Pokémon Sword Edition - Nintendo Switch [Digital]

Pokemon Sword is what you expect from a Pokemon game. It has the exact same formula as every mainline entry that has come before it. If you've played even a single entry in this franchise, you will be right at home (even if you haven't touched a game since the original Red & Blue releases on Game Boy). Unfortunately, Game Freak didn't do much of anything to separate this generation from anything that came before it. Expectations were high that the first ever home console Pokemon game would be a massive, series-defining event, as dreams of a core Pokemon experience coming to a powerful home console have existed since its inception. Finally having the chance to work with powerful, HD-capable hardware, fans hoped Game Freak would be able to do much more creatively & finally open up the Pokemon world unlike ever before. Since the Switch came out, Nintendo has gone on to release some of the best entries of popular franchises in their history, with games like Super Mario Odyssey, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Smash Bros Ultimate. However, Nintendo doesn't develop Pokemon, and Game Freak decided to simply iterate on their previous 3DS Pokemon games, reusing many of the models and animations from the much inferior hardware. Instead of going all out, they gave small, incremental visual improvements. Camera angle is still fixed, environments aren't open ended with the exception of one specific area, animations are stiff & look straight from the N64 era (as do many other visual elements), only now with an HD shine to brightness things up. Some Pokemon models look great, but in action, their attacks & animations STILL appear straight out of the GBA days aside from flashy effects. Pokemon still stand by across from each other, still bark out the low quality midi-sounding noises (instead of voice overs like from the anime...aside from Pikachu), and still don't actually connect with each other in combat. Pokemon lack individual animations for moves (i.e. Pokemon that use a move like "Double Kick" don't actually extend a leg & kick, their model just stands frozen, then is shifted up and down twice while a sound effect hits & the opposing Pokemon slightly recoils). Performance is another issue, as frame rate drops are CONSTANT, especially in the wild area (and even more dramatically when you're connected online with other players). Expect frame rates in the low teens at times, as the game struggles to maintain consistency even with the underwhelming visuals not pushing the hardware. Technical aspects, visuals, and design choices aside, the other issue long time players may find upsetting are the much discussed lack of a "National Dex." Up until this point, all Pokemon games would allow all Pokemon in existence to be obtained or transferred to each new entry in the series. However, Pokemon Sword & Shield cut nearly half of all Pokemon ever created, for the first time in the franchise's history. What you see in the game is all you can get, & it'll be all you'll ever be able to get. No longer can you "catch em all." Also, the staple GTS system that allowed people to request & trade Pokemon they were searching for has been removed entirely. In fact, online functionality is particularly lacking, especially for a game released in 2019. A social game like Pokemon should have a huge suite of online options, whether to trade, battle, or participate in raids together (at the very least), & more ambitious developers would've tackled even greater things like co-op play, or creative new features like making your own gym/badges & allowing players to compete, a ranking system, running into players live during gameplay & communicating, trading or battling with them, etc. Sadly, friend codes still exist (yes, those things that were dated even back in 2006), in-game communication is non existent, & of course voice chat isn't an option (as Nintendo has shown no interest in this for almost anything). On top of all that, other gameplay elements like Mega Evolutions and Z moves are cut. In there place is a new gimmick called Dynamaxing, which is essentially blowing up your Pokemon's model & having giant Pokemon vs giant Pokemon fights. It's honestly neat to watch the first couple times, but it adds almost no real change to the core gameplay & is a very bare-bones gimmick that likely won't be revisited in the future. A handful of Pokemon have a different appearance in this form (called Gigantamax forms), but that's about it. The Galar region itself is pretty nice, if not overly simple. The towns you visit look pretty good (some have a very cool art design too), but appearances aren't what they seem. Though these towns might look large & begging to be explored, once you actually get to look around you discover they can all be fully explored in 10 mins or less. There's not much depth to anything in the towns, & most buildings are only there for looks. The few that aren't all offer the same handful of layouts on the inside, with next to nothing to do once inside. NPC's all have their generic one-liners, & all do the same things no matter when you visit them. Unlike more ambitious and highly regarded RPG's, these inhabitants don't have some changing routine depending on the time of day, week, month or year, they don't go on and have simulated lives doing various tasks, they don't interact with each other, & they don't have an impact on the game. There are the standard handful that will offer to do an in-game trade with you, or give you an item (like a Pokeball, Potion or TM), but that's the full extent of it. Your "rival" this time is an overbearing, dialogue spamming, time waster. And while all Pokemon games hold your hand a bit too much, or have a rival that interrupts you every now and again, this one (named Hop) CONSTANTLY interrupts you every couple minutes early game, & town after town (and beyond) throughout the game, never saying anything of value. The "story" is as thin as you'd expect from a Pokemon game, but nobody plays these games for the story anyway. It'd be cool if Game Freak tried to do something new, but as has been the theme of this game, they didn't. And just as with every Pokemon game, it's a cake walk from a difficulty perspective. You won't be challenged, you won't run out of money, & 99% of trainers you face won't even have a team of 6 Pokemon (or a diverse lineup). Mercifully, the amount of generic trainers that throw waves of Magikarp & Metapods at you has been drastically reduced, mainly due t to the new always-on team EXP share. Some people have voiced that they dislike this new forced EXP share, as it makes grinding up individual Pokemon a thing of the past, & all party members get a ton of EXP whether they participated in a battle or not. In combination with the new EXP candies they flood you with, it's never been easier to take a Pokemon from level 1 to fully playable. Lastly, though it may seem minor, the lack of any voice acting whatsoever can be very distracting at times. Pokemon has previously only been relegated to weaker portable hardware and limited to small file sizes, so it was understandable in the past. However, now that you're fighting in these big stadiums reminiscent of European Soccer Arenas with huge crowds & announcers calling plays, reading line after line of dialogue in complete silence is awkward... While other Nintendo franchises like Fire Emblem & Legend of Zelda added voice acting to fill out the NPC's and the story, Pokemon stayed its quiet self, asking you to imagine the excitement in these people's voices & fill in their personalities for yourself. It's a shame too, as some of the gym leaders you come across feel like they could've had potential, but their personalities fail to shine through when everything is just quiet & text box after text box. I went far more in depth in this review than I ever intended, but after ironing reviews & giving the game a shot myself, I can honestly say I understand people's disappointment entirely. While not a "bad" game, it lacks anything that sets it apart from all that came before it. It plays everything as safely as possible, & takes away more features than it adds. And what it does add, likely won't be features that stick with the franchise going forward anyway (Dynamaxing, a "Curry Dex," etc.) But to wrap things up, here are a few more positives: Overworld Pokemon: Yes, some Pokemon are still hidden in the grass, but you're at least alerted to their location so you can avoid them if you want. All other Pokemon can be seen roaming their small areas, so you can pick & choose when & who you want to battle. Wild Area: While embarrassingly small & empty compared to many other monster-catching type games, open world RPG's/adventure games, or exploration games, it finally adds a small sense of freedom & control long overdue in the series. Being able to control the camera all 360 degrees and explore an open environment, albeit a single relatively small one, is still a massive improvement that will be expanded upon going forward. Raids: Being able to team up to take on a tougher Pokemon that also rewards items is a cool feature. Granted, you either have to pair with a group of randomly assigned strangers that you can't communicate with (that's if the game even manages to match you with anyone...95% of the time you're lucky to get 1 person to join) or pair locally with someone in person, it's still cool that somewhere in this game there are challenges if you seek them out. Completely avoidable challenges, but challenges nonetheless. Art Design: While the game often looks like an HD version of a 3DS game, the art itself is pretty nice. Vibrant colors, nice looking Pokemon models, interesting new creatures (mostly) & a cool looking region (based off the UK) are positives. TL;DR - Game is good enough for a Pokemon game. If you don't expect much, you'll enjoy it. But a definitive Pokemon game this is not.

Wrote a great review and it got erased lmao just buy the game tbh, if you love Pokemon like I do then you know what the game is about and you won't have weird expectations for it to turn into some other game just because it's on a switch. The graphics are good and there's all sorts of new features, idk. I had a great time and I'm still not done because there's even DLC, can't go wrong.

One of our favorite Switch games. Primarily one-player, but you can do joint Pokemon Camps and Max Raids if you have a buddy with a Switch and a copy of Sword or Shield (version doesn't matter). We recommend buying Sword WITH the Sword expansion pass - or buy both - so you can also do the storylines for the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra, both of which are shorter and connected to the main game. You can play the game in a variety of languages (English, Japanese, Spanish, French, a few others) and choose from four different males and four different females for your trainer character. Once you pick a language and trainer profile, you can't choose another one unless you restart your game from the beginning (or play using a different user profile). The starter Pokemon, six of the eight gyms and the two expansion pass regions are the same for both Sword and Shield. In Sword, you have fighting and rock gyms, whereas in Shield, you have ghost and ice gyms. Some Pokemon are different in each game, too, although the new Galar legendaries in the expansion passes - and a good number of the Pokemon - are the same in both. (The rivals differ in the Isle of Armor expansion. For Sword, you face Klara.) So, you will want to read up on the version-specific Pokemon and rivals. Please note that the version-specifics include some dragon Pokemon. There are two main wild areas in the game, with additional ones in the expansion pass regions. The Wild Areas are where you find Max Raid Dens. In these areas, you can pan the camera a bit (look around). You can also make camp and cook your party Pokemon curry, using berries and other food items. There are also other camps you can visit along the routes, although you do best to bring some berries with you and contribute to the curries there. The second wild area in the main game becomes a lot easier to navigate after the third (i.e., fire) gym. You also battle folks and wild Pokemon in different areas, known as routes. You can catch wild Pokemon anywhere you find them, so long as you have a Poke Ball and the appropriate gym badge (i.e., trainer level). The Pokemon do escape sometimes, rather than end up caught on the first try. It depends. If a Max Raid den Pokemon doesn't stay in the Poke Ball, you don't get a second chance to catch it, but you'll probably find a similar Pokemon in a den later on. Pokemon in the Max Raids tend to be stronger than average. If you plan well and catch them, they can be good assets, especially later in the game, when you go to unlock the IV checker by defeating Leon at the Battle Tower (in the post-game). Along the way in the game, you'll encounter rivals who prefer psychic, fairy and dark types - and then steel types later in the game. Unless you read up on the game, a number of things may surprise you the first time through. I actually like the folklore / storyline okay. Sure, they could have added more background; but honestly, I thought it was all-right, especially the more I played the game. There are three "storylines" in this game: the main one, related to the gym challenge / Galar storyline; a second one, related to catching Zacian; and then the final ending, I think. It all wraps up with you defeating your main rival, Hop, after the two of you each catch one of the main story's legendaries. The artwork and interaction with the Pokemon is pretty cool. I love the wild areas and the music. Overall, I think it's a lot of fun. Adding the expansion passes adds to the fun. In the Isle of Armor, you get style cards, so you can change your trainer's look. You also get the legendary Kubfu / Urhsifu and access to Max Soup, so you can gigantamax a number of Pokemon. Oh, and you choose between Squirtle and Bulbasaur. (Charmander is a gift you get toward the end of the main game.) If you like to breed strong Pokemon, then you can get a 4IV or 5IV (or maybe even a 6IV) Ditto from the raid den from "Ditto Island" in the Workout Sea off the Isle of Armor. If you complete the Diglett challenge, then you'll get a 6IV Alolan Diglett, which you can then use to breed with female gendered Pokemon in the field egg group (Eevee and Pikachu, among others). Using these strong Pokemon and combining them with breeding items (Destiny Knot and related bands), you can get very strong / excellent IV Pokemon. The Crown Tundra is home to a lot of legendary Pokemon, including the Galar lengendary birds, Calyrex, Glastrier / Spectrier and Regidrago / Regieleki. You can also find past legendaries (and some shinies) in the Dynamax Adventures. The older Regis have temples, except for Regigigas, which is in a particular den, if you put all the other Regis in your party - you will need to borrow one from another game. The Swords of Justice - Keldeo included - also appear in the game, as does Spiritomb, if you have a subscription to Nintendo Online. (Note: Keldeo is still shiny-locked, I'm told - as are the main Galar legendaries, if not all Galar legendaries.) The main game is pretty good by itself, but I think it's more fun with the expansion pass. You can take your sweet time playing this game or rush through it. I think it's more fun to take it a bit slower. I think this game's rating is close to right. Some kids may be a bit sensitive to the long period of screen time needed for some folks to play through the game. Likewise, some kids may be a little sensitive to the fighting moves or some scary images that may crop up from time to time in play. I am including some pictures from earlier in my playthrough in French. Happy Gaming! = D

Very fun game, not up to par compared to most of the other switch games but still a solid pokemon game. Personally I would recommend playing one of the newer ones, and would only recommend this one if you really are interested in this region and its exclusive pokemon. Most of the flaws fall under its large amounts of pop in and questionable graphics at times.

Despite upset fans I find game to be good. Yes lacking in Pokémon, but I’m enjoying it and with two dlc coming soon which ads new areas, clothes, new Pokémon, and even old Pokémon added. I think it’s worth playing really enjoying the new Pokémon to catch.