Reviews are officially in for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and the majority of critics seem to be digging the game! Read on below to learn more:
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’s technical problems and lackluster multiplayer are unable to overshadow its triumphant leap into an open world. Compelling characters, a huge batch of new creatures and an excellent OST help the titles on their mission to renovate the franchise. They celebrate everything that makes Pokémon games endearing: the mysteries, the surprises, the feeling of freedom – and, in doing so, create an experience that’s probably the best in the entire main series.
Despite some technical problems, the new formula created by Pokémon Scarlet and Violet for the franchise has delighted us. A wide variety of interesting Pokémon, a more mature story than usual and a very fun gameplay cycle result in the most complete installments of the saga and an outstanding experience for players both veteran and new.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is a must-play adventure for everyone, even for those who have yet to take the first step on their own Pokémon journey.
Launcher (The Washington Post) – 80/100
The core mechanics and the gameplay loop are satisfying enough to keep you coming back. The Pokémon designs of the ones you can get in the Paldea region are great and varied…But the pacing and graphical disappointments keep “Scarlet” and “Violet” from being the best open-world games we know the series is capable of producing. One thing that Game Freak really needs to correct before they take another stab at the next major Pokémon game is this graphical stuff, like the frame rate issues and the draw distance and just basic things that you need for players to actively engage with the world you’ve created.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet takes two steps forward and one step back, much to blame for its performance on Nintendo Switch. Still, the new formula is solid and could very well serve as the basis for the next games in the franchise, with plenty of room to grow. With a whole new generation of Pokémons to meet and novel mechanics to master, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will please new and old fans, casual or competitive alike.
While undercooked presentation and visual issues hold the games back, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are still the best mainline Pokemon games in years. They build off Pokemon Legends: Arceus’s open-ended design in some thoughtful and surprising ways, and retain that same level of depth that the mainline series is known for.
There’s no doubt that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are the best in the series. The open world is fantastic, the story is incredible, and the game looks amazing, even if the performance is very rocky. There are problems, and quality of life issues, but for every negative there’s a dozen more positives that blew me away every step of the way. It will be divisive, but for me, it’s almost everything I want from a Pokémon game.
The open world sparks a sense of adventure and the typical Poké-collecting fever, but beyond that it hardly has any exciting ideas in terms of gameplay.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet takes the next step for the franchise thanks to the lush open world. Even the new Terastallizing mechanic is great fun, although it is kinda a reskin of an earlier mechanic. Amazing music and some smart design choices make it a game you can’t miss. At least, that is what we would’ve said if the performance wasn’t as bad as it is.
Anyone who can overlook the difficulties will still have fun with the new generation. After all, the core remains collecting medals and completing the Pokédex, which is also entertaining in the new editions, coupled with the open structure. Maybe the Pokémon Company will be able to fix the current construction sites for the tenth generation in a few years.
There are still plenty more ways we’d like to see the Pokémon franchise evolve, but Pokémon Scarlet & Violet has us excited about the series’ future. We really hope Game Freak can figure out how to smooth out the series’ ongoing performance issues on Switch because they’ll certainly rub some players the wrong way — and they’re going to become a serious detriment over time. Scarlet & Violet is most fun and exciting when you’re just exploring the world, and while there are many small new details and improvements to the Pokémon formula, it still plays it safe in a few areas. Regardless, things point toward a promising future for Gen 9 and beyond. It’s a smaller step than many may have hoped for, especially considering what Pokémon Legends: Arceus did, but it’s definitely one in the right direction.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet feel like the awkward second evolution of one of its starters. It’s growing into something resplendent, it’s showing signs of an exciting second type, but it’s got that weird vibe of a 20-something that hasn’t quite figured out who they actually are. Add that weirdly stretched feeling to the constant technical oddities and you’ve got a game that’s undoubtedly good fun, but it’s still not even its final form. I can’t wait to see what Pokemon becomes, but it’s not quite there yet.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have failed as open-world games. Its premise with three routes seems original, but it becomes a repetitive task in which some mini-games in the gyms are really boring. Although the Pokémon are better recreated than ever in their wild environments, the overall performance of the game is terrible, affecting the gameplay and giving the impression that we are playing an incomplete game.
Pokémon’s first fully open-world title has a lot of ideas but never quite manages to stick the landing with any of them.
The basic mechanics of Pokemon remain largely untouched – it’s still catching, battling, and training as you remember it – and while that may be enough for many devotees, Generation 9 is a tougher sell for those who need more of a reason to engage with the series, impacted as it is by technical issues, mechanical oversights, and a lack of vision. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet should have been a bright and bold entry that sets the series up for future expansion, but an attempt to modernize while staying loyal to the past hasn’t really succeeded in doing either one – and the headache doesn’t help, to boot.
Here, Game Freak draws up an exciting new open-world blueprint for the Pokémon franchise, but appears to have lacked the time and knowhow to deliver it to spec. Compare this with June’s gorgeous Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which runs on the same console, and it’s hard to shake the feeling that you’re beta testing an open-world Pokémon. With more time in the oven, this could have been genuinely exciting. As it stands, this fun-filled adventure asks you to put up with an awful lot more of the rough than the smooth.
Source: Metacritic.com
Source: Pokemon
