[Review] Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Mixed results for the series’ biggest adventure yet

On February 27, 2022 Pokémon fans around the world rejoiced. The latest generation in the series got announced that day in a special Pokémon Presents video showcasing the colors of scarlet and violet, as well as the starters. Upon first impressions, the starters were very well received as being cute. The new region, known as Paldea, was being based on Spain and looked very vibrant. Later, Nintendo announced that the games would be Pokémon’s first adventure in an open world videogame. Previous entries, such as Sword and Shield and this year’s Legends: Arceus had some elements of being an open world game, but the plot of the games were still very linear. How does Scarlet and Violet stack up to other open world games, such as Breath of the Wild? Do the new features added to the ninth generation of the franchise improve the game and leave fans satisfied? In this review, you will find that it was a little hit and miss for me.

An Open World, But A Lonely Place

A true gamer’s definition of being an open world game means that from the beginning, you can truly and freely travel anywhere in the game. No areas should be inaccessible or hidden behind a mechanic that you need to unlock from previous effort. Breath of the Wild is a great example of an open world game. Sure, there are steep hills and ridges to climb that are difficult to do without a lot of stamina unlocked from solving Ancient Sheikah Shrines. However, you can cook as many meals needed in order to keep replenishing your stamina early on in the game. There is a lengthy tutorial where you can’t leave the Great Plateau, but after that point you truly can go anywhere in the game. Scarlet and Violet unfortunately do not have that same element of being an open world game.

There are three unique storylines you can choose to tackle in any order: Victory Road, Path of Titans, and Team Star. Victory Road is where you challenge gym leaders and earn badges so you can conquer the Elite Four and become the champion. There is the Path of Titans, where you defeat larger sized Pokémon in order to level up your ride Pokémon and earn abilities. Then there is challenging Team Star, a band of disgruntled students which act as the antagonist group for this generation. There were many locations in the game I could not get to because my ride Pokémon, Koraidon, did not have the ability to jump high enough, climb at all, or swim at all in the beginning of the game. In order to get those abilities I did have to complete tasks in the game from the Path of Titans. So if I had wanted to complete the Victory Road storyline and focus on getting gym badges first, I wouldn’t be able to do so without also going back and forth between the Titans path.

There is also the issue of level-scaling found in gyms and Team Star bases. It would be impossible for any player to have challenged the Psychic gym in Alfornada first because you can’t swim to the path needed or climb up the very high mountain blocking it. If you did somehow get there, the Pokemon used by the leader are at least at level 44. Unlike in Breath of the Wild where a skilled player can use dodging mechanics, cooked meals, and a plethora of weapons to defeat enemies of any type, Pokemon’s turn-based design requires players to grind and have their team at a certain level to have success.

When playing Breath of the Wild there are enemies everywhere. You often run into other NPCs, many of which are seen traveling to other towns. Going into towns is an incredible experience every time, as every town has a unique look and feel. The music is different in them. You can go inside shops and meet more NPCs and buy items. Every town has different items as well, such as fire arrows being available for purchase at the Curious Quiver in Kakariko Village and Ice Arrows being available in Gerudo Town. In Scarlet and Violet I felt so alone in the game that I didn’t get the feeling it was an open world at all.

When you’re in Mesagoza City at the beginning of the game, there are students everywhere and NPCs walking around. Leaving the city meant seeing the same bare landscapes with few trees, tall mountains, and very few actual people. There are trainers scattered throughout the areas and provinces (so long to route 101!) but they are so far spread apart it was hard to find them all. Is there a backstory where the Pokemon scared all of the people and forced them to stay in their cities? And seriously, what is with the amount of deforestation seen in this world? In previous generations there are literally chains of hundreds of trees as you traveled along the routes, here in the Paldea Region you could probably stop and count them.

Only a few areas, such as Glaseado Mountain, seem truly unique in this game. This part of the map is covered in snow, so it stood out for me. In every city there are multiple buildings and shops, but you can’t go inside any of them! Walking into a door just brings you to a menu screen. It’s as if the entire Paldea Region is practicing social distancing, and every place uses curbside pickup. You do not interact with anyone whatsoever in these cases. There are many shops used to just buy different types of sandwiches. I’m not sure why there needs to be so many designated sandwich shops when you just see a menu screen? Just make one shop be the buy-all shop then. The barren and lonely environment of Paldea left me wanting to go back to previous generations as old as Red and Blue.

A variety of visual issues

The graphics in Scarlet and Violet were also very much hit and miss. The game has some truly beautiful moments where you can capture a great screenshot against the night sky, or look out from a lighthouse and see a landmark. Other times, the lag and frame rate issues made the game look very ugly.

NPCs were often moving as if they came out of a claymation movie, particularly when I was in the school with rows of students sitting in desks with their feet moving back and forth. It was very jarring watching their feet move like the seconds hand on a clock. The same would be noticed during the gym trial in Artazon where you had to collect several Sunflora. The animation of them lagging behind me and skipping in and out left me with a dizzying headache. Dashing on my Koraidon often found me running into tiny Pokémon as they just magically appeared in front of me because the frame rate of the game cannot keep up with you. I know that in Sword and Shield you had to get close to the grassy areas in the wild spots in order to have the Pokemon spawn, but they moved very well and seemed natural when they spawned in. They were also very large and you could see them very clearly.

In Legends: Arceus the Pokemon spawns could also be shiny — meaning they are a different color than normally. In that game you would hear a signal to alert you that it was shiny, both a sound and sparkles would appear by it. In Scarlet and Violet they removed that feature. In order to tell if it’s a shiny Pokemon you have to get very close enough to even notice it, and often at times the Pokemon are so small that most players can’t see the difference. This could be an issue especially for players with any form of color blindness as well, because most times the Pokemon are just a very lighter or darker shade of the original color.

The New Pokemon Of Generation Nine

The new Pokemon designs found in the Paldea Region are where this game truly shines. Early on when the starters were revealed I was genuinely interested in all three of them because of their designs. Sprigatito was the starter I chose in the end because it was so cute that I wanted it to be mine. Upon evolution, the four legged cat does become bipedal, much to the chagrin of the fanbase, but I really liked the end result, known as Meowscarada. When the Ghost type dog Pokémon, Greavard, was announced in a trailer I instantly fell in love with it. The barks and just overall unique design of this friendly creature won over my heart immediately. I made it my mission to find a female of Greavard as soon as I could, unfortunately closer to the end of my journey, and name it after my dog Daisy.

Another standout favorite of mine was the entire Tinkatink evolution line. This pink, Fairy and Steel type Pokémon walks around with a hammer. As it grows and evolves into Tinkaton, so to does its hammer. This Pokémon also packs a punch and was my most dominant Pokémon in my playthrough. The new and exclusive move, Gigaton Hammer, is also a great animation in the game. I was not expecting to like the Pawmot evolution line as much as I did either, but an Electric and Fighting dual type proved to be very useful early on in the game. I found a Ceruledge early on as well, and this little Mega Man-styled Pokémon also looked very good.

We are treated to having the box legendary with us at the very start of the game, which was a welcome change! I enjoyed riding on my Koraidon and found the design to be very unique due to the wheel on it’s stomach. The colors and overall aesthetic gave this Pokémon a lot of personality that I have never seen in any legendary Pokémon before. We also get a dolphin based Pokémon known as Finizen that is adorable and has a great shade of blue. Flamigo is literally a flamingo but it’s a unique Pokémon to have in a game. Overall, I enjoyed using a lot of the new Pokémon found in generation nine and this was the best part of the game for me.

Some great tunes on your Pokemon adventure

As always in a Pokémon game, there will be some bangers and ear worms. One such banger for me was the music that played in the city of Levincia. It had a great techno vibe that really aligned well with the gym battle. The music that plays during an encounter with a wild Pokémon was also great too, albeit not to the same effect. I enjoyed the different approach from the previous generations though. The music that plays during battles with the Team Star bosses is exhilarating and seems to raise the stakes of the outcome.

Critically acclaimed composer, Toby Fox (Undertale), shines with his work in these games. He composed the field music found throughout the Paldea Region and also the music that plays during Tera Raid battles. His work is always outstanding and his previous work, including the Battle Tower theme from Sword and Shield, prove that he deserved his spot here in this game.

The theme that plays while you’re at your version’s university is an ear worm. It sounds like the music you might hear while at Disneyland waiting in line to ride the teacups, but it is very pleasant and calm. Going back and forth to the school in order to complete classes, meet instructors, and earn rewards means that an average player is going to hear this music often and for long periods at a time. I stopped going to the school for a large portion near the end of the journey and this theme remained stuck in my head. While there isn’t one song that can come close to how much I love the National Park theme from HeartGold and SoulSilver, overall the music is exceptional here as it is in almost every other Pokemon game.

New features abound

Scarlet and Violet build off from the camping mechanic from Sword and Shield well by introducing picnics. You can set up a picnic almost anywhere in the Paldea Region and make a sandwich for yourself and your Pokemon. Sandwiches are everything in Paldea. The Paldeans who stay inside their houses that you’re not allowed to enter or see eat sandwiches for every meal and love to make them. Maybe that’s why you can’t go inside their home, they’re too busy making sandwiches. The previous generation had the Curry Dex and your skill in making the curry led to a level of friendship and healing benefits.

Generation Nine changes this mechanic completely, and for the better. You can make different sandwiches either by following a set recipe or choosing your own ingredients. Each sandwich has a different effect, such as changing the spawns in your area, the power of your Pokémon while raiding, or perhaps the best mechanic, Egg Power. By creating a sandwich with Egg Power you increase the amount of eggs produced by your breeding Pokémon while enjoying a picnic. Previous generations had you spinning circles then speaking to a breeder in order to generate one egg at a time.

In Scarlet and Violet I was able to bring my Meowscarada and a Ditto into my picnic, feed them an Egg Power sandwich, then literally put my Nintendo Switch down for several minutes. I had multiple eggs waiting for me in the basket by the table and could just grab them one by one. The eggs went straight to my box, so I didn’t even have to chose where to send each egg. Thank you for doing this Game Freak! To hatch the eggs still required me to travel around Paldea, but the improvement to breeding was such a welcome change. The picnic mechanic is by far the best way to feed and play with your Pokemon in the franchise.

The previous generation had Dens, where Gigantamax or Dynamax Pokémon would be larger then life and required a team of four players to defeat them. This generation features Tera Raid battles, where instead of just getting larger, the Pokémon look crystalized and have an added typing. You could wind up battling a Water type such as Gyarados with an added Rock Tera typing, thus making your Electric Pokémon unable to be super effective against it anymore. This adds a lot to the replayability and collectability for certain players who will want to collect each unique Tera type for some of their favorite Pokémon.

Another change is that it is easier to use a code to make sure you only have your actual friends in the raid with you. This was great during the Charizard event as my team was able to choose Pokémon that work well together and have a game plan. The online function is also slightly different because it is faster with the attacks not seeming so slow anymore. If you’re at a typing disadvantage you can instead cheer for your team and increase the attack or defense stats, or just heal the HP for the Pokémon. Of course the lag and issues increase when playing online with a team of players. I experienced times when the health bar of the Pokémon I was raiding against would move up and down all over the place. Sometimes a defeated Pokémon would remain on the screen while still taking damage and attacking my team. The time would run out and I would lose the Tera Raid battle.

The open world aspect of the game includes a map that allows you to set a marker that you can then travel towards. This is a great added feature, but unfortunately it still needs a lot of work. You can only set one marker at a time, rather than how Breath of the Wild allows you to set up several markers. Being able to have a variety of markers to remember where a certain Pokémon is found, an area you can’t get to but want to come back to in order to grab that technical machine (TM) would have also been nice. It is very difficult to make sense of the map sometimes because the paths can wind around quite a bit.

This isn’t a challenge once you unlock all of the abilities of your ride Pokémon and can literally beeline for your goal in a straight path, but the provinces and areas all have the same barren landscapes. I found myself having to open up the menu and map often in order to set up markers along the path just to get to the city I was heading towards. The map is also a very cluttered mess as it’s littered with spawning Pokémon, various Tera Raids, Team Star bases, gym badge areas, and Titan locations. I found it overwhelming, personally. I also just miss having distinct routes as well. The naming of the provinces and areas seems to compound the navigation issues further.

Scarlet and Violet do away with Battle Points (BP) and instead use League Points (LP). This is a great feature added because you earn LP by interacting with Tera Raid dens, completing some tasks of the paths, and can then use them to buy battle items such as the Focus Sash, Everstone, or Charcoal. I remember in Sword and Shield accumulating a massive amount of Watts from interacting with dens. In order for these to be of any use for me, I had to use Watts to buy various Poke Balls from NPCs, then sell them at Poke Marts for money. This generation allows you to purchase almost anything using both LP and money, thus making both forms of currency useful.

I don’t have to grind out the Battle Tower with non-competitive Pokémon just to earn enough BP to eventually buy the items needed that can then make them useful in a competitive situation. I am glad that Game Freak continues to make getting into competitive breeding and battling easier with every new generation. However, TMs are now crafted. If you’re playing competitively online and need to constantly change the moveset of your team, you’re going to have to go back to the story of the game and grind out a certain Pokémon in order to craft the TM. This is sort of a take one step forward and two steps back approach.

Scarlet and Violet introduce the enhanced online feature of Union Circle to the game’s online multiplayer functionality. My son, playing Violet, was easily able to start a group by interacting with a Poke Center, then I entered in the generated code from Scarlet, and poof! I was in his game and version. I could battle and catch version exclusive Pokémon is this manner. His icon appeared on my map so I could travel along with him. This is only beneficial when doing Tera Raids though, as otherwise we can’t battle wild Pokémon together at all. At least I was able to see his character walking around or zooming on his Miraidon while I was in the middle of a battle. We were also able to make sandwiches together, which led to a lot of calamity and chaos. The selfie function, allowing us to take a picture together, also serves well here too. This is a step in the right direction.

I’m hopeful that in future generations gameplay will be more seamless, and so too will interaction. It would have been great if we could have teamed up against gyms or Team Star leaders together. The Poke Portal also allows the player to choose options such as link or surprise trades, mystery gifts, or selecting a group or random Tera Raid to join. In my experience I found this was improved from the very laggy and ineffective Y-Comm from Sword and Shield.

Customization for your character is improved to a certain extent in the game as well. You can choose from a larger array of hairstyles and colors, even eye shape and your eyebrows. The game’s clothing though leaves a sour taste in our throats though. You can customize and choose from a variety of gloves, backpacks, shoes, and hats, but your top and bottoms are limited to four choices. You are in your school uniform throughout the entire game, and thus locked into either orange or purple colors. You can choose four different looks for your school uniform, but I felt myself having to cater to the orange color of my uniform a lot when choosing what to wear. Certain colors will not go well the uniforms unfortunately. Once I beat he Elite Four and Champion, shouldn’t I be done with school and able to buy whatever kind of shirt or pants I want?

Finally, when grinding and leveling up your Pokémon you can now use the Let’s Go feature. This added feature sends out the lead Pokémon and it auto-battles anything nearby. If you’re Pokémon is at a type disadvantage it will lose HP and come back to you. It will also pickup any item along the way. You can retrieve it and then send it back out again in a forward path as well. This will definitely save time when grinding and battling, but be warned, the XP earned is lower than when engaging in traditional battles. With the time saved though, you can have more battles than in a traditional wild encounter and therefore level up quicker.

Not quite reaching expectations

I absolutely love the Pokémon franchise and all of the games. I was so excited to review Scarlet & Violet and was sure I was going to be writing that this was the best Pokémon game I ever played. Sadly, this isn’t the best Pokémon game I have ever played. There are some pros in the new generation and yet, quite a few cons as well. The game does have three unique storylines that all have wonderful stories behind them. The new Pokémon designs are very great and were fun to battle with and collect along my journey. The music as always is great.

The bugs and glitches found in this game though really do deter from the overall experience. I get the sense that this game was just not ready to be released, but the Pokemon franchise had a set deadline. The game has to match up with the trading card sets coming out, the new plushies on the way, and has to align with the anime, as well. This game is touted as being an open world game, however you have to somewhat follow a linear path between the three unique storylines in order to actually achieve the end goals of all three. Let’s be honest, every previous Pokémon game has had you battling gyms, defeating legendaries, and battling an evil group. This wasn’t anything new in this generation other than choosing the order sometimes. The whole world also just feels so empty and devoid of any life.

Compared to the Let’s Go! titles and Sword & Shield I feel like this game doesn’t look any better. If we’re losing out on the game looking and feeling great, as Pokémon games should because of their previous quality and branding, just in order to have the open world label added to it, then I would rather go back to a linear and traditional game. This game is like a sandwich made in Paldea — parts of it taste good and overall it is healthy and filling. But it’s just a sandwich, and when I buy a Pokémon game, I’m expecting steak and lobster.

Score: 6.5/10