"So I was trying to write reviews of a bunch of hit indie games I played recently. Then I got overwhelmed by the pointlessness of video game reviews these days and had to take a long nap.
And, I mean, pro reviews are pointless, right? If a game has a big enough budget or following and isn’t actively on fire, it gets a 9. If it is a competently made but low-budget indie, like mine, it gets a 7. If you read the actual review (nobody does), it’s a collection of facts about the game you could easily get from watching the trailer. Throw in a couple of comments from the reviewer about whether they like this genre or not, mix in 3 or 4 ham-handed political comments, and you got a review! Hit send!"
The moment you see a pokemon or a cod title get a 9/10, you understand how these reviews are shit.
Oh god yeah. I LOVE Pokémon but the highest a Pokémon game has gotten from me is a 7/10 (Smoon, Bwhite) in many years. bwhite had a great story with great mechanics and great QoL. Smoon had EVERY Pokémon in it and was the last game to do so. The beginning was an awful slog, but I loved all the locations, music, QoL features, and the endgame was incredible. Loved Battle Tower and how simple the game made to see the IVs of your Pokémon, while still keeping it challenging to breed a near perfect or perfect one.
The Switch main line games are mediocre to abysmal (ScarVio are neigh unplayable on the Switch) and the Legends game are good: 6/10 for Arceus and I just started ZA or whatever on an emulator and don’t have an opinion at all on it yet, other than it sure does look nice at 1440p/60 hahaha