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. Danrodguez
    Nov 27, 2019
    10
    Es un 10 como un templo, es increiblemente extenso, largo y divertido, le hacen falta algunos pokemon pero 0 quejas con el numero de pokemon, solo le pondria esa pequeña pega, pero es queja por vicio
  2. Beardyweirdy
    Nov 27, 2019
    6
    I loved this game, it's beautiful and engaging and had some great, compelling ideas for changing up online play. Unfortunately the execution was reasonably poor, the online match making is broken, the online performance is terrible, the routes are tiny, lacking in details and trainer battles, there is little to go back and explore once you have the game's only unlockable skill (Surf) andI loved this game, it's beautiful and engaging and had some great, compelling ideas for changing up online play. Unfortunately the execution was reasonably poor, the online match making is broken, the online performance is terrible, the routes are tiny, lacking in details and trainer battles, there is little to go back and explore once you have the game's only unlockable skill (Surf) and no large explorable dungeons. This is a lazy first entry into the Switch catalogue for Pokemon. Making mattress worse is that GAMEFREAK and the Pokemon Company's response has been extremely poor, and professional reviewers have overlooked glaring issues because they are being paid for ad clicks and ad revenue from being provided with review copies. This is a bad time to be a long term Pokemon fan.… Expand
  3. MichaelC87
    Nov 27, 2019
    10
    After playing for a LONG while, I really enjoyed this game. Charming, FUN, engaging and I am still playing. The new pokemon are great as well with cool designs and great moves. Worth the buy
  4. Gizm0
    Nov 27, 2019
    10
    Best games they’ve made since Heart Gold and Soul Silver. I’ve spent countless hours just wandering the areas, camping, raiding, trading, and catching Pokémon.
  5. MRed30
    Nov 27, 2019
    10
    This game may not have the best graphics or all of everyone’s favorite Pokémon, but overall this game is awesome and it’s so much fun! I love the Wild Area and the Pokémon Camp!
  6. dylann
    Nov 27, 2019
    10
    a great beautiful game, its getting a lot of hate for no "good" reason, it's a good game, its beautiful, and game freak worked hard on it, so ignore the haters and play this AMAZING game
  7. jaggy28
    Nov 27, 2019
    0
    I have watched the gameplays on youtube and holy rip.
    Raid battles gives us nothing and grinding for them is pointless
    There's no dungeon or hiden pathes in the wild area to find more pokemon or trainers The story progression is not as annoying as in sun and moon, but the characters are bland and awkward, it's like they tried to make them fancy, cool or funny, but they created ton of    I have watched the gameplays on youtube and holy rip.
    Raid battles gives us nothing and grinding for them is pointless
    There's no dungeon or hiden pathes in the wild area to find more pokemon or trainers
    The story progression is not as annoying as in sun and moon, but the characters are bland and awkward, it's like they tried to make them fancy, cool or funny, but they created ton of cartoonish caricatures, back in the days they were balanced and looked normal. The worst art director ever, and it's of course cartoonist and englishman.
    The story is too short and naive, the max form of eternatus feels like a forced final boss with high stats that supposed to impress childrens, while necrozma was just turbo strong and scary, even design is good and it feels like a final boss, legendary dogs are helping us defeat it and it all feels like a bad anime.
    Also dificulty is too low, the story is too short, the region is too small, it's literally like they polished only first two routes and rest is just a 5 minutes route to the next town and next gym leader.

    There's nothing interesting in galar at all, it feels like unfinished game.

    Modern pokemon sucks, I remember when game had lot of side routes to offer and lot of challenges like during diamond and pearl or black and white/black and white 2

    alola was small and insulting, but this is even worse because they did not progressed at all and just made region for the sake of it being in the game.

    Lazy, lazy, lazy lazy, terrible, pokemon is dying thanks to this company    … Expand
  8. JayDarbz
    Nov 27, 2019
    5
    This game isn't actually that bad I kinda liked it! The gyms are fun. My only issue however from being a pokemaniac ever since yellow! These new Pokémon are the ugliest most disgusting looking thing's I've ever seen I wish they just stop creating new ones there is enough! And the post game is non existent and the game is very Short with a pathetic storyline
  9. Haseo348
    Nov 27, 2019
    10
    great games. Don't listen to everyone review bombing the game. It was obvious since people wouldn't get their way.

    They implemented features that everyone wanted. For instance You no longer have to grind for competitive pokemon. there are items that change the nature, EVs, and IV of the pokemon now. All you would need to do is level them up. yes, Pokemon are removed. But for a    great games. Don't listen to everyone review bombing the game. It was obvious since people wouldn't get their way.

    They implemented features that everyone wanted.
    For instance

    You no longer have to grind for competitive pokemon. there are items that change the nature, EVs, and IV of the pokemon now. All you would need to do is level them up.
    yes, Pokemon are removed. But for a better competitive environment, Which is already being apparent ( the people who are complaining about the national dex are people who play with smogon rule sets. Which are not legal at all for any official and sanctioned tournament).

    The game is specifically short for this reason. as it is meant for people who want to play competitive jump in as soon as possible,

    I believe the changes and the reasoning make the cuts made justified. and easily make this the best games in the series.    … Expand
  10. Stuvok
    Nov 27, 2019
    3
    an embarrassment to modern video games. This series is so outclassed in every way by nearly every series I can think of. The fact that such a insanely profitable series could be so far behind in story, combat, graphics, atmosphere, technical performance, cinematography, animation, imagination, effort, choice of font, titles of the games... just name it and this game will show you how toan embarrassment to modern video games. This series is so outclassed in every way by nearly every series I can think of. The fact that such a insanely profitable series could be so far behind in story, combat, graphics, atmosphere, technical performance, cinematography, animation, imagination, effort, choice of font, titles of the games... just name it and this game will show you how to be uninspired or unskilled when designing it.… Expand
  11. Genji1
    Nov 27, 2019
    1
    Half of all Pokemon missing, the touted "Wild Area" is just a massive open empty world, some Pokemon cant even be caught at first cause they are level gated behind badges, the 'Dynamax gameplay feature is pretty simple and boring. raid battles are just an annoying slog. The story is so basic and forgettable there might as not even be one. Your rival Hop is literally just a Hau clone. TheHalf of all Pokemon missing, the touted "Wild Area" is just a massive open empty world, some Pokemon cant even be caught at first cause they are level gated behind badges, the 'Dynamax gameplay feature is pretty simple and boring. raid battles are just an annoying slog. The story is so basic and forgettable there might as not even be one. Your rival Hop is literally just a Hau clone. The "evil" Team Yell isn't evil at all, they are just a bunch of idiots, like seriously, they are less threatening than Team Skull was. Worse problem for me is there no more GTS. Only good thing i can say about this game is it sees the return of Gym battles and Gym puzzles. Overall this game lacks any kind ambition and is clearly just a copy, paste lazy game from Game Freak , cuz its Pokemon and they know it will print money regardless of how god awful this game is.… Expand
  12. Bringbacknation
    Nov 27, 2019
    0
    Ok, so we all know the games were left highly unfinished and this was justified by a “quality over quantity” approach, which ended up not being implemented at all. So instead of highlighting that issue, I’d rather spend my time explain why this isn’t a good trade off and the devastating long term consequences SwSh will have to the series as a whole. Firstly, the trade off: to be perfectlyOk, so we all know the games were left highly unfinished and this was justified by a “quality over quantity” approach, which ended up not being implemented at all. So instead of highlighting that issue, I’d rather spend my time explain why this isn’t a good trade off and the devastating long term consequences SwSh will have to the series as a whole. Firstly, the trade off: to be perfectly fair, I actually kind of see the effort here, people move their mouths as they talk, have fully and completely rendered faces and are by far the most expressive NPCs/PCs to date. HOWEVER, I might see each of these facial expressions once, maybe twice over the hundred of hours I’d typically log in a Pokemon game. Whereas the absence of the national Dex shakes the entire competitive experience to its core, every battle I do will have less possibilities and options, and every team I build is gonna have to be put together considering the forced galar meta and not the national meta. As for the series’ future. It’s now completely in jeopardy, both over the next few months and the next few decades thanks to SwSh. Firstly, in the first quarter of 2020 we will see the release of Pokemon home. A storage bank that can take Pokemon from Sword/Shield, let’s go Pikachu/Eevee, Pokemon go, and Pokemon bank, the storage system for every handheld game up until this point. However, if you notice the wording you’ll see it can only *take* from all these possible sources, as sword and shield is right now the only possible way for Pokemon to LEAVE Pokemon home, and if they don’t have a Galar Pokédex entry, they’re completely stuck there. It is currently unknown if there will be any battling or other features for these Pokemon to partake in. Additionally, in 2021 we will see what would have been the first year of the PWC that allowed the gen 8 national Pokédex to be used. Unless the issues of SwSh are fixed, this will be played on an extended Dex at best, and will likely not see the staggering meta change or rise of off meta picks we’ve seen on previous years. And finally there’s a looming threat of the regional Pokédex becoming a series norm. What if we never get the have the national Pokédex again? Some interviews have pointed towards this being an all too real possibility without intervention. Pokemon Sword and Shield did do some things right, and I’m not debating that, but the damage it did to the series as a whole is absolutely not worth the negligible benefits it brought. I would give it a DNF/10 but the scale doesn’t go that low… Expand
  13. nyctg
    Nov 27, 2019
    10
    This game is absolutely great. I think it represents what a 3D Pokemon experience should be. All the hype around gyms, and even, quite rare for pokemon, a quite good writing of characters (the rival has actually a pretty sad storyline) makes this game the greatest 3D Pokemon and probably one of the greatest Pokemon game ever released.
  14. JasonLightheart
    Nov 27, 2019
    3
    Unfortunaly, I won’t say more than the others but with my 90h playtime I can say:
    God the game is empty, easy and take you by the hand from the start to the end.
    Wild area is empty, ugly and don’t turn online on here, or else say bye to those FPS. Speaking of Online, well it’s pretty good if you’re in 2006, X/Y were way better than.... this Dynamax is boring, Gigamax kill purpose for    Unfortunaly, I won’t say more than the others but with my 90h playtime I can say:
    God the game is empty, easy and take you by the hand from the start to the end.
    Wild area is empty, ugly and don’t turn online on here, or else say bye to those FPS.
    Speaking of Online, well it’s pretty good if you’re in 2006, X/Y were way better than.... this
    Dynamax is boring, Gigamax kill purpose for every other Pokemon from the same species and you can’t even use them online. I miss Mega so bad.
    Online battle, yeah everyone use almost the same team, I don’t call that « balanced »
    Story, welp at least Leon had a better adventure than us since he did all the cool stuff.
    And of course our dear National dex that modder have already begun to fix in less than 3 days.
    My conclusion, I was so hyped at the very first trailer but since then every new trailer killed my hype little by little, those game was supposed to be the best of all, but in the end just a greedy lazy one...
    And I love Pokémon, it’s my favorite games, so it’s hurt even more to see how Pokemon have become. But even If I love Pokémon, I can’t let that pass, yeah I had a fun time playing sword but... that’s it. Just a short fun time...    … Expand
  15. TCMTORD
    Nov 26, 2019
    1
    Less Pokémon then old 2D ds games. Recycled animations form 3ds games. Bad graphics for a 2019 switch game. Worst Pokémon generation to date
  16. Blbstein
    Nov 26, 2019
    1
    Pokedex is terrible! I can't accept non trading trough versions of Pokémon games.
  17. ianblade18
    Nov 26, 2019
    0
    this is so bad. TPC and Nintendo need to do something for SWSH and pokemon future.
  18. MCSorcerer
    Nov 26, 2019
    7
    Looking at this game for what it is itself, it's decent. The gameplay, the story, the music, the visuals, are all OK. But nothing better. For the money the Pokemon Company and Game Freak make, the general level of quality this game contains is nothing other than disappointing. I still had fun playing the game for sure, but I can't help but thnk about what the game could have been if it allLooking at this game for what it is itself, it's decent. The gameplay, the story, the music, the visuals, are all OK. But nothing better. For the money the Pokemon Company and Game Freak make, the general level of quality this game contains is nothing other than disappointing. I still had fun playing the game for sure, but I can't help but thnk about what the game could have been if it all the executive decisions had been made by people who clearly care about video games and the consumers that buy them.
    Looking at the game in the context of the past games, however, the game falls even further. The game removed several large chunks of content from over half of the older Pokemon to the smaller gameplay gimmicks like Mega Evolution and Z-Moves. This would all be fine if the reasons as to why they removed such content were valid. The general quality of the Pokemon's models and animations are the same, having been ported in from previous generations, and the replacement mechanic for Mega Evolution and Z-Moves is just a lazy combination of the two.
    Honestly, it makes me sad to see just how great the game could have been compared to what it is now. Everyone thought we were going to get all the Pokemon, in full HD at a consistent framerate, but we got none of that. Instead we got a half-baked game that resembles more of a half-hearted 3DS port. All I can do is just hope the next installment gets better.
    Overall, I would say to buy this game if you generally like Pokemon. It doesn't do too many new things, but if you are really frusturated about all of the short-comings this game has had, you can just skip. It is a good experience, but not one I would consider worth its price tag.    … Expand
  19. Martin998
    Nov 26, 2019
    5
    Cut corners and a rushed/unfinished game. It was still somewhat fun but not anywhere near worth $60. Post game is laughable and having only 2 legendarys you could catch with the version you bought is god awful. No dungeons or much of anything to explore in the game. The wild area could've been great and it feels empty even with all the pokemon there. Textures, animation and models are allCut corners and a rushed/unfinished game. It was still somewhat fun but not anywhere near worth $60. Post game is laughable and having only 2 legendarys you could catch with the version you bought is god awful. No dungeons or much of anything to explore in the game. The wild area could've been great and it feels empty even with all the pokemon there. Textures, animation and models are all lazy and terrible.… Expand
  20. Eleiyas
    Nov 26, 2019
    5
    Unfortunately, these are the most average Pokémon games to have ever been released (not including mobile titles).

    These are games that are on the Nintendo Switch, the most powerful home console ever produced by Nintendo (Full HD), with other console-specific titles such as Breath Of The Wild, Mario Odyssey and Luigi's Mansion 3. Compared to the games I just mentioned, Sword and Shield    Unfortunately, these are the most average Pokémon games to have ever been released (not including mobile titles).

    These are games that are on the Nintendo Switch, the most powerful home console ever produced by Nintendo (Full HD), with other console-specific titles such as Breath Of The Wild, Mario Odyssey and Luigi's Mansion 3. Compared to the games I just mentioned, Sword and Shield pale in comparison in every single way.

    The story is incredibly lackluster, with Leon and Sonia essentially doing all the cool things while you are simply told to "go do the gym challenges and leave this to the adults"... essentially Leon and Sonia are playing the game while we do the busy work. I understand why as it doesn't make sense for a 10 year old kid to be "saving the world" as was the case in previous titles, but it makes these games seem too linear and it's upsetting to think that Leon/Sonia are having all the fun, while we rush through the gyms one after the other. This is only slightly alleviated in the post game, where we finally get to enjoy some different narrative.

    This leads on to one of numerous controversies that have surrounded these games since pre-launch. The inability to turn off the now infamous EXP-share. If you spend any amount of time in the Wild Area grinding or doing raids before doing the gyms, your core team will be so overleveled by the time the gyms come around that you will one-shot every single Pokémon you come across, making the gyms simple roadblocks to be steamrolled over.

    Myself and many others after having spent an hour or 2 in the Wild Area after its discovery have had some Pokémon (especially the starter) be upwards of 10 levels higher than the gym I was challenging. One attack is one fainted enemy, even including the last Dynamax Pokémon a gym leader will send out.

    This leads on to controversy #2, Dynamaxing. Mega evolution and Z moves were removed for... making your Pokémon big for 3 turns. WOW, what an improvement! What innovation! Yeah, no, it pales in comparison to mega evolution and even z moves.

    Controversy #3: the removal of the national dex (now infamously known as Dexit). It was stated by GameFreak that they removed over 400 Pokémon (53/54% of the nat dex) in order to improve graphical fidelity and the animations. We now know this was a blatant lie. Both the models and animations are imports from the 3DS (thanks dataminers!), with some seriously shoddy ones like ... the now infamous (... a lot of infamy in this game) double-kick animation where the model isn't animated at all, it is simply pushed upwards, then brought downwards again. Really low effort and laziness from GameFreak, seeing as Genius Sorority nailed the animations back in the days of XD: Gale of Darkness, or even Colosseum on the Gamecube!

    Controversy/issue #4: Look at Breath of the Wild or Mario Odyssey, then look at Sword/Shield. The graphics on these new Pokémon titles look like they were meant to be on the 3DS. Muddy textures, shoddy artwork in a lot of places (infamous Wild Area trees); not all the textures are bad and some areas of the game look damn gorgeous, but it's really a mixed bag between shoddy and amazing. For the Switch, capable of 1080p 60FPS, these Pokémon games run at 720p 30FPS a lot of the time, even lower when in the Wild Area and connected to the internet. Myself and others have had 720p 10FPS in this scenario, which is downright mind-blowingly bad, especially when comparing to Breath of the Wild which can run at 1080p 60FPS, while also having much better graphical quality.

    Now, in order to not go over the 5000 character limit, here are other issues in brief:
    #5 - Removed moves for no real reason
    #6 - A lot of unused code left in the game out of laziness (all movesets are in for every single Pokémon, but not the models)
    #7 - Game has revealed a lot of issues with the Switch (bricking/SD card corruption)
    #8 - Changing the date and time to spam raids to get perfect Pokémon and infinite money
    #9 - Each Pokémon form has a different model, not one model with different textures, leading to huge game-bloat.
    #10 - Games now cost £60/$60 without warranting the increase in price
    #11 - #GameFreakLied
    #12 - Beloved features axed for no reason (no Pokémon following you, no rideable Pokémon)
    #13 - Towns feel huge, but a lot of buildings cannot be entered, or are simply copy-pasted
    #14 - Hilariously bad draw-distance which introduces the worst pop-in since Fallout76
    #15 - Some of the worst battle backgrounds from any Pokémon game (white void)

    I could do more, but that's enough crapping on the games.

    These games do introduce a heft of QoL improvements and there is no denying it. EXP candies, Nature Mints, Egg Moves from breeding, fly from anywhere, bike going on water, etc.

    These QoL improvements, topped with the fact that "it's more Pokémon!" and "Pokémon is inherently fun!" is what is making people see these games through rose-tinted glasses.    … Expand
  21. themugen
    Nov 26, 2019
    1
    Wanted to like this, but it just feels old and stagnant. Didn't get very far in it. Very boring. Game Freak needs to evolve and bring this franchise into the modern times. Bake it some more please.
  22. albinopanda77
    Nov 26, 2019
    4
    While I actually enjoyed the series like the rest of them, I can’t say this game deserves anything higher than a 4. The game was rushed and looked like a direct port from the 3DS. The animations, while some looked nice, were better a decade ago on the GameCube. The graphics were sloppy and rushed. The plot was linear and lacked substance. I had high hopes for the first 1080p mainlineWhile I actually enjoyed the series like the rest of them, I can’t say this game deserves anything higher than a 4. The game was rushed and looked like a direct port from the 3DS. The animations, while some looked nice, were better a decade ago on the GameCube. The graphics were sloppy and rushed. The plot was linear and lacked substance. I had high hopes for the first 1080p mainline Pokémon game, but was quickly let down by the negligence and greed of Gamefreak.… Expand
  23. Lucius_13
    Nov 26, 2019
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I honestly went into this game totally hyped and the for the most part I wasn't let down lets get into the positives and negatives of this game

    Positives:
    -Pokemon can be found wandering around in the wild which I've wanted for awhile because random encounters annoyed me
    -The game looks really beautiful I love how the weather can change on a dime making it possible to catch Pokemon that only roam around in certain terrains like Ice Types
    -Dynamax/Gigantamax is really neat and pretty fun to use they balanced it out by only allowing to last 3 turns
    -The Gym's return was a welcome addition too as I wasn't a fan of the Island trials on Sun&Moon or Ultra Sun and Moon granted some of the gym's mini-games like sheep herding was irritating
    -Leveling up your Pokemon is no longer a chore and is actually fun
    -Not so much hand holding as there was in Sun&Moon and Ultra Sun&Ultra Moon

    Negatives:
    -No National Dex though to be fair I could care less about the National Dex as I rarely use my past pokemon on new games other than to fill up my Dex lol
    -Some Pokemon in the wild are so high leveled that they will flatten your entire team without you even landing so much as a blow (not so much a negative as a warning to those who haven't played yet lol)
    -Some parts of the games could use a bit more work like the trees and Pokemon animations as when some attack their whole bodies move left and right it just looks weird

    all in all I give these games a solid 9 out of 10 and I recommend this to fans of Pokemon games or just anyone looking a for a good relaxing game :)    … Expand
  24. Trajliner
    Nov 26, 2019
    0
    Game is really easy even someone who dont understan how it works can finish it without any problems.
    You should focus more on older people do not expect this is only for 6 old kids.I as 2-3 old kid finished a lot of games on SEGA without saves bcs they didnt exist back then.How game looks i dont care.
    Game is not evolving at all its really easy to change it upgrade combat system !!!.    Game is really easy even someone who dont understan how it works can finish it without any problems.
    You should focus more on older people do not expect this is only for 6 old kids.I as 2-3 old kid finished a lot of games on SEGA without saves bcs they didnt exist back then.How game looks i dont care.
    Game is not evolving at all its really easy to change it upgrade combat system !!!. New pokemon names and look is ridiculous. 0/10 Its better play yellow crystal then this.
    People who crating this game doesnt care bsc name Pokemon will sell this game anyway.......    … Expand
  25. OmniPhantom
    Nov 26, 2019
    9
    I don't really transfer much so the smaller pokedex really doesn't bother me much. Plus two of my favorite pokemon are in the game.
  26. Dopke
    Nov 26, 2019
    4
    Honestly, I beat it over a weekend, which is disappointing that the campaign isn’t longer. Post game is dismal. There are only 2 legendary Pokémon. The only gen 1 starter is charmander. I’m just disappointed. With the resources this company has, this could have been breath of the wild levels of quality, and it’s just not. A dud.
    Music in the game is sick though.
  27. johnpope583
    Nov 26, 2019
    8
    This game is incredible considering the world of the game. We've come a long way with Pokemon, and the heart of the game has become very realized. NOTE: I HAVE NOT PLAYED ONLINE, but just playing campaign, this game kept me surprised as an original pokemon fan.
  28. kelvinice
    Nov 26, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Can't Play on PC.
    I think thats enough...
    ......
    ....................................................    … Expand
  29. PrunusTR
    Nov 26, 2019
    2
    20 years later, it is still the same game. After playing this game, my thought is that the main pokemon games should not be developed by Gamefreak anymore. New pokemons are well designed. However, hundreds of pokemons from previous games are cut out. Transfering pokemons from previous games is a game mechanic that makes pokemon game a pokemon game. Although cutting out all the pokemons20 years later, it is still the same game. After playing this game, my thought is that the main pokemon games should not be developed by Gamefreak anymore. New pokemons are well designed. However, hundreds of pokemons from previous games are cut out. Transfering pokemons from previous games is a game mechanic that makes pokemon game a pokemon game. Although cutting out all the pokemons reduced the work of developers, there is no progress in animations. The animations in this game belong to the last decade. Moreover, there is still no voice acting. That is ridiculous. I bought this game to experience a main pokemon game on a big screen TV but probably this is the last time since I do not believe gamefreak will improve the game no matter how many generations or game consoles change. This game is definitely not a 2019 game, and it should cost no more than 30 dollars.… Expand
  30. Jhinl3m0n
    Nov 26, 2019
    1
    Let's be real about this game.

    Pros: - I'm sorry but i don't think this game have some pro. Cons: - Recycled animation from past games (marketing lie) - 10 routes total, 6 are BEFORE the first gym. (another marketing lie, because when they have done the promo event with the journalist, the demo allowed you to play until the first gym, so they structured the overworld layout    Let's be real about this game.

    Pros:
    - I'm sorry but i don't think this game have some pro.

    Cons:

    - Recycled animation from past games (marketing lie)

    - 10 routes total, 6 are BEFORE the first gym. (another marketing lie, because when they have done the promo event with the journalist, the demo allowed you to play until the first gym, so they structured the overworld layout like this, just to lie another time about contents that had to be there, but aren't.)

    - Dynamax mechanic is overpowered, and will ruin the competitive scene.

    - Gigamax, this are pure trash for a bunch of reasons, first off all, you can't breed them correctly, that means the stats wont be perfect as it should be in competitive, they are 25 (3 of them not released yet) on 400 vs over 45 mega forms cutted.

    - Online infrastructure is just a joke, the pokemon company actually won't buy any server to make this game have a decent lobby design model to work good, that nowadays is the most used in the world, that means that the competitive scene of the game will not exist.

    -The story is not a story, team yell is doing NOTHING, i finished the game and i dont know why they were here, all is a joke when you realize that you are able to oneshot everything from the first gym to the champion, plus cutscenes are mute, so i think it's enough.

    -Background of battle scenes are simply unfinished, and the overworld looks like this too, snes texture.. in 2019. When you compare to zelda BOTW i don't think someone can defend pokemon anymore.

    -Retail price 60$ that speaks alone.

    -Dexit for a lot of reasons, like all the franchise is based on Gotta catch em'all you remember that guys ? and pokemon home? wtf i have to do with it now ?    … 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.
    Read full review
  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]
See all critic reviews »