While the story is not quite as good as the original game, the gameplay does see some great improvements that make this really enjoyable to play through.

One of the first games I played that felt truly next-gen. A little bit forgettable in the grand scheme of things, but a really enjoyable game overall.

After playing sword and shield, I told myself that I was never playing a pokemon game again, then I immediately folded lol. Definitely my favorite Pokemon title since black and white though

Did not think that I was going to play a ton of this after my first run, but then I played the absolute hell out of it for the following couple of weeks. Very simple game but a ton of fun with new things to find or do in practically every run you play.
Edit: Got a new phone and couldn't transfer my save so I restarted and actually ended up playing this even more than when I first play it. Insane how addicting this game is.

Never finished this one but beat 6 or 7 of the gyms. Fun game

I didn't love the campaign in this but it was alright. A couple of standout missions but overall pretty forgettable. Decent gunplay though

Didn't really get super into this as I just felt like the core mechanics weren't hooking me. Love the art style of this though even if I won't ever finish the game

Had a lot of fun with this but overall it's not great. Feels pretty unnecessary

I actually really enjoyed this entry, It felt just different enough that it was refreshing for me at the time it came out. I remember playing like 40 hours of this game the weekend it was released. I think I actually played through this entry multiple times unlike any of the other pokemon games.