Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield Double Pack - Nintendo Switch

The worst installment to date and less than half the pokemon. The developers must have been coding with one hand and masturbating with the other. Save your money on this utter hot garbage

I will start with the unfortunate news which is this game will NOT have every Pokémon in the Pokédex represented for the first time ever in a Pokémon game. Inevitably this day was going to come when there were too many Pokémon but it’s a bit of a surprise that it happened now on Nintendos first full console Pokémon release. I will need far more hours than I already have but after spending numerous hours in Pokémon sword and Pokémon shield I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised. I had some concerns about the game based on the gameplay I saw before release. The story is actually pretty good so far and while it’s not incredibly deep it’s still engaging (especially for a Pokémon game). My favorite thing to start the game that made me extremely happy was no more random encounters with a Pokémon game as they get old fast. There are also so many great new Pokémon that you encounter right from the start of the game. A piece of advice If you encounter a Pokémon with an exclamation point in a grassy area (hopefully I will find a shiny one soon) if might be a great rare one to catch. The game is very accessible as well and should be very playable for new or younger Pokémon players. The standout for me thus far is the wild area where there are tons of different high or low level Pokémon and you get to go on Max Raids. It seems like raids are always the best part of games they are included in (it was the best part of Destiny) and this game is no exception especially when playing with real other players (instead of NPCs) with the ability to Dynamax. I assume it will become less enjoyable eventually but watching your Pokémon turn into a Godzilla like monster version of itself (for 3 turns) is great fun to battle with and against. Also like most raids in games the loot that comes from it is pretty great. All is not great however and I would be lying if I did not admit there are some issues. I think the tough thing here is for the most part Game Freak has not really had to do much in the way of better animations and graphics when making 3DS games so perhaps complacency set in because the game definitely could be dramatically improved in both areas. Despite what some say it does not look like a 3DS game but it doesn’t look great either. It actually becomes more apparent when you come from playing some of the recent triple A Nintendo releases like Luigi’s Mansion 3, Astral Chain, Fire Emblem Three Houses and the list goes on. In addition a lot of the game animations have clearly been recycled but with much better graphics than on the 3DS. They seem like they have not even tried to do enough new animations and movements for trainers and Pokémon alike. There also should have been a much bigger jump in graphical fidelity for a full console release. There also could have been far more depth added to the game for its console release along with more characters in large towns. Another negative about the game is some of the things that have been discovered by data mining like not being able to transfer Pokémon, trade Pokémon online, and how some of the Pokémon you add will lose moves because the animations are not present in the game. There are some small frame rate drops and pop In but I haven’t had tons of issues yet. I do wonder if they try to add the rest of the Pokémon later when they add in other features though. The game is fun and I think most Pokémon fans will enjoy it. I do hope that Game Freak takes any criticism as fair and make an even better Pokémon game next time because there really is the framework of something great here. Note: in the game make sure you take your time to cook some curry, it’s worth it!

The game is fine, also I received an email with a promotional code that you have to put in the Nintendo eshop, its not for the eshop. You have to put it in the mystery gift code.

My 10 year old says Game is so much fun! I can’t believe how fun It is.He won’t stop playing it

Decent game but does the same thing as other Pokemon games. The story isnt super exciting but the addition of dens is a fun concept.

This game is NOT worth $60. To compare a $60 game like Breath of the Wild against Pokemon sword & shield is a complete slap in the face to people playing Nintendo games. This new pokemon game has poor art visuals, poor animation, and a terrible story. Nothing about this game is redeemable other than it being a Pokemon game...which sucks because people will buy it no matter how bad it is. This game could have been so much more, but the developers clearly ran into issues with it and pushed it out the door anyway. Im an adult that grew up on Pokemon red/blue. The earlier pokemon games had so much more to them.

While I have been enjoying some parts of the games, this isnt gonna be the best in the franchise, and is likely too controversial to do so. I like most of the new Pokemon on display, and there are some great ideas, such as the Wild Area, with returning mechanics such as Pokemon actually roaming the overworld from the Lets Go games (thankfully, the annoying catching minigame hasnt returned this time around). My main problem is that this game wasnt ready for the spotlight, more than likely being rushed by the Pokemon Company. Firstly, the main reason these games are controversial is the fact that not all Pokemon are in the game. Out of the 890 Pokemon there are right now, there are only 400 in these games. That necessarily wouldnt be a big issue, older games, such as Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald for example, didnt have all the Pokemon either, and even the 3DS games required transferring your old Pokemon over. What makes it an issue is that Pokemon that arent coded in these games will not be coming anytime soon, and unlike a GameBoy Advance, the Switch is a more powerful gaming system, a system that can run Doom and Witcher 3, that can receive patches for games on the platform. So you mean to tell me that you cant simply code the lost Pokemon in so people can simply transfer their favorite Pokemon over when available? Another issue that adds to this is the fact that the graphics arent that big of a jump up from the 3DS games, and it shows. Theres some new effects going on, such as Depth of Field, but other than that, they really couldve done more here. First, the character models, for the Pokemon at least, were simply ported over, which isnt necessarily bad as they didnt look bad, but it does make me wonder why so many Pokemon were omitted when they were finished projects before. Secondly, while character models dont look bad, the scenery is rough, and no place show this off better than the Wild Area, where trees are low poly and low res, and battle backgrounds leave a lot to be desired. Sometimes you start a battle in town, but the battle takes place in a field. And how would you like to meet Team Yell in a fancy hotel just to be battle in an inside of a hallow pearl? Then theres my biggest pet peeve, the performance. You can get frame drop from just the Battle Start animations, and during battle, the game may not do anything for a second or two. Most of the time, the Pokemon will go on ahead and attack, but sometimes, they just do nothing for a few seconds until finally they start hitting each other. This was also a problem with the 3DS games, but I chalked it up to the CPU on the system to be slowing things down, but on Switch, I dont see what could be causing the problem. Is it something to do with the engine itself, or did GameFreak run out of time to properly optimize the game? And dont even bother playing the Wild Area online. All these players running around, and it causes the game to freak out and drop frames harder the bass, and with the reliability of Nintendo Switch online, joining in Raids is impossible. I could go on, but its clear that these games were rushed to meet a deadline. If you just want to play another Pokemon game, then either one of these games are not bad buys. Like I said, I do like playing these games, except for Lets Go, but to the parties involved in making these games (if you guys are even reading this that is), I got a few words of wisdom. Pokemon Company, let the developers work on the game without worrying about your toys and anime. GameFreak, make sure you actually finish the games. And finally, Nintendo, fix your broken online system.

I never got my preorder bonus

I love this game so much! The graphics are superb!

The new games start off strong with fun and interesting Pokemon designs and a new take on gyms. However, the game quality rapidly deteriorates as the story progresses: towns and gyms start off as complex and fun to explore, but become completely empty in the second half of the game. While the first couple gyms have large puzzles to solve, later gyms become simply fighting three other trainers in dark rooms with no details whatsoever. The wild are is an incredible addition to the game, but it, too, feels empty and unfinished. The other new game mechanic, Max Raid Battles, while fun, are plagued by poor NPC artificial intelligence and very unfair advantages to the opponent Pokemon, making them very frustrating and quite frankly not fun at all. Despite plenty of time passing since the release of these games, there has been no effort to rectify any of these problems that are obvious to anyone who has played. While the games have some interesting new ideas, Sword and Shield fall short of being good or even fun. Pokemon deserves better than this.