Throughout the history of the Pokémon series, each entry has introduced incremental new features and tried new mechanisms to support your main goal: travel around the world to find the rarest and most powerful creatures. The Pokémon Sword and Shield continued this tradition, debuting a brand new open area and super large Pokémon for the first time in battle without sacrificing the elements that made the series a hit. Although not every aspect of the new generation is perfect, Pokémon Sword & Shield brings some pleasing elements to provide a great new look.
Despite the technological leaps and the aforementioned experiments, the core tenants of the Pokémon series are still intact. You can choose to start Pokémon in your hometown, then adventure and collect new monsters in the area to defeat eight powerful coaches and get the ultimate challenge. Finding the right Pokémon combination for critical battles is still fun, and I still can't create a strong team with statistical items and Mobile TeachingTM, which allows you to change the rules.
The turn-based combat system is simple and easy, thanks to hundreds of unique Pokémon and can be tested. Sword & Shield offers most traditional experiences, while the new Dynamax mechanic adds new wrinkles. It allows one of your Pokémon to grow for three rounds in each battle. During this time, it has become bigger and more powerful, and I like the strategy it chooses to choose the right time to spend Dynamax. Your AI opponents don't think much about their "dynamic maximization"; their patterns become predictable, and survival is just ready to get through.
Although the Dynamax mechanic has the potential to disrupt any combat flow, it does not affect most encounters because it can only be used for gym combat and other situations. I'm glad it can't be used in all battles [compared to previous generations of Mega Evolution and Z-Moves] because it feels special and has never become a regular. When Pokémon grew up to be giants, the sense of scale was impressive, and because the super-strong animations showed more powerful attack power, their power was also amazing. Watching the huge fist fall from the sky to destroy the opponent, it will never grow old.
After Sun and Moon canceled traditional fitness games, Sword and Shield brought them back to their original positions. The battle in the stadium was taking place on the sports field, and there was a screaming crowd responding to the action at the scene, which was awesome and felt like a big deal. But outside of Dynamax mechanics, the battle proceeds the same as in previous works. Before you start sports, you must complete the sports challenge. These pre-combat quizzes can help you solve puzzles, fight trainers or other unique tasks. Although I usually like them very much, my favorite is a mini game where the pinball meets the pinball. You can manipulate the capsule to navigate the maze downhill.
Although the plot is stupid and the twists and turns are visible long ago, I like the way Sword and Shield introduced recurring characters throughout the adventure. Having the league champions pop up throughout the story, or meeting gym leaders outside the gym, makes your eventual encounter with them more influential.
If you want to get rid of the linearity of a gym challenge, stay in the wilderness for hours. It provides vast spaces, full of different biomes and fully controllable cameras, and breaks the rhythm. When you step into the vast wilderness, the possibilities are endless. You can stroll and explore your inner satisfaction, discovering a variety of impressive monsters that can join the party. However, once you really dive into it and encounter higher-level Pokémon, the free and open look will disintegrate. The gym badge indicates the level of Pokémon you can capture, and this limitation is understandable to the extent that I can't capture Level 26 Onix before even participating in the gym for the first time. But when I was preparing for my final sports game, it was really annoying not to be able to even throw Poké Ball at 56 Gyarados.
Despite this frustration, I still enjoyed exploring the wilderness for hours. Finding new Pokémon to join my team is exciting, and the new Max Raid Battles puts four trainers against the powerful Dynamaxed Pokémon and is a great way to collaborate with others and pack some rare Pokémon in the process. This area is large but feels barren. But with so much terrain to explore and Pokémon to capture, I don't mind blanks. Such an area is a dream come true for fans, it provides a sense of wonder and exploration that is different from what we usually see in the series, and it is a great place to hone your party.
Unfortunately, you can't find all the Pokémon in wilderness areas or other parts of the game, because Game Freak cuts a big part from these games. Unfortunately, there are so many classic and favorite creatures missing from the game's Pokémon, but there are hundreds of creatures that can capture and join my team without having a significant impact on my experience.
Pokémon Sword & Shield is a powerful first attempt in this series to fully transition to a game console. Although some frustration prevented it from retreating from its true legendary status, this new generation of products proves that the Pokémon series has performed well for more than two decades after its debut.
