3.5/5 ★ – izacreynolds's review of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Simply, the best Pokemon game since maybe Black and White? I've had a love hate relationship with Pokemon/Game Freak over the years. My first game being Blue, stopped playing after Diamond and Pearl and then got back into it with Sun and Moon. I like Pokemon a ton! The concept is great obviously, that's what sells a bajillion copies. However, modern Pokemon games are littered with problems. HAND HOLDING - Despite Pokemon being a beloved franchise that has had minimal changes in the main series for over 25 years, it refuses to acknowledge a players inate sense of wonder. They refuse to test the intelligence of their player base and stick too close to their formula of telling players what to do and how to do it. When they're not doing this, it's the god damn... S T O R Y - I have no issue with story but MY GOD! Sun and Moon was the worst for this, but why the hell do characters have to talk so goddamn long in Pokemon games now? Why do cutscenes have to happen every 5 minutes...that's not even an exaggeration. In Sword and Shield, you'll have a cutscene with a guy, he'll walk away, you'll take 10 steps and then you'll have another cutscene with the same guy!!! I HATE IT SO MUCH. These were two things I was hoping they would dumb down or if gods willing, get rid of entirely in Legends Arceus. I was so looking forward to jumping into the open world, maybe have a cutscene or two for context and then I get to go out and be free, Breath of the Wild style. What I got...wasn't that but it's a huge step in the right direction. Legends Arceus does streamline a ton of stuff and focuses on QOL. Battles are quicker, catching pokemon is insanely quick, running from pokemon can be instant, releasing pokemon (becomes quicker), even shiny hunting is quicker. Everything is streamlined. Now being a 3rd person, open-world, action rpg that it is, it added the inclusion of terrain traversal and honestly it's one of my favorite parts. Riding on the deer, jumping off a cliff as the deer a falling through the air only to just press A and change to the bird then soaring through the air, come in contact with a mountain, A again switch to Sneasler, climb up the wall, jump off the wall, land in water and AUTOMATICALLY turn into the fish thing, swimming super fast as the fish, then double jump as the fish out of the water and onto land and back as the deer. It's so fluid, so natural and it's so goddamn fun! It only makes you want to traverse and explore the world more. I didn't manage to complete all of the side missions in the game or even complete the final mission which is, battling and capturing Arceus which I cannot believe is post-game...that's just ridiculous. And you have to capture all pokemon to face him? Haha not for me. However I had a great time with this game. It did suffer from some lack of player involvement story wise, still all this prophecy, self importance, you're the special one kind of thing, I mean it has a whole story beat ripped from Mystery Dungeon Red and Blue rescue team. Some cut scenes, naturally that went on too long, some point a to point b story missions which annoyed me but overall, gameplay was fun, the graphics didn't bother me and I hope they keep Pokemon Legends as a side series. I'd love to see more and I'd love to play more.