I love the dynamax concept as a whole especially how it gives the feeling of unique and special Pokémon battles to wild non-story based encounters and just adds plenty of room to create new kinds of encounters as a whole.
The gameplay keeps the soul of the series while also offering some great stream lining and plenty of improvements, including some brought over from last years' Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee. As for the Pokémon themselves the game has a fine Pokémon selection including a bunch of new Pokémon and Galarian forms of old ones I absolutely love. Most of the game takes place in one large connected segment of the region which honestly brings me back to games before the 6th and 7th generation of Pokémon on 3DS, and the Wild Area just adds to this connected feel (of course don't expect to have access to everything all at once, blocked off areas do open up as you go as in any other Pokémon game, and the beginning and ending segments have their own areas you won't be spending as much time in). The region the game is set in, Galar, is based on England and is probably going to be one of my favorite regions looking back.
That being said the minor adjustments in Sword and Shield really echo some of the best past versions of it with some really neat and interesting twists, don't expect Shakespeare but if you liked past Pokémon stories you will like this one. There's been 8 versions of this story prior with a few changes and adjustments (not counting retellings), it's just how Pokémon is. The story echoes the traditional Pokémon plot structure 8 gyms, beat your rival(s), beat the team of miscreants that get in your way, and make your way to the Pokémon league. Second, no not all the Pokémon are in the game but technically you couldn't obtain them all in previous games either without transferring them from older games, it's fine, we still have about 400 Pokémon. This game isn't overly visually stunning but it's if you approach it as a handheld game built for a home console by people who have little experience with optimizing the hardware, it's alright. Second, no not all the Pokémon are in the game but technically you First to adress the elephant in the room, the visuals contain a lot of reused 3DS assets and unoptimized loading for the Switch. First to adress the elephant in the room, the visuals contain a lot of reused 3DS assets and unoptimized loading for the Switch.