Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Innovative, Yet A Mess

On paper, everything that Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet do are exactly what everyone has wanted from the franchise for the better part of a decade. As other franchises moved to open worlds and the power of consoles has been shown, Pokemon has stayed kind of the same for the majority of its existence. While generations would introduce and remove content as they change, the core gameplay stayed mostly the same. Generation IX of the franchise does reinvent the monster collection subgenre of RPG, but the graphical anomalies and glitches are hard to ignore.

Continuing tradition, a person plays as a character who gets their first Pokemon and goes off on the quest to become the champion of the region. Unlike past games, the world is completely free to explore and do whatever the player wants in whatever order they want. Similar to past games, there is also a quest to take down powerful wild Pokemon (see Pokemon Legends Arceus earlier this year) and take down an antagonistic team.

Unlike Pokemon Legends Arceus which was open-zone similar to Sonic Frontiers where each area was open world but they were still separate from each other, Scarlet and Violet are true open world the way Breath of the Wild or Horizon Zero Dawn are. That said, while one can do the gyms, Team Star bases, and Titan battles in any order they want, there is level scaling that does tell the player which order to do things.

While there now are over a thousand Pokemon, only 400 make the base game (though if Sword and Shield are any indication, this could expand with DLC). This benefits the game greatly by allowing for the game to be balanced properly without worrying about an unruly and ever expanding metagame, however some may have the inability to bring some of their favorite creatures into the game, which is always a shame.

While the world is huge and it is easy for the player to wander aimlessly and complete raids, catch or battle wild Pokemon, or just explore, the graphical issues that plague the game may be an issue for some players. There is noticeable pop in, the textures do not render properly, the draw distance makes Sonic Frontiers look like a viable Game of the Year contender, and the frame rate is consistently low. If someone does not have an issue with the graphical issues, they can muddle through and find enjoyment. The saving grace is that the issues are rarely game breaking (the game has crashed once after over 20 hours of gameplay) and are consistently inconsistent to the point that once one adjusts themselves to the visual language and style, they are good to go for maximum enjoyment.

This game could be better as it is one of the least polished games that has been released in recent history. That said, it is not a joyless experience and there is tons of fun to be had. It is definitely the best iteration of Pokemon on the Switch, even if the graphics are not as good as Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee or Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl because the game delivers everything fans have wanted. It is worth checking out and may be a perfect place for a newcomer to join in the fun, or for someone who has fallen off to rejoin. That said, the graphical issues are so bad that it cannot be overlooked.

Final Rating: 7/10