Community Review: Pokémon Scarlet And Violet

Community Review: Pokémon Scarlet And Violet

Ah yes, here we are. Hopefully, you’ve had some time to play them by now, because it’s time for our Community Review of Game Freak’s latest releases Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (PSV).

The reviews for PSV have been all sorts of mixed. It’s good enough for some Pokémon fans who have been pining for something new in the series to shlop on top of the age-old blueprint that The Pokémon Company has been churning out for decades. It’s not good enough for the Pokémon fans that were hoping the new additions had just a little bit more polish. Most people are feeling a little bit of both at the same time.

Critics seem to be relatively similar:

So many of the pillars holding up those shining concepts – visual quality, open-world details, customization, and technical soundness – are seemingly unfinished or actively crumbling” – IGN

“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.” – The Guardian

While I’d love to see updates to the core turn-based combat in the future, Scarlet and Violet feel more alive than any game Pokémon that came before.” – Engadget

While there’s still many stumbling missteps as Game Freak try to find their footing in the future of Pokémon, Scarlet and Violet is an endearing, and enjoyable attempt at a fundamentally different Pokémon experience.” – Press Start Australia

If you take a look over on Metacritic, there’s a pretty jarring difference in scoring when you compare the critic score to the audience score on both games.

There have also been plenty of people talking about facing the worst of the performance issues in the games alongside people who have said they’ve experienced absolutely no performance issues at all, which is pretty interesting stuff!

I’ve personally had the chance to play Pokémon Violet and I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty torn. I agree with all the folks saying that the new stuff rocks, because it really does. There’s genuinely so much to love about PSV, including its vast world, colourful personalities, cute new creatures, and fascinating new game mechanics. It’s a fresh take on a classic system.

However, I’ve also found it to be a slog in terms of performance issues, which is a huge bummer! I was also playing other Switch games in between and they all worked fine, which gives me even further reason to believe that the problem wasn’t my Switch but the game itself. Would still love a Switch Pro someday, though!

Now how about you, then? Have you been playing it? Enjoying it? Hating it? Does it make you feel like a kid again, filled with wonder at the vast world and new ‘mons around you? Or does it remind you that you are all grown up now, and your standards have changed?

Go on, let us freakin’ know.


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