Leon, the champion of the Galar region, stands before a cheering crowd and Charizard appears in all its Gen 1 glory before panning up to the title screen. Pokemon Sword and Shield have a grand opening with enough excitement and electricity to make me want to cheer too. After all, this is the first mainline Pokemon title to ever appear on a console. Expectations are high and its unique introduction sets the stage for what’s to come.

Top 10 Cutest Pokemon from Sword and Shield 10 IMAGES

Wooloo Takes Center Stage

Extra Cinematics Add Meaning to Key Battles

Shop Till You Drop

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Not So Random Encounters with Plenty of Surprises

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Catch 'Em If You Can

Technical Imperfections

Wild Area First Impressions

Cautious Optimism: Local and Online Multiplayer

Max Raid Battles Are a Challenging, Fun Spectacle

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[Update: Our review of Pokemon Sword and Shield is now live!]Of course, you’re no champion yet. Cut to the lavish garden outside your quaint house and it’s clear you have a long way to go before anyone’s cheering your name. I played the first 90 minutes of Pokemon Shield . Even though my adventure was barely beginning, I already felt like I had an interesting number of ways to spend my time and each option was as enticing as the last. From challenging and rewarding Max Raid Battles to new ways to train and bond with my Pokemon, Pokemon Sword and Shield are set up to be the most ambitious game in the series.After leaving your home you meet your rival, Hop, who is already accompanied by his partner Pokemon, Wooloo. For the first time ever your rival has two partner Pokemon and you’ll have to go up against both in your first battle. Hop’s Wooloo isn’t the only important one you’ll encounter, though. One of the early story beats features another Wooloo in need of rescue, and the adorable sheep Pokemon is also one of the first you can catch in the tall grass after getting your starter from Leon — that’s right, you’ll receive your new pal straight from the champion.Like many Pokemon fans, I loved Wooloo the instant it was revealed but I was still surprised to see it take on such a prominent role at the start of the game. Wooloo is primed to be the unofficial Pokemon Sword and Shield mascot and it’s the perfect one given the setting.While battles with youngsters and random trainers still have the typical gameplay loop (i.e talk, battle, win or lose with a comment tossed in at the end) battles against more notable opponents have an extra layer of story to them. In between turns, your opponent will make a comment in the form of a very brief cutscene. For instance, during an early battle with Hop he interjects: “How did you know about type advantages?!”These are quick enough to be negligible if you’re not interested in the story, but I was pleased to see an additional way to see story and gameplay come together in a more constant, organic way. The added context gives a bit of weight to the battles and helps establish characters a bit more.I can’t overstate how excited I am for the character customization options in this game. There are 10 categories of clothing to choose from: tops, hoodies, pants, dresses, socks, shoes, bags, hats, glasses, and gloves. We’ve gotten a brief look at their offerings over the past few months, and what I got to see of the in-game catalog didn’t disappoint. These clothes are actually stylish! Those staple Pokemon graphic t-shirts are still in stock, but thankfully there are plenty of alternatives including regular pants. Finally.Classic random encounters we’ve seen in mainline Pokemon games get quite a change in Pokemon Sword and Shield. This was first shown back in June, but seeing it in action gave me more confidence in the new system that gives players more choice on when they'll engage in wild Pokemon battles. While some catchable Pokemon are visible in the overworld like in Pokemon Let’s Go, you can catch others that appear as exclamation point icons in patches of tall grass both in and out of the Wild Area. These exclamation points are random in that you don’t know what Pokemon you’ll face but, because you can see the icon ahead of time, the actual encounter itself is anything but.Avoiding Pokemon in the grass requires you to slowly tiptoe your way through. Those who prefer being startled by a sudden battle can simply run through the tall grass at full speed. Technically, the exclamation point still appears before you battle but if you’re running you won’t have time to notice it. The exclamation-point-style random encounters provide more than just a surprise for players, though. Some Pokemon can only be found through random encounters, which is a great incentive for players to run into the unknown.Pokemon Sword and Shield maintains the ethos and identity it has had for years: treating the player like it’s the first time they’ve ever played a Pokemon game, which may be much to the dismay of many longtime fans. Even though GameFreak still makes you click through those tutorial dialogue boxes, I was pleasantly surprised that I could begin my Pokemon collection before I was instructed to do so. Shortly after getting your first Pokemon, you’re free to head into town and walk through the tall grass all you want. There were already five Pokeballs in my bag (thanks mom!) so I went ahead and caught a Pokemon unprompted.A few moments later Hop explains how catching Pokemon worked, but I already had one (you’re falling behind Hop!). This isn’t the tutorial-free experience some fans have been asking for but it was nice to be given a bit more freedom without eliminating the onboarding processVisually, Pokemon Sword and Shield look great, but I was a bit disappointed to see that, much like in Pokemon Let’s Go, Pokemon still would appear and disappear out of thin air as you walked ahead. This isn’t an issue in the grass as Pokemon are always popping in and out of view, but it’s still a little awkward to see Pokemon randomly shrink into oblivion when it was their turn to leave an area. The same issue applied to NPC trainers. The road would be empty but walk a bit further down and suddenly someone was standing by a rock.Fairly early on, you take the train to the Wild Area, which feels like a trainer’s playground. Expect plenty of places to battle, Max Raids to participate in, and merchants to buy goods from. This area appears to be the biggest we’ll explore in Galar, and there are quite a few features unique to this area to make traversal more pleasant. This includes considerate features like being able to access your PC (where you store Pokemon who aren’t in your party) directly from the menus while in the Wild Area.The freedom to rotate the camera in the Wild Area felt great and I couldn’t help but be excited to see winged Pokemon floating in the air and an Onix shuffling across the grass as the snowflakes gently fell from the sky. It wasn’t quite as populated with Pokemon as I would’ve liked, but under different weather conditions, a few more creatures could appear. Some sections of the Wild Area can’t be reached right away, giving players more to explore later on.You can earn a currency that’s exclusive to the Wild Area called Watts by battling trainers or by approaching dormant Max Raid Battle red beam locations. These Watts can be used to buy items from merchants who are roaming around the area. They sell camping gear, items, and ingredients for delicious curry. Some items for sale are exclusively sold in the Wild Area.During my hands-on time I wasn’t able to camp or cook curry, but camping essentially functions like the Pokemon-Amie feature, giving you a chance to bond and play with your Pokemon pals. A Nintendo representative compared it to Pokemon Ranch (which didn’t turn out that well as its own game but seems perfectly fine as a small piece of a much larger experience). Curry ingredients can be found, bought, or given to you. Similarly, the recipes themselves can be found, bought, gifted, or discovered from your own experimentation.Local and online multiplayer allows players to battle, trade, visit each other's campsites, and work together in Max Raid Battles in the Wild Area. Real trainers can even appear walking around the Wild Area.There’s a spot on the map directly outside the Wild Area that you can ping so you and your friends can enter the Wild Area together. Unfortunately, this specific tagging is restricted to that single location outside the Wild Area rather than any location within it. Sure, you can tell players to go to a specific area within the Wild Area from there but the inability to ping anything other than that one location feels like a missed opportunity for easier coordination. In addition to orchestrating battles, raid battles, and trades with friends, you can set yourself as someone who is looking to battle or trade and match up with other online players who are looking to do the same.These are all lovely ideas that would make the world of Pokemon seem more alive and bustling, but there’s no voice chat (who could’ve guessed?), and without seeing the details of the communication options, it’s unclear how easy it will be to put all these ideas into practice. My hands-on time was strictly offline, so while we’ll have to see how well these ideas translate when the game comes out next month.I went into my first Max Raid Battle with a mere level 7 Sobble and a team of three NPCs to help me out. You can’t do Max Raid Battles alone and, given how strong those Pokemon are, you wouldn’t want to. We won the battle but plenty of NPC Pokemon fainted in the process; the condition of the field changed a few times, a storm threatened to end the whole thing, and it took quite a few turns (plus Dynamaxing Sobble) to bring us to victory.Gigantamax Pokemon, a variant giant form that's only available to certain Pokemon, can only be caught through Max Raid Battles or received through special events . What appeals to me even more than hard to get Pokemon, though, is the spectacle of these Max Raid fights. It’s the kind of grandiosity that reminded me of Pokemon Stadium. At one point a huge slab of stone emerged from the ground and landed directly on one of my Pokemon. It was wonderfully horrific to see it get smooshed into oblivion.Like in Pokemon Go, everyone has a chance to catch the Pokemon you just defeated in a Max Raid Battle. But unlike in Pokemon Go, only one of you needs to successfully catch it in order for all of you to get that Pokemon. It goes without saying that Max Raid Battles are likely even more fun with friends. As soon as you walk up to an active beam of light where Max Raid Battles take place, you have the option to invite them.Between the Pokemon Jobs that can be accessed from your PC, the ever-changing weather, the ability to travel without taking up a slot in your party with a Pokemon with a specific HM, the sim elements of camping and cooking, and the multiplayer integration, it feels like something is always happening in the Pokemon Sword and Shield world and you’re right in the center of the action. The main stage isn’t just a stage anymore. It’s a stadium. This time around Pokemon feels bigger than ever, Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing aside.For more on Pokemon Sword and Shield, be sure to read all about Pikachu’s new Gigantamax form and see all confirmed Galarian form Pokemon so far in our wiki.

Janet Garcia is IGN's associate guides editor. You can follow her on Twitter @Gameonysus.