Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Purple < Switch < Full Review < Video Game Review < Nintendo Power

Paldea, it’s you!

We won’t hurt you by reintroducing you to the concept of the Pokémon games that hasn’t changed much in over 25 years of existence: yes, you still play as a girl or a boy who left his family to start an adventure, here at school since you join a big school in the main city of the game. Yes, you have to quickly choose a Pokémon that will accompany you throughout your adventure and yes, your adventure will take you to fight champions in the arena and capture all the Pokémon.

Instead, let’s focus on the differences between Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Purple and their historical predecessors. First of all, the game is really revolutionary when it comes to the rhythm imposed or rather suggested to the player who will now have a choice of what they want to do: go and collect Pokémon from the Paldea region, or venture into one of the three main quest of the game: the conquest of the badges of the arena, the search for the Dominant Pokémon or the destruction of Team Star, the pseudo-antagonist of the game that really lacks character.

While we thought that this sense of freedom would be strictly limited as in previous games by more or less physical obstacles: water to cross, a mountain to go around, etc., Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Purple offers true freedom from the start. the only obstacle is the level of Pokémon faced, compared to your team: alas, some enemies will be too strong at the beginning and you will have to go back to face them later.

Some geographical obstacles are still present but in general, you will experience an adventure in the order that you almost want.

Biodiversity at its best…

Pokémon made a choice when it came to the West with a simple slogan: “Catch them all! “. 25 years later, this is still true, if not truer. Over 100 new Generation 9 Pokémon live in the Paldea region along with Pokémon never before seen on Nintendo Switch. In total, 400 Pokémon are currently available in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Purple.

This 9th generation is the occasion to officially pass the 1000th Pokémon, which will give future head knots for those who want to count Pokémon in a National Pokédex: Bulbizarre is no longer a Pokémon # 001 but #0001. We’ll let you know what the thousandth is.

Within the 9th generation, we see Pokémon with appearances never before seen in Pokémon games and the traditional Pokémon typical of each generation: birds, dogs, plants… a classic Pokémon game . In the end, we were satisfied with the selection that took place, although we obviously hope that additional content in the future will be possible to enrich the range of Pokémon available in the game a little more.

… the return of the old fashioned catch

All these wild Pokémon are now visible in the wild: the tall grass is definitely disappearing and apart from the technical performance that sometimes causes Pokémon to appear at the last moment on the screen, you will not be surprised by a hidden in the grass. Even Shiny Pokémon can now be found in the wild as in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. The game also inspires the presence of an all-purpose Pokémon mount that will take the form of the legendary Pokémon of the game, Koraidon or Miraidon, which will be, and this is new, yours from the first hours of play: in the adventure, his skills. will grow to allow you to climb, fly, swim and run throughout Paldea.

On the other hand, the inspirations of the spin-off released at the beginning of the year stop there, because it is not the little music that allows you to be warned about the presence of a chromatic in the area, or the innovative way of taking without necessarily joining the battle, was maintained. It’s a shame because battles and their animations can be long for creatures that are sometimes easy to catch. Also note the absence of Pokédex missions or follow-up side quests that have been replaced by rewards offered as you complete your precious Pokédex.

Terracrystallization, the new strategic gimmick

After Mega-Evolutions and Dynamaxes, here comes the time of Terracrystallization: this new thing will affect all the Pokémon of the game by allowing them, the time of a battle, to have an additional type, different or name of its type mainly, to boost Terracrystal type attacks a bit more. Beneficial without being directly essential to your quest, this new process is aimed at the most strategic players who venture into online ranked battles to return.

Beyond the battles, it is especially the Teracrystal Raids that are interesting because weekly events will allow you to get powerful Pokémon in these raids. Playable locally or online, alone or with others, it is therefore necessary to follow the news available on the game’s online portal to participate in these events.

Koraidon, lesson, house

As mentioned above, the Orange or Reason Academy (depending on the version played) in the Madrid-inspired town of Mesaledo is at the center of your adventure and much of the action will take place there. Throughout the game, it is possible to attend and attend Pokémon lessons: they are very anecdotal and not very useful in the adventure, but contribute to the lively atmosphere that reigns in this game.

Because, in fact, apart from the scenario related to the origin of the legendary Pokémon Koraidon or Miraidon, your entire adventure in Paldea is marked by a positive attitude and a constant ease, to leave the game accessible to the youngest: no words are more than others and even the members of Team Star who are introduced as the villains of the game become motivated by understanding the reasons.

If all this goodness bothers you, know that it is possible to ask three of your friends to join you in exploring Paldea. Multiplayer used to be limited to trading, fighting, and raiding. It is now possible to truly do Pokémon capture sessions, and chromatic hunting with several people!

Getting shinys is also very highlighted with a dedicated section in your profile but also through Sandwiches, a new element of the game that allows you to optimize the fertility of Pokémon, the encounter of several types of Pokémon … and their possibility of being chromatic!

Technically not up to par

Pokémon may have been a part of our daily lives for more than two decades, but there are times when you have to take the necessary step back to judge a game because it’s delivered to tens of millions of people across the globe. world. .

So yes, Scarlet and Violet have a lot going for them and we’ve covered them above but there is one thing that stands out to players and it’s technical quality. If the previous games are used to us not necessarily being war machines, the rendering here is really disappointing and not up to a franchise that brings in millions of dollars every year.

In addition to some bugs and game crashes that can be quickly corrected through updates as we are used to now, what worries us is the many slowdowns that are present throughout the Paldea region, at higher levels. or less clear. Some areas rich in wild Pokémon are at the limit of playability because the action is slowed down by the animations present.

It’s hard to know the exact cause of these slowdowns: optimization problems, memory leaks… Some people notice an improvement when they restart their game when others often experience crashes. However, it is really unusual that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company did not pay more attention to this decision to force the release of the games before the end of the year. Yes, millions of gamers rely on their annual dose of Pokémon games, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of the games’ technical quality, on a console capable of running other open-world games, and more rich in terms of animations.

However, and unfortunately, we are getting used to these performance problems and the games remain playable for the most part. No need to worry about that.