Pokemon Sword

1. paidshill

   Nov 15, 2019

   10

   BEST. POKEMON. GAME. EVER!!!!!!!!!!
   
   Very few things in life can make me as happy as a great Pokemon RPG, and Sword and Shield repeatedlyBEST. POKEMON. GAME. EVER!!!!!!!!!!
   
   Very few things in life can make me as happy as a great Pokemon RPG, and Sword and Shield repeatedly left me in a state of pure, child-like joy. The elated surprise of not knowing what’s coming is something this series does extremely well if you can manage to play it relatively unspoiled (fear not, this review won’t deprive you of that), and I’m glad that sense of wonder is still alive and kicking in Sword and Shield. With every new game in this 23-year-old series, changes big and small are always made, but I’ve never been willing to declare the latest entry the new gold standard for Pokemon because they’ve consistently been a balance of better and worse. But the first mainline game on the Switch has changed that: though there is still no “perfect Pokemon game,” the 40-plus hours I’ve spent with Sword and Shield have left me comfortable with calling them the best Pokemon games I have ever played – and I’ve played ‘em all.
   
   WHEN I SAW CHARIZARD I CLAPPED!!!!!!!!!!!… Expand

   • 47 of 225 users found this helpful
2. AriesRayne

   Nov 18, 2019

   10

   I have played most pokemon games, and I honestly think this is one of if not the best pokemons games I have played

   • 0 of 6 users found this helpful
4. Potatonian

   Jul 11, 2020

   8

   When the trailers and announcements first started appearing rumoring the absence of a national Pokédex and the inclusion of only 400 of theWhen the trailers and announcements first started appearing rumoring the absence of a national Pokédex and the inclusion of only 400 of the 809+ Pokemon (now 893+), I didn't have the urge to buy it like I did for all other main line pokemon games. Especially with the exclusion of Mega evolution, and the poor cutscene animations, the game had needed much to be desirable. Despite gamefreaks promise of there being completely new pokemon animations and cutscene animations, both were still clearly present with many pokemon animations appearing as far back as 2 generations prior. This however I believe is not really that perplexing despite the developers' promises as old assets are often used in newer games naturally to save time, resources and production cost which should instead be used to improve upon other parts of a game.
   
   The wild area graphics such as the infamous tree textures and the stiff pokemon animations are obviously a big let down, I remember the many comparison made to it, most notably the open world of Zelda: Breath of the wild. Despite the wild area being a rather shoddily done job, and being it having much to be desired, I am not particularly displeased as it is the first open world experience, though limited, and the wild area itaelf is magnificent. It also seems that gamefreak has used some feedback on the open world of the Isle of Armor DLC. I bought it near launch regardless and found the story and gameplay to be great,. Contrary to popular opinion I believe dynamax is a great gameplay mechanic added to the game albeit being a less enticing combination of mega evolution and z-moves.
   It has many competitive benefits and are a great aid in any battle. I believe that the competitive scene can truly be cemented with the inclusion of dynamax, mega evoltion and z-moves, allowing for much more stretegic play and a lot less stalling due to an increase in wall-breaking.
   
   The story itself heavily differed from the traditional stories of old pokemon games as there was no villain team. It had some similarities with Sun and moon's story. The characters however were much more well thought out than in previous games such as the character development of Hop being similar to Wally but much more involved. Leon being made to appear as a great champion much more than any previous game's champion, even going as far as having a remix of the hall of fame being his battle music which perfectly encapsulates his persona and character arc.
   
   The music in this game was absolutely fantastic with some being nearly or as good as Zinnias's battle theme, PWT final battle theme, Ultra necrozma's theme etc. To name a few, we have Marnies's and Bede's battle themes, the battle tower battle theme made by the illustrious Toby Fox, the champion battle music, the wild area music, Mustard's final battle theme etc. I believe gen 8 music overall is nearly on par with gen 5.
   
   To name a few unmentioned but nice mechanics: the apparel and customisation in this game, camping and curries, trainer card customisation, pokejobs, max raids, enhanced experience training, nature mints, controllable pokemon league that makes much more sense, and pokebox system.
   
   One very important and much appreciated thing this game has that no other pokemon game has ever had is a DLC. To explain very briefly why this is the best thing to ever happen to mainline pokemon games: every other mainline pokemon game to come out has always either been a remake or a second version of the game, what concerns us however are the second versions (such as Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, Black 2 and White 2, Ultra sun and Ultra moon) all of which had additions and improvements to their older counterparts but too miniscule to be considered worth buying, this is apparent in their sales also as these games have significantly less sales. What the DLC does to benefit us and game freak is rather obvious, it gives us new content for less money whilst guarenteeing a lot more sales than a second iteration would. If this is gamefreak's new formula for the mainline games, it will greatly benefit both parties long term.
   
   Overall, the absence of key battle mechanics from the past two generations including the absence of many many moves and pokemon definitely knocks off a few points from my rating of the game, as does some poor animations and clear laziness in some parts of the game's development. However, this game is great like any other mainline pokemon game, it has all the mechanics and quirks befitting its status as being part of one of the most illustrious, and important series of games to ever exist. I believe it is a great addition to gamefreak's collection and also an important learning curve for gamefreak. Despite how well-received the game wasn't, I personally still believe that it excelled in many ways and performed better than many of its predecessors in some aspects, and will be remembered as an important game for how great and how bad it was.… Expand

   • 0 of 2 users found this helpful
5. Bashbach1

   Nov 21, 2019

   4

   I knew it from the very beginning that game freak was running out of ideas. Most of the Pokémon are just remodeled or remade versions of otherI knew it from the very beginning that game freak was running out of ideas. Most of the Pokémon are just remodeled or remade versions of other Pokémon, giant whatever Max’s are just totem Pokémon and the Breath of The Wild looking graphics turned out to be classic game freak DS graphics. But, with all that being said, it’s not a bad game. The encounters I love especially as a shiny hunter, the gym battles are great, the NPC design is good except for Hop which is a disgrace to humanity. I didn’t like the story but I loved how vast the wild was and I do admit I had some fun.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
6. GrayWynters

   Nov 19, 2019

   2

   A mild step forward in graphics and gameplay, but not enough to compensate for the sheer volume of removed content. The graphics look betterA mild step forward in graphics and gameplay, but not enough to compensate for the sheer volume of removed content. The graphics look better than on the 3DS, but issues like close pop-in and lack of turning animations mar this somewhat - and this is most apparent in the apparently crowning jewel of the game - the wild area.
   
   Pokemon Sword has the makings of a good game, but they're thoroughly underdeveloped, leaving the result as an inexplicable attempt at "less of the same".… Expand

   • 5 of 7 users found this helpful
7. Wingmanwesty

   Dec 5, 2019

   1

   Overall
   - boring routes
   - no exploration - broken online - Pokemon scaled wrong - Shallow characters - stupid AI - Limited fashionOverall
   - boring routes
   - no exploration
   - broken online
   - Pokemon scaled wrong
   - Shallow characters
   - stupid AI
   - Limited fashion choices
   - Hollow cities
   - Missing pokemon
   - Missing adventure
   - lackluster postgame
   - Uninteractive shiny hunting
   
   This game had huge potential, but ultimately put half effort into each and every aspect of this game. The Raids were the biggest dissapointment to me. Such a cool idea. Teaming up online with friends to fight a giant pokemon you'd been hunting for. Wild. Yet actually broken online matchmaking completely ruin that experience. You can join an online raid that the game tries to matchmake you into maybe 10% of the time. Otherwise you've timed out, its no longer available, lost connection. This game may as well use link cables again. There is no friend system so its much harder to link up with my friends in game then should be for anyonline game made after 2010. There is no GTS so trading for specific pokemon isn't an option unless I go on reddit to match with someone and hopefully the 4 digit code actually works. Sometimes it just doesn't. This isn't a bad idea, your online just isn't usable. This game is not finished, this part doesn't work. Shoddy. For a game about giant pokemon it is super jarring that scaling is completely gone from the game. All pokemon are now 4 feet tall. That's so jarring. Routes are essentially boring hallways. No discovery or adventure here. One route is literally a hallway made of ice. Remember the first time you went through the whirl islands? Finding rare mons, discovering how to navigate with boulders, trying to remember the layout. In swsh you get an infinite use escape rope. i haven't had to use it yet cause galar mine 1, and galar mine 2 (super epic names fit for adventure btw) are straight lines. Just hold up to get through it. No routes reward or require exploration. The story was super bland and felt detached from gameplay. I loved the part of the story where they told me to ignore the cool action, and mystery and let an npc deal with it offscreen. What idiot put that on a storyboard. I liked the story of really pushing the gym challenge. Too bad that's really only 3 hours of story there. Leon is a terrible champion. His only character trait is that he's undefeated, spoiler alert, he gets defeated. Such a shallow charcter, with a lame signature pokemon for him and this generation, and such a poorly designed character. Seriously looks like an 8 year old picked out all the cool clothes they could think of to put on him. Hop as well was shallow, his only character trait is that he'll kiss your butt, and he's sad that you outshawn him. Actually a cool trait if only it wasn't said just as much as was leons undefeated status. Shiny hunting is just a grind now, kill 500 mons, no chains, no combos, no dexnav hunting. Just start killing everything you see. NPC's in raids actually negatively impact you as the AI are apparently missing the I part of AI. Sure bring your jolteon against the Runerigus, spam quick attack, and thunderbolt to no effect and die every other turn. Designing my own character is severely limited. why can NPC's have clothes, and hairstyles I can't, and No one on earth would ever go on a cross country adventure wearing that travesty of a bag, who backpacks with a suitcase. Get a backpack, or an over the shoulder bag, or better yet. Give players a choice. The bag isn't meant to be worn like this, yet here I am with a roller-suitcase on my back. The cities were huge to look at but ultimately empty, easily explorable in under 5 minutes, not very rewarding, and only two cities have more than 5 buildings in them. This is the worst battle tower in generations, lack of super-battles, and multi battles make it boring, and the absolutely trash reward system make it a chore to do. 2BP per win, forever, and when you reach the highest rank you get less rewards cause you can't go up a tier. Such a grind. And you need to grind because you want mints for gigantimaxers, cause only caught ones can do it. Not the Drednaw I've used for my whole playthrough. Cool guess I'll just bin him and swap him out for a new one that can do cooler tricks. This game is also missing several features that'd drastically improve the game: National Dex, Mega Evolution, All mons in the overworld, following pokemon, any sense of exploration, and overworld shinies. How did they go back on features. Why would they remove something people loved from previous games. What felt great: Stadium style gym battles, text speeds, accessible box's, Accessible tm relearners, Bede was a cool character in the main story, less so in the post game. What should just be removed: NPC AI in raids, Hop, Leon, RPG style text options that don't have any impact on the game.… Expand

   • 1 of 1 users found this helpful
8. Kerke

   Dec 12, 2021

   0

   Die Story ist unglaublich langweilig und die Charaktere austauschbar. Aber es it halt einfach ein pokemon Spiel.

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful

See all 2937 User Reviews