A video game review written by Lee Sonogan
Originally published on entertainmentcultureonline.com
“Pokémon Sword & Shield are strong first attempts for the series’ full transition to consoles. While some frustrations hold it back from true legendary status, this new generation proves the Pokémon franchise is still great more than two decades after its debut.” – Game Informer
Since Friday I have been playing Pokémon Shield for over 19 hours! Finally finishing the endgame missions and challenging the champions league again, there is nothing more to do other than online and reviewing it right now. In my first Impression, I was pretty impressed although by the end I have plenty of pros and cons about it. If you are interested in purchasing this video game for yourself read this as there will be no other spoilers.
First I shall address my article of all the pokemon leaked a week ago. That leak did confirm all the Pokémon for me and I was expecting at least some of them to be wrong. While the character design is certainly unique on this one, the weirdest designs were some of the most powerful Pokémon in the game. Predicting what I would choose before, I pick the starter Pokémon of Grookey and its last form Rillaboom.
Full Pokémon Team By The End:
- Rillaboom
- Tyranitar
- Dragapult
- Toxicity
- Mr. Rime
- Rapidash
Now addressing the pros of the video game was the dialogue I can empathise with because of its English delivery. There was lots of ‘Mate’ and various sayings. Then once the champion league came in, the gym leader competition got more interesting. Similar to the other Pokémon games where you collect badges, this one goes more in-depth. All leading to a massive tournament at the end of the game.
One more positive was the soundtrack having one of the most interesting music during playing the game. Now comment towards the critics rating this game 0/10. The limits in this game do make you wonder how they could make improvements, the selected few Pokémon missing to make you focus on learning the new Pokémon. One tip now is don’t catch any Pokémon, only ones who have about 2% spawn rate in each area.
Well deserved criticism should be put out on the Dynomax feature of giant Pokémon. They are shadows, not the size. Easily beaten with the same level Pokémon, the giant Pokémon are pretty much pointless over the visual appeal. I mean they could of at least given them more health other than some Max moves with extra effects.
While it was a highly anticipated video game for Pokémon fans, did it live up to the hype compared to others? In my opinion, its new direction is not one of the best Pokémon games out there but is not considered in the worst. The visual style is as captivating as Pokémon Let’s Go while adding back and on good battle game mechanics Pokémon fans love. With 7.5-9 ratings out of ten, I would give an average good Pokémon video game, it would have been higher if it was longer and maybe more challenging AI to compete against.
7.69/10
“Sword and Shield are a lot of fun and, at the same time, it’s also a disappointing evolution of the series. The core gameplay still works great, but Game Freak needs to listen to the constructive feedback and live up to the expectations of the franchise.” – Vendai – Metacritic
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