This Week I Have Been Mostly Playing…
Pokémon Shield on Nintendo Switch
I was talking to a friend of mine recently and they posed a question I particularly liked. ‘How do you write reviews?’. With great difficulty! I have my own bias, experience and (to a degree) knowledge. Each plays a part in my thoughts. Let’s say a brand new IP comes out like Horizon Zero Dawn a couple of years back. Surely this is easier to review as its all new and shiny? Well yes but its still an open world RPG that has to stack up against say Zelda Breath of the Wild. Game reviews (as with any) are always in context. Reviewing a game that is the 8th in a series is even harder as you have all those older titles to compare to on top of other games in the genre.
And that's just the process. What about me? I have not played everything, I hate a bunch of genres and the mood swings around what I currently like dictates what you play next. How can I be trusted to give a fair review? I can only do the best I can and be honest. So for reference this is a series I have loved for two decades, have been waiting for ever since the Switch was announced and have ploughed well over a thousand hours into its past titles.
So on to Pokémon Sword and Pokemon Shield. I have only played Sword but for the most part they are basically the same game bar some different Pokemon and gyms.. There has been numerous controversies around these titles since they were announced way back in February. Dexit being the obvious case, with the developers dropping over half of all the Pokemon from the game and a very vocal community letting their unhappiness known online. The anger from fans is understandable but they took the decision (saying it was for design purposes and to revamp the competitive scene). Not everyone's favourites will be in there which does suck to a degree but surely the excitement of a new game is brand new Pokemon to catch and love? #rolycoly
Anyway let's try and make this as spoiler free as possible. Pokémon is a series were you catch and fight monsters in a turn based battle system with a Rock Paper Scissors element system. This time it's set in Galar, the equivalent of the UK and boy for the most part does it look good. They have nailed the aesthetic, with the old man pub set in Pokemon Centres, quaint rural villages with dry stone walls or the imposing Victorian industrial cities.
As usual you pick a starter from Fire, Water or Grass and set off to become champion. There are gyms to battle and a whole host of new Pokemon to catch along the way. One new addition that works particularly well is the Wild Area, a huge space full of wild Pokémon of various levels. As you get here pretty early in the game you are vastly overleveled by many, meaning it can be a scary place at times! The games are usually pretty linear so it’s a nice change to have a big open area to explore.
For the first time in a game you can’t catch every single Pokémon you seen, there is a new level cap that is tied to your gym badges. Mildly annoying but it does mean you can’t catch a vastly overpowered one and breeze through the game. Having actually finished the game before writing this review (makes a change!) it was for the most part not too hard but then I am a seasoned pro. There were a few moments when I was almost wiped out!
Actually most of the positives from these games are from the Wild Area. Game Freak have FINALLY added the final evolution's into the wide, meaning it’s a bit easier to complete the Regional Pokedex but it actually feels like there are a lot more Pokemon in this game. I am sick of fucking Pidgeys and Rattatas in every bloody area. Now you can come across Jolteon or Gengar in the wild! The online element has been revamped so you can see other players riding around the wild area though you cannot really interact with them.
The cool new feature nicked from Pokemon Go are raids, meaning you can pair up online with up to three people and try to take down super powerful monsters. They are dotted around the wild area so appear randomly. The ones to look out for are Gigantamax ones, huge new forms with special moves and abilities. This is the new fighting mechanic that replaces Mega Evolution's and Z-Moves. In certain battles your Pokemon can Dynamax and become huge for three turns. It looks pretty cool but it's actually just fine. It might be more interesting to see how its used on the competitive scene.
They have also added camping and cooking, the ability to access your Pokémon anywhere and nickname them anytime. This game is full of quality of life fixes and I cannot fault them at all for that. It’s much easier to make money. The tweaks work well. But I can still fault them for quite a few things. In some areas it looks downright bad. The game is too easy for me (though the post game battle tower might be a good challenge). It handholds as much as always. There is no voice audio for cut scenes even though the characters mouths move. It feels about 90% finished which is frustrating.
The hardest thing for a developer is taking a series and trying to innovate it whilst keeping in all the good things that made that game unique. Games do need to move on, especially to keep older fans interested. It could be justifiably argued that Game Freak has maybe fallen short of the potential that these titles have on the Switch. But maybe playing it safe keeps the core game series as magical as it has always been. There are so many spin off games trying many different things, think of the Mystery Dungeon series or Detective Pikachu that don't sell anywhere near the mainline games. There’s a reason for that.
So to the nub of it, what is my review? After 55 hours of playing, 21 years of loving the series and only a single Shiny Pokémon caught I need to come up with a balanced answer. My aim for any review is just to get across whether a game is any good and worth your time or not. And these most certainly are. Look,it's a full blooded Pokémon game on a home console system, with all the fighting, catching and nostalgia you could want. What's not to like?
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