[2022-01-26] DO NOT BUY Pokémon Legends - Arceus - VERY disappointing [_lejqf9otog]

Hello and welcome back to a new video game

review. So recently I've been playing the

brand new Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and as

an avid fan of the Pokémon franchise and

gaming series in general, I just had to

play this game. Unfortunately, it's just

been a massive disappointment and has

probably been one of the worst Pokémon

games I have ever played, and I've played

quite a lot of Pokémon games in my life.

I think I've played every single Pokémon

game that has ever existed. Starting from

Pokémon Red and Blue back when it wasn't

even in color. And now we're in 2022 with

this latest iteration of the Pokémon

games, and somehow they've managed to

create the most lackluster, most

disappointing, and unimaginative Pokémon

game that has ever existed. So when I

first booted up the game, my initial

impressions were this game looks exactly

like Breath of the Wild. It looks just

like Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But more

bland and more boring. It's like they

didn't even create a new game engine for

this new Pokémon game. They just copy and

pasted the game engine from Zelda: Breath

of the Wild and somehow made it look

worse, and then just sprinkled some

Pokémon into the game as well, and then

removed all of the fun things that you

could find in the Zelda franchise games.

If you look up any kind of trailer or

gameplay footage of Pokémon Legends:

Arceus, I swear it looks just like Zelda:

Breath of the Wild. It's got that same

kind of feeling, it's got It's got that

same kind of atmosphere. It's even got

very similar music. So if I had to quickly

describe and explain what this game feels

and plays like, I would just say it's like

Zelda but with Pokémon. And you can kind

of tell that Nintendo is running out of

ideas when it comes to creating new

Pokémon games when the main gimmick, the

main draw of this new Pokémon game is the

fact that it's open world. Oh God, no.

As soon as a games company starts adding

open world to their game, You just know

they don't have any other ideas. It's like

you can just imagine the game developers

at Nintendo gathering around a table and

thinking of ideas, coming up with ways to

make the new Pokémon game interesting,

and they will go, why don't we just make

it open world? The problem is Pokémon has

never been an open world game, and it's

never really needed to be. Now, I don't

hate the concept of open world game

mechanics, and there are some games that

have managed to pull off an open world in

a very good way. Unfortunately, This new

Pokémon Legends: Arceus game has not

really managed to do that. The open world

in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is very bland

and extremely boring. I didn't really feel

like I wanted to explore the land. It just

felt like a barren wasteland of trees and

mountains, and then an odd scattering of

Pokémon here and there that don't really

do anything. The Pokémon just kind of roam

up and down randomly. It doesn't really

feel like the realistic living creatures

that have to eat and feed and sleep and

function, and function as a living

creature. The whole point of having an

open world is to get the player to want to

explore it, but in Pokémon Legends:

Arceus, they have completely failed to

make an interesting and intriguing open

world. I just find it really bizarre that

they managed to somehow copy and paste the

atmosphere and feeling and look of the

Zelda Breath of the Wild open world but

then they somehow managed to leave out

whatever made the open world in Zelda so

great. Now, as for the graphical fidelity

of the game, it's not quite up to my

standards. The art style is a very bland

and generic looking anime kind of art

style, and the graphics of the game,

although very colorful and kind of cute in

its aesthetic, it just doesn't really look

that good to me. It kind of looks like a

mobile game, It doesn't really look like

it's a flagship game on a console. It's

supposed to be a console game, and I've

seen games on my phone that look better.

The game just looks nothing like the

cartoons. It doesn't look anything like

Ash or Brock or any of the characters you

would expect from the cartoon series, and

I don't understand why they would bother

making a Pokémon game that doesn't look

like the cartoon series that it's based

off of. It just looks like random generic

anime characters you would expect to see

in some kind of anime show that has

nothing to do with Pokémon. So I would

have to give the graphics a 4 out of 10.

They don't look terrible, but then they

don't look very inspiring or original or

innovative. They don't really stand out or

strike me as, this is a Pokémon game.

Now, as for the gameplay, the gameplay in

the game is also kind of boring. If you

played any Pokémon game in the last 20

years, then you'll know what to expect.

You basically just run around the open

world and you catch Pokémon like you do in

every single Pokémon game. And if you

can't easily capture the wild Pokémon,

you've then got to fight them with your

own Pokémon. And it's just the same old

turn-based action kind of fighting where

you just take turns to attack each other

and then heal your Pokémon up in case it

gets low on HP. And then when the enemy

Pokémon gets low on health, then you can

capture it in a Poké Ball. It's exactly

the same as every other Pokémon, and I

guess the main difference is that you can

see the Pokémon roaming about in the wild.

They don't just randomly appear and spawn

and trigger a fight scene, which is what

it used to be like in the original Pokémon

games. There's also these Noble Pokémon,

and they're these kind of boss battle

things you've got to fight, and they're

very big and angry and very dangerous.

And you've got to use your own Pokémon and

different items to take them down,

including a balm thing, which is

something— it's like a Poké Ball you throw

at them, but it explodes in a purple

cloud. And I thought at this point, why

don't you just give the player a weapon?

Just give us a sword and shield so we can

attack the Pokémon directly. One thing I

never quite understood about Pokémon is

why do we have to fight the Pokémon using

our own Pokémon? Why can't we just get a

big stick and hit the enemy Pokémon in the

face and knock them out and then capture

them in a Poké Ball. Some of these Pokémon

are so tiny you could probably literally

just kick them, but no, you've just got to

stand there in the background giving

orders to your own Pokémon to attack it.

And when you fight these noble Pokémon,

or the more dangerous ones that directly

attack you the player, you've got to then

start rolling around and dodging, and then

the game kind of becomes like a Monster

Hunter rip-off clone. I just didn't really

find the gameplay to be very engaging or

fun, and as someone who's played a lot of

Pokémon games, it was nothing new,

nothing to hook me back into the game.

And I have to give the gameplay a 2 out of

10. It's not fun, it's not challenging.

You basically just press attack, wait for

the enemy to attack, and then you attack

again. And that's the problem with the

Pokémon game series. Nintendo doesn't have

any reason or motivational incentive to

change things up and make it interesting

or fresh again, because the fans of the

Pokémon games don't really want that.

They just want the same thing shoveled to

them year after year. That's why every

time we get a new version or iteration of

Pokémon, it's always just the same thing

in a different skin, because the Nintendo

and Pokémon fanboys just buy it anyway,

even if it's exactly the same kind of

game. They lap it up and they, they pay

for it. And as a result, we get no

innovation, we get no freshness, we just

get Nintendo being lazy, milking one of

its most popular franchises, putting in

the bare minimum effort to make the game

seem like it's a new game when really it's

not. Now when it comes to the story of the

game, there is a story in the same way

that every single Pokémon game has a

story, but I don't know if anyone actually

ever cares about the story in Pokémon

games. It's always the same. You're some

kid in some unknown small village or town

who wants to become a Pokémon master, and

then you've got to work your way up from

the bottom, capturing Pokémon and fighting

your way to the top. And in this game,

it's not really any different. I guess the

main difference is that the gimmick of the

story is that you're a researcher and

you've got this base camp and you're

researching the Pokémon to try and find

out about them. So exactly what kind of

person is going to enjoy this new Pokémon

game? Well, if you're the kind of person

who likes exploring a very bland-looking

generic open world, and you like capturing

and collecting a vast array of different

wild Pokémon that are out there to be

captured, and you enjoy the repetitive

combat system, then I think you're going

to really love this game. But as someone

like me who prefers more depth and

challenge to his video games, this game

wasn't quite up to my standards. I think

I'm going to have to give it a 4.6 out of

10. I really cannot recommend this game at

this price point. I think it's too

expensive, and I feel like it should come

down in price to make it a worthwhile

purchase. So in conclusion, I would say

nice try, Nintendo, but next time try to

bring a little bit more to the table.