Just on a whim, I'm reviewing Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee

Just felt like doing this. I may decide to do more.

I'm just combining the two games into one as they're fundamentally the same game.
Out of the gate (even though it came out a while ago) I was interested in playing this. I've been playing Pokemon since Red and Blue on the old gray Nintendo Brick Gameboy.
This game is an updated version of Pokemon Yellow (which was a slightly newer version of Red/blue.) I could drool over the graphics, which were quite nice, but I'm not a graphics snob and the graphics have consistently improved along the entire Pokemon series.
I know that this game was made as a bridge between Pokemon Go and the regular Pokemon series, and it's decent at that. But as someone who's played the series so long, these are my thoughts.
Okay, the game begins with your character in their bedroom in Pallet Town. You go downstairs to find your mother standing around. Two things occurred to me at this moment.

1. There's only one bedroom in this house. So I'm about to get kicked out with a Pokemon adventure as an excuse so my mother can stop sleeping on the table.
2. I'm the adopted child of a single mother. My character was too light skinned to not be adopted by her. But this amazing woman has spent who knows how many years sleeping on the table just so her child can have a real bed to herself. My mother deserves better than this.

I left the house and went right for the grass. I've got no time to check the lab for Professor Oak. I have to get going on becoming league champion so I can get my mother a decent home. Or at least add on to the house so she can have her own bedroom.
Oak, of course, was already in the grass. He noticed me immediately and turned to me, paying no heed to the Pokemon approaching.
Just as we were both about to be set upon by the local wildlife, there's a rustle and the titular Pokemon partner shows up and saves us both. From here the adventure begins.
As for the game itself: Here goes.

So the controls are good. It's not platforming so they don't have to be tight and precise. I miss being able to spin around like I could in Sun/Moon, but that's not a loss.
Game play leaves something to be desired. That something being wild pokemon battles. I really missed fighting wild pokemon, I have a habit of level grinding until each pokemon in my group has their first evolution before taking on the first gym (fully evolved for Butterfree.) But this time, my only option was to catch wild pokemon, wasting what little money I had available this early on pokeballs. And catching pokemon was endlessly frustrating.
Now, they did include finding a lot of pokeballs and getting them from trainer battles too so that helped a lot. But it still bugged me.
My suggestion here would be to fight wild pokemon, and when you select a pokeball then it starts the catching minigame. And giving you the ability to back out of it and continue a fight if you must. Have status ailments given in the fight slow them down or stop them completely. Then you don't need the berry mechanics which also bothered me.
Speaking of wild pokemon. Having them pop out of the grass and walk around is a great change. I loved just seeing them wander around, and when looking for specific Pokemon this was so much better than the traditional walk in a circle and pray to Arceus.
EXP bonuses: Yes! I quickly started honing my catching technique to get these bonuses and only got a little better. But my lack of skill isn't a point against the game.
Battles mostly ran like normal for the rest of the series, and it works well. No need to reinvent the wheel.
TMs not disappearing after use is a mechanic introduced earlier in the series, but I can't restate enough how much of a good choice this was.
HMs are gone and I love it. For years I've had the typical HM Slaves so I can have all the skills necessary on me. Oh, and this usually had to be Mew because they can learn everything. So they were the defacto Swiss Army Mon and yes I cheated for multiple just because the HMs made me that frustrated. For most of this series I've played with only 4 or 5 useable Pokemon. Now I can have a whole team of legit fighters and can really take on the League.
Auto EXP share. Saves time, but I can't really EV train like that. So there's give and take there.
Stat candies. I like them. They've been balanced to keep them from being a full replacement for EV training but it's incentive to do a lot of catching and I kind of like it better than vitamins. But not as much as the EV training in Sun and Moon.
Pokemon box travels with you. YES! I have wanted this since Red/Blue. I can switch out pokemon as needed where I need to. I love it!
Pokemon following you. I've wanted this back since Heart Gold/Soul Silver and it came back with EVERY Pokemon. So very worth it.
And the fact that you ride some of them, which can help you move faster, or once you beat the game you can fly around above the map on specific pokemon. Another wonderful change.
Or you can play like me and once you get Snorlax you ride around on them, clinging to their stomach for dear life.
No Safari Zone. These have been off and on in the series. I didn't really miss it, and they redistributed the pokemon inside to other places that let me get some good ones much sooner.
Lack of other generation pokemon (Except for Alola regional variations) I admit, this was a disappointment. That being said, I could catch them in Go and send them over (I haven't tried that yet.)
Only able to pet with titular Pokemon Partner. Another disappointment, but with everything else I didn't miss it that much.
Story: It's Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow with some little added things. The story is the big reason this game took off in the first place.
Story progression. Normally this is slowed by mandating beating gyms. I beat the first two Gyms and then got a special skill that let me progress without beating the gym. So I did just that. I visited every town, completed the Team Rocket story line (effectively) before I even considered more gym challenges.
Then I took on the remaining gyms in reverse order (with the exception of the 8th gym since you have to have all 7 earlier badges before the gym leader returns.) Then it's business as normal through the end of the game.
I'm in post game now, and had some fun with that too. Cerulean Cave in Red/Blue was just annoying, but here I enjoyed it and had no complaints about jumping back in when told that someone was looking for Mewtwo as well.
If you've got a Nintendo Switch, I'd recommend this game. It gave me some good nostalgia and a lot of new fun experiences.
I'm going to check on my old team in Red and Blue. The memory battery hasn't died yet but I know it's going to eventually. How I got this lucky, I don't know. But one day I'll check on them and they won't be there anymore. Like my copy of Silver.
Thank you for reading my review. I don't know if it was entertaining, informative, or interesting but I did enjoy sharing with you all. Have a good day, wherever you all are.