Pokemon Sword and Shield, I chose Shield. When these games were first announced, I was probably the most excited I’d been for a Pokemon game, especially with the news of Pokemon Home still being a positive, at the time at least. I had not bought a new generation on launch day since the original Black and White games, and in my opinion, since Black and White, there has not been a truly great Pokemon game. So, my expectations were high, knowing that this was the first real Pokemon game on the Switch, and with the addition of Home, it was come to expect that I’d be able to send all my Pokemon from the DS games, to the Switch.
New Pokemon –
As for the actual game, what is always most important in a new generation is mostly the new Pokemon, and for me, upon seeing the Pokedex leak a week before release, I was far from pleased with the designs, but upon playing the game for myself, I have come to the opinion that it is mostly a mixed bag when it came to the Pokemon designs. There were some of the best Pokemon designs ever, in my opinion, with the Toxel and Dreepy line, as well as Pokemon like Appletun, the Rookidee line and more, however, there was also a majority of just lazy designs and ugly designs, with Pokemon such as, every single final evolution of the starters being an embarrassment, Obstagoon, Grimmsnarl and Grapploct just to name a few. However, most Pokemon games do have a mixed bag when it comes to design, so I suppose you could choose to look on the bright side of this generation when it came to designs.
(Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1627260-pokemon-sword-and-shield)
The Story –
The story of these games looked promising, as since generation 5, we have not had a really encapsulating story in a Pokemon game, but with characters such as Leon, Sonia and Marnie, this one seemed promising… nope. This story was one of the weakest the franchise has ever put together, and yes, I know the game is made for kids and that the story is not expected to be God of War levels of depth, but come on… there was practically no twist, no real character depth and Marnie played a useless role effectively despite seeming like one of the more interesting characters, and with no real distinct evil team throughout the game (I am not counting Team Yell, I never want to hear or see that embarrassment of a team discussed ever again).
The story left a lot to be desired with how easy the entire game is, being massively over-levelled and demolishing every segment, gym, trainer, whoever in my path without even breaking a sweat, continuing the trend of Pokemon games being incredibly easy to the point where it is boring. As for your rival, he is not Hau levels of bad and annoying, but he is not one of the best, that is all I have to say on him.
(Source: Dynamax and Raids –
The big new feature of Pokemon generation 8 was Dynamaxing, and to be fair, it seemed terrible, but upon trying it, I thought it fitted quite well, however, whoever designed the offline trainer’s Pokemon for the max raids needs to be outted and sectioned, why on Earth did they think “You know what, I think players could really use a Solrock who only uses Cosmic power, or an Eevee who only uses Helping Hand, or, a Wobbuffet who LITERALLY cannot even attack”, and with searching for online players being somewhat impossible unless you have a group of four friends readily available to join beforehand, you are effectively forced to team up with these atrocious offline players with their useless Pokemon.
(Source: https://dotesports.com/pokemon/news/dynamax-should-be-banned-competitive-pokemon-sword-and-shield)
Wild Area and Graphics –
The wild area was also one of generation 8’s big selling points, and with it, it encapsulates almost everything wrong with generation 8. From downright disgusting textures on almost every single area within the wild area, to not even being able to be connected to the internet when in it due to the lag becoming completely unbearable with other “players” vanishing and teleporting around the area randomly with no real sense of direction.
The wild area was a great idea, and something that should be worked into future Pokemon games, just not like this, this was embarrassing and Pokemon should be ashamed at what was produced through the wild area, the textures were disgraceful, utterly disgraceful for a AAA game in 2019, and I cannot stress that enough.
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Speaking of textures, the graphics were expected by fans to be massively upscaled for years now, and with generation 8 that has not changed, barring some exceptions like Ballonlea town, and some other distinct areas, the game looks like a slightly upscaled 3DS game, and with my opinions on the graphics in the wild zone being clear, Pokemon needs to seriously buck up their ideas. I am not sure if the game looks this way due to rushing on Gamefreak to have the game out within the year, and if that is the case, then Pokemon should not be an annual product, to begin with. I know Pokemon can be a Breath of the Wild experience graphically, it is the highest-grossing franchise of all-time, and despite it wanting to pretend it is some unknown indie game, Pokemon is a AAA title that is battling it out with the big boys, and thus, should take their games more seriously and with a lot more effort.
The National Dex and Complacency Mentality –
Now, the most controversial point of any Pokemon game to date, the National Dex. I want one. I think it is a piss-take quite frankly that there isn’t one, especially with Game Freak literally lying to our faces about improved animations and completely new animations entirely taking up too much time. Once again, if Game Freak do not have the time to add all Pokemon into the game, then why on Earth are they releasing these games annually?
There was nothing in Sword and Shield that showed me that there was not enough time to add all Pokemon into generation 8, or at least a larger fraction of them, and even at that, the Pokemon they did add are just ridiculous, whoever thinks of using Maractus or of Vannilite, Diggersby, or Wingull? Whoever made these decisions on what Pokemon go in the dex is ridiculous and once again, the decision to not have every Pokemon in the game is still so far invalidated by what I have witnessed throughout the game.
This accepting mentality by Pokemon fans, as seen with how much abuse you would receive if you dared to complain to Pokemon about the National Dex on Twitter, is just baffling. These fans that accept the low effort, the lack of Pokemon, and mainly the lack of any real drive, are just plain and simple, deluded. “Be happy you are even getting a Pokemon game” I was tweeted this on several occasions, Pokemon have toyed with our minds so much that fans genuinely feel privileged to receive these games, they see it as a passing gift.
These are NOT gifts, these are full-priced, AAA games, and such, we, as full paying customers who are shelling out a lot of money for PRODUCTS, should demand higher quality from this billionaire company. As long as people sit around and accept the bare minimum from Game Freak and Pokemon, that is what we will get. As long as Pokemon fans continue to treat these games as free gifts, and not full-priced products, then we will receive the lowest possible effort acceptable for a Pokemon game.
I know a lot of what I said has been negative, and despite this, I really enjoyed parts Sword and Shield, but that is purely, that as a Pokemon fan, I will always enjoy a Pokemon game, however, I long for the days of generation 3, 4 and 5, where you can finish a Pokemon game and not only enjoy it, but be enthralled by it, and realise that the developers put every last ounce into their product. Sadly, I think these days are long gone.
Pokemon Sword & Shield – 4/10
Nathan Brennan 