Game Informer

Pokémon Legends: Arceus Review – A New Switch Game Worth Playing



Pokémon Legends: Arceus has finally arrived on the Switch, but is it worth your time? Join GI for our official review where we tell you why Game Freak’s new title may be worth your attention.

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46 Comments

  1. This is a REAL chance for Nintendo and Game Freak to redeem themselves. The fact that this is the first game to release with just a single version really says something. They’re putting more love into it.

  2. I just can't understand people defending this game because we had Monster Hunter Rise recently and that game for being on the switch before the PC was pretty insane and had much more action and things going on then this Pokemon game. So how can people be okay with how this game looks and plays when we have other games on the switch that have already done it better?

  3. The graphics never bothered me so as long as the gameplay and story is strong. It would be nice of course, but I have to remember the devs likely have to stick to a strict timeline set by TPC so TPC can create new anime and merch on a yearly basis. (There is a Legends Arceus related anime arc that’s already been airing). Gamefreak is a cog in a giant machine, of the biggest media franchise, and unless they allow them the freedom to create a game that doesn’t coincide with an anime release schedule, give them more years on a game, I doubt we’ll see better graphics unless they’re given the funds to hire a massive team to complete games quick and higher quality. Not to mention, the higher ups KNOW the games sell no matter what the quality is, and that is not the fault or vision that artists and game devs have, ever. The reason Snap looks so good, I speculate, is because that game company is not tied to the machine as strictly and have a different work culture and pipeline because of it.

    Speaking from experience, I’ve worked on games, smaller of course, that clients strictly tell us to go by a certain deadline. At the start, it’s fine, until they throw you curveballs to change a shit ton of things while adding new things, and STILL expect the same deadline and not giving any more money. And the game just never ends up how I envisioned it. Strict budgets and strict timelines are a devs and artists nightmare, so I feel for Gamefreak unconditionally.

    For future releases, it would be ideal people criticize these games and direct annoyances and grievances to the people that matter: those pulling the strings and not calling devs “lazy” for things out of their control.

  4. Not being able to battle friends is the biggest letdown. It would have been great if there were competitive implications of legends arceus.

  5. Honestly I recommend everyone get a copy of this game so game freak and Nintendo fully realize that this is the direction the community wants. I’m so tired of remakes of the same stories I’ve already played. Pokémon needed something new and this is it.

  6. Ive played a select few games of pokemon and always found the turn based battle system very repetitive. This on the other hand looks awesome. This game finally earned my preorder lol

  7. Does anybody know why Game Freak who has been an exclusive developer with Nintendo for decades now has a hard time with getting the most out of Nintendo hardware? Is it as simple as they are talented designers but untalented coders?

  8. You can't expect red Dead level of graphics from a device weaker than an iphone 6. The game looks phenomenal most of the time, and it's just outright so much fun

  9. Now if they can keep and flush out some of these new mechanics and implement them into future releases that would be great. I feel like Nintendo likes trying new things with pokemon, but every time they release something really new and interesting that fans love they tend to say well that's neat and then abandon the concept in the next release, or wait 3-4 generations to bring it back in a remake or spin off game.

  10. Absolutely nothing shown or described here paints the picture of anything even slightly above mediocre.

    If this didn't had the Pokemon/Nintendo association it would have gotten mostly 6/10, 5/10 or less all day long; maybe a few odd 7/10. I'd bet my life on it.

    Nostalgia is poison to critical analysis, but it's treated by most large publications as prerequisite for Nintendo reviews.

  11. Do you think they'll listen to the primary criticisms of this game for the next one or they'll just one and done it and go right back to producing trash again?

  12. No voice acting. No character animation in cutscenes. The strong/agile attacks in the battle system seems mighty similar to the one in MH Stories.
    The environment geometry and textures look really lazy and mediocre. Pokemon fans deserve better than this honestly.

  13. The language of this review feels like a solid 7.5 but somehow the score is 8.75? If the reviewer felt that strongly about it this video review doesn’t capture why that is well enough.

  14. Imagine being a triple a game in 2022 without voice acting and low res textures. Nintendo needs to make a traditional console with the same performance as an ps5

  15. For all those people that warned Nintendo about Arceus not looking good, you were totally right! But they still didn't change shit! Does it matter? Not much, they'll be earning millions from this Pokemon game just like any other.

  16. Being spoiled by xbox and ps5. This game looksgraphically bare. Even more so than botw. Am i wrong? Even the colors look rather dull and mute. Shouldnt the world look rich in color and are there no weather effects? Fog, sun rays and the such? It just looks so empty

  17. I am a biased Pokemon fan since I have played Blue in 1998. I do know I will love this game to death but I also hope that they will use parts of this template and merge it with the previous formula to create the ultimate Pokemon experience. Oh, and with better graphics next time too. I don't mind graphics at all since I'm used to the sprite based visuals of the past but a bump to make it more on par with BOTW would me amazing.

  18. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is very different from the other past Pokemon games because sometime a trainer need to dodge a wild Pokemon's attack instead the usual Pokemon battle to weaken a wild Pokemon before catching it. Watch some of the video on YouTube of how to dodge even the legendary Pokemon like Palkia, Dialga, Giratina and Arceus is really hard as it reminds me one of Nintendo sitch games like Zelda and Mario.

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