Well, this game is a breath of fresh air, I can say that much. Pokémon has never looked this gorgeous, nor has it ever sounded this gorgeous. I really cannot fathom why they haven't made a Pokémon Snap sequel sooner. Seeing Pokémon in their natural environment is so mind-blowingly excellent I can't understand why they haven't bothered to explore the concept since Nintendo 64. I mean, they kept churning out those Pikachu shorts before every movie, which basically consist of ten minutes of wild Pokémon goofing around, but the games really didn't feature anything close to it. And don't give me "the technology didn't allow it", Snap on the N64 proves that it was possible all along. Anyway, let's let bygones be Bagon, and appreciate the fact that we've finally got a Snap sequel.
And it's a good sequel too.
It's so great to see wild Pokémon in their natural environment. Sprites and models in the main series games are largely static and shown in isolation. While you see Pokémon move around, you don't see them interact. We might have seen Squirtle do a backflip before (it might be one of its animations in some game somewhere?) but it's something entirely different to see it do a backflip off a rock as it's jumping into water ... where it immediately attracts the attention of a Sharpedo and has to swim for its life, while its friend points and laughs from the safety of a nearby rock (let's just assume Sharpedo is going to rough Squirtle up, but not eat it, lest this scene becomes needlessly cruel). Such little spiels really make the Pokémon world come to life. We see Bidoof swimming in a conga line to celebrate their dam being fully constructed. A Finneon showing off its jumping abilities to its friends, but ends up being swooped away by a Wingull. We see Machamp flexing its muscles, Tangrowth displaying an interesting method of locomotion, young Ducklett swimming in a row behind Swanna, Pinsir fighting Heracross, Golisopod meditating in silent caves on the seafloor, Qwilfish puffing themselves up ... this game really brings the Pokémon world to life.
The "realistic" scale of the Pokémon is awesome too, to the point that I really wonder what the eff the designers of SwSh were thinking when they scaled every 'mon to approximately the same size. When you get up close and personal with Pokémon like Onix or Wailord, you really understand how important their size is to their designs. Seeing Wailord break the water right in front of you is a real "whoa!" moment. Same when you attract the attention of Tyrantrum and it starts chasing your pod. Seeing the giant Illumina Pokémon up close is a real experience too.
I really like the concept of each Pokémon having four different "star levels" too, and that there are no exceptions. No Pokémon is only visible once, in the far distance as a short gag, you really have to find them all in four different situations. It's a little annoying that you can only submit photos for one of those situations at a time, but realistically you're going to know how to replicate them on the next run through the stage. Because you're sure to play through each stage a lot of times if you want to catch 'em all - on camera. I must have run through the first stage fifty times already by now, and still haven't found every star level for each Pokémon in it.
The photo quests are a bit of hit-and-miss for me. On one hand, it's great incentive to explore the stages. On the other, it's a little annoying to come back from a stage and receive the quest for a photo you just took, but have no way to submit it again. You have to play the stage again and try to remember how to take the exact same picture. Sometimes, it's a bit hard to understand what you're supposed to do as well.
But overall ... a really solid game that's clearly crafted with a lot of love and attention. There is great variety of biomes, the landscapes look really gorgeous at times, and the world feels so alive. It clearly is the sequel we've been waiting for for all these years.
