Review of the game Pokemon Sword

Good day, reader! On the eve of the release of the first DLC for games in the series Pokemon – The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra – I suggest you remember what the Sword/Shield versions were actually about and what new they brought to the fans.

To begin with, I would like to express my opinion about the game as a whole: Pokemon Sword is a project that does a lot of things right and even corrects some of the “jambs” of previous representatives of the series. Also, the new gayplay mechanics and world development are not at all as bad as they seem from the outside. But at the same time, there remains a feeling that this game is missing something, that it was left unfinished, unfinished. Therefore, the end result does not touch you and passes through the subconscious smoothly, leaving no traces. However, the project still sets some trends, such as the Savage Lands, which, I hope, will develop in the future and, perhaps, will be able to refresh the franchise as a whole.

In general, Pokemon Sword cannot be called a bad game, but it doesn’t reach the level of a “masterpiece” either. This is such a passable average. But perhaps such a fate is even worse... Let's take a closer look and talk about each aspect of the game separately.

Let's start the review, perhaps, with the story itself. In principle, it is quite typical for the series: you are a 10-year-old child who received his first Pokemon and now sets out to conquer the big world in order to finally bend the villains, a champion who has built a career all his life, and at the same time save the world with the help of some legend. However, there are a couple of interesting things: we encounter the legendary Zashian at the very beginning, which sort of fixes us on her, and gradually, as we progress, we learn more and more about this heroic wolf and about the history of the region itself.

There is no antagonist as such in the plot. In this regard, the situation is very similar to previous Sun/Moon. Again a crowd of local gopniks and an organization that seems good at first, but in fact is the culprit of all the obscenities that are happening. There must also be a question about the villain's motivation somewhere here, but when you think about it, it's good that he has one at all. Because usually the antagonists in the Pokemon series are deprived of even this.

However, it seems to me that the main idea of ​​the authors when writing the plot was to show a certain cyclical nature of history. After all, the character has to repeat the feat of his distant ancestors and, shoulder to shoulder with the legendary wolves, fight an alien dragon in order to stop the Darkest Day. Who knows, maybe in a couple of centuries some kind of statue will be erected in our honor too. But this motive, in fact, we have already seen. Yes, in the Black/White series there are two heroes and two legends.

In general, there is a plot and even tries to seem interesting and attract the player from the very beginning - legends are woven into the narrative, the champion does something and there is some kind of twist at the end. But inexpressive “non-villains” and general secondaryness do not give him a chance to open up.

From the plot it would be logical to move on to the characters. Here the developers can even be praised for trying to make at least some personalities out of computer models, and not just pieces of cardboard, necessary only to advance through the plot and map.

The main characters - Hop, Marnie, Bid, Leon, Sonya - even have their own arcs, they develop over the course of the story and change. In addition, there are comrades who are simply well written, but it (suddenly) works. Here I mean Pierce, Raihan and, perhaps, Opal.

Yes, most gym leaders are still a gray mass, but here the so-called “league cards” come to the rescue. They describe some elements of the character and biographies of the characters, giving them at least some filling.

In general, I really liked how someone on the Internet noticed that Leon, Sonya and Raihan are the previous protagonists, and we see the end of their story. Leon was an invincible champion for a long time, but was eventually defeated and became the boss of the Battle Tower, his “friendly” rival, Sonya, is now a new professor, and his main rival, Raihan, is an elite gym leader who still challenges his friend and keeps him in shape.

However, I would like to especially mention at this point the leader of the dark stadium - Pierce. In my opinion, this is one of the most well-written characters in the entire series of games in general. He has his own philosophy, his own history, his own character, his own goals and even his own style. He helps the player during the story and takes care of his younger sister, Marnie. On the one hand, this is a very standard "big brother" image, but it works. And you don't need more.

The conclusion from the above can be drawn as follows: Game Freak, keep up the good work. Characters should be interesting.

Of course, you can't talk about the Pokemon games without talking about the Pokemon themselves. To be honest, initially I had a very biased opinion about the new pocket monsters. Their designs seemed unsuccessful, strange and awkward to me. Overly humanized starters, ghost teacups, a penguin with an ice cube for a head... But as you progress through the game, you get used to them, and in the context of the world, the new Pokemon no longer look so strange, because you understand their concept. For example, the same flying cups are found in Glimwood Forest - a quaint place with a magical atmosphere - and then you realize that these ghosts are also a reference to Alice in Wonderland, and everything falls into place.

Still, not all designs can be saved this way. My complaints about the ice penguin and especially the new fossils still stand. And, frankly, I’m worried about the trend that in order for Pokemon to look good and in place, they definitely need “context” in the form of their region. But this is just my subjective opinion. I know that many other fans really liked the new Pokemon. So maybe I just have “duckling syndrome”, I don’t deny it.

Galarian forms are good, and they are quite well adapted to new conditions. Yes, most of them are still from the first generation, but this time the developers remembered other Pokemon, which is good news.

In general, as you https://jolibetcasino.co.uk/bonus/ progress, you can easily form a fairly strong team. Pokemon's habitats match their idea. In addition to new colorful animals, there are already familiar monsters in the tall grass, so there are no problems with variety.

World development

Galar is undoubtedly an interesting region. It contains easily readable references to Great Britain, on which it is, in fact, based. I like the idea that as we progress through the game we see different periods of the history of this country - the Middle Ages, the Industrial Revolution and modern times. Throughout the region, in the design of cities, locations and legends, the same English spirit is felt. It’s clear that the developers have taken a very thorough approach to what they’re doing.

And yet there are a couple of “buts” that I simply cannot help but pay attention to. Yes, the design of cities is beautiful - their views are sometimes simply breathtaking, you want to explore every corner, visit everywhere, find some secret streets... But this is just not the case. Often, of the entire huge city (this is especially clearly seen in the example of Hammerlock and Vandon), only 30% can be explored, most of which are customization shops. We can talk for a long time about how the city of Spikemoose, where the dark stadium is located, was treated. It would seem that this is such an interesting place: a lair of rockers and gopniks, where you just can’t get there, and there probably should be a lot of interesting things there. But in the end we only have a poke center and a continuous straight street that leads straight to the gym and from which there is no turning anywhere. Honestly, when I first got to this city, I didn’t even realize right away that having walked a couple of steps forward, I had already gotten to the gym test.

And, it seems to me, this is the main problem of the world of Galar - straightforwardness and the absence of any corners, caves and secret areas for exploration. All routes are also, in fact, a road with one direction, where there is nothing interesting. Their design, in my opinion, is primitive and serves solely so that the character can get from one point to another.

Overall, it feels like good work has been done on the region, but there isn't enough room for exploration. After all, Pokemon, after all, is not only a game about collecting unusual animals, but also an adventure.

Since we touched on design, let's talk about its graphic implementation. I’ll say right away that I have an ambiguous attitude towards the graphics in Pokemon Sword. Yes, this is clearly a step forward compared to the games in the Sun/Moon series: the image has become better, the human models no longer have fused fingers, the Pokemon have become more neat and “voluminous”, cities and buildings look just like candy - you’ll fall in love. And along with all this splendor, there are simply disgusting textures and animation jambs. Seriously, Game Freak, why do your tree textures look like they're from the early 2000s??! why water doesn’t look like water at all and doesn’t have the properties of water?! why is the ground and grass completely flat??! why does a giant steel snake just float in the air??! why climax scenes are blown away due to lack of reversal animation in legends?! and will we ever see in this life direct interaction between Pokemon during contact attacks?! And many more similar questions. Of course, everything here can be attributed to the fact that the game was clearly unfinished by the release date, but by the time I am writing this review, enough time has passed, why not fix at least something with patches?

Well, the most important, in my opinion, scourge of the graphics of this game is the low drawing distance of objects. It takes a lot out of the atmosphere when characters and Pokemon suddenly appear out of thin air, as if from underground. And in the Wild Lands, this simply interferes with the gameplay, since when moving quickly (on a bicycle), you can accidentally run into a wandering high-level Pokemon that did not have time to manifest itself in time.

And all this despite the fact that Switch has enough power to handle good and high-quality graphics. In general, you should be ashamed of such hackwork, developers, shame.

So we got to the most important thing, to the very aspect that makes a game a game. The new 8th generation brought fans quite a lot of innovations in terms of gameplay, but were they successful??

Let's not ignore the "elephant in the room" and start with the most basic - Dynamax. Personally, I still think the concept of giant Pokemon is too lazy and kind of childish, but we have what we have. In principle, in the game itself this mechanism is implemented quite well: Dynamax is possible only in special places (and is generally unique to the Galar region), has some justification from the lore and in general quite noticeably changed the approach to Pokemon battles on the part of ordinary residents. Now Pokeliga is no longer just a meeting of coaches, but a whole sport, one might say, a brand. Like a football cup, only projected onto Pokemon.

The players themselves also felt strong changes: many old strategies were gone, as Z-moves and mega-evolutions were cut out, but new ones appeared, due to the fact that the attacks of Dynamax Pokemon have an impact on the entire field as a whole, they can lower/raise stats and set the weather while attacking. New items have also been introduced. All this has significantly shuffled the usual picture of the “usefulness” of certain Pokemon in battles. And I can't say that it was bad. The only thing that makes me grumble is Gigantomax. Again we have selectivity and the division of Pokemon into “elite” and “mere mortals”. And again increased attention to the first generation. I don’t understand why they couldn’t just leave Dynamax alone for everyone? But these are exclusively my cockroaches in my head.

However, we got distracted, and this is not all that can be said about the gameplay of the new generation. The second major innovation was the Wild Lands zone - a place where players can move freely, because it is essentially an open world element, meet different Pokemon and interact with each other. The Wild Lands is a very vast area where there are deserts, fields, and lakes. In general, you can even easily get lost there if you are prone to topographical cretinism, like the author of this review.

The concept is simply gorgeous in itself, and the free camera also completes the picture. I will say more, I would like the entire Pokemon game world to look like this. But so far this is only a small element and because of this, some problems arise: firstly, a sharp change in weather from location to location. Literally, a blizzard is raging on the field, but you drive two meters forward and find yourself under the scorching sun. And, secondly, the curved change of day and night. That is, the game has one time, and in the Wild Lands the time set on your console. After completing the main plot, this, of course, evens out, but still, dissonance may arise during the game.

Online functions are also implemented quite well. Pokemon is still a long way from a full-fledged multiplayer game (although I don’t think the series needs anything like that at all), but the possibilities for player interaction have expanded greatly, and old functions have become more convenient. There are no more “crutches” in the form of “Festival Square”, you just need to connect to the Internet (pay for a subscription to Nintendo Online) and you can exchange and fight with other trainers as much as you like. You can also get together with the whole world and go on raids on giant Pokemon, exchange personal league cards and drop by each other’s campsites to play with other people’s animals or cook curry together.

In general, camping and cooking curry is not at all as bad and boring as it seems from the description. Essentially, you have a portable Poke Center with you, where you can stop at any time and treat your pets, as well as play with them. The need to search and collect berries again appeared, and some items suddenly became relevant during the passage. Perhaps I would like more different interactions with Pokemon, and not just wave a wand and throw a ball. But overall it's pretty good.

The third significant innovation - the developers have finally finalized the experience distributor! There are no more significant imbalances in quality, you don’t have to grind, but you remain at the level of the nearest gym. The only thing is that before meeting the champion, you may have to gain a couple of levels, but that’s why he’s a champion.

And a little more about Pokemon: now you can find them on routes in three states. They directly walk on the grass, as in the Let's Go games, appear in the "rustling bushes" and wander along the route in the wild lands. This mechanic seems to me very successful, as it adds the feeling that you are in this very world of Pokemon and can interact with them (but more often run away). It’s also nice that among the wandering Pokémon in the Wild Lands there are also very rare animals that previously could only be obtained through exchange (for example, Machamp, Gengar and even Milotic). In addition, new evolution methods have appeared, and some old ones have been changed (for example, Leafeon and Glaceon are no longer tied to a place, which makes them more suitable for completion). Overall, all this reduces the headache if you decide to collect a complete Pokédex.

Now let's talk about less pleasant things. Game Freak's focus on children's audiences, which began with the X/Y series, continues into the 8th generation. The player is constantly guided and reminded of what needs to be done. Everyone here is your friend, everyone will help you, and it’s simply unrealistic to lose in the plot. In general, everything has been done so that the children do not get upset. But still, compared to previous Sun/Moon, the situation has become a little better. The characters are not so intrusive, you can remove the training, and you no longer want to de-incarnate the pocket Rotom into the state of ecoplasm halfway through the journey. Although, of course, I would like a slightly more respectful attitude towards players who are over 10 years old.

Also, unfortunately, in this series of games the developers did not add any new mechanics for hunting the so-called shiny Pokemon. However, this is not such an essential element of the game, and the old methods have not gone away.

Conclusions from this section can be drawn very positive. And I hope that all the mechanics introduced in 8th generation will be further developed, especially the idea of ​​the Wild Lands. I think something like this would look great in a remake of Sinnoh, since this region is famous primarily for its untouched wilderness, where human intervention is not so great and where there are no large cities.

As you know, all the functions of the Pokemon series games are truly revealed after completing the main plot. And in general, there is a clear tendency in the series towards interesting and good postgame. Unfortunately, Sword can't boast of this.

Postgame is immediately preceded by the final battle against Eternatus. I think it’s worth saying a few words about her too. After the Sun/Moon series, you involuntarily expect from the final battle with the legend some kind of epic scope and adrenaline rush, like from a meeting with Ultra Necrozma, but alas... The final battle here does not have an epic atmosphere at all, although it undoubtedly tries very hard to create it. After all, you are fighting shoulder to shoulder with cover wolves! And that's probably the whole problem. Yes, the idea is very cool, but the implementation is lame. As soon as Zashian and Zamazenta appear, the player immediately understands that he simply cannot lose - such a scenario is not even written in the game itself. All tension disappears from the battle. And Eternatus himself doesn’t really have anything that he could respond to your Pokemon or legendary wolves. The same Ultra Necrozma had a very balanced moveset that was effective against 90% of your team. In addition, as befits the embodiment of light energy, Necrozma increased all her stats by two stages at the beginning of the battle. Eternatus, of course, has Gigantomax, but it differs only in that it adds a wagon of health to it, but not deadly power. Yes, and it doesn’t look so epic - some kind of strange giant paw. I’ll add that, apparently, you won’t be able to use Eternatus’ Gigantomax in the game anymore. He simply does not have the possibility of such a transformation.

As a result of this very dull and predictable confrontation, we catch the legendary dragon, and the wolves return to their misty valley by the lake. Actually, the postgame is built around our acquisition of Zashian (after all, we play Sword). It's a short story that pits the player and Hop against two types of royalty with weird hairstyles. Together with other Gym Leaders, we pacify the Pokémon that have gone out of Dynamax's control, and then get the opportunity to fight the heroic wolf, and our opponent finds a common language with Zamazenta. This is short and to the point.

On the plus side: completion of the arcs of all characters (except for the “non-villains”, who seem to disappear somewhere), especially Hop. This is probably the first time that an opponent gets such a well-developed line and, in fact, also becomes a hero. Also in the postgame we realize how cute Pierce really is and get imbued with his philosophy. “But this guy is right. “- I think after everything that happened. Well, most importantly, this story gives us the opportunity to at least partially realize ourselves in the role of a champion and understand that this is not some kind of ephemeral status.

And everything would be fine, but the plot is very short, and besides it there is nothing else in the postgame. Only the opportunity to fight with the Gym Leaders again at the stadium in Wendong and the Battle Tower. Everything else is self-entertainment already familiar to us in the form of collecting Pokédex and max-raids.

However, DLC will be released soon, where we will finally get a full-fledged post-game. So at least this problem can be considered solved.

Let's finish our review with the most subjective part. The music in the game is not bad at all. In general, I really love the music in the Pokemon series. The soundtrack matches the overall atmosphere, perfectly conveys the spirit of the cities and the feeling that you are standing in the middle of the stadium. It is clear that the composers tried very hard, the music fits perfectly into the idea of ​​the Pokemon version of Great Britain. I also note that Galar continues the tradition of the leading instrument in sound design - here it is a guitar. Beautiful guitar riffs can be seen here and there, which I really like.

And yet, personally, after completing it, I realized that not a single musical theme stuck in my head. There is nothing that my brain automatically plays in quiet moments. But, again, this is a matter of everyone’s taste. In addition, Oleana's theme is very reminiscent of Lisamin's theme from Sun/Moon. And yet, overall, as always, the composers did a good job. And as always, I am very grateful to them for this.

There is also one more problem that I finally decided to include in this section - the lack of voice acting. Yes, this complaint about the Pokemon games has been going on for a long time, and it seems like all fans should get used to it by now. But there is one important difference. Previous games, how can I put it more correctly, were more intimate, personal and less pretentious. There you scrolled through the dialogues in your head and, in principle, that was enough. But Pokemon Sword introduced huge stadiums and a gang of rockers led by local star Pierce. Agree, it’s very strange when Rose gives an epic speech to a large crowd, and there is silence all around. And this silence is even more depressing when you find yourself in a dark gym right at Pierce’s concert. Game Freak, well, take a step forward in this direction, look around - all more or less major games have voice acting, and only the Pokemon series remained in the 90s. I would really like for the beloved old and new characters to finally find their own voice.

Finally, after much deliberation, it's time to take stock. I think, reading this review, you have already noticed a general trend - everything seems to be fine, but something is constantly getting in the way, something was left unfinished, something was not completed, and in general it turns out to be neither this nor that - 50 to 50.

Pokemon Sword/Shield came out as unfinished games, and you can feel it. Yes, the developers can be understood; they were under pressure from above to release the new anime and merch. It can be seen that Galar was planned as a large-scale region with many new features, the scope is felt, but it seems that Game Freak simply did not have time to implement everything that they wanted to do in this project. Haste and hasty decisions are felt throughout, as is the focus on children's audiences and nostalgia.

And yet, new games are trying to overcome the problems of the old ones - there is more logic in the plot, more character development, less feeling that the player is being “led by the hand”, as in the same Sun/Moon (although it would be better to get rid of this completely). But at the same time, they have a lot of their own problems: shoddy graphics, linearity, lack of a research element. And the general old backbone of the series, which keeps the games “within the framework”, unfortunately, has not gone anywhere and has not evolved much at all.

In the end, despite all the advantages that Pokemon Sword definitely has, it remains an average, one might say mediocre game that will most likely quickly fade from your memory. Which is a shame, because the new part of the series had quite a lot of potential. We are waiting for the DLS.