4.5/5 ★ – Vole's review of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Platform: Nintendo Switch (Docked) My experience: A New Favourite! 🤩 Rating: 8.5/10 My Team: - Hisuian Samurott [Harbinger] - Shiny Luxray [Ratchet] - Yanmega [PodHopper] - Wyrdeer [Spiritfarer] - Hisuian Arcanine [Blazkowitz] - Hisuian Goodra [Atlas] - Torterra [Diamond] (swapped in regularly) Goodness, this is the dream Pokémon game I’ve been waiting for! I’ve followed this series since 2003, loving almost every entry in the franchise. These lasts few entries in the series (Pokemon on the switch) has been super disappointing for me, feeling more like 3DS games on the switch. But with Pokemon Legends: Arceus, it finally feels like the series is evolving into something bigger. Being able to throw your ball to catch and battle Pokémon is the best feeling in any Pokémon game, and it never gets old. I’ve felt the most connected to my team I ever have, with some great new forms to come from the Hisui region too. The story is also super interesting, with some great story beats, and the best characters in the series to date. I’m so happy with the majority of this game, but there are a few things holding it back from greatness. The art style maybe gorgeous, BUT the technical side of the game is horrendous. Constant pop in, texture glitches, low resolution textures, low poly terrain, frame rate issues…it’s such a shame when the gameplay is so stellar. As well, character animation is better but still quite stiff, with a lot of animations being hidden by black screens, simply so they don’t have to be animated. As well, no voice acting is such a shame. Even just some grunts would have made the speech more compelling. Overall, I adore this game, for everything it has achieved for the series going forward. It’s not perfect, there’s a lot of issues here, but it mostly didn’t take away from my experience. This is the definitive Pokémon experience on switch at the moment, I can’t wait to see how Gen 9 pans out. Just please, fix the engine or use a new one. It’s showing it’s age now and for one of the biggest franchises in the world, this has to stop.