A copy of Scarlet version was kindly provided by Nintendo for this Pokémon Scarlet and Violet review.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are the first games in the ninth generation of Pokémon. For those of us who’ve been around since the beginning, it’s almost unbelievable to think that we’re still enjoying the series all these years later. But it’s always exciting to see which fresh innovations new Pokémon instalments bring.
The original games pioneered the early open-world genre but were fundamentally linear in their design. Despite the fact you could travel between various towns and landmarks, there was a fairly strict order to things. And players couldn’t really deviate from it.
You started in a small town before moving on to bigger and more varied places to challenge their respective gym leaders. Wild Pokémon and other trainers got progressively harder – but you got stronger, too. Eventually, you’d best the Elite Four and become Champion. And besides a couple of minor side adventures (including the hunt for legendary Pokémon), there really wasn’t much to take you off of that course.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet do a tremendous job in broadening the series’ traditional open-world formula. The Paldea region feels like the largest and most liberating to date. And the addition of three main quest-lines adds much needed layers of variety to the series as it enters its ninth generation.
Unfortunately, the dire performance issues and lamentable graphics feel as if Ghastly has put a curse on an otherwise fun and progressive entry in the series.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Review: Setting
Open World
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet take place in the Paldea region, which is inspired by the Iberian Penninsula. After all these years, it’s still impressive how varied and charming the world of Pokémon can be.
Due to the broader nature of Scarlet and Violet‘s open-world, Paldea deviates from the traditional ‘Routes’ system that previously connected cities and towns. Instead, Paldea is broken up into Areas.
Paldean Areas are much more open than Routes. Rather than a simple path that takes you from A to B, Areas are open to explore and offer various tracks in and out. They’re also littered with free-roaming wild Pokémon, other trainers, and secrets to discover.
Thanks to these games’ legendary cover Pokémon, Koraidon (Scarlet) and Miraidon (Violet), exploring the open world of Paldea is both fun and manageable.
You get one or the other right at the start of their respective game. And as you go on and they regain strength (by eating sandwiches!) they learn additional abilities like surf, glide, and dash. All in all, this made exploring Paldea on the back of the mighty Koraidon one of my favourite parts of Scarlet.
Towns and Cities
Like other regions before it, Paldea is full of unique towns and cities to visit.
The settlements of Scarlet and Violet are undoubtedly some of the largest and most impressive to date – at least superficially.
Importantly, they feel distinct from one another and exploring each one conjures up the same sense of wonder as their Kanto and Johto counterparts did way back when.
However, this sense of intrigue is disappointingly neutered by the lack of building interiors you can access. Not only are most homes off-limits but shops are reduced to simple onscreen menus, too. This leaves towns feeling like more of a pretty shell than real, lived-in settlements.
Even more dispiriting are the many low resolution textures you’ll find around the world. Get close to a structure and any level of immersion is immediately broken by a pixelated mess.
The same goes for Areas, too. While exploring them is mostly enjoyable, so much of the open-world feels empty and soulless thanks to the flat visuals and constant performance limitations.
In 2022, the graphics of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet just aren’t up to par. Nobody is expecting photo-realism on the Switch. But the console has still turned out gorgeous visuals like those found in Breath of the Wild. So, there’s really no excuse for such poor graphics from one of the most profitable franchises in the world.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Review: Story
In a creative break from tradition, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet start with you enrolling in either the Naranja (Scarlet) or Uva (Violet) academies under the tutelage of director Clavell and rival/best friend Nemona.
Before any typical Pokémon training can begin, you must first journey to the academy. En route you encounter Koraidon or Miraidon and must restore them to health. They then serve as your personal mount throughout the rest of the game.
After getting to one of the gigantic academies, the games open up by way of the school Treasure Hunt. This sees trainers journey across Paldea to uncover their own personal treasure (be it becoming a Champion or otherwise).
The traditional Pokémon journey of challenging gym leaders and becoming a Champion has always been a rewarding experience. But it has also made Pokémon games one dimensional.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet break the mould by introducing three different quest-lines for players to complete. They are: Victory Road, Starfall Street, and Path of Legends.
Victory Road
As the name suggests, Victory Road is the traditional route of challenging gym leaders and the Elite Four on your quest to become the ultimate Pokémon trainer.
As always, Scarlet and Violet‘s gym leaders are suitably varied. For the first time, they can be tackled in any order which felt like an important move in realising a true open-world.
In Scarlet and Violet, rather than having to beat skilled trainers and navigate puzzles to reach a gym leader, you need to complete Gym Challenges instead. These take the form of mini-games that are more of a tedious distraction than a true challenge. The old format worked much more effectively.
Starfall Street
Starfall Street sees you embark on a top secret mission to dismantle the nefarious Team Star (Scarlet and Violet‘s Team Rocket knock-off).
Under the guise of the mysterious hacker Cassiopeia, you must venture to different Team Star bases with the aim of taking down their respective bosses.
Like gyms, each base specialises in a specific type of Pokémon. However, you don’t battle trainers in the traditional way.
Instead, you must fight through a ‘Star Barrage’ in which you can send out three Pokémon to battle random grunts around the base. Provided you’re adequately prepared with the correct type of Pokémon, Star Barrages aren’t particularly hard but make for a nice change of pace.
After completing the Star Barrage, you get to face the base’s boss in a traditional battle. Each of them has a special Revavroom variant, dubbed ‘Starmobiles’, that aligns to their specific type. These proved to be immensely challenging at times.
After beating the boss, you get a special badge. However, there seemed to be no EXP benefit for besting Team Star bosses which is an oversight.
Path of Legends
Path of Legends takes you on a quest to defeat Paldea’s five Titan Pokémon at the behest of fellow student and trainer Arven.
Titans are giant, boss-like variants of ordinary Pokémon. As with the gyms and Team Star bases, they can be tackled in any order.
After defeating a Titan, Arven makes sandwiches from their special Herba Mysticas. These bestow special powers on Pokémon who consume them.
Arven’s true motives for crafting these all-powerful sandwiches is surprisingly heart warming and it motivated me to dedicate myself more to the Path of Legends than the other two quest-lines.
Overall, the three main stories in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet come together well and make for a nice break with the traditional format. They explore some interesting new ideas by making use of different and well-implemented mechanics.
Terrastalizing
By this point, a new Pokémon game wouldn’t be complete without a fresh battle gimmick. We’ve already had Mega Evolutions and Dynamaxing. But that’s seemingly not enough to expand the variety of existing creatures.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet introduce the uniquely Paldean mechanic of Terrastalizing.
Terrastalizing uses the Tera Orb to crystallise Pokémon into a new Tera-type. These Tera-types are more powerful than normal and can be entirely different to a Pokémon’s usual type. This makes for some interesting combinations.
While Terrastalizing adds a new dimension to battling and Pokémon aesthetics, it’s not particularly necessary.
The existing Mega Evolution and Dynamax battle gimmicks could be re-implemented in its place without detracting from the uniquely Paldean features of Scarlet and Violet.
I fear these gimmicks are becoming a crutch to supplement the increasingly repetitious creature designs. And while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, there is no need to introduce a new one with every subequent entry in the series.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Review: Performance Issues and Bugs
Paldea has one gigantic issue – and it isn’t Team Star or rogue Titan Pokémon. Instead, it’s the copious performance issues and bugs that litter Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
For this review, I played Scarlet. And performance problems were evident from the get go.
The most noticeable issues are: low frame rate, flick-book like character animations, model and texture pop-in, and inconsistent lighting effects.
Elsewhere, bugs like invisible Pokémon, misaligned camera angles, and the ability to move at double speed with two controllers connected only further dampen the experience.
Twitter is awash with clips of the many problems other players have encountered. So I know this wasn’t unique to me.
It’s a huge shame. Clearly, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet needed more time in development. Hopefully these problems are fixed in future updates because they are currently a significant, almost insurmountable, detriment.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Review: Verdict
It is impressive that after more than two decades Pokémon games still deliver the same childlike fun and wonder as they always have. Crucially, they continue to innovate in ways that keep the series continually fresh without losing what makes them so special to long-time and new fans alike.
The use of three core quest-lines is well implemented and compliments the games’ expanded open-world. They add some much needed variation to the traditional Pokémon adventure without being unnecessary distractions.
Overall, Paldea is yet another wonderfully conceptualised world that would be a joy to explore if it wasn’t for the poor graphics and awful performance problems.
Scarlet and Violet would probably go down as two of the best games in the series if not for these issues. Instead, all anyone will likely remember are the viral glitch montages that have swept across social media. And that’s regrettable because at their core is an imperfect yet charming and highly enjoyable adventure.
Overall Rating: 6/10
Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch
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