glitchy, heartless, featureless cash-grab. And now reports are coming out that the game is corrupting people's save files for all their other games, which is just the cherry on top of this joke of a game.

    Gamefreak has a long way to go to redeem themselves in the eyes of their fans. The sad thing is, I'm not sure they even have it in them. Even with all their vast resources, this is the Pokémon game they made. The time constraints were largely of their own making, as they failed to take on more staff, while taking on additional projects dangerously close to this game's release. They're just an incompetent studio, and the rot starts at the very top with Masuda and Ohmori. Nintendo should have wrested control of this franchise out of their incompetent hands decades ago. The fans have weathered so much of gamefreak's incompetence and mediocrity over the years. We all deserve better from this franchise we love.    … Expand
  25. Nikox96
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Deja mucho que desear. Historia lenta y mala, gráficos muy poco pulidos, animaciones y modelos reciclados de 3DS, se siente poco natural y vacío.
  26. Obo_
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Returned it to the store after 6 or 7 hours of playing. The game looks terrible, I had the autosave bug happen to me and in 5 hours I was struggling to see any sort of innovation apart from the open world.
    Tried giving it a chance despite the lies and the cut Pokédex but the whole experience felt recycled and uninspired. Definitely the last Pokémon game I buy until they prove they can    Returned it to the store after 6 or 7 hours of playing. The game looks terrible, I had the autosave bug happen to me and in 5 hours I was struggling to see any sort of innovation apart from the open world.
    Tried giving it a chance despite the lies and the cut Pokédex but the whole experience felt recycled and uninspired. Definitely the last Pokémon game I buy until they prove they can revive the franchise instead of just releasing the same game with minimal graphical updates each year.    … Expand
  27. McCreeSun
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    After 20 hours of playtime my review is a resounding “meh”.

    The game is alright. That’s all. Not the world ending calamity we all thought it would be. I have the same good things to say as everyone else and I have the same bad things to say about everyone else. So I’m not going to bore you with the same old. The problem I have though is “meh” is not good enough for a Pokémon game. Full    After 20 hours of playtime my review is a resounding “meh”.

    The game is alright. That’s all. Not the world ending calamity we all thought it would be. I have the same good things to say as everyone else and I have the same bad things to say about everyone else. So I’m not going to bore you with the same old. The problem I have though is “meh” is not good enough for a Pokémon game. Full stop. We’re talking about a $90 billion franchise here, not some indie studio’s passion project. If this were some no name studio I’d say it was a solid game, probably still not deserving of the high 9s and 4s we’ve seen on review sites, but still an attempt was made.

    But the fact remains that the game is still clearly unfinished. The team wasn’t allowed to iron out the wrinkles to fit holiday release and it shows in the worst way. But I digress. The one complaint I do have that I haven’t seen come trough the network is the convoluted ways some Pokémon evolve. It seems entirely inaccessible to the casual audience they’re clearly pandering to. That’s just a very specific nitpick however.

    tl;dr: SwSh is a good video game, a terrible Pokémon game.    … Expand
  28. Tripalink
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    Its a very fun game regardless of the missing pokemon. You can have fun building an all.new team instead of using the same overpowered pokemon every time
  29. MetroidPrimed
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    Overall this game was an absolute disappointment. The only positives I can say about it are the way are gyms work from the inside is nice and the general Pokemon gameplay loop(as in the training/battling not story) is fun. Though the greatest issue with the game's critic score is how they use other Pokemon games to gauge where this game should be placed. Though when compared as a VIDEOOverall this game was an absolute disappointment. The only positives I can say about it are the way are gyms work from the inside is nice and the general Pokemon gameplay loop(as in the training/battling not story) is fun. Though the greatest issue with the game's critic score is how they use other Pokemon games to gauge where this game should be placed. Though when compared as a VIDEO GAME, which Pokemon actually is, this game is terrible. Pokemon needs to drop telling cliche stories about being the best and give people a game. It is very uninteresting to watch bland characters bombard you with text boxes every 20 minutes or less. This is a clear element of padding, because otherwise the game would be too short and REALLY not deserve to be $60. I am not typically turned off by poor graphics, but places like the wild area give the impression that of being in beta up and GameFreak still sold it full price. The difficulty is far too low, people by avoiding almost every trainer fight they can are still extremely overleveled(about 5-10 levels in certain instances). This creates a situation where you can explore and have to mash your super effective attack six times or you cannot explore for an ounce of challenge. GameFreak has no reason to make a cake and eat it too if the oven is broken. I assume they left the EXP share in the game because there are no trainers to battle, which could make the game heavily grindy. However, GameFreak could have easily included an EXP share that provides 25% or lower experience and retained more difficulty. I suppose the lack of trainers does not matter much because most routes and caves are linear or just straight lines. I support cutting the national dex(I believe the series needs it) if it were to improve the game as a whole, but this is sadly not the case. If Pokemon were more than just up-resed copy-paste models and were animated as opposed to bobbing up and down like a string puppet, if the world felt open and content rich(the Wild Area is rather small in this regard), if Charizard did not shoot flames out of his wings, the dex cut would likely have pulled its weight. Every aspect of this game feels rushed. I do not think that many games deserve scores lower than 4s or 5s, but this game is just broken and incomplete. I am returning my game later today and I am ashamed to have bought this game in the first place. Just go play Fire Emblem, what it may lack in graphics, it has in gameplay that offers some resistance even on easier difficulties.… Expand
  30. Kingrock433
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Climbing Ladders freezes the overworld. Dexit, removed moves like Hidden Power and Pursuit ruining the competitive Metagame. This is the most disappointing Pokemon game ever and hopefully will hold this title as I hope this game flops to send a message that the effort put into this game is unacceptable
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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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