Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Reviews
Graphics aren't everything and buggy releases are nothing new, but for Nintendo to release its golden calf in this condition is a big disappointment. The foundation still entertains greatly, and a couple of new clever touches elevate the adventure above its predecessors. But when lots of both big and small flaws constantly make themselves felt, it's hard to appreciate the pocket monsters' latest adventures.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
Unfortunately, the performance is so abruptly bad that it completely ruins, to an infuriating extent, what otherwise could have been the best Pokemon game to date.
Pokemon Scarlet/Violet has delivered the large open-world Pokemon experience we have always wanted but not at the quality level we would expect from a Pokemon game or Nintendo in general. Sloppy textures, countless bugs and a frame rate that rarely runs above the 20s show how rushed and unfinished this game is. The franchise has a ways to go before it catches up with modern gaming standards. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet may have been the best-selling Pokemon game of all time but this is in no way a suggestion that it is the best quality.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s rough quality is unacceptable. I hope that Game Freak and Nintendo will work quickly to patch the performance after all this ruckus, but even if it somehow ends up running smoothly enough to not be headache-inducing, I doubt I will ever revisit this game.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet leave us with the big question: "Why did everything go so wrong?"
Review in Greek | Read full review
Pokémon Violet offers a ton of familiar and enhanced fun, but the lack of polish and outright unacceptable performance let it down as one of Nintendo's most iconic franchises. The open-world setting and gameplay additions hint at an exciting future for the Pokémon franchise, but the state this was released in too often overshadows that. Before it's been patched up and optimised, it's tough to recommend.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is an imaginative reinvention of the iconic Pokemon adventure, with a heart wrenching story and a real sense of soul, which is let down by sloppy mechanics, half-fulfilled ideas and disappointingly common cut corners.
It’s astonishing how a game as clearly unpolished as this could be allowed onto the market, especially once you consider that it’s representing a media franchise that’s made approximately 92 billion dollars to date. (The easy answer is that this is yet another example of a major release being rushed out to meet an approaching holiday deadline, where quality greatly suffers in the name of convenience, but that’s a story for another time.) If players choose to squint their eyes and push on through—and, hopefully, don’t clip into the ground or encounter any game-breaking glitches that will force them to restart their save file—then that old Pokémon charm might still be an adequate reason to give Pokémon Violet a pass. But before the franchise can ever truly hope to redefine itself in the future, Game Freak desperately needs to iron out the issues that are currently holding Pokémon back by at least two console generations.
Scarlet and Violet is a pair of obviously rushed products that look so much poorer for following an excellent refreshment in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Regressive and outmoded, the ninth Pokémon generation still boasts some enjoyable content but I couldn’t in good faith say it’s a quality experience. The utterly shameful performance issues hammer home how crudely made it is. It’s staggering just how terribly it runs. We’ve pilloried games for less, but we’re supposed to just accept it here because it’s Pokémon.
Pokémon Scarlet is a good game undone by extremely poor performance. The open-world set-up is fantastic, and the title does a good job of letting you wander into the deep end, but not forcing you to drown. Unfortunately, the copious amount of technical issues with it prevent it from reaching the heights it should have.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet dares to venture into open world exploration, a decision with a lot of potential and which by itself is praiseworthy. However the game's difficulty balance - or lack thereof - causes unexpected problems on what is supposed to be a free world and ends up recreating an informal hierarchy of choices. Pokémon fans have many things to enjoy here, and co-op gameplay is one of the game's best assets, but the overall performance and technical issues end up creating frustrating moments for everyone. If Scarlet and Violet make use of good ideas, they needed more work before getting released
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Before picking up Pokemon Violet, I had heard a lot of negative comments and the bad press seemed to be piling up. I don’t think this is the best Pokemon title I have played, however, it still offers that Pokemon experience that we all know and love.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet takes the familiar trappings of the mainline series and overextends them while supporting its structure and foundation with duct tape and silly putty. Scarlet and Violet promises to add more to the core Pokémon formula, but all it truly adds is more square footage. It’s a game that invites unflattering comparisons to other open-world video games, current and past, and even ones from Nintendo itself.
Whether it’s the new designs, the legendary Pokémon bikes, the new changes to the combat system, the Team Star and Titan Pokémon elements, or the multiplayer, there is a surprising amount of things to love about the new Pokémon games despite their technical flaws. That’s where the game’s biggest problems are: technical issues and downgrades from the previous Switch entries. The core of the game is still just as fun as ever. The game earns a 6/10 due to being a solid entry in the Pokémon series riddled with technical issues.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are so, so close to reinventing the Pokémon series in a brilliant way. They’re just held back by unacceptable bugs and performance issues that simply shouldn’t be happening this frequently in such a monolithic and profitable franchise. I hope Game Freak is able to implement some much-needed patches, as there’s a remarkable diamond in this copious rough.
Scarlet and Violet would probably go down as two of the best games in the series if not for these [performance] issues. Instead, all anyone will likely remember are the viral glitch montages that have swept across social media. And that’s regrettable because at their core is an imperfect yet charming and highly enjoyable adventure.
Pokémon Scarlet is as fun as the franchise has always been, no one can deny that. The new Pokémon creatures are endearing and the series still manages to create new and fun ways to get the player invested in their Pokémon training and catching sessions. As with Pokémon Legends Arceus before it, however, this is all marred by a level of technical mastery that is downright inexcusable. Not only is the game still not quite up to the level of something like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, released over five years ago on the same system, but it is, at least at time of writing, riddled with visual glitches and performance issues. It looks downright unfinished at times. This is simply intolerable. Therefore, it is impossible to give this a better score in good conscience as a point has to be made once and for all that things need to change going forward.
Beneath all the jank and technical disaster, there's a Pokemon game that deserved better.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet make a strong case for the continued development of open-world Pokémon games, but its frankly unacceptable number of technical issues put a damper on the entire experience.
As good as it is bad, Pokemon Violet & Scarlet doesn't do anything lightly. For the first time in the series, we experience a pure freedom. Paldea is very huge, Pokemon are numerous and it has never been so exciting to complete your Pokédex. However, the technical aspects are a pure disaster. Instead of being a Nintendo Switch must-have, this 9G starts is just a hyper addictive okay game.
Review in French | Read full review