RyanTheGameGuy RTGG

Spoiler free review: Pokémon Legends: Arceus This is an in depth review you can skip to the last paragraph to see my ratings out of 10 and if I recommend the game if you prefer! 😀 I have been playing this new entrant to the Pokémon series since release and while this may divide fans of the Pokémon games personally I am thoroughly enjoying it. This is the closest we have come to an open world pokemon game as you wander through the world and see multiple wild Pokémon you have the option to sneak up on the Pokémon and throw a poke ball straight away, battle the Pokémon to weaken it or even distract it with food while throwing a poke all from behind! The gameplay is fantastic You can grab side quests from multiple npc’s so between this and filling in information on your pokedex by catching/battling wild Pokémon you will not be short of things to do and the battles now take place in real time, with the addition of styles of moves the battling does seem to be more challenging than ever this provides a welcome addition especially for those Pokémon veterans out there. There is no difficulty settings in game but you are kept at the level you need to be for the area you are in. It kind get a bit Grindy when gathering information and unlocking other areas but I enjoyed the battles and catching so much this didn’t really effect my game. One let down I will have to say in the world design. While it is awesome seeing the Pokémon walk around freely the world it self seems bland and can get repetitive, they try to combat this by adding multiple biomes to explore but this falls short. I don’t know if this falls down to the hardware limitations not being able to handle further additions or if this is due to them trying to keep the console space low (the game comes in at just under 7gb upon release) But I wish there was a bit more to the open world exploration as you will be spending the majority of time here. The graphics are what you would expect for a Pokémon game, they make up for any lacking here by having new and inventive additions to the formula. The FPS could use some more work as pets of the game look clunky but this doesn’t take anything away from the enjoyment and seemingly smooth transitions in game. The story (yes there is a story) has been enjoyable so far (at the time of writing I have not completed the game) and it has me wanting to play more of the story and achieve that completion. Ultimately the game is more focussed on pokedex completion than the story which is fine by me and means there should be plenty more to do once the story is out of the way. This is something I feel has been missing in modern previous games so amendments have been made. I should mention here that apart from trading there are no other online aspects to the game. This game is single player driven so there are no online battles. All in all I would rate the game 7.5/10 while the new additions and learning curve that come with the game are certainly going to divide players I really enjoyed them. I would say both people who enjoy the game and people who don’t are justified in their decisions as I can see we’re both camps are coming from. If you are looking for a traditional Pokémon game (grab your starter, take on gyms, become champion and complete the pokedex) then you may not enjoy this game (I would say see other reviews before making a concrete decision) but if you are looking for a new take on the franchise and a new challenge then definitely buy this game you won’t regret it!

It’s challenging, beautiful and I maybe a tiny bit addicted! I would first of all like to say I have a good amount of hours out into this game now, I can say it’s an incredible looking game with an ever looming challenge aspect. My ratings and recommendations are of course in the last paragraph should you want to skip right to it. Let start with the positives, Elden ring is an incredible game that looks gorgeous, beautifully voice acted and the art style is amazing! While the game certainly has its challenges it is both extreme satisfying and infuriating in equal measure, the combat in the game while it may take some time to get your timing down to perfection just feels smooth, you have options for days as you decide on which class you want. You can choose to use a sword and shield, maybe two handed weapons are more your style, if you would rather the ranged approach then you might want to try magic or bows. The choices seem endless. This game is more forgiving I feel than other games from ‘From Software’ I personally have never played a dark souls game but I did play the original demon souls. The open world is surprisingly lively and populated unlike a few games recently it feels like they really spent time fletching out the open world so it doesn’t feel so bare. The enemies can be gloriously aggressive and it still blows my mind how big some of the bosses are in comparison to your character. You can fine all sorts of enemies wandering around the open world and all fluctuating in difficulty. The beauty of this approach is should an enemy be too strong for you then you can hop on your mount and run! Before training up and coming back to the enemy who bested you before. One issue I do have with the game would be the lack of direction when it comes to what you need to do, where you need to go and the multiplayer is more complicated than it needs to be. You will find your self referring to google now and again to find your footing. Now the game isn’t perfect especially when it comes to performance, I have the game on pc and I don’t know if these issues effect consoles as much but every now and then you get random frame drops seemingly out of nowhere, I never experienced this during boss battles as some people have but I would run into random frame drops exploring the open world. Also graphics card usage (I have a 3080) would shoot up randomly with no noticeable changes in game. This is likely an issue they can address with patching but for the time being the issues can be frustrating. While some performance issues are an inconvenience at times overall they are few and far between. I don’t feel like this has taken a lot out of the experience as I am enjoying the game… A lot! All in all I would say if your are looking for a challenge and a beautifully designed game then absolutely buy this game… I have given this game a solid 4/5 (realistically 4.5/5) it was close to receiving a 5/5 but the performance issues and lack of direction just kept throw down to my score. Just know The game is tough and you will die multiple times, the game is not Skyrim meets dark souls as many people thought it would be but I still recommend people try this game.