Pokémon Scarlet and Violet come out in less than 24 hours for the Nintendo Switch but some big names in the industry have already had the chance to spend some time with the ninth generation of Pokémon games. And unfortunately, many are scoring the games as average or slightly above average due to poor handling on developer Game Freak’s part.
MetaCritic: 78/100
OpenCritic: 77/100
Game Informer: Review in Progress
“I’ve been enjoying my time in the Paldea region, aided immensely by the traversal abilities of Koraidon and Miraidon. Each area features a ton of monsters to battle and catch, giving me ample reason to go off the beaten path, and the new Pokédex design makes it more satisfying than ever to fill it out.”
VG247: 4/5
“When Game Freak tries to wrap its head around developing on modern platforms, it still hurts itself in its confusion – despite the greatness of everything else.”
IGN: Review in Progress
“There really isn’t a moment in these games where I’d say Pokémon Scarlet and Violet run well.”
Eurogamer: 4.5/5
“An interesting reworking of the traditional Pokemon gameplay for an open-world setting brought low by its lifeless environments and graphics.”
GameSpot: 8/10
“Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s open-world approach reinvigorates the long-running series.”
Digital Trends: 3.5/5
“Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s open-world pivot is exactly what the series needed, though poor tech holds back its true potential.”
We have long since believed that Game Freak has mismanaged the video game side of things for the Pokémon franchise as it doesn’t seem like the studio is well equipped to handle a larger-scale gaming experience. Various insiders have claimed that the average to mediocre reception of the Switch titles is due to reaching the limits of the hardware but games like Breath of the Wild and Skyrim show that this simply is not true. And while Scarlet and Violet are once again a step in the right direction for what fans truly hope to see some day, they seem to be nothing more than a small step at best.
Hopefully, Pokémon fans will some day get to see and play through a truly open-world title with better development and a higher level quality game experience but it seems to us that the only way that happens is if The Pokemon Company and Nintendo hand the reigns over to a more suitable developer.
Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet arrive exclusively for Nintendo Switch on November 18th.
