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. MikoloPulo
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    This game is rushed and unfinished. No matter how many times they try and say otherwise, this game was rush out of the door, since Pokemon game releases are tied to merchandise and such (I mean, Pokemon is the highest grossing franchise for a reason). But because of this, we get a subpar entry, which lots of cut content, awful graphics, and a lot of decisions that will make you go: "What the ****
  2. Iconic2511
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Absolutely appalling how hilariously bad these games are. This is the most profitable franchise in history and what you get is pure trash. The only reason the game is popular is because it's Pokemon, not because it's good. It has frame rate issue, incredibly easy without option to turn off exp share (like really?), the worlds are devoid of content and barren. Oh and there's no post gameAbsolutely appalling how hilariously bad these games are. This is the most profitable franchise in history and what you get is pure trash. The only reason the game is popular is because it's Pokemon, not because it's good. It has frame rate issue, incredibly easy without option to turn off exp share (like really?), the worlds are devoid of content and barren. Oh and there's no post game either! It's the bare minimum for a Pokemon game and fans deserve better. There's nothing special about this game at all, and the devs half arsed all of it.

    This isn't even mentioning the total lack of a story. The series is becoming like any other yearly sports series. They release the same game over and over and people buy it cause of the name.    … Expand
  3. danisc23
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    It's good to have a new main Pokemon game, I've started enjoying it a lot, but since the 3rd medal I've started to get bored of following the same pattern (Gym, Rival, History, Route, capture all new accesible Pokemon in wild area). I ended rushing the game.

    The idea of ​​being able to see the Pokemon in the world is great and I hope they keep it in future games. The open area is    It's good to have a new main Pokemon game, I've started enjoying it a lot, but since the 3rd medal I've started to get bored of following the same pattern (Gym, Rival, History, Route, capture all new accesible Pokemon in wild area). I ended rushing the game.

    The idea of ​​being able to see the Pokemon in the world is great and I hope they keep it in future games.

    The open area is really empty and there is nothing that motivates you to go beyond the limits of your level, there is no secret to discover or possibility to capture a strong Pokemon, it is not even worth it to level up your team.

    The history leaves no room for imagination, since the beginning the feeling of legend fades and the events and discoveries are too obvious. Also the game drives you in every step.

    The routes are short, with 4 or 5 enemies at most, this does not have to be something bad, it is preferable to a long and empty route, but they give the feeling of a small region, they also have no secret path, maybe a short detours to obtain an object.

    The cities and towns feels empty, not because of the NPCs despite they do not tell much but at least offer Pokemon exchanges or give you useful items. The problem is that, despite the changing environment between cities, they all offer exactly the same.

    In my opinion Galar has no personality, it is not a region that I will remember for its design or its cities, the NPCs do not tell anything about the region or about the town in which they live.

    Gyms are very easy, they all starts with a minigame (not always a puzzle) and then you fight against the leader, it would be nice if the leaders surprises you with the choice of Pokemon, for example if I go to a water-type gym it is very likely that I will go with an electric team, a counter pick from the gym leader would be fine to make this choice less obvious.

    About the difficulty of this game. As soon you stop to capture different creatures on each route or return to the open area every time they give you a new medal to capture creatures that you could not previously the level of your team goes well above the story.

    I have avoided any comments about the graphics, animations, or dexit, I like the game to keep its portable style. I think fans will ignore it this time, however GameFreak now knows what people are waiting for the new generation.

    The music is excellent, this soundtrack deserves a better game.    … Expand
  4. H3x3nh4mm3r
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    absolutely brilliant game.
  5. NintendoGuy64
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    As a lifelong fan of Pokemon games, I was ecstatic when a new mainline Pokemon game was announced for the Switch, a home console! Pokemon Gen 7 was alright, but a little too slow and easy for my tastes. But for Gen 8 all I was expecting was a nice polished HD Pokemon game, I didn't need an open world or anything as it is Gamefreak's first home console Pokemon title, after all. But no, thatAs a lifelong fan of Pokemon games, I was ecstatic when a new mainline Pokemon game was announced for the Switch, a home console! Pokemon Gen 7 was alright, but a little too slow and easy for my tastes. But for Gen 8 all I was expecting was a nice polished HD Pokemon game, I didn't need an open world or anything as it is Gamefreak's first home console Pokemon title, after all. But no, that isn't what we got. We got an unfinished game, with over half of the national Pokedex not in the game, choppy, reused animations, reused models when they said they were brand new, even easier difficulty, a significantly shorter campaign as well as next to no post-game, not to mention many other features removed. All I have to say is, why? Pokemon is the highest most profitable franchise of all time, and Nintendo has been hitting it out of the park lately with great game after great game, like Zelda, Mario etc. So why had Pokemon not improved too? It's only gotten worse with time. I hope Nintendo can step in next time and help/replace Gamefreak, as the way these games are, I have no hope for the future of the franchise… Expand
  6. CzDelta92
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    Im loving the game so far, this game gets right many pokemon interactions and NPCs feel alive i can almost hear their voice in my head haha, the fact that dex is cut and megas/crystals has been a breath of fresh air, getting rid of the same meta that plague previous versions has been fine and theres so many pokemon that team compisitions and themes are not an issue, ive seen so many peopleIm loving the game so far, this game gets right many pokemon interactions and NPCs feel alive i can almost hear their voice in my head haha, the fact that dex is cut and megas/crystals has been a breath of fresh air, getting rid of the same meta that plague previous versions has been fine and theres so many pokemon that team compisitions and themes are not an issue, ive seen so many people giving it a bad review without even owning or playing the game just because **** said so that is laughable.… Expand
  7. coh11
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Sin duda alguna el peor pokemon de la historia, gráficos decepcionantes, recorte brutal de pokemons, de mundo abierto nada, todo muy pasillero, area silvestre vacía, el juego mas corto de todos, animaciones medicores...
    La decepción del año
  8. Basednredpilled
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Bad graphics. Bad animations. Even bad music. Extremely short. No postgame content. No national dex. Bad story. Bad characters. Permanent exp share. Do i have to continue? I gave it a 2 instead of 0 just because some of the new pokemon have good designs. Nobody should buy this game.
  9. FGDireito
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    I was going to give this game a solid 5, it's not a bad game but neither it's a great game, this is just fine, but the more I think about it the more disappointed I get.
    This is a 60€ game it as to be compared with its Switch peers of the same price and not like it's a random indie game, this game rightly deserves the tough love that it's getting, just because it's Pokémon doesn't make it    I was going to give this game a solid 5, it's not a bad game but neither it's a great game, this is just fine, but the more I think about it the more disappointed I get.
    This is a 60€ game it as to be compared with its Switch peers of the same price and not like it's a random indie game, this game rightly deserves the tough love that it's getting, just because it's Pokémon doesn't make it automatic free from criticism.
    The technical issues in this game are just unacceptable for 2019, pop-ins everywhere in a very small 10m radius makes the world feel empty and bland. Animations look so stiff and outdated, why does the world freezes around me while I fish or climb ladders? Why are some background battles just white voids when even the Let’sGo games had that right? The textures quality is all over the place too, the worst ones are in par with Nintendo64 and the best ones are 3DS quality, but please don’t forget that this is a Switch game.
    The camping is quite cute actually but shallow, pokéjobs are ok but forgetful just like the whole dynamax thing is just a gimmick, the wild area looks like the main selling point this time but it’s just meh, a nice idea but really poorly executed and with almost no exploration after the first full run, the world is pretty much a straight line, there is no kind of exploration, do you remember places like Mt. Mortar, Seafoam Islands or Whirl Islands? There is nothing like that here, the most dungeon-like exploration you will get is something like Viridian Forest and it never gets more difficult than that.
    The game difficult is non- existent like the post-game, also why is the exp.share mandatory? Give us more options, don’t take them away...
    I don't even care about the lack of National Dex drama, but I do understand why people are upset about it, also the National Dex was cut with the excuse on delivering better animations and a more carefully crafted game but the overall game polish is worse than ever, plus lots of other cut content, the quality of the game is 100% more important than not having all the Pokemon for sure. I would rather have a high quality game with 100 Pokemon than a stinker with 1000 Pokemon. When will we get battle animations like Pokémon Battle Revolution? Aren’t battles the main selling point anyway? We shouldn't be here comparing animations from OG Pokémon Stadium (1998) with Sword/Shield, yet here we are, how is this acceptable!? This is Pokémon they have deep pockets they can make it, hire or outsource more people if you need.
    I am not going to talk about the new pokémon designs since that is a subjective opinion, but I quite like Dragapult.
    For me pokémon peaked with HG/SS and the highest point of its ambition was BW/BW2, Pokémon Sword/Shield feels and looks like a rushed game, it needed that extra year and more ambition to become something special...    … Expand
  10. MrJohns
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Another rushed, disappointing mess for longtime fans of the series. Its a short, buggy and way to easy Game. They cutted and removed a lot (Dexit, Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves). Graphics are bad, and there are several Technical Issues. And then they Reused a lot and added boring Gimmicks like Dynamaxing. Don't support this kind of Greedy Garbage!
  11. Jaxks
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    But used, fun 5hour game but some how more lazy than past titles. Not clear That not all of the pokemon are in the game but not even a hint a moves being deleted.

    If they didn't allow you to transfer any pokemon over I would be more than happy but having just a select few seems wrong. After the 'story' there's No post game unlike in the ds games. All in all the character designs are good    But used, fun 5hour game but some how more lazy than past titles. Not clear That not all of the pokemon are in the game but not even a hint a moves being deleted.

    If they didn't allow you to transfer any pokemon over I would be more than happy but having just a select few seems wrong. After the 'story' there's No post game unlike in the ds games. All in all the character designs are good the style looks nice in some areas but it does not make up for the ugly new pokemon that where made to replace old ones and the lack of things to do in the game.    … Expand
  12. Mkikuchi
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    "Yet another rushed, disappointing mess for longtime fans of the series. Considering the emphasis that was placed on the graphics and animation quality before the S/S' release, you'd expect them to at least run at a consistent framerate or not blatantly copy/paste animations from prior games; but neither of these came to fruition. Not worth losing half of the games' cast for.

    Objectively,    "Yet another rushed, disappointing mess for longtime fans of the series. Considering the emphasis that was placed on the graphics and animation quality before the S/S' release, you'd expect them to at least run at a consistent framerate or not blatantly copy/paste animations from prior games; but neither of these came to fruition. Not worth losing half of the games' cast for.

    Objectively, as long as the gameplay's good, graphical quality is a non-issue. Unfortunately, as with the 3DS era, Sword and Shield are dumbed down for the mobile phone generation. You're never made to go more than a few battles without healing, and if you can stomach that you can look forward to endless handholding and WOW CHARIZARD REMEMBER THIS KANTO POKEMON?

    If you have any semblance of critical thinking skills, don't buy these games."    … Expand
  13. TutelarSword
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Pokemon has always been one of my favorite games, however, the design choices made by Gamefreak are rampant with this entry of the series. There are almost no routes in the game, and those that exist are linear. There is a town that is made up of a single road with the only door usable being to the Pokemon Center. There are no dungeons or caves of the sort, instead, the Wild Area tries toPokemon has always been one of my favorite games, however, the design choices made by Gamefreak are rampant with this entry of the series. There are almost no routes in the game, and those that exist are linear. There is a town that is made up of a single road with the only door usable being to the Pokemon Center. There are no dungeons or caves of the sort, instead, the Wild Area tries to fill this role, but with many issues. It has poor graphics with Pokemon being birthed from the void to populate the area, as well as trees spawning from nothing. The area is empty and feels poorly thought out compared to other Switch games like Breath of the Wild. The removal of 60% of old Pokemon and 20% of old moves, as well as megas and Z-moves is also a disgusting practice which gives an ill boding for the future of the games. Gamefreak needs to seriously reconsider their design choices and patch in the many missing features (Pokemon, moves, GTS, etc.), as well as fix the many bugs such as those breaking SD cards, freezing the game, and causing unbearable amounts of lag.

    Many reviews you see that are positive simply boil down to "The games killed my wife and kids, but at least I can catch a Pikachu again. 9.5/10" which is utterly disgusting and reeks of poor journalism or faux reviews to prop up the game for the less informed.    … Expand
  14. Noctis_Strife
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    The First Pokemon I wont buy. First, what negative: - Over 400 Pokemon were cut, so much less variation in battles against other players - several technical issues like spawning and despawning NPCs, Trees and Pokemon right in front of your eyes all the time, framerate issues in the wild area, the whole game world is freezing when u climb ladders .. etc. - the highly praised new feature theThe First Pokemon I wont buy. First, what negative: - Over 400 Pokemon were cut, so much less variation in battles against other players - several technical issues like spawning and despawning NPCs, Trees and Pokemon right in front of your eyes all the time, framerate issues in the wild area, the whole game world is freezing when u climb ladders .. etc. - the highly praised new feature the wild area is empty af, much smaller than trailers suggest and a graphical and technical mess - the post game is extremly blunt and not much to do - the "story" of this game is the worst and thinnest in the franchise - the game is easy af, Game Freak really doesn't care about long time fans - Exp share among the whole team should be optional - some of the music tracks are really annoying and not enjoyable - the pokemon franchise is stagnating, you really see no revolution at all, on the other site there is Zelda and Mario who tried sth new and the games were amazing
    Whats postive: some cool pokemon designs, that's all
    Can't recommend this mess of a game, Go and buy the 3DS Pokemon games, whenn you haven't played theam already, much more content much more everything    … Expand
  15. Skizor
    Nov 15, 2019
    5
    I have already cleared everything including postgame. This is going to be a spoiler free review, i will only focus on the positive and negative aspects and what needs to be improved.

    Positives: *Some areas in this game look absolutely gorgeous, like the towns Ballonlea and Circhester. *Most of the new Pokemon look pretty good. *IVs and EVs, and by extension Competitive battling,    I have already cleared everything including postgame. This is going to be a spoiler free review, i will only focus on the positive and negative aspects and what needs to be improved.

    Positives:

    *Some areas in this game look absolutely gorgeous, like the towns Ballonlea and Circhester.
    *Most of the new Pokemon look pretty good.
    *IVs and EVs, and by extension Competitive battling, are more accessible than ever.
    *You can change your Pokemon's Nature with Mints.
    *Pokemon Camp, with new features, such as said Currydex.
    *New "Open-World" Wild Area for encountering higher level Pokemon.
    *Most in-depth trainer customization to date.
    *Move Tutor/Remover/Name Raters are now in every Pokemon Center.
    *You can access PC almost anywhere.

    Negatives:

    *Hundreds of Pokemon were cut from the game, such as previous Starters, Legendary Pokemon, and many others.
    *100+ Moves were cut, the most notable being Return/Frustration, Pursuit, and Hidden Power. Signature moves of certain Pokemon were also cut, even though the Pokemon themselves are in the game, like Vespiquen's Heal Order and Woobat's Heart Stamp.
    *There are multiple examples of the game feeling rushed or unfinished, like how the "Corviknight Taxi" Fast-Travel system doesn't have an animation and is just a screen fade, every NPC walking on rails, time stopping when you climb a ladder, and the entire Wild Area feeling empty, with low-resolution textures, pop-ins, and broken shadows.
    *Any battles that are not major battles, such as Wild Battles and most Trainer Battles, have the same generic backgrounds. When you are outside, the battle always takes place on a dirt road with grass, trees, and mountains in the background, and when inside a building, the battle uses a generic white void for a background.
    *Post-Game Content is confirmed to be very short, less than 2 hours to complete, similar to X&Y. It's basically just "catch Box Legendary, go to Battle Tower."
    *Most Pokemon Moves, and the Pokemon themselves, have had no noticeable improvements made to their models or animations. Everything that isn't brand new is recycled, and even some of the brand new stuff, like Hop, uses recycled animation, from Hau.
    *Riding a Bike forces you to wear an ugly biking outfit instead of your custom clothes.
    *Most of the "Story" takes place off screen, and only really makes an appearance near the end of the game. The "Story" itself is also lackluster, in that it's incredibly short and forgettable.
    *The EXP Share is mandatory, and cannot be turned off. This makes the game very easy.
    *Strange changes that don't make much sense logically, like how the sound control settings are locked behind a Key Item you get from a random NPC in Motostoke City.

    Summary:

    IMO this is the most disappointing Pokémon game i played, since i had high expectations about this game being on a console like Switch.
    They really need to add all Pokémon back in the game since there is nothing here to justify the cut of so many Pokémon.
    GameFreak need to hire more devs so they can polish and finish this games better.    … Expand
  16. Mv85rasdlkjf
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    AutoSave doesn't work often.
    Your SaveData corrupt often.
    Graphics are 3DSish, so bad. Character animation is awful. Your Pokemon are just fired. Stressful and painfully slow game mechanics. 10 years old girl has big **** and the player feels paedophile yourself. This is truly early 2000's game, not 2019 game. You should play Death Stranding on PS4. I believe Nintendo bought    AutoSave doesn't work often.
    Your SaveData corrupt often.
    Graphics are 3DSish, so bad.
    Character animation is awful.
    Your Pokemon are just fired.
    Stressful and painfully slow game mechanics.
    10 years old girl has big **** and the player feels paedophile yourself.

    This is truly early 2000's game, not 2019 game.
    You should play Death Stranding on PS4.

    I believe Nintendo bought some reviewer on IGN.    … Expand
  17. DiogeneLaerzio
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Game is legitimately terrible, people are starting to realize and awaken from their eternal slumber, Game Freak is getting away by publishing terrible games. It won't happen this time, and verily so indeed.
  18. Drackey
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    The transition to the Switch was not without losses. For having played it: more than 400 Pokémon have been deleted without offering any real counterpart, no postgame, excessive linearity, very average animations for a home console, disconcerting ease, fortunately the city graphics and the OST catch up. We would have thought that Game Freak would have learned from their mistakes by fixingThe transition to the Switch was not without losses. For having played it: more than 400 Pokémon have been deleted without offering any real counterpart, no postgame, excessive linearity, very average animations for a home console, disconcerting ease, fortunately the city graphics and the OST catch up. We would have thought that Game Freak would have learned from their mistakes by fixing the many flaws of Sun and Moon, but unfortunately the game follows the overall line of the 7G without correcting its flaws, even worse the absence of the national pokédex and mega-evolutions make it a less complete game.… Expand
  19. Pipistrele
    Nov 15, 2019
    7
    Not great, not terrible, and generally way better than I expected it to be. Good things (such as music and overall presentation) are pretty damn good, and less-than-good things (underutilized wild area and silly plot) are mostly fine and don't distract from player experience too much. A lot of things may feel more glaring in context of the whole Dexit situation, or TGC's poor attempts atNot great, not terrible, and generally way better than I expected it to be. Good things (such as music and overall presentation) are pretty damn good, and less-than-good things (underutilized wild area and silly plot) are mostly fine and don't distract from player experience too much. A lot of things may feel more glaring in context of the whole Dexit situation, or TGC's poor attempts at damage control, but as its own game, it's still and solid Pokemon title that has the same warm atmosphere and enjoyable core gameplay. All in all, I recommend avoiding the hate/hype train and watch some professional reviews for better judgment - especially with a lot of claims on its "awfulness" being exaggerated by public outlash at the moment.… Expand
  20. ZackAce
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    I was so excited to play this next gen pokemon game...but the game is just a joke.
    Main story is around 20 hours,its linear , towns feel empty with nothing to do, wild areas are very unpolished with framerate issues and nothing to explore , game is super easy , half of the pokedex is missing and the models of pokemon and characters are reused from previous games. Dynamax is ridiculously    I was so excited to play this next gen pokemon game...but the game is just a joke.
    Main story is around 20 hours,its linear , towns feel empty with nothing to do, wild areas are very unpolished with framerate issues and nothing to explore , game is super easy , half of the pokedex is missing and the models of pokemon and characters are reused from previous games. Dynamax is ridiculously stupid compared to mega evolution...it feels like gamefreak is unable to make a pokemon game the franchise and the fans deserve.    … Expand
  21. zbegra
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    This is a good pokemon game. Having lots of fun!
  22. Sephsekla
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Disappointing.

    So many Pokemon (the main point of the games) completely cut for the first time ever. Some interesting concepts that could have been great but clearly weren't given the dev time to flourish. An unfinished game that could have been the best one.
  23. Gamermangamer
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Was promised a game for "long time fans of the series" now my living dex will probably have to be locked in Pokemon jail (home) and half my competitive mons won't be usable until I pay for another game at the same price as smash ultimate or breath of the wild. My disappointment is immeasurable, and less than half my day is ruined, because the game is like 10 hours long, and if I wanted 10Was promised a game for "long time fans of the series" now my living dex will probably have to be locked in Pokemon jail (home) and half my competitive mons won't be usable until I pay for another game at the same price as smash ultimate or breath of the wild. My disappointment is immeasurable, and less than half my day is ruined, because the game is like 10 hours long, and if I wanted 10 hours of entertainment I would've bought the LoTR extended trilogy for half the price… Expand
  24. aoike
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    The good:

    -The new minimalist UI is a sleek upgrade from previous games in the series. -8th generation Pokemon designs are great, with only a few exceptions. -The visuals and art style of the new towns is fantastic and in some places makes up for the game's poor graphics. -The new stadium format for the gym leader battles is fun. -Trainer customization. The neutral: -The music    The good:

    -The new minimalist UI is a sleek upgrade from previous games in the series.
    -8th generation Pokemon designs are great, with only a few exceptions.
    -The visuals and art style of the new towns is fantastic and in some places makes up for the game's poor graphics.
    -The new stadium format for the gym leader battles is fun.
    -Trainer customization.

    The neutral:
    -The music is polarizing, some great tracks yet some of the worst the series has to offer.

    The bad:

    -The new wild area, whilst a good idea in conception, ends up feeling empty and lifeless with little to explore.
    -The routes are both small in size and quantity, with only 10 in total and not a single dungeon more complex than Viridian Forest, it finds itself being frustratingly linear from start to finish.
    -The game is insultingly easy. It holds your hand through it's entirety, constantly "gifting" you with heals and revives making sure to remove any single semblance of challenge it could have had. Similarly, the removal of the ability to turn the exp share off, which isn't an issue in and of itself, leaves your party over-leveled for almost all battles due the game's to poor balancing; you actively have to avoid trainers and wild Pokemon to stop this. (Almost all of the difficulty issues would be moot if Gamefreak added in difficulty options for once)
    -The characters are mostly bland carbon copies from previous games, with the better designed and more interesting ones being few and far between.
    -Pokemon, moves and features from past games are cut for seemingly no reason other than Gamefreak simply ran out of time before release.
    -The game is far too short, ranging from 15 to 25 hours with almost no post game to make up for it.
    -Dated animations and graphics compared to other Switch JRPGs like Dragon Quest XI.

    Overall, Pokemon Sword and Shield are rushed and unfinished games with clear potential unfortunately hindered by a myriad of glaring flaws.    … Expand
  25. Aleph_0
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    The quality of this game REALLY does not justify the cuts that have been made. Graphics are severely dated with some awful resolutions and clipping. The world is so linear it feels like a hallway with a cutscene every few steps. The endgame is nonexistent. The battle animations are taken straight from the old games. And honestly, the new Pokémon designs are some of the worst I’ve everThe quality of this game REALLY does not justify the cuts that have been made. Graphics are severely dated with some awful resolutions and clipping. The world is so linear it feels like a hallway with a cutscene every few steps. The endgame is nonexistent. The battle animations are taken straight from the old games. And honestly, the new Pokémon designs are some of the worst I’ve ever seen. Most of them look like a couple overlapping shapes with a painted on face. GameFreak really phoned it in on this one. Time to give Pokémon to someone else.… Expand
  26. HonestGear
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    This is the first time that my disappointment was so great that I felt like a needed to write a review. Sword and Shield overall is bad. Like its new Dynamax mechanic, its all show and no substance.
    Let's start with the good points first since the bad ones greatly outnumber them.
    -The only good points I can think of is that the game makes it easier to change the EV and IV of your    This is the first time that my disappointment was so great that I felt like a needed to write a review. Sword and Shield overall is bad. Like its new Dynamax mechanic, its all show and no substance.
    Let's start with the good points first since the bad ones greatly outnumber them.
    -The only good points I can think of is that the game makes it easier to change the EV and IV of your pokemon. Previously invisible and tedious to control, there are now items that make it easier to make the perfect pokemon you want.
    -Greatest trainer customization so far, although that's to be expected.

    Unfortunately that's the only good thing about the games.Here's a list of its bad points
    -The game is graphically bad. It looks like a 3DS game only with a shiny coat of paint,or in this case filters and bloom, to distract you from that. Characters spin in place to turn, Pokemon float and hover endlessly, the animations are recycled from earlier games, the battle animations are lacking in all departments.
    -Characters and Pokemon suddenly pop into existence in front of you.
    -The infamous Pokemon cut debate. Pokemon were removed from the game with no intention of them being added back. They promised a higher quality models and animations for it but that is clearly not there. Models are reused exactly the same with just higher textures, the models are off-scale, a lot of characters animations are reused and battle animations dont line up properly, e.g kicking to headbutt, the model just moving up and down with no movement to attack, fire and water attacks just coming out from somewhere on the model and not lining up with their mouths or wherever the attack is supposed to come from.
    -The game is piss easy. Not that other pokemon games werent easy but they offered a challenge. It's so easy that there is no gratification from winning. It is also very short.
    -The pokemon designs are bad. Everyone has some designs they dont like but these ones just felt a whole lot of miss rather than hit. A lot of them are so overly humanoid and uninspired that they dont feel like pokemon. You cant just draw a human, replace it's head and feet and call it a pokemon. A lot of them also feel like they were made just for the purpose of a joke and a pun. In the end the majority of the new pokemon feel like they were created as a singular cartoon character for a show specifically made to be likeable instead of being designed as members of a species of animals.
    -The greatest problem is the immersion. Pokemon is a role playing game. Immersion is a great deal in these kind of games. Their goal is to make the player feel like they are part of their world. Sword and Shield problems, even some minor ones I didnt list, all come together to ruin it.
    --The new Open Area feels like a mismatch, Pokemon suddenly appear from underground even if it makes no sense for them to do that, they spin in place and their movement does not sync up with their walking animations, they hover instead of moving. Crazy weather patterns 10 steps next to each other dont make sense.
    --The overworld pauses in time when traversing the Z axis.
    --The jump to 3D wasnt kind to pokemon. The routes are so linear that they railroad you to place. From the 3D vantage point you can see whatever is up ahead removing any dungeon-like challenge. You are railroaded in place by knee-high ledges that act as barriers leaving you only to imagine what the rest of the world is like, out of the tiny path you are forced into.
    --The world is small and empty. In earlier games you could interact with a lot of stuff, books, people, tvs and more. They gave you tidbits on the story, the background or even just gossip. This made the world feel alive. Instead in this game, a lot of it is removed, which along with the small railroaded world make the world feel dead.
    --The battles feel off, as said before the pokemon are off scale and their attack animations dont line up properly. The bad animation are even shown in the new camp feature allowing you to see up close items suddenly appearing in your pokemon's hands and their movement not syncing up with their walking animation.
    --Bad textures.
    --No "dungeons".
    All of these could be insignificant on their own but combined they ruin the feeling of immersion. The world feels fake, hurriedly stitched together and bursting at the seems.

    In the end, Sword and Shield had great some great ideas but even those are not fleshed out properly. Instead of moving the games forward it even took steps back. The first home console release of Pokemon deserved better than this shoddily put together cashgrab.
    Buy something else and if you want your pokemon hit, play the old games because you are not missing anything of worth. Let's hope the developer goes back to the drawing board and stays there for quite a while.    … Expand
  27. kazui
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    It's a beautiful game, really engaging, and as for 2 hours in it feels just as good as the old ones. Lack of all Pokémon is inconvenient, and thus game will be lacking few old friends, but it makes you try new things which is not always bad. The only bug issue for me is lack of GTS
  28. Kanobelegaur
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Game lacks in content, graphics and music are sub par, story is bland and uninspired. Many features cut from previous games that were heavily enjoyed, such as mega evolution. Opening scene is jarring without voice acting,
  29. Griknor
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    this game and its counter part are a mess. reused assets from the 3ds titles, reused animations, over 55% of pokemon are missing regarless of the fact that every game on much less powerful hardware and smaller game size had all the missing pokemon and the missing moves. gigamax is nothing more then a shiny gimmick that loses its charm well before you start playing or using it. the gamesthis game and its counter part are a mess. reused assets from the 3ds titles, reused animations, over 55% of pokemon are missing regarless of the fact that every game on much less powerful hardware and smaller game size had all the missing pokemon and the missing moves. gigamax is nothing more then a shiny gimmick that loses its charm well before you start playing or using it. the games constantly bug out and have framerate, unstable graphics, unstable models and resolution issues, and when its not bugging out its just ugly with poor quality textures. everything in game feels floaty, like you arent grounded and could fly off any second. the new designs are for the most part ugly or too digimon looking to be a pokemon(this has been a major problem since xy, though black and white has its fair share of issue designs), this heavily clashes with older designs and causes quite the confusion for people who know of pokemon but dont keep up with the series. the game is far to easy and lacks any nuance, this is in part due to the direction they keep forcing the games to go, this should be an rpg not a instant gratification simulator. this is a poor quality game on the levels of fallout76, avoid purchasing at all cost.… Expand
  30. LuckyAbsol
    Nov 15, 2019
    5
    Your average pokemon game that'll probably be fun for the casual fan. The story is below par compared to past pokemon games, suffering from clear pacing issues towards the end. The graphics were only slightly better while some of the animations are also lacking. Clear pop ins and low resolutions textures litter the game while severals bugs are also present. For example, the battleYour average pokemon game that'll probably be fun for the casual fan. The story is below par compared to past pokemon games, suffering from clear pacing issues towards the end. The graphics were only slightly better while some of the animations are also lacking. Clear pop ins and low resolutions textures litter the game while severals bugs are also present. For example, the battle backgrounds not always matching up with battle. The quality of life changes were very welcomed but the EXP Share was still too strong and could not be turned off.

    I must also add that the soundtrack was very forgettable this time around which is strange for a pokemon game, the postgame is also extremely short with it only being about 1-2 hours long. The battle tower makes a return but it's been stripped down to it's bare bones.    … 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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