Tomorrow is the day that many have been waiting for. That is because tomorrow is the launch of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Gen 9 has been anticipated for some time, and The Pokemon Company has done well to explain why this set of titles will expand the Pokemon world further than previous titles. But as fans know, you can hype a game to oblivion and back, but if the game doesn’t live up to expectations, then there’s a problem. The review embargo for Gen 9 dropped this morning, and while the reviews were positive overall, they did cite multiple issues with the game. Not the least is the performance issues it seems to have.
Currently, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet stand at 78 on Metacritic. That’s many points below what many people would’ve guessed for it. For context, Pokemon Legends Arceus had an 83 on Metacritic, and Pokemon Sword and Shield had an 80. Many of these reviews did indeed sing the praises of the new titles. But they were also filled with reminders that the game doesn’t play as well as it should.
The game apparently struggles to run at a good clip while in the open world and other segments. Multiple reviews pointed out how The Pokemon Company seemed to “lack the knowledge” to make the game run smoothly. They even cited how previous titles that came out this year, like Xenoblade Chronicles 3, had much better performance than Gen 9. If you recall, that game had a massive open world too, but it got rave reviews and was even nominated for Game of the Year.
Many will note that there were performance issues in the previous mainline titles, but that was mainly when you were far away from certain Pokemon that you could see the “skips” in their animation cycles. These reviews paint a more inconsistent picture.
It should be said that multiple people within the reviews claim that if you can overlook these struggles, you’ll have a great time. Some even went so far as to say that the “imperfections” of the game can’t ruin the overall experience and the thrill of having an actual open-world title within the franchise.
So as you can see, there will be differing opinions about the game. That means you’ll need to get the game for yourself and see what you think about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet when it arrives on Switch.
Source: Twitter