Written Review.
Title: Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Developer: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo Switch 2
Also on: Nintendo Switch
Release: 16/10/25
Yep, I’m back and talking about Pokémon again. It’s been a while since the last review, but I decided to put on my big boy pants and get back to doing reviews, so here’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is the latest Pokémon game released. It’s a spin-off game, in a similar vein to Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Z-A has some similar features to Arceus that aren’t in the main line games, for example, you can catch Pokémon in the wild by simply throwing a Pokéball, so that pesky little monster you want, you can sneak up behind and throw a Pokéball at it and catch it, instead of needing to battle it. Like the last few games, Pokémon are populating the world, so you don’t need to go into tall grass and hope for a Pokémon to appear;r you can see them all walking around. It’s nice to see but one thing that would improve the game is if the Pokémon interacted with the world, simply eating berries is just one example, another one be if certain bigger Pokémon were to hunt on smaller ones, though that may be a step too far but it would be much more interested than the seeing the various creatures just following a set path and that’s it. Returning to the game from The previous Legends is Alpha Pokémon, these are typically bigger versions of Pokémon, with glowing red eyes, which typically have higher levels in the area the inhabit, in comparison to the other Pokémon around it, they’d fun little fights, but when you catch them they seem to be the same as every other Pokémon caught, but bigger, it was always a shame they weren’t special in some way.
In this game, you return to the Kalos region, but just to Lumiose City, which I know sounds downright disappointing when such a big area could be available, but surprisingly, Lumiose is a great backdrop. I went in thinking I’d be disappointed with the fact it is set in one locale, but I ended up enjoying the area far more than expected. I believe the reason is simply that it feels more like a lived in place than any previous areas, as there are many NPCs and Pokémon that live in the city. One thing I can say about the city is the visuals aren’t the best here, there are so many buildings and structures, but they are all flat blocks with textures on them, there’s no real definition to the buildings, everything appears flat.
Gameplay-wise wise it’s the biggest change in a long time, maybe ever. No longer do you take turns to pick your Pokémons move to attack or defend; in this you fight in real time. Moves are selected with A, B, X and Y, all while you move about the battle area. This means while moving the Pokémon you have out with you can avoid attacks, it also means that you can be more tactical in when to use your moves. Moves instead of having PP and taking a turn instead have cooldown timers, which again adds to the tactile nature of the real-time battles. This game has stuck to the newer way to learn moves, where you can simply select from a list of known moves and change them outside of battle on the fly. One thing they have added that I find odd is that you now have to choose to evolve your Pokémon, instead of it being an automatic thing when levelling, you have to instead select the Pokémon then choose to evolve it from a list, I understand why they did it, it makes it a little easier than having to press B all the time when you level if you don’t want to evolve a Pokémon, but at the same time I feel it’s unnecessary as evolving you Pokémon now takes extra steps.
Mega Evolution has returned to the series for the first time in a few generations. what with being set in Kalos, it makes perfect sense, as this is where Mega Evolution was first introduced. With this game there a now new Mega Evolutions, and the bosses throughout the game are in fact Mega Evolved Pokémon that are being affected by some strange phenomena that is causing Rogue Mega Evolution, which forces Pokémon to Mega Evolve and causes pain and rage. These Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon are toucher than anything else in the game and have special attacks and the best way to take them out is to use Mega Evolution yourself as you do more damage. There’s also + moves, which increase the power of moves while not mega evolved, though all attacks are + moves when Mega Evolved. This is one of the tasks you are dealing with throughout your playthrough all in the name of Protecting Lumiose, its citizens and the Pokémon that are inhabiting the city.
Overall, the game is rather good. I’m glad to see the changes made, and being closer to Arceus in terms of gameplay is better than the traditional main line games. I believed that Arceus was the way forward in terms of howe these games should adapt and change, and this game is another bit of proof that that is the case. Overall, if you enjoy Pokémon but fancy something different to the norm, then this is worth picking up, it’s different enough to feel somewhat fresh in comparison to the main line series. I’m happy to give this 7 Pugsley’s out of 10 as while I certainly enjoy it, I do prefer Arcues overall, but the next Legends game with a fully realised world set in big open spaces like Arceus and this style of gameplay could be a real treat.