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. Danikyo-Inverso
    May 13, 2023
    10
    De lo mejor en toda la franquicia, y aunque no es tan bueno como la gloriosa 7ma generación, este juego supone un gran paso adelante en el aspecto gráfico y competitivo, con mas de 400 pokémon capturables, uno esta servido en cuanto a contenido se refiere, y aunque muchos digan lo contrario, las animaciones son de lo mejor en la saga
    Artísticamente hermoso.
  2. Spaxe
    Nov 15, 2019
    5
    My copy of Sword and Shield came in the mail a bit early yesterday, and while Sword and Shield are pretty cute games, I have to admit there are some glaring problems that make this game feels like it was needed to bake in the oven a tad bit longer. For starters, I just want to say I never cared for the controversy surrounding these games about not being able to transfer all of yourMy copy of Sword and Shield came in the mail a bit early yesterday, and while Sword and Shield are pretty cute games, I have to admit there are some glaring problems that make this game feels like it was needed to bake in the oven a tad bit longer. For starters, I just want to say I never cared for the controversy surrounding these games about not being able to transfer all of your pokemon, so this review is in no way biased towards that. There are, however, other issues that did drag down the experience for me. I often ran into performance issues. Frame drops, trees or objects randomly popping up in view; and while at times the game does seem beautiful and comfy, at other points the game almost seemed sloppily put together.
    The games are far too easy to the point of boredom, even for a Pokemon game. I felt myself being overleveled very quickly. I was often taking down opponents only in one singular attack, despite not going out of my way to fight many monsters. The new EXP share, which spreads experience across your whole party, seems to amplify this problem. It seems as if the game was not balanced with this feature in mind, as my entire team were several levels ahead of our opponents for most of- if not, the entire game. The adventure lasted roughly about 12 hours for me to complete, which is awfully short for an RPG, and there isn't much you can do after the journey is over. Might I add this game only has 10 routes, previous entries having about 30ish.

    I will not get into story spoilers in this review, but the games are a bit more linear than I was expecting. My main criticism stems from Hop, your happy-go-lucky friend and rival, who always seems to interrupt the flow. There is hardly a moment where you can walk around without being interrupted by dialogue or a cutscene by him or some other character. I audibly groaned whenever Hop appeared on screen. I do like a good story, but I would also like to be able to play through the game without my rival breathing down my neck. Trainer customisation in this game is something I appreciated. Customizing your character is the widest it has ever been in this series, complete with photogenic trainer cards that capture the essence of your character. I find this feature very wholesome and cute, with many expressions and poses to chose from.

    I was looking foward to seeing the wild area being a reimagined safari-zone full of life, but unfortunately: it is large, empty, and barren. Models walk around a bit stiffly, and the textures are a bit dated and lackluster for a console game in 2019. Animations from this game can either be very well done, or extremely lacking. There was one instance where one of the major pokemon in the story mode didn't even have a turn animated for it's walk cycle. The pokemon's entire model was just rotated 180 degrees, which was very noticeable and bizarre. However, speaking of which, I do like the very diverse set of pokemon this generation. There are quite a lot that you are able to catch in the region, old and new; and they are all pretty unique and sometimes goofy in design.

    The newest feature, Pokemon Camp, was very charming. I loved the animations in this mode, they were definitely at their peak here in terms of quality. It was quite entertaining to see my Scorbunny/Raboot play with the Feather Wand Toy I had. Pokemon in camp interact with each other and it feels very lively. Making curry was cute. However, I do have my problems with it. For starters, the AI for the pokemon can seem a bit buggy, where they might get stuck walking in one place. I can't say it's common but it did break the immersion a bit. There was one instance where I had no background in the camp at all, which seemed like a bug. But then I encountered a battle with a background very similar to this, and I can only assume it was intentional? At times, I almost felt there was more time and effort put into this side-activity than the actual battle system.

    At it's core, it is definitely a Pokemon game. The basic formula of Pokemon works in these games. However, I was still disappointed, and I can without a doubt say that this is the least amount of enjoyment I've gotten out of a mainline pokemon game so far. Pokemon Sword and Shield fails to truly innovate despite being the first mainline entry on any type of console, and I cannot say that it is a sixty dollar Pokemon game at all. It feels rushed, poorly optimized, and half-baked. Can I see a child enjoying this game? Yes. Can I see a newcomer to the series enjoying this game? Possibly. Can I see a longtime pokemon fan enjoying this game? Not likely, unfortunately.    … Expand
  3. Ninjasuite
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    This is what happen if a company realize that they can do anything and people keep buying their products. Pokemon Sword and Shield are the worst mainline Pokemon game to date. Gamfreaks cuts more than 50% of Pokemon, removing moves, mega evolutions, and endgame contents without adding any improvement they promised. Most of the Pokemon model is proven identical to 3ds pokemon model whichThis is what happen if a company realize that they can do anything and people keep buying their products. Pokemon Sword and Shield are the worst mainline Pokemon game to date. Gamfreaks cuts more than 50% of Pokemon, removing moves, mega evolutions, and endgame contents without adding any improvement they promised. Most of the Pokemon model is proven identical to 3ds pokemon model which means they lied, because in the interview they said the reason they can't bring all the Pokemon is because they had to make all the models from scratch which is proven is not the case.… Expand
  4. Zerato
    Nov 15, 2019
    5
    The game is meh not even counting the Pokemon what is taken out doesn't equal to what was gained if you have nothing better to do and find a used copy in a few weeks that'll be the only time is say to get it.
  5. Alvertin
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    I really wish the games were good. I don't leave this review out of spite, but because I love the series. For the positives, I like some of the new designs. On top of that, most Pokemon get additional moves, giving them more variety in combat. Besides that, it's a Pokemon game with serious added flaws. Though it was a trend set in earlier games, the new games are more linear and lessI really wish the games were good. I don't leave this review out of spite, but because I love the series. For the positives, I like some of the new designs. On top of that, most Pokemon get additional moves, giving them more variety in combat. Besides that, it's a Pokemon game with serious added flaws. Though it was a trend set in earlier games, the new games are more linear and less secret filled than ever. Dungeons are more akin to hallways instead labyrinths with branching paths and abundant secrets. There are very few routes in the game, and the ones that exist are mostly short and lack complexity. The wild area feels half baked and unfinished. After the short main campaign, all that's left for you is a short side story and a Battle Tower. Besides that, you're entirely reliant on playing online for content.

    As a gimmick, Dynamax against other players is frustrating and poorly balanced. One wrong move and you're down two or even three mons. This is especially devastating in 3v3 matches, it feels even more poorly balanced than the previous battle gimmicks, Mega Evolution and Z-moves.

    It's painful to see the series hit this low. I wanted this to be good, but wading through the major flaws to get to the small nuggets of good simply isn't worth it. The games aren't irredeemable, but it's really hard to recommend it when it drops the ball so hard.    … Expand
  6. Mrich747
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    The critics calling Sword and Sheild "the best Pokemon game ever" are a bunch of delusional hacks. I want to start this review off by stating that I was excited for this game and desparately wanted the new formula to work well. Unfortunately, it does not work. What we have here is a diluted Pokemon experience that has been crudely adapted to be played by half-wits with the attention spanThe critics calling Sword and Sheild "the best Pokemon game ever" are a bunch of delusional hacks. I want to start this review off by stating that I was excited for this game and desparately wanted the new formula to work well. Unfortunately, it does not work. What we have here is a diluted Pokemon experience that has been crudely adapted to be played by half-wits with the attention span of a Slakoth. The improved explorability and new features are little consolation to how lazily crafted and half finished this game feels. The missing pokemon are irrelevant when the game is such a stark downgrade in terms of quality, replayability, and explorability. The need to strategize has been all but eliminated and the game itself is largely linear. Gamefreak led us to believe that the controversial Pokedex cuts and gameplay revisions were done in the pursuit of making a triple-A quality "Pokemon: Breath of the Wild" type of experience. What we got, instead, is a 3DS game pretending to be a full-fledged console game. Nintendo can do better than this; Gamefreak and the Pokemon Company can do better than this; Pokemon fans can do better than this. There's only trash here, folks.… Expand
  7. InsaneSeishiro
    Nov 23, 2019
    3
    This game is a rushjob.

    That said, not all things are bad, so lets start with the good: The core combat that has always been very enjoyable in pokemon is there. I like the new minimalist UI during battles. Also, that there are more customizationoptions for your trainer and while the models are reused, there is no denying that the new filter(and that is literally all they did to them    This game is a rushjob.

    That said, not all things are bad, so lets start with the good:
    The core combat that has always been very enjoyable in pokemon is there.
    I like the new minimalist UI during battles. Also, that there are more customizationoptions for your trainer and while the models are reused, there is no denying that the new filter(and that is literally all they did to them in terms of visuals and animations) makes the Pokemon look better than before! Lastly, they gave you more work arounds in terms of natures, EVs and IVs, which are appriciated(getting rid of IVs and Natures all together would be better, but let's be real, that ain't gonna happen in this life).

    Now, for the bad, and holy hell, there is a lot of bad.

    Personally, I don't care too much for the whole Dexit IF we got the promised upgraded visuals, but dataminers have already proven that most of the models and animations are simply ripped from the old game. But since those were blatent LIES, we lost half the Dex, Megaevolutions and Z attacks for NOTHING!

    Then the new pokemon: Most of them look alright, not too fond of the starters, the rest are ok but the legendarys are so lazy, they look like they should be part of the minor legendary trio, not the main cover legendarys!
    Also, let's not forget that they removed 144 attack moves, even some signaturemoves of pokemon that did make the cut.

    The graphics got definitly improved for the pokemon and trainers(even though it is just a filter over the pokemon and slightly more details on the trainers), but they look downright trash for the rest of the game. Also, sooo many battles don't have backgrounds, or backgrounds that are not fitting. You started a battle in a hotel lobby? guess what! you are now in a pure white featureless room!

    Then the difficulty... I deffinitly am not one of the guys, saying that everthing should be hard as nails, but you shouldn't be able to oneshot every pokemon in the first 3 gyms, simply by walking through the game.(at this point, let me also mention that this is one of the shortest pokemon games ever, with barely any post game)

    Gamefreak has been on an almost anual release cycle for years now, and the plattform upgrade is where this really starts to show. They need to take more time with the games and prioritize quality over quantity(nobody would have cared even half as much about the missing Mons if the graphics and animations really were upgraded, I promise you that. Just look at Monster Hunter World, where they cut down the number of Monsters to 1/3 for World, but almost everybody agrees that it was worth it). Cause if this is the way pokemon games are from now on, then this will be the end of 20+ years of beeing fans for a lot of people.    … Expand
  8. ChocolateCrane
    Nov 18, 2019
    4
    Let us address the elephant in the room first. The absence of the National Dex. Yes, it is terrible, lazy, blah blah blah. I am sure you've already heard this in hundreds of other reviews. So instead of me wasting your time by complaining about something you are already well aware of, I will focus on the rest of SwSh's shortcomings. For reference, I have played every mainline Pokemon gameLet us address the elephant in the room first. The absence of the National Dex. Yes, it is terrible, lazy, blah blah blah. I am sure you've already heard this in hundreds of other reviews. So instead of me wasting your time by complaining about something you are already well aware of, I will focus on the rest of SwSh's shortcomings. For reference, I have played every mainline Pokemon game to completion and have currently sunk 40 hours into Shield; I'd imagine my criticisms also apply to Sword. In the interest of brevity, I will be utilizing acronyms: (SwSh = Sword/Shield, S/M = Sun/Moon, etc).

    The most succinct way to put it is SwSh essentially feels like a 3DS game ported to the Switch. This applies to every facet of the game: from its gameplay features to its visual presentation, to its story/characters. I believe whether or not you enjoy SwSh depends entirely upon how you view the 7th Gen games. Contrary to what the devs promised us last year, SwSh is most assuredly NOT meant for the "core" Pokemon fans. As a veteran of the series myself, I can say with certainty the abysmally low level of difficulty in conjunction with the simplification and outright removal of many features is the exact opposite of what I'd want. SwSh is nearly as simplified as LGPE, which wouldn't be an issue if the devs addressed it as such, but somehow they seem to think this is what qualifies as a satisfying mainline game in 2019. Yes, Pokemon has always been a franchise aimed primarily at children. The games have never been truly difficult when compared to many of their JRPG contemporaries. Yet, for some reason Game Freak felt the need to crank that difficulty setting from "Easy" down to "Braindead". S/M may have been easy, but it was LEAGUES more challenging than Shield. Accessibility is one thing, but this is taking it to such an extreme it nearly removes all the fun. A "Hard Mode" option selectable from the outset would have worked wonders. And of course, as is common for the past several entries in the Pokemon series, the post-game content is practically non-existent.

    So, SwSh basically fails when viewed purely as a "game", but what of the other aspects I mentioned? After all, JRPGs with subpar gameplay can still be surprisingly enjoyable if the narrative holds enough merit. I am sad to report that SwSh also completely fails in this regard. The writing is oftentimes so atrocious I've found myself wishing to skip these scenes entirely. This is par for the course as none of the mainline games (barring the "attempts" made in B/W) have really delivered anything substantive in the way of competent storytelling. However, with the majority of other Pokemon games, they at least had good gameplay to compensate for the lackluster story; a factor which is completely absent from SwSh due to its inherent simplified nature and toddler-pandering difficulty.

    Well, there is only one thing left to discuss since delving into too much detail on the above points causes me to exceed the character limit. The final point of contention is the visual fidelity and graphical offerings SwSh brings to the table. This is after all, a game made for the Switch; a console/handheld hybrid with roughly 10x the computational power of Pokemon's former home, the 3DS. Let's get the pesky numbers out of the way first. SwSh runs at a dynamic resolution on both docked and portable modes. In docked mode, the resolution fluctuates from 1080p to 864p. Likewise, during portable play, the highest res is 720p which descends to 576p on frequent occasions. This is somewhat disappointing considering LGPE was capable of running at 1080p docked/720p portable at all times. The framerate target is 30fps, which exhibits frame pacing problems and severe drops in a variety of areas. The most evident manifestation of these issues can be seen in the Wild Area, wherein both pacing and framerate are pushed to their absolute worst. This is a massive problem considering the majority of your time, especially in post-game, will likely be spent in the Wild Area.

    Aside from the quantifiable metrics highlighted above, there are plenty of other visual shortcomings to boot. Terrible terrain detail, awful textures, constant pop-in, stilted animations, low polygon count for both the human character models as well as the Pokemon, and countless other issues such as these result in a game that resembles something released over a decade ago. Many detractors claim SwSh looks like a PS2/GC game, which is definitely an exaggeration, but what we got is by no means acceptable for a non-indie game released in 2019. And yes, many of the animations and ALL the returning Pokemon models have been copy-and-pasted with negligible improvements for SwSh.

    It's one thing to sacrifice content for a more polished, higher quality game, but that is very clearly not what happened here. I genuinely hope these issues can be sorted out in future releases; I am not ready to give up hope on Pokemon just yet.    … Expand
  9. Skyblue93
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Let me just get this outta way first, I’m a massive Pokémon fan. I’ve never been more disappointed. Gamefreak not only betrayed fans but outright lied to consumers. The games still have the same problems plaguing the franchise ever since gen 6.

    The story is bad, the writing is bad, the characters are bad, the pacing is bad. The main villains and evil team keep progressingly getting more    Let me just get this outta way first, I’m a massive Pokémon fan. I’ve never been more disappointed. Gamefreak not only betrayed fans but outright lied to consumers. The games still have the same problems plaguing the franchise ever since gen 6.

    The story is bad, the writing is bad, the characters are bad, the pacing is bad. The main villains and evil team keep progressingly getting more embarrassing each generations. The game keeps getting easier easier easier literally brain dead play through.

    On top of charging more for these games, they cut content. I don’t even need to write it down. I’m sure anyone who bothered to read the reviews of these games know what I’m talking about.

    To all the people who keep supporting Gamefreak...why?    … Expand
  10. WorriedDenizen
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Sword and Shield is a shameless, rushed cashgrab.
    These games are easily one of the biggest disappointments in 2019, and one of the worst JRPGs in recent years, and perhaps one of the worst switch games thus far.
    The positives of SwSh are few, but they're there. For one, the moveset availability is a lot better since while it sucks to have the good attacks go back to the 1 use TM    Sword and Shield is a shameless, rushed cashgrab.
    These games are easily one of the biggest disappointments in 2019, and one of the worst JRPGs in recent years, and perhaps one of the worst switch games thus far.

    The positives of SwSh are few, but they're there. For one, the moveset availability is a lot better since while it sucks to have the good attacks go back to the 1 use TM system known as TRs, at least moveset potential is still flexible.

    The new pokemon is always a good addition to the ever increasing size of the amount of pokemon that well... would have existed.

    SwSh also brings back the smug @sshole rival archetype that wasn't seen since Silver in gen 2 and it's remakes.

    Yet these are a few compared to the few of many huge downsides below:

    SwSh most common and biggest problem is the cut pokemon. You can't transfer any pokemon from previous games that aren't in the Galarian dex into the games. You have to wait for that potential cashgrab known as Pokemon Home as well. Plus you can't even inject, or even attempt to play as the missing pokemon. Only some of the ones not part of the dex are programmed in, and they're the starters and some legendaries. At least in gen 3, the missing pokemon were programmed in, and you could use gameshark to play with them.

    SwSh also removes mega evolutions, and z-moves and creates yet another gimmick which is inferior, and more broken to the 2 separately. Dynamax and Gigantamaxing are poor gimmicks which only benefit the fast, and powerful mons. What it does is it increases the hp temporarily, and turns all attacks in dyna/giga attacks which are powerful attacks that each one has a secondary effect. All status moves turn into protect. Essentially a temp hp boost with z-moves, and it doesn't take up an item slot.
    This sucks since it just means that in game, the ace mons that are giga/dyna often die in very anti-climatic means, and in competitive play, these mechanics force the other player to utilize it to stand a chance.

    Graphically, the game looks even worse than 3H. Water reflections are off, theres those infamous n64 trees, and the texturing is PS2 tier. Which is an honest to god achievement, how does a game manage to look worse than 3H on the same console. At least 3H has great gameplay, and decent story for the most part, SwSh has none of that.

    The technical aspects, and animations of SwSh is truly atrocious. The games have hideous draw distance, and random FPS drops. the game that does ZA WARUDO whenever the player fishes, or climbs a ladder. Horrible graphics in general, terrible scaling especially for mons like Wailord and Tyranitar. The animations look especially bad on a lot of attacks. The infamous double kick animation, and even the important plot cut scene with the box art legendaries when they just turn around in place.

    The GTS is also looking to be missing which is another huge downside, considering the GTS was pretty much a series staple, and to see it removed adds to the ever growing list of features GF introduces then throws out in the next gen.

    The main story is really short, you could probably finish it in 8-10 hours, and the intrusive dialogue from S/M makes a return in SwSh, meaning the biggest problem with S/M is back again in these set of games. No you cannot skip the dialogue, only the actual cutscenes.

    EXP Share is on permanently and is no longer a key item. This means that training up a low leveled will lead to your other mons being massively overleveled. Oh and for some reason sound settings are locked behind a key item which you have to get from a rather easily miss able NPC.

    The post game is once again barren, perhaps even moreso than XY. You get 2 hours worth of post game, and it's mostly just going to the other gyms and fighting dynamax mons, and then fighting the box art legendaries. That's seriously it. Oh and you can do a gimped battle tower if you really wanted to.

    The biggest crime of them all though. It has most of the flaws which I listed above, and it costs $60 USD. Yeah that's the same price as a triple A game, yet this game is basically a shovelware tier joke.

    Seriously this is supposed Pokemon's mainline series debut on a console? This is what it has to offer? Nothing but pure disappointment, and a total step backwards from a 3DS game? The GC spin offs, and Wii's Battle revolution were a better taste of what a main series pokemon game on a console could have been. But alas here we are, sitting here with quite possibly the worst set of pokemon games ever, and disappointed again after a slew of mediocre 3DS games.

    Stay away from these games, it's not worth your money at all.    … Expand
  11. SiberyanZ
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    The amount of reused content, technical issues and blatant incompetence that this game shows are by far the objective demonstration that this is the worst game in the series thus far.
    Having been a long time fan of the series i can't help but feel incredibly disapponited with its direction and decisions, from the removal of fan favourite pokémons (more then half of them) or the removal of    The amount of reused content, technical issues and blatant incompetence that this game shows are by far the objective demonstration that this is the worst game in the series thus far.
    Having been a long time fan of the series i can't help but feel incredibly disapponited with its direction and decisions, from the removal of fan favourite pokémons (more then half of them) or the removal of important moves for the competitive side of the game, like Hidden Power or Return, to the introduction of mechanics that are unoriginal and uninspired like Dynamax and Gigamax, this game feel like a cheap copy and paste of Sun and Moon ported to the Switch with even less content and rushed to meet the holiday season time frame.    … Expand
  12. Pikappa93
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    I wish this game was good, I really do. There are some positives: UI is fine and building a competitive Pokémon is now easy and intuitive.
    But there are a lot of bad things. Graphics are terrible, especially in the Wild Area with pop ups everywhere. Animations are horrible too, especially compared with past spin-off games. They said they cut the National Dex for high quality animations but    I wish this game was good, I really do. There are some positives: UI is fine and building a competitive Pokémon is now easy and intuitive.
    But there are a lot of bad things. Graphics are terrible, especially in the Wild Area with pop ups everywhere. Animations are horrible too, especially compared with past spin-off games. They said they cut the National Dex for high quality animations but that is a straight lie. It would have been fine if that was the case but it's not. The game is also very short and easy. The story is very simple. Very disappointing overall.    … Expand
  13. rencecond
    Nov 16, 2019
    2
    Despite the dexcut and graphical shortcomings I was aware of before playing, I was pretty hyped about this game, but turns out it's less of a package than even the 3DS games were that will cost you an extra 20 USD, compared to previous mainline Pokemon entries. It suffers greatly from a gimped, poorly paced storyline that doesn't give enough time for it's cast to shine and develop, asideDespite the dexcut and graphical shortcomings I was aware of before playing, I was pretty hyped about this game, but turns out it's less of a package than even the 3DS games were that will cost you an extra 20 USD, compared to previous mainline Pokemon entries. It suffers greatly from a gimped, poorly paced storyline that doesn't give enough time for it's cast to shine and develop, aside from Hop, who is a carbon copy, down to several animations, of the last gen's Hau. The story itself is re-using a lot of tropes from the last mainline entry, and overall, while starting strong, feels rushed and shallow towards the end. Just as shallow as it's story is the game's world, the Galar region, featuring only 10 routes, 6 out of 10 of which are basically staright, fairly short lines that have little to no exploration to them or branching paths. The game features no traditional dungeons, and those locations that are intended to be them hardly ever have more than two branching paths. The most advertised feature of the game, the Wild Area, is a disappointing mess that showcases most of the technical issues with this game: the insanely small draw distance (which is an apparent issue even outside of wild area), questionable gameplay design choices and low resolution texutres and unstable framerate, coupled with the barren game world, lacking in detail or meanwhile content to do. But unfortunately, issues don't end there. More than 100 moves were deleted from the game, the abovementioned pokedex cut leaves out more than 50% of past generations pokemon, the postgame is incredibly disappointing and expects player to play competitively, meaning there is little to no single player content for a player to chew on. The new gimmick of this generation, Dynamaxing, has a promising theme - Kaiju-inspired giant monster fights, which, sadly, it doesn't live up to. The new pokemon designs and characters are charming and creative, but do not justify a 60 USD purchase in any way, shape or form.… Expand
  14. TheHonestMan
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Pokemon Sword and Shield boast expansive landscapes and a sense of ambition... at first. The more the game goes on you become aware of how hastily put together and hollow it really is.
    The main selling point, the Wild Area, is smaller than you would expect - and plain ugly to boot. There is not a lot to do there. The same games for the game's traditional routes which are some of the    Pokemon Sword and Shield boast expansive landscapes and a sense of ambition... at first. The more the game goes on you become aware of how hastily put together and hollow it really is.
    The main selling point, the Wild Area, is smaller than you would expect - and plain ugly to boot. There is not a lot to do there. The same games for the game's traditional routes which are some of the smallest and most linear yet. This combined with the game interrupting you every 5 seconds for Leon to brag about his Charizard or whatever make the game a chore to sit through despite their short length.
    That's not to say the game doesn't have it's positives though, Galar can be quite pretty when it comes to towns and colors, and there are some much welcome quality of life improvements like easily accessible move re-learners and nature mints. A lot of the series past tedium is now gone and getting into competitive has never been easier. The new monster designs themselves are also cool and imaginative. The dynamax gym battle are a sight to behold with their giant battles and roaring crowds. I also much prefer the new Y-comm to generation 7's festival plaza.

    Unfortunately, that's about all nice I have to say about the games. The difficulty is nonexistent, the story is dull and predictable, and the overall content and variety pales compared to past entries despite them sacrificing 500 Pokemon and costing $20 more. These negatives as well as the technical issues and signs of a rushed game (an important battle has no music, last gym is a single room etc.) mean I can only give these a 4/10.

    There is potential, but they need to spend more time on their products for something truly good. Better luck next game.    … Expand
  15. AnthonyDFG
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    At the beginning of the game, serious performance issues are already notorious. The game lags in certain parts and there are awkward moments where nothing is happening and you're just waiting for a cutscene to resume. The handholding is unbearable and the Kanto-throwbacks are off the charts. Charizard will get praised half a dozen times before you can pick your first Pokémon. Hop is aAt the beginning of the game, serious performance issues are already notorious. The game lags in certain parts and there are awkward moments where nothing is happening and you're just waiting for a cutscene to resume. The handholding is unbearable and the Kanto-throwbacks are off the charts. Charizard will get praised half a dozen times before you can pick your first Pokémon. Hop is a cheap knockoff of Hau and thus the game breaks the long tradition of making every new rival unique in some way.

    As the game goes on, you begin to notice that GameFreak engaged in false advertising. We were promised that the models had been remade from scratch. However, the meshes are the exact same in most cases. The few exceptions are models that got minor updates around the mouth area, presumably to eat curry. Some textures got updated but there are indications that the process might have been automated. Indeed, there isn't even a distinction between, say, the eyes and the fur of a Pokémon. Instead, they look entirely like inflatable balloons. The animations, it can be shown, have been reused too. In that direction, even the game engine was demonstrably forked from Let's Go. It's too hard to see what is made "from scratch" in this game, as even the music is a remix of sample libraries from 2013.

    The Galar region looks gorgeous in pictures but it has serious issues when you actually play it. The routes are small corridors without any intricacy. Even the wild area can be traversed in a few minutes. The forests and caves are not puzzling in any way. There is no sense of exploration or adventure. Many buildings are completely locked. The ones you can enter might look the exact same inside as they didn't even bother to shuffle furniture around. Trees look like they were imported from the Nintendo 64. The berry trees in particular look completely out of place, as if they were from another game entirely; it's really incredible that there was such a massive oversight and nobody raised an objection. There was no effort to make the water look good and the reflections are buggy. The grass and terrain textures are an eyesore. Walls and caves textures are straight out of the Sega Dreamcast. Weather is illogical and poorly implemented. You can "ride" trains but they didn't even bother animating it as it's just a black screen and you have magically teleported: even Gold and Silver had more effort into it. To top it all, time bizarrely freezes when you use stairs.

    Instead of being allowed to ride your Pokémon, you're stuck with a goofy bike that even works on water. Pokémon don't have turn animations and they pop in and out of nowhere which is very awkward and breaks the immersion, defeating the entire point of overworld encounters. Then again, trees and people do it too. You are also not allowed to even throw a Poké Ball at higher level Pokémon so it's hard to see what is the point of including them so early into the game. You can't pet your Pokémon and the Pokémon Camp is an inferior version of Pokémon Amie and Refresh. The option to play with a ball is so poorly programmed that it's hard to believe it passed the testing stages. In battles, big species like Wailord and Tyranitar are butchered by the downscaling algorithm. There are many bugs that are baffling such as trainers disappearing when certain attacks are used. We were promised this would be the game that long time fans had been waiting for but that seems extremely unlikely.

    The story is dull, rushed and boring. Interesting side characters get little screen time. It's obvious the story was not their focus this time. However, the game is not cohesive in any way so it's hard to see what even was their focus this time. Indeed, there is very little content as there's barely any postgame at all while the main story can be leisurely beaten in 12 hours assuming you aren't the kind of player that loses to NPCs. Some towns have interesting themes but they are massively underdeveloped and the "city" surrounding the Battle Tower is peak laziness: it's just a cardboard background. The region feels lifeless in general and the subpar method chosen to spawn people doesn't help. Major features like the GTS were cut and simple features like volume control are locked under key items. The level scaling is very poor as you're massively overleveled early on without any grinding, then there is a sudden spike in difficulty that can't be accounted for, and finally you go back to being overleveled even if you skip optional battles.

    In short, this game is awful for advanced players, mediocre for casual players and it's desirable that this is nobody's first Pokémon game, least they get the wrong impression. It is the worst Pokémon main duo ever released and the only positive aspects are derived from the standard Pokémon formula. Being understaffed isn't even remotely enough to explain the unacceptable low quality of these games; GameFreak has serious leadership issues.    … Expand
  16. Orion_
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    Oh boy, where do I begin. I used to be a fan of Pokemon. I loved the designs, I loved trying to collect every shiny, just collecting as a whole used to be my favorite part of the series. But, that's no longer an option. There's no way to have a "complete" collection, because they have cut the majority of the dex; and for what gain? Surely not the graphics, which are about as good as thatOh boy, where do I begin. I used to be a fan of Pokemon. I loved the designs, I loved trying to collect every shiny, just collecting as a whole used to be my favorite part of the series. But, that's no longer an option. There's no way to have a "complete" collection, because they have cut the majority of the dex; and for what gain? Surely not the graphics, which are about as good as that of the Wii U or earlier consoles. The entire game is the exact same cookie cutter setup we've gotten before. No originality whatsoever. The Pokemon? Basic beyond belief and really just "modernized" versions of older Pokemon. Then, ghere's the matter of the game heaving a rather serious issue of potentially wiping your ENTIRE SD card data - including every other game you may have. I can no longer support a company that has managed to be so out of sync with their fanbase.… Expand
  17. lylog
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    Bugs, no endgame, half pokedex, mediocre graphics, less features than previous games...should i keep talking?
  18. Luzon
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    Mediocre at best, we all know that that the switch isn't the most powerful hardware there is in the world but despite that many companies do manage to create a pleasent graphicical experience with a game. Unfortunately with pokemon that is not the case total which is weird because you are paying 15$ extra this time to play the game.. If you compare pokemon with fire emblem,, zelda botw,Mediocre at best, we all know that that the switch isn't the most powerful hardware there is in the world but despite that many companies do manage to create a pleasent graphicical experience with a game. Unfortunately with pokemon that is not the case total which is weird because you are paying 15$ extra this time to play the game.. If you compare pokemon with fire emblem,, zelda botw, Mario or dragon quest (which has over 700 different kinds of monsters you see an immediate big difference. Almost if there's a full console generation between them in terms of hardware. About 60% of the pokemon are removed, expshare is forced and you can't catch some higher level pokemon when you don't have the correct badges.… Expand
  19. AnzuRed
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    A disappointing, on-rails steamroll from start to finish. Even ignoring the Pokedex cut, the story is a mess, the game is linear, and there's nowhere near enough content to justify the price being marked up from the 3DS games.
  20. PewPewMcP
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    The theme of Pokémon Sword and Shield is: limit.
    They limit your selection of Pokémon to catch
    They limit the pool of moves Pokémon can learn from, including some moves signature to Pokémon, like Heal Order to Vespiquen They limit where and when you can catch Pokémon in the open area They limit when you can use Dynamax and Gigantamax, the games signature battle mechanic. They limit    The theme of Pokémon Sword and Shield is: limit.
    They limit your selection of Pokémon to catch
    They limit the pool of moves Pokémon can learn from, including some moves signature to Pokémon, like Heal Order to Vespiquen
    They limit where and when you can catch Pokémon in the open area
    They limit when you can use Dynamax and Gigantamax, the games signature battle mechanic.
    They limit your ability to explore a world with the series's now signature heavily railroaded storytelling techniques
    They limit the difficulty setting of the game by forcing Exp Share to always be on
    They limit your ability to change the sound settings by forcing you to first find and interact with the right NPC.
    Pokémon Sword and Shield takes two steps back for every step it takes forward. If you're okay with a subpar experience that irritates at every corner, and don't mind being limited in your ability to play the game, then I'm sure Sword and Shield will be as enjoyable as a summer popcorn flick.    … Expand
  21. Fatyok
    Nov 15, 2019
    1
    The game is underwhelming for Nintendo Switch. It seems like it has not been through Quality Assurance. The quality of the game various if you have played it. One give away is that in some area you can find gorgeous sceneries, high definition background, but in some area it’s like a student project, character floating, Pokémon running on the spot without moving, Pokémon model disappearedThe game is underwhelming for Nintendo Switch. It seems like it has not been through Quality Assurance. The quality of the game various if you have played it. One give away is that in some area you can find gorgeous sceneries, high definition background, but in some area it’s like a student project, character floating, Pokémon running on the spot without moving, Pokémon model disappeared randomly. The wild area is supposedly the selling point of the game, but it is just boring. Lack of color compared to Pokémon Let’s go series. System lagged enough to annoyed me. Gameplay is like a slide show, I go from point A to B, have a unskipable dialogues, then move to point C. Story is nonexistent. I’ve heard that there’s a crucial bug that crushes your game and deletes your game files. It has not yet happened to me but the game do crush a lot.

    It is impossible to think that this is a main title Pokémon game. Any price would be too much for it if they don’t fix the bugs. I give 1 point only for the curry mini game.    … Expand
  22. Jostermo
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Unfinished product for a whole 60$. Don't waste your time and hopes for it. - bad animations (I mean, really bad)
    - models from 3ds
    - awful textures especially in the wild area
    - wild area catching lock
    - short game ( 20 hours)
    - bugs and crushes
    - cutted dex
    - the easiest game of them all
    And etc
    Please, don't support THIS
  23. Meguelin35
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    El peor pokemon de la historia, nos han tratado muy mal a los fans de esta maravillosa saga, son unos vagos y nos han dejado sin el mayor aliciente de este juego, no me esperaba esto de esta desarrolladora.
  24. Ademi
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    HONEST REVIEW:
    I must say: I am disappointed to the max (no pun intended...)
    - severely lacking postgame - the story is rather short - the graphical performance and the animations are horrendous for a console game! People turn like a mummies in 180 degrees, grass patches and other areas look barren and - the music is just okay - Dynamax and Gigantamax are unnecessary mechanics and    HONEST REVIEW:
    I must say: I am disappointed to the max (no pun intended...)
    - severely lacking postgame
    - the story is rather short
    - the graphical performance and the animations are horrendous for a console game!
    People turn like a mummies in 180 degrees, grass patches and other areas look barren and
    - the music is just okay
    - Dynamax and Gigantamax are unnecessary mechanics and shallow gimmicks, it's hard to care for them. Mega-Evolutions and Z-moves were more approachable and, especially Mega-evolutions, added a new flaire to old, forgotten pokémon
    - the characters are not that interesting. The rival Hop and the champion Leon are pretty much THE EXACT SAME characters as the rival and the professor from Sun and Moon, same dynamic, same personalities etc.
    - the download version crashes the SD card and deletes ALL other games you have, dear god
    - they force you to use the Experience Share which was in the last two generation at least an item that could be toggled on and off --> it makes the game damn too easy
    - the Wild Area, the major selling point, is really not that beautiful, it's empty and laggy, and the weather changes after every other 20 feet, it's hyper unrealistic and breaks the immersion...!
    - there are NO dungeons or riddles whatsoever, the routes are predominantly only linear railroads from A to B... many closed up locations (such as a castle, you can't enter it - why???)
    - the cut pokédex didn't really add to my enthusiasm, if I'm being honest
    - some pretty good moves were removed from the game and I can't fathom why (Return e.g.???)
    - overall just really lackluster, you can see that they either
    1) didn't care and wanted to produce a product as fast as possible to make as much money as possible (brand loyalty, shilling)
    2) or that they didn't have enough time to polish it properly

    I'm thoroughy disappointed... these are the first proper pokémon games on a console. This generation doesn't start well. Mind you, many of these issues were NOT present in the handheld games but they cost 20 dollars more now so evaluate thoroughly if this game is really worth your time and money.    … Expand
  25. shade1267
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    This game is not worth your time or money.
    I played through the game before launch. It's incredibly unpolished and lacking in content. Not only this, but the game has wiped my friend's downloaded games from their SD card.
    This game only includes roughly 400 out of the 900 Pokemon made up to this point. Yet they've reused the models and animations from the 3DS titles. They also cut out    This game is not worth your time or money.
    I played through the game before launch. It's incredibly unpolished and lacking in content. Not only this, but the game has wiped my friend's downloaded games from their SD card.
    This game only includes roughly 400 out of the 900 Pokemon made up to this point. Yet they've reused the models and animations from the 3DS titles. They also cut out the GTS and over 100 moves. Online play is very shallow as a result. They put nothing in to justify the cut content. You're paying 50% more for half the content found in the 3DS games! I can't even recommend these games to parents with children who are fans of Pokemon. If they have any favourites that aren't in the game they will NEVER be able to use them. They are not programmed into the games. My heart breaks for these kids. If you do buy them for your kids, make sure they don't transfer their old Pokemon to Pokemon Home when it's released. They could be stuck there forever, forcing you to pay every in order to prevent them from being deleted.

    The only improvements are the overworld encounters and they couldn't even get that right. The render distance of Pokemon is completely immersion breaking. Pokemon will appear out of thin air 4 feet in front of you.    … Expand
  26. Rardo
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    To be honest this game is disappointing, don’t get me wrong the game likes nice and all visually but this game just ain’t it. They used the exact same game models from the 3DS and they cut 455 Pokémon from the game for better animation and graphics even though it looks the exactly the same as it did for the past 7 years. I never thought GameFreak could get any lazier and incompetent thanTo be honest this game is disappointing, don’t get me wrong the game likes nice and all visually but this game just ain’t it. They used the exact same game models from the 3DS and they cut 455 Pokémon from the game for better animation and graphics even though it looks the exactly the same as it did for the past 7 years. I never thought GameFreak could get any lazier and incompetent than this. Generations 1-5 had more soul put into them than these games. Now the digital copies of these are being reported to not only corrupt your SD card and delete your Save data but it kills the console too. They should have spent an extra year or two working on these games. “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad”… Expand
  27. beyak
    Nov 15, 2019
    2
    The bad:
    The main story is short, and the postgame is lacking, around 25 hours if you take your time.
    The music is hit or miss most of the time. The wild area (the biggest new feature) feels incomplete and has bad textures and models for the environment. Its also not very big. The game has pop-in issues both in the wild area and in cities/routes, and has a horrible draw distance. The    The bad:
    The main story is short, and the postgame is lacking, around 25 hours if you take your time.
    The music is hit or miss most of the time.
    The wild area (the biggest new feature) feels incomplete and has bad textures and models for the environment. Its also not very big.
    The game has pop-in issues both in the wild area and in cities/routes, and has a horrible draw distance.
    The game is missing staple moves like pursuit, return and hidden power.
    Some animations in cutscenes and battles are either incredibly lacking, or amazing in some cases.
    Half of the pokemon are not coded into the game, and will be impossible to transfer (unless GameFreak changes their stance and updates).
    Mega evolution and Z-moves were removed and replaced by dynamax.
    Subjective, but some of the new pokemon are really off-putting.
    The game, as of release, has a fatal bug that can wipe your SD card.
    No following pokemon.

    The good:
    It's still pokemon, and still has the same great formula.
    The games look great, especially in cities.
    The trainer customization is the best ever.
    Some of the new pokemon and character designs are amazing.
    Competitive teambuilding is easier than ever before.

    Overall: The game could have used more time before release and had great potential. If all pokemon, moves and megas were coded in and the whole game was polished more (especially the wild area) the game could have been the best pokemon games so far. It's sad to see GameFreak pushing yearly releases for the games instead of giving them the development time needed to become truly great.    … Expand
  28. LoganWolverine
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    Cut features such as the Global Trading System, Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, pokemon following you, and over 50% of the roster removed, coupled with copy/pasted animations, hand-holding, and an overall lack of effort make Sword and Shield the worst mainline pokemon experience of all time. It's not all bad, however, a lot of the new pokemon designs look great, but when one mon uses headbuttCut features such as the Global Trading System, Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, pokemon following you, and over 50% of the roster removed, coupled with copy/pasted animations, hand-holding, and an overall lack of effort make Sword and Shield the worst mainline pokemon experience of all time. It's not all bad, however, a lot of the new pokemon designs look great, but when one mon uses headbutt and the animation is it kicking and that same mon has double-kick with the animation of bouncing twice, you quickly realize the issues are only going to keep piling up.

    Things such as trees, trainers, and pokemon pop in and out randomly because of the extremely short draw distance. You can also see this in the middle of battle, because some moves cause the opposing trainer to disappear. Another issue like this is some wild battles cause you to end up on an entirely different battlefield. You can catch a water pokemon on a dock in the center of a town and wind up in a huge open grassy field.

    Pokemon are restrained to tiny plots of land by an extremely tiny invisible box and have a habit of teleporting and/or de-spawing for no apparent reason. This is most glaring in the "wild area" (an area of the game treated much more like an open world, with a free-moving camera) where it's mostly devoid of life with the exception of grass patches and a few roaming mons that are still limited to a small area.

    The level limiter in the wild area attempts to keep the game "balanced" by making it impossible to catch certain higher-level mons without having the corresponding badge, which begins at level 20 and increases by 5 after each gym win, but it totally removes the danger of attempting to catch something that could easily defeat an under-leveled team. The experience share always being on is another issue. While the exp. share itself is a good thing, the fact that it can't be turned off is head-scratching. Previous games had the option to leave it on or turn it off for an adjusted experience. It's a bit odd that they decided against that this time around.

    Sword and Shield had the potential to really shine on the Switch, but it ultimately fails at improving anything of substance and relies on it's, at times, pretty graphics while simultaneously asked a higher entry fee. Overall the game is a mess and I implore GameFreak, Nintendo, or The Pokemon Company to please look at the direction the series is going and make the right decisions going forward.    … Expand
  29. phoenixsaturn
    Nov 15, 2019
    3
    The core of the Pokemon experience is there (albeit in a highly stripped and watered down version compared to past entries in the series), but the entire game lacks polish. Apart from the Wild Area, there is very little to explore in this game. Routes are linear hallways designed to move you from A to B. The game's animations are very poor and for the most part recycled from previous 3DSThe core of the Pokemon experience is there (albeit in a highly stripped and watered down version compared to past entries in the series), but the entire game lacks polish. Apart from the Wild Area, there is very little to explore in this game. Routes are linear hallways designed to move you from A to B. The game's animations are very poor and for the most part recycled from previous 3DS entries. The rushed nature of the game is also very apparent after gym 5, as the game becomes extremely streamlined and the animations dip in quality substantially after this point. I would not be surprised to hear that this game was rushed out the door for the Christmas season.

    Overall, the entire game can easily be completed in 12 hours, there is little to do after the end credits, and what you can do gets repetitive very quickly. While you play you will be faced with busy, grating music that will make you desperate to go out of your way to find the NPC that will allow you to MUTE it. While the game is not fundamentally broken it is not at all worth the retail price and I would recommend purchasing any of the older Pokemon games rather than buying this one.    … Expand
  30. Ambiguoo
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After 20 year of pokemon on console this pokemon could be the game that all people are waiting for.
    After 20 hours if playing i can say that this game is so boring.
    Main Quest, is so repetitive and linear: in 14 hour i do the same thing again and again: beat the stadium beat the rivals next route and again.
    At the end there is a 20 minute climax no sense.

    Graphics in so bad, nintendo lied us models are old and textures looks like nintendo64game.

    Level design of the map, is not bad but this game should be totally open world on switch.
    Wild Area are so empty and no sense.
    No postgame, 2 hours of a repetitive and no lore quest.
    This game is totally trash.    … Expand
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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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