Pokémon Violet
Year: 2022
Rating: E
Time Played: 45+ hours
I’m conflicted. Pokémon Violet is one of those games that would be so much better if they changed one thing. Even though it’s something that doesn’t directly affect the gameplay. Even if all the other mechanics in the game are fun. Sure, I got used to it, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it. Perhaps they should have delayed the game instead of adhering to a strict release schedule. After all, other games have done well by delaying to add that extra layer of polish. Unfortunately, I don’t think anything’s going to change.
Visually, Pokémon Violet is a tough pill to swallow. All the Pokémon models look fantastic, which just makes the look of the rest of the game a disappointment. I don’t think it would have mattered if I experienced more of the game in long shots, but the number of close-up focus moments that show jagged jpeg-artifact textures were too many to ignore. Even though the visuals don’t directly affect the gameplay, they’re frustrating to see. Other games on the same hardware look a lot better, so it’s not necessarily the limitations of the Switch hardware. If only they provided a patch with high-resolution textures, then I’d rate this game much higher.
Aside from this visual gripe, I loved a lot of what Pokémon Violet had to offer. The open-world format was something that was long overdue—including being able to see all the nearby Pokémon and decide whether I wanted to fight them. The story (all three parts of it) was superb. All the music was catchy and probably some of the best in the franchise. There were a lot of changes to the standard Pokémon formula in this game, and I think most of them worked flawlessly in advancing the franchise.
A fantastic entry in the Pokémon franchise that suffers from a lack of visual polish, I give Pokémon Violet 3.5 stars out of 5.
1/2
