Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s performance is truly awful – but if it’s really fun, how much does it matter? Leave a comment
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are here, which meant that yesterday the internet was full of critics, media, and influencers delivering their verdict on what is arguably one of the most ambitious and different main-line Pokemon games of all time. The verdict was positive, but also surprisingly mixed.
As it stands right now, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet will be some of the lowest-scoring core Pokemon titles in the history of the franchise. This Metascore of 77 isn’t exactly bad, but the fact it landed lower than other equivalent Pokemon games did rather take me by surprise – as I made clear in my This took me by surprise, as I delivered a 4-star review on VG247 that basically calls it the joint-best Pokemon game of the last 20 years, sitting alongside Legends Arceus from earlier this year as a breath of fresh air that challenges the franchise status quo.
But there is an elephant (Donphan?) in the room. That, as I said in my review, is the performance. Folks, it’s bad. It’s probably the worst-performing triple-A, big-budget game I’ve ever seen. And it’s even worse when you consider that it’s coming from literally one of the biggest franchises on the planet, a brand so powerful that there is no question that more resources could be thrown at the problem.
