Pokemon Sword and Shield Review - IGN

Pokemon Sword and Shield are the best games in the series, streamlining its most tedious traditions without losing any of the charm.

[Old McGroin]

Ok then, not canceling my preorder! That's a relief, was hoping all the prelaunch venom was BS, glad it was.

[Juusterey]

.....you're really that dependant on IGN ?

[Old McGroin]

You're right, I should value your opinion more 😂😂😂

[mikeslemonade]

Looks like the haters are wrong. 93 ign, 90 GameSpot, and 88 gameinformer.

[Juusterey]

@mikeslemonade
"so the haters were wrong because a few people decided it was good?

[TK-66]

You're right.... let's wait for IGN Iceland, Spain, Italy, and Kenya's take on it before we go pre-ordering/s

[CDbiggen]

@TK-66

Lmao, thanks for the laugh.

[Teflon02]

I mean it's 81 on Metacritic. Not a bad score no. But These ppl on N4G would shhh on a PS Exclusive not over 85

[KeenBean345]

Even if ign reviewed it negatively you shouldn't cancel your pre order, always play it yourself and form your own opinion. Can't tell you how many games reviewed bad but I've enjoyed

[Bleucrunch]

the problem with that is, if you do not like, you cannot return it. Video games don't have that kind of return policy.

[Stopac]

@bleucrunch well if Gamestop is doing their guaranteed to love it on this title like they did on death stranding You got 48 hours from release day to get a full refund in trade credit. Which you could I dunno spend on Jedi fallen order or something else that’s good. Dunno if you have a gs in your area though, I wish more retailers had that policy so we would all feel safe buying games day one.

EDIT: just called my local gs, they are doing it. You have til the end of business day on the 17th to return it for full retail value in trade credit.

[CaptainCook]

@Stopac
"You got 48 hours from release day to get a full refund in trade credit."

I already did that with Death Stranding, I got Need for Speed: Heat instead.

[Stopac]

@captaincook yeah that's the point, I dunno why people are downvoting us, this is a great thing. Returning a new game used for full price and buying something else from the same gamestore, hell yeah why can't all the retailers do that?!

I mean think about that, they might get your sale, but then that gamestore will try to sell that used copy over the new copy and when they do the gamestore gets that sale not gamefreak. And then the next person will probably return it and so on and so forth. Put your money where your mouth is people.

and if you like then game, just keep it, win/win!

[RosweeSon]

Yeah a review shouldn’t be a deciding factor your own personal tastes interests should always be a priority if your go enjoy it grab it for sure ;)
Just don’t understand all these reviews haven’t finished the game. So stupid 🤦🏻‍♂️😂
Luckily only paid £33 for mine with the steelbook think I’ll get my money back if it’s that terrible haha

[georeo]

Which one did you enjoy that were bad to them? Me, God hand was good.

[Juusterey]

yeah
that's what i said
kinda weird that you're using Ign reviews as your reasoning for not cancelling a preorder

[link2Dpast]

I mean they’ve been here since the N64 era, there not perfect but they’ve got some legitimacy to there opinions. You’ve forsaken this game without even giving it a go. I bet you’ll love it if you actually try it and stop judging anything in general because of he say she say type of ordeal.

[Sono421]

Honestly, this is so disappointing. At this point one of my favorite series of all time is going to remain below average forever.

THIS IS THE TOP GROSSING FRANCHISE OF ALL TIME, with the games being a MAJOR backbone to that franchise, if you can honestly tell me that these games look like the quality that they sell, you're lying to yourself, you have parts of the game LITERALLY looking like an N64 game, you have models and animations ripped STRAIGHT from the 3DS games (Besides the new pokemon of course) Now you would think with more than half of ALL pokemon cut, you would see IMPROVEMENTS, but where are they? Clearly not to the world, not to the pokemon, not to the animations, not to the "story" so where did all of the millions upon millions of dollars get spent? Where is the justification for this being a $60 game? Games released annually have more improvements than this. The pokemon series has grown so stagnant it's sad. Giving this game a 9.3 is an absolute joke.

All of this, plus the fact they still do the EXTREMELY scummy practice of releasing 2 different versions, of THE SAME GAME, just they each have pokemon exclusive to them, as well as Gyms, SERIOUSLY HOW IS NITNENDO STILL NOT GETTING CALLED OUT ON THIS IN 2019?! They literally must have most media paid off, they can't all actually be this biased.

[Felix_Argyle_Catbro]

You do know that this is just 1 person's opinion? The way you talk about this almost seems like it's straight up yours.

[King_Noctis]

But he can always go to Metacritic and see other’s opinions as well.

[ShadowWolf712]

Maybe their opinion tends to align more with IGN's reviews?

I mean that's part of the point of reviewers. You find a critic with tastes similar to your own and you can better tell whether or not you're likely to enjoy a game.

[pwnmaster3000]

Yeah never understood the hate.. like people got mad for random encounters leaving. Fuck that. I’m glad it’s not random anymore tbh. This might be my first Pokémon game in awhile.

The only thing I don’t like is the starters evolutions... I usually go fo the water Pokémon but it honestly looks like crap. I guess I’ll go with the grass.

I’m also going off the leaks so hopefully those leaks are wrong

[cemelc]

Lol wait for user reviews xD

This is going to get wreck

[X-Alchemist]

Literally cut half the Dex and gets 9/10 but death stranding gets a 6 lol ign are absolute Nintendo shills

[phoenixwing]

Death stranding by ign: full game delivered to you in the form of death stranding with lots of small touches and going the extra mile. 6/10
Pokemon by ign: half baked game with lazy animations texturing half the pokedex missing, easily finished in 15 hours can easily over level without trying and endgame content measuring 3 hours with even that being half baked attempt compared to past entries. Basically a game on the level of a handheld without console level polish. 9.3/10

And this is why i say ign is terrible for game reviews. It's also why i say nintendo gets a free pass.

[rainslacker]

It's just one of those things that makes it apparent that IGN is highly inconsistent in it's editorial review standards, and shouldn't be taken seriously. Even when they give good scores to games that I would agree with, I don't talk about how they're the end all be all of authority on reviews like some people do when the score happens to line up with their own agenda.

Even if it's different people reviewing, the site itself should set some sort of standard.

[King_Noctis]

Are we gonna get reviews from IGN Spain, IGN Latin American, IGN Mexico, and IGN Netherlands as well?

You should wait for those reviews before decide to not cancel your preorder.

[RosweeSon]

They haven’t even finished the game. They are claiming it’s the best in the series but haven’t even completed post game and all so how can that be an honest reflection you don’t watch half a movie and go yeah it’s the best in the trilogy or listen to 2-3 songs and review and entire album it’s ridiculous. They go at least another 20/30 hours before they needed to post that review. Which if the games not even been fully played isn’t worth the paper it’s written on so to speak.

[CorndogBurglar]

You do you, man. The game looks great and its getting good reviews.

This is exactly what I was talking about in the Death Stranding article when it launched

Death Stranding gets good reviews? Everyone suddenly values review scores.

Pokemon gets good reviews? Suddenly reviews don't count.

I understand IGN gave Death Steanding a 6/10, which is criminal. So IGN is probably not a good source for review scores. But the reviews for this are good across the board. It just goes to show how people form their own opinions about games before they even play them themselves and if other opinions don't match theirs, then they are wrong lol.

[ShadowWolf712]

I'd say that's a bit generous for DS tbh but... -shrug-

[Krangs_Uncle]

These undubbed cut scenes and animations are atrocious.. If this game was released on PS4 in this state it would be having its ass hole torn out with every review..

[Neonridr]

since when has Pokemon had high quality voice acted cuscenes?

[Krangs_Uncle]

Did I ever say they did? You're right, maybe things should NEVER CHANGE FOR THE BETTER...

OR

Maybe they should start since we are in the era of modern day gaming, and the animated series and films are all voiced appropriately.

No mention of the atrocious animations from you.. Glad to see you agree.

[Nyxus]

That doesn't mean they couldn't try...

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

Never, which is why he is saying they suck

[Neonridr]

but since when did high quality voice acted cutscenes dictate whether a game was good or not?

as for the animations I don't get my copy until Friday. I will actually play the game, since you know, I own a Switch. But thanks for being the typical armchair quarterback Krangs. Glad to see you have a valid opinion for watching a few videos and reading other people's words.

[-Foxtrot]

That's the issue...by now, it should have evolved

[Neonridr]

@Foxtrot - I wouldn't have any issues with them going that route for future entries, but that in no way automatically makes a game better / worse. Zelda had never had voice acting until the last game, and that was never a problem with their games.

[Krangs_Uncle]

I, you know, own a switch too, actually... If you can tell me a way to prove it then I will.

I have watched the first 70 minutes and can tell you that the animations are atrocious, and my opinion is that the un-dubbed cut scenes make everything feel very out of place - my opinion.

"But thanks for being the typical armchair quarterback." - Rich.

[Neonridr]

@Krangs - have you ever played a pokemon game before? Did the lack of voice acted cutscenes make everything feel out of place in every previous entry? Oh my apologies, you watched some videos..

[Krangs_Uncle]

This is their 1st console attempt, so you would think it might be time to progress to a level that seems a bit more coherent with the films and animated series.. If you are happy with it, then good for you - to me it looks lazy.

My main point was that if this had released for the ps4, with these animations and cut scenes (un-dubbed), it would certainly be a big focus in reviews.

[Neonridr]

@Krangs - plenty of animations in the game look fantastic, the game world looks so much more colorful and vibrant. I am not saying there aren't problems with the game, plenty of people have the right to be upset about missing features or pokemons. Maybe they will build on this for the next entry, who knows.

But all I know is I am going to play the game, and then formulate my opinion. Too many people on this site just want to hate on it even though they don't even own a Switch to begin with or had zero interest in playing the game.

[Krangs_Uncle]

To be honest I'm still getting this game for my kid at Xmas; my point was of a different nature.

Have fun with it.

[Realms]

Um that's the point they don't because they don't get criticized for it. If Sony or MS did that they would get hammered and you know it. It's Nintendo they make fun games they don't need to try because people will praise them and god for bid anyone dare call them out on it because fanboys like you will defend them. Surly Nintendo associated games don't get graded by a different scale specially at places like IGN.

[Teflon02]

Realms
THANK YOU
From when I first got 3DS when OoT3D released. I joined a 3ds blog to get with some of the community like how the PSblog was because that was really active back then. So I wanted to be in one for it too. These little people basically just attacked any criticism at all. If you say your game froze. It's your fault. If a game doesn't run well, it's because you're weird because they don't see a issue. They went crazy when I said the atmosphere of the original OoT was better even if 3D is a better game because they ruined stuff like the darkness in the first dungeon boss area etc. Didn't give off that same wtf feel

[rainslacker]

Games for portables have different standards. Plus, it's Pokemon. It's not exactly known for cutting edge....well anything.

[zeuanimals]

Doesn't mean they shouldn't try. And it's for the Switch, which can handle BOTW.

[Teflon02]

Digimon Cyber Sleuth and hackers memories are PS Vita games. That's all I'm going to say. They were ported to ps4, switch and PC and it's not different versions. They're essentially the same across the board and they had more of an effort put in. Also games like Uncharted Golden Abyss exist, so I don't think that makes sense. Switch can play a toned down witcher 3, PS Vita was able to play plenty of games that was more impressive technically than this. GameFreak has always been behind and they need to step it up. This is just bad and I'm glad people are finally calling them on the BS

[Segata]

Why don't you check out Yokai Watch 4 or Cybersleuth games. They have more effort put into them. The switch isn't 3DS. The switch has games like Warframe. Doom. Wolfenstein. BOTW. Witcher 3. Astral Chain. Xenoblade 2 and a ton more demanding games that are just console games on the go.

Warframe, Astral Chain and BOTW have really great animations. Hell, even a low budget PS3 port of Shining Refrain the main character when running when you turn around he slides to a stop and his feet have to full turn around. Not on a slide like this. If PS3 RPG with a fraction of the budget can do it then so can Pokemon. Cyberslueth games are PS Vita games and have a shit ton more effort put into them.

[Bruh]

Ahh my friend you made the mistake of assuming that Game Freak is actually up to building a console quality title. This is literally an upscaled 3DS game loll. Literally besides the wild area, there is nothing technically outstanding from the 3DS titles. Considering the Switch can run the Witcher 3 and DQ:11, this game is a joke

[TheGamez100]

Hmmm, considering how ridiculously popular pokemon is, voiced cutscenes would be great. The games need a proper AAA evolution like monster hunter. But no....money.

[Good-Smurf]

One game was criticized for being Kojima just being himself pushing the boundaries of play.
And one dodged almost all of its flaws because its Pokemon and a big fan reviewed it.
See the problem here,they reward a lazy developer with less of the same old and sub par animation and graphics.
The push for this game by the media was biased as hell and it will be at worst if it manage to win game of the year.

[Segata]

You're right..unless it was done by Kojima then would get a 10/10 and say all this BS is just his genius. A lot of crap gets a free pass. Not defending the review. This series has always looked like the most barebones someone's first RPG to me. Where people play Pokemon I was playing Shin Megami Tensei. Point is a lot of devs get free passes. Bugthesda makes 3/10 at best games the last decade and still get 9's and 10s even tho their games if in that state by anyone else would be a 30 on meta.

[OMNlPOTENT]

So games like the last of us are forgiven for their extremely boring gameplay due to their amazing story and graphics but other games would get their ass hole torn out? People hail last of us as best game of all time on this site even if the gameplay is absolutely dreadful to play. Calm down, anything Sony is praised on this website. Even Days Gone which I took you guys’ advice and tried to play it and it was just as bad as the reviews said.

[Juusterey]

Praise ign
they've always been great
never had any complaints at all

[telekineticmantis]

Please explain: The reviewer said: Half the Pokemon- Uninteresting Open World- Bad Cutscenes(nitpicks) vs Respect your time(?) Less monotony- Charm- = 9.3?

[Juusterey]

I just mean that suddenly ign is seen as an amazing source for reviews
never seen them get this much positive attention
but they review pokemon well and suddenly their so beloved

[telekineticmantis]

@Juusterey
It's the wording though:
Since when has Uninteresting Open worlds, Half the Content, and Bad Cutscenes been considered "nitpicks"?
Is nostalgia that strong, what about those that don't have enough nostalgia to enjoy that?

[Kribwalker]

It sounds like playstation lifestyle’s review of death stranding. Boring, frustrating-9.5

[Arty84]

Yup never seen one controversy from that fine site and staff

[Ricegum]

Kribwalker

I mean we could have what happened with Gears 5 and have TheXboxAddict give it 10/10 with no proper cons at all, while it sits at 81 on Metacritic. These Xbox sites don't even try to hide their bias.

[YodaCracker]

84 on Metacritic (higher than Death Stranding) but ok.

[AirJohnston]

What are you talking about? You say anything good about the games here, on twitter, or on r/Pokémon, you’re getting downvoted to hell and treated like crap

[telekineticmantis]

KribWalker

Death Stranding never had issues like these:

Half the Pokémon.
144 moves removed.
Mega Evolutions Z moves removed for the unpopular lazy Gigantamaxing.
Mediocre, unpolished textures.
Bad Animations.
Constant Graphical issues: pop in sudden disappearance of Trainer and Pokémon Models in and out of Battle.
Animations are the same dating back to 2013.
Many unskippable Cutscenes, more intrusive than ever, with Sonia and Hop interrupting your adventure on a regular Basis.
Very Easy, Easy leveling up, constant heals even duringfinal moments of the games.
No Post Game Content, except rehashed Battle Tower and Raid Battles.

[King_Noctis]

Pokemon and Death Stranding are two very different games. You list the negatives of Pokemon while conveniently forget to list the positive ones as well.

[YodaCracker]

Death Stranding definitely had less than half the Pokémon. It had NO Pokémon!!

[OMNlPOTENT]

Yeah Death Stranding just has the problem that the entire game is a god damn fetch quest. Which if I remember correctly is exactly the main reason people bitched about Skyrim’s side quests.. You guys got a whole game of it now and oh boy it’s a sony exclusive so it’s perfect.

[telekineticmantis]

OMNIPOTENT

There actually aren't many fetch quests at all:

fetch1
/feCH/
verb
verb: fetch; 3rd person present: fetches; past tense: fetched; past participle: fetched; gerund or present participle: fetching
1.
go for and then bring back (someone or something) for someone.

Most quests you don't go get something and bring it back, you just bring something to someone

[EddieNX]

Been saying all along that it looks amazing. Where are the haters now that were expecting The Witcher 3 graphics and for it to (ridiculously) include every pokemon ever created?

You guys certainly know a bad game when you see one. Not.

[Neonridr]

the haters will show up on the 7/10 reviews and pretend like that is the majority.

[Nyxus]

General consensus seems to be around 8/10 for this game.

[Neonridr]

@Nyxus - which is in no way bad at all.

[Nyxus]

@ Neonridr: indeed. Personally the game doesn't interest me but it seems to be a solid game for the fans based on the reviews so far. Although IGN seems to be the outlier here.

[Felix_Argyle_Catbro]

7/10 isn't bad at all though.

[Neonridr]

@Felix - lol, very true. Maybe they'll jump on the one 60/100 review then. ;)

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

Byt The Witcher 3 graphics on the Switch are bad. So it wouldn't be difficult either way

[Juusterey]

So last gen they had every pokemon on 3ds
now it's ridiculous to expect them all on switch?

[phoenixwing]

hater right here for you eddie. I'm still saying it's crap as per the reddit posts which had proof to back up all the lazy corners the devs cut. I also said that reviewers wouldn't go hard on the game and it would get good reviews regardless because well nintendo has bias on how their games are reviewed (mainly because reviewers also look at it from entertaining children side instead of adults or just nintendo nostolgia) and only a fanboy would disagree.

[rainslacker]

From what I've watched, I wouldn't say anything looked amazing. Certainly the world is more shiny, but the animations are barely suitable for the PS1 era. Even GameCube games had better animations.

Pokemon has never been a cutting edge series in terms of graphics, animations, or even game play design. It's an addictive game, which does what it does well, which is keep you playing to build your collection of Pokemon, while training said collection to be better. It's simple, casual game play, with some post game stuff that was less casual and kept people engaged.

This game apparently reduces the addictiveness of the game play, removes options to keep it addictive or allow people to play certain ways, has piss poor animations, removes a significant number of pokemon to the point of having ridiculously few relative to past game, and doesn't let you build your pokemon individually. It's nothing but a casual game now, and how that can be praised as something amazing is beyond me.

Not disputing the score by IGN, but haters had plenty to say beyond expecting W3 graphics.

Game will still sell tons, and I'm not going on a anti-Pokemon tirade in all the reviews. But seriously, it's ok to criticize something from Nitntendo, and not everyone criticizing is a hater.

And did you really just use the, "something is something....Not" line? really? You really are a nostalgia buff.

[Bruh]

NO one's expecting Witcher 3 quality graphics, but also not a game that looks like it was imported from the 3DS

[notachance]

ridiculously include every pokemon ever created?
one google search away and you can find proofs that they imported models from previous titles, which btw, INCLUDE EVERY POKEMON EVER CREATED.
This makes their statement "we're creating every model from scratch" straight up lie.

I'll be buying this because I'm a fan, but I'm not blind enough that I can't see the fault in this title like you. Stop putting every nintendo developers up on a pedestal. Many of the concerns voiced are legit anyway, and there's no reason why #1 grossing media franchise in the whole world can only make a half-assed console debut like this when the likes of DQ XI and Witcher 3 can work wonders and make beautiful ports onto Switch's limited capabilities.

[phoenixwing]

I plan on not buying the game or if i do it will be used. Either way I'm disappointed in game freak. Everyone apologized for them cutting corners in the beginning and I've come to the conclusion that mindset is the reason they don't change. It's part of the problem and they need to feel a hit on their baseline. Everyone likes to act like game freak is a company living paycheck to paycheck when in fact they've made millions upon millions and having one game bomb will teach them a lesson and won't shut their doors down. So they deserve to have a game bomb so they can put effort in the next one.

[Traecy]

It still looks like a cartoony game for kids,which is what Pokemon is catered to.

[King_Noctis]

There is no problem with that though. The game can be enjoyed by all ages. Win win for them sale-wise.

[Neonridr]

This will upset the masses around here I am sure.

[JLynn943]

But if that were the score on a Death Stranding review, the reviewer would be being praised for appreciating a game that others are needlessly hating on.

[GameGod26]

We both know that’s not true if this was death stranding they’d have their credibility questioned for reviewing it so high

[Realms]

Many people don't trust IGN anymore regardless of what game they review. They are so bias but if you need their approval or any other reviewers validation to enjoy a game well then that speaks volumes.

[Atticus_finch]

Where can I download this game, is it free on the Android store or IOS.

[Sm00thNinja]

Interesting i have both games preordered happy to see positive reviews from IGN and GS. Pokemon games tend to average around 8s

[BionicRogue21]

You know that both reviewers from IGN and GS are super huge Pokémon fans right? You could literally see the bias coming off the screen when reading their reviews.

[Sm00thNinja]

I think that's a good thing if super fans love the game? Especially when most super fans are hating hardcore right now because of dexit

[-Foxtrot]

Jesus F****** Christ

What a bunch of shills, are they serious?

ANY OTHER GAME...they'll call out for the smallest thing and yet they are giving this a pass?

It's not just the Dex cut

https://imgur.com/T79aAUd

[Ricegum]

Oh for goodness sake. You are seriously on roll trying to tear this game down. Dude, just let people play and enjoy what they want 😂

The person who wrote that piece in your link sounds so butt hurt, and is reaching with so many of those points. Are they not going to mention any of the positive things Sword/Shield offer? Or are you just going to ignore anything positive?

[Doge]

People can enjoy what they want, but there's nothing wrong with criticizing the things you love. To me, SwSh screams shallow and rushed, especially when it's the first mainline entry on a platform (let alone a home console/portable hybrid or whatever the ass you wanna call it) that had other franchises evolve (some more drastically than others) compared to their previous iterations.

[yoshatabi]

@doge yeah but it's Nintendo so they always get a free pass for some stupid reason

[Tross]

Dude, do you know who it is who's criticizing these games? Pokemon fans! As in, people who are big into this franchise. These aren't haters trying to downplay Nintendo or in this case, second party IPs. It's people who have supported this series for over a decade at least, if they weren't around for gen 1 (I'm sure many of the critics of these games have been fans since then). If anyone knows the ins and outs of what makes a good Pokemon game, it's them, and if they're livid there's clearly something wrong. Also, the list in that link is quite extensive.

[KeenBean345]

Why are you always so angry on every pokemon article? Like you don't have to agree with the reviews or buy the game. Let others be excited and just don't buy it if you don't think you'll enjoy it.

[-Foxtrot]

Because I expect more from the series

I wanted it to evolve

It's the first ever mainline Pokemon game

Game Freak has done a half arsed job

They lied

The complete double standards

[KeenBean345]

@-Foxtrot

Dude I get that and you have every right to be upset in the game, but commenting on every article instead of just ignoring it seems like a waste of energy.

This game was obviously rushed to meet the holiday deadline and they should do better, no debate in that but you don't need to keep telling people stuff they already know or don't care for. Pokemon is a cash grab franchise now and the games aren't as important as they used to be (It's all in the toys, show, movies, clothing, etc) so it's no surprise the quality has dipped. I don't disagree with much you're saying regarding this game and IGN (This game definitely isn't a 9 from a technical and story aspect despite how fun it could be) but I just think you're wasting your time with the comments, no hate intended

[-Foxtrot]

"Dude I get that and you have every right to be upset in the game, but commenting on every article instead of just ignoring it seems like a waste of energy"

The same waste of energy of you telling me this?

I mean you've went out of your way to tell me that...that's even worse.

Just ignore my comments then...

Problem solved.

[KeenBean345]

@-foxtrot

Don't think I need to explain how stupid that argument is, made it pretty clear the type of person I'm dealing with and why you have no credibility in this discussion. Will happily ignore :)

[Neonridr]

man.. some butthurt person really went to work on this infographic. How about you just play the game and decide for yourself. I mean the people reviewing this game have at least played it, not just listened to some people on the internet whining.

[-Foxtrot]

Oh come off it. You defend EVERYTHING from Nintendo and you can still defend this despite all the downgrades, cuts and half arsed jobs they've done. Everything has been well documented for weeks now thanks to leaks and you are still trying to defend what a shitty job they've done.

The entire thing isn't "he said, she said...apparently" it's literally got a ton of video evidence and even data mining to back all this up, yet you all want to play dumb?

Seriously and when people say stuff like "Nintendo get a free pass" or "Nintendo games are reviewed differently" you literally comment and say shit like "No idea what you're talking about"

This...this right here is what people are talking about. If this was an EA game, Activision, Ubisoft, Sony, Microsoft, Bethesda it would have been ripped apart,

[Juusterey]

yeah dude
look at the game you have a lot of problems with
support it
then complain

[rainslacker]

@Fox

Well....maybe not Bethesda

[phoenixwing]

totally agree with you on this point foxtrot. I find that it is a terrible entry in the series. I mean older games on handheld had just as much if not more production values and work put into them. It's a disgrace. Digimon cyber slueth puts more effort into their game than this does and actually has a real story. I'll save my money and see how youkai watch does.

[-Foxtrot]

The sad thing is Digimon will be swept under the rug like it usually is because it seems most reviews don't care even when the developers pour more effort into the newest instalment

If a game like this with all the bad pop ins, frame rate issues, missing content, shallow areas and the like can still get a good score then other games that usually fly under the radar don't have a good chance. They base it on franchise popularity first.

Pop ins

https://streamable.com/iuj7...

High Quality Animations they lied about

https://imgur.com/os92G5B

Animations freezing when you do something like climb a ladder

https://streamable.com/3k31...

"Amazing Textures" - Wii Sports 2006 to Pokemon Sword and Shield 2006

https://i.imgur.com/fdQ9V3u...

Bland battle backgrounds they couldn't be bothered to fill in correctly

https://clips.twitch.tv/Tem...

https://streamable.com/esul...

It goes on and on...

I mean most reviews for this are basically "It has flaws but..." then give it 9.5/10 while in other games you'll have things like "I noticed half way through the game the odd frame rate drop, what would be a 9/10 from me it's clearly the game suffers from technical issues, with that in my the game is a solid 7 out of 10". It happens.

[XabiDaChosenOne]

I noticed how she commented on NONE of those things in the review.

[-Foxtrot]

She either ignored them, made them into positives or put all the complaints down to just the Dex cut.

When people talk about shitty journalism or shills...this game will now always be the prime example.

[IAreBeMrLee]

Regardless of what the reviews say, I cannot wait for Friday.

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

Same reviews or the haters screaming about dex i couldnt give a rat's furry ass.

I've been waiting since Pokemon Red for this game. Not played any of the other pokemon games since Red other then Lets go which was a remake of Yellow which is practically Red/blue

[Sm00thNinja]

Can't wait for Friday

[Sm00thNinja]

I wonder what the backlash will be when the inevitable Smash Ulimate successor lacks the giant roster it has now..

I'm only upset Mewtwo wasn't included
And Heracross....
And Blaziken....
And Typlosion...
And Aggron.. is Aggron in it?
And... Dragonite...

Well damn now I'm a bit upset

[djplonker]

https://i.imgur.com/lDEmpI9...

Missing pokemon is only a little bit of what they have cut/removed.

[Sm00thNinja]

Its pokemon I'm not a hardcore PVP guy or tactician I just enjoy playing from time to time. I can definitely see why hardcore enthusiasts are upset but I'm not sure it effects me as much yet.

[execution17]

https://media1.tenor.co/ima... those sick animations

[Toiletsteak]

Y'all a bunch of cry baby bitches Hahahaha!!! I will be enjoying this game on Friday, I can't wait. HYPE!!!!

[Chriswynnetbh]

I don't get why anyone gives a shit about review sites, especially ones as awful as ign. Their scores are always all over the place. It makes no sense why a brand new IP like Death Stranding, which Kojima clearly took a risk on and put a ton of heart and effort into making a unique experience, gets raked over the coals and ends up with a sub 7 score yet another generic rehash of Pokémon gets above a 9. I get that it's probably a different reviewer and everyone likes different things but there should at least be a standard by which these reviews are written. Like break it up into objective categories or something like gameplay, performance, story, progression, style and then have a final category for the reviewer to rate their personal experience and then average them all together. Without a baseline to judge every game on equally, reviews will always be biased and therefore untrustworthy.

[rainslacker]

Different expectations maybe. Like, Pokemon is a casual game that never focused on story, and is for the most part, aimed at casuals. I'm sure the new game will achieve that, despite less content, which a lot of the target market for the game won't care about.

There will be people who won't like what's been done with the game, and I feel they have valid criticisms, but IGN tends to not like to review that kind of stuff for Nintendo games. If it's games not by Nintendo, then they'll go balls to the wall to find anything to downrate, but this is Pokemon.

Pokemon will sell well regardless. Game could score zeros across the board, and it'd still sell. That's why the devs put in such little effort in the first place.

[link2Dpast]

Here they come. The ones that whined and complained, I smell hypocrisy in the air lmao. Sucks freaking images don’t appear anymore but here’s a link https://i.pinimg.com/origin...

[DarkZane]

The only thing worst than haters are the annoying sheeps that would defend terrible games till the end. It's pretty obvious IGN, Gamespot and other high reviewers give Nintendo a pass all the time even if there is so many things wrong with their games. It's the same for bethesda, games have so many glitches they're almost unplayable, yet they get above 80/100.

[link2Dpast]

Man people nit pick anything. Enjoy the damn game and play it before you base an opinion. I bet there people out there that are raging the “turn base” aspect of it, wishing it would evolve to a kindom heart esque type battle style, people find anything. Only gripe are the sounds the pokemon call out, I wish they just take the step and do it cartoon style and have them call or there name. I get it’s easier since different regions have different names for them but I hope they just do it one day or at least give the option of it

[rainslacker]

The things people are complaining about don't require playing the game to form an opinion on. Animations, technical issues, texture quality, admitted removal of features from the dev, etc. I'm sure the game play is fine, like all the others. In fact, it's been made easier apparently, but for that I do agree one should play it first for that part.

[Xaevi]

And suddenly everyone has no doubts that this game is bad. Suddenly it's good and all the leaks and fans expressing their disappointment is just a bunch of grown crybabies being toxic. Of course the bigger sites are going to give this game a great score, they hafto play nice so they can continue being on publishers good side. I'll play the game come Friday and decide myself, and everyone who's pre-ordered should do the same. If I'm disappointed then it's the last game I buy in the series

[rainslacker]

Things like this allow rabid fans to just dismiss any valid criticism as "haters" I think the game's game play will probably be like all other pokemon games. It's not like the series really goes to any effort to improve on it. If you like the other game, you'll probably like this one. Just that without even playing it, it's obvious that they didn't put much effort into improving anything for the current gen. Or as Nintendo fan boys put it....the next gen, with Nintendo being the only contender right now. So, this is Nintendo's next gen.

[Imalwaysright]

"So, this is Nintendo's next gen"

Nah, that's just you trolling because these aren't Nintendo games. They are developed by Game Freak, published by that Pokemon company and Nintendo is just the distributer.

[rainslacker]

Nintendo is part owner of the Pokemon IP. To say they have no hand in it's development is really disingenuous.

[Imalwaysright]

Prove it then. Prove that Nintendo had creative control over this game and speaking of disengenuous what to say about claiming that a game that wasn't developed or published by Nintendo represents their 9th generation?

[rainslacker]

Ummm....lets see. Nintendo is one of three IP holders for the game. Pokemon only releases on Nintendo platforms. Nintendo actively markets the game, and has Pokemon bundles. Nintendo themselves talk about Pokemon on behalf of the Pokemon company. Nintendo, as one of the IP holders of the series, is also part producer of the game. Thus, they have some form of creative control.

I've seen people try to wash Nintendo's hands of any dissent against Pokemon for years now, and it's pretty disingenuous.

Are you really suggesting that Nintendo is in no way responsible for anything that happens with the game? That's pretty laughable in addition to disingenuous. By default, with them as part owners of the IP, they have culpability to what is released under an IP that they own. Even if they didn't have a single creative input into the game, they are owners of the company that produces the game. Production means they are responsible, even if indirectly.

[Imalwaysright]

Hmmm... and all that amounts to absolutely nothing because Nintendo owning 33% of the Pokemon company doesn't guarantee in any way whatsoever that they had any creative control over these games. If Nintendo developed or published the game then yes, it would make sense to point the finger at Nintendo for the game's animations or the number of pokemons but they didn't so why point the finger at them without any proof? Where is your proof that Nintendo had creative control over this game?

[Imalwaysright]

" they are owners of the company that produces the game. Production means they are responsible, even if indirectly."

No, they are part owners of the company and for all we know, Nintendo didn't want to release these games in the state they're in. For all we know Nintendo could have argued for better animations, for more pokemons, for a different direction because if there's one thing that has been clear in the games that Nintendo has published and/or developed for the Switch wich IS their 9th gen console is their seal of quality and that they aren't afraid of taking risks. Those are the games that represent Nintendo's 9th gen. Not games that weren't developed by one of their studios or games that weren't published by them.

[whitbyfox]

It’s the fans that are complaining. If you buy the lazy game then you add to the problem because the developer will get away with it.

[gold_drake]

haha of course IGNs review is in the 9-10 range. my advice? read other reviews of the game. pretty much all of them, besides IGNs, agree on what the game really is like.

[Ricegum]

Yeah. I just read GameSpot's 9/10 review. Pretty much what IGN have said in their review. Looking forward to Friday.

[mamotte]

It has a solid 80 on Metacritic. Thanks for the advice.

[GameBoyColor]

it's reviewing well actually lmao

[CrimsonWing69]

I haven't played a Pokemon game since Red and Blue first released. I think I might give this a go.

[Transporter47]

Is it me, or did the reviewer seemed to give a lot of free passes on things that other games don't get?

[XabiDaChosenOne]

Lol Nintendo just got away with selling a halfassed game lmaoooo. Her comments about the graphics " huge improvement over low standards set by handheld titles". Really can't make this stuff up.

Multiple time throughout out the video she says the graphics doesnt look good, literally has a segment in the review labeled "gameplay over graphics" lmaooo. And we haven't even started on the amount of passes she has given the lackluster content. THIS IS A JOKE!!

[Ricegum]

No it's not a joke. Chill. Enjoy the game.

[badz149]

@XabiDaChosenOne

how dare you doubt the review when she literally said "this is the best pokemon game I've ever played - and I've played them all!" - must be really true!

/S

[rainslacker]

Gameplay over graphics, yet the game play hasn't really changed in Pokemon for several releases now.

The game is being rated as if it's a portable title. One where graphics or technical limitations aren't considered. But, Switch is too often regarded as a home console....a next gen one by many Nintendo fan boys....and this is not what they should be saying is OK.

I'm sure if people liked Pokemon, they'll be fine with the game, and the game will sell tons. But that are valid criticisms of the game out there, and it's OK to be critical and still want to buy/play the game. But dismissing criticism as hating when it's plain to see the problems just leads to publishers not caring about trying to improve....which most don't want to anyways. The publisher that gets a free pass is always going to do the least amount of work.

[Zodiac]

Doesn’t deserve it. Look at how other IPs like Mario, Zelda, Fire Emblem, Luigi Mansion, etc have taken advantage of the Switch and all their recent entries are considered the best, if not one of the best in franchise history. Game Freak needs to do better. It’s an upscaled 3ds game. When Breath of the Wild exists, Game Freak cannot present this and say, “we did our best”

[badz149]

1000 people worked on this game, you know

[BionicRogue21]

Which proves @Zodiac’s point even more...

[Riku07]

It's weird hearing IGN praising anything Nintendo since they seem to always give Nintendo the cold shoulder when I go their website. Lol. Of course this was in 2008 but IGN tends to favor only Xbox and PlayStation while barely covering Nintendo news compared to other gaming news outlets. That being said I don't usually listen to IGN for reviews and wait for other reviews to come in

[BionicRogue21]

Serious?! Those who review Nintendo games at IGN are HUGE Nintendo fans. Yes, IGN might talk more about PlayStation/Xbox but that doesn’t mean they don’t love Nintendo. I feel like IGNs reviews for anything Nintendo are always extremely biased...

[FullmetalRoyale]

10k likes and 10k dislikes when I clicked on it. No matter what, people are at least invested in the series. I'm really going to have to find some good written reviews to get an idea of what is here.

[meganick]

I guess this one has just the right amount of water.

[nommers]

If course IGN would give this game some ridiculously high score

[Kyizen]

Seems like an outlier. Not recommended by Eurogamer and a 6.0 from Gamespot

[Sm00thNinja]

Stop spouting nonsense none of this is true. Gamespot gave it a 9

[Hungryalpaca]

Pokemon was already insanely streamlined. More streamlining, over 100 cut moves and a small Pokémon roster are a no go from me.

[Traecy]

LOL! Smh.

[Rachel_Alucard]

Gamespot flat out ignored every single problem and listed only starter designs as a con then bullshitted the pros section. 40 hours for the main story when the streamed playthrough showed the typical 15 hour length? Yeah right. I don't trust anything these people say, but many will use their opinions to validate their own bias.

[esherwood]

Good deal, was starting to sweat my pre order... then again I went by reviews with botw and i ended up hating it

[whitbyfox]

How can anybody trust a site that’s a) American corrupted by money and b) gives a 100 point scale.

[jznrpg]

They go super cheap on Pokémon and get 9s lol.

[GameGod26]

I mean game has issues and those issues were ignored in these reviews and still graded high understandable why people would find that odd.

[jjb1981]

All the whiners will still buy it all the disagrees = a purchase. Just cut it out and stop trying to be tough.

[MeteorPanda]

yeah okay ign.

[Nerdmaster]

Oh, they really removed the sudden random battles in all areas? Great! It was the best change in Pokemon Let's Go. It's much better to be able to choose which Pokemon to fight and to be able to avoid them when you're not feeling like fighting.

[yoshatabi]

People still play these games? Why? They're not even challenging anymore. It caters more to kids in terms of difficulty

[BionicRogue21]

I will agree with you to an extent. I too love my challenging games, but every now and then I wanna kick back and enjoy a casual game (in this case half-baked) like Pokémon.

[Mikhal5569]

It looks great to me and I'm not even a huge Pokemon fan. I will be picking this one up.

[Tross]

Well, the critics seem to love these games. The fans don't seem to though, and they make a much more persuasive argument.

[FallenAngel1984]

Interestingly, this game’s aggregate score seems to be on the lowest end for the beginning of a gen compared to other gen starting games

Pokémon Red & Blue - 88%
Pokémon Gold & Silver - 90%
Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire - 84%
Pokémon Diamond & Pearl - 85%
Pokémon Black & White - 86%
Pokémon X & Y - 87%
Pokémon Sun & Moon - 88%
Pokémon Sword & Shield - 81%

[Gordoncordon]

sure ign, sure

[Sevir]

From my understanding the venom seems to be about The Pokemon Company's decision to not include a national Pokedex. And if that's the only reason to complain then that's foolish.

[EastOfTheAnduin]

Just the right amount of water - 9.3

[lellkay]

Oh IGN.

[william_cade]

Those are some fresh new assets built from the ground up... So, when will the next full priced installment come out that includes the Pokemon that people have already collected?