Pokémon Scarlet and Violet raked in good reviews despite multiple performance problems.
Many critics pointed to the game's new open world and ability to travel anywhere as its greatest highlights. GameSpot's Jake Dekker praises the recent Nintendo Switch titles for their open-world mechanism. "This new approach to the tried-and-true Pokémon formula reinvigorates the mainline series and delivers one of the most challenging and rewarding Pokémon adventures to date," he wrote. Dekker believes the way Scarlet and Violet give players the freedom to progress in a non-linear fashion is where the Generation IX games really stand out, allowing players to forge their own paths.
Metro's David Jenkins believes Scarlet and Violet is a "much bigger leap forward" from Generation VIII's Sword and Shield. "Everything is a step up from Sword and Shield, which looked horribly unnatural, but Scarlet and Violet requires a significant amount of goodwill on the part of the player to seem like a cohesive world," he wrote. Jenkins added the frame rate drops and camera issues improved from Pokémon Legends: Arceus, though many players continued to experience a host of problems from them.
One of the consistently heard issues following the release of the Generation IX games is its lengthy list of technical problems. GamesRadar+'s Joel Franey criticized the game for both its performance and graphics. "At one point a character's eye randomly slammed shut and she spent half the conversation staring at me like Popeye, or a Hoppip sunk into the pavement like Homer Simpson into shrubbery, he wrote." Although Scarlet and Violet are trying their "fair share of new ideas," Franey considers the result "somewhat off-kilter, bordering on outright messy."
Like Franey, The Guardian's Tom Regan wasn't afraid to address his concerns about the games' performance. "Pokéballs get stuck in rocks. The frame rate in the open world constantly judders to a crawl," he wrote. Despite the glitches, Regan believes the Generation IX titles are "the most compelling Pokémon's been in decades." "With the freedom of a gigantic world map to be explored, Scarlet and Violet come closest yet to capturing the spirit of a true globetrotting adventure," he wrote.
The aforementioned performance issues disappointed Eurogamer's Lottie Lynn. However, she still praised certain aspects of Scarlet and Violet. Lynn praised the Pokédex for being "perfectly adapted for the games' open-world nature without losing any of the surprise that comes from discovering a new Pokémon." She also addressed the unique level-scaling system in Generation IX, finding it a good "reimagining" of traditional route progressions in the games that typically mean stronger Pokémon the further you go. Now, players can travel anywhere they want in Paldea without traditional blockages like Snorlax or Sudowoodo.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are out for the Nintendo Switch now.
Source: GamesRadar+, The Guardian, Metro, GameSpot, Eurogamer