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« on: December 15, 2025, 04:14:10 pm »
Game 28: Pokemon Legends: Z-A (Switch) - 30 Hours
Pokémon Legends: Arceus was one of the best Pokemon games that I’ve played in recent memory. So despite all the negative press that has surrounded the newest game, Z-A, I was looking forward to giving this game a shot.
Right away there are some stark differences between the two. Taking place entirely in a major city, Z-A takes on a wholly unique vibe and feel that is distinct from pretty much every game I’ve played so far in the series. It’s a very enjoyable experience exploring the cityscapes (just like how fun exploring in Arceus), but now with more verticality in the form of tall buildings. I do wish the city had more things to do in it, however. This isn’t GTA by any stretch: there really isn’t anything new that’s brought to the table with the change of scenery. Side quests return from Arceus, but the available coffee, restaurants, and storefronts are just lifted from previous games. There’s a new platforming collectathon, but truly nothing is new from Arceus, which felt like a bit of wasted potential.
No, the biggest (and best) change from Arceus is the fully realized real-time battle system. Legends Arceus had this weird hybrid where catching Pokémon could occur in real time, but battles were still turn based. Now, everything is real-time, which creates a completely fresh take on Pokémon battles that feels fun and interesting. If you take anything away from this review, it’s that the battle system is great, and you really should try it out. The battle royale that’s a part of the main story is pretty fun to experience too. The return to Megas was very welcome, and felt like a really important gameplay element that I felt like I needed to master to be successful with the combat, unlike X/Y's story where they aren't really that impactful. And, I loved using the big Alpha Pokémon, they were really fun to have on my team. I used several.
The area where this game sags compared to Arceus is the story and it’s relationship to the new setting. The story of Arceus, as part of an origin story for the entire universe of Pokémon, was not only interesting and completely connected to what you would do in the game, as the unsettled world and vast landscapes in that game allowed for more organic exploration and combat that jived incredibly well with the story being told. In Z-A, these connections between story and world are far more tenuous with the move to a city environment. The main story plot (in my opinion) was pretty disappointing as a continuation of X/Y, and takes a very long time to not really tell much of a story at all.
When you really start to put this game’s setup under a microscope, a lot of things really don’t make sense regarding the exploration and battles in relation to the story/setting. Why would a city, in an effort to harmonize people and Pokémon, section off huge areas of the city as “mini-zoos” for wild animals, completely disregarding anybody who lives/does business there? And at night new random sections of the city get sectioned off again for city-sanctioned Pokémon battles in the streets. You’d think someone would complain about all of that chaos! And it’s not like there aren’t wild Pokémon outside of the zones too, so the catchable Pokémon aren’t consistently applied in the game. I think it’s clear that they tried to combine the gameplay of Legends Arceus within a city setting, but you can feel the two ideas clashing very hard in this game. That’s not to say it isn’t fun if you just adopt a massive scoop of suspension of disbelief.
A lot of the criticism of this game that I saw online is towards the game’s look and performance. Personally, that wasn’t something I really agreed with. If you really focus on the horizon line, you can see a lot of objects popping in, but as I was focused on what’s in front of me it wasn’t really that noticeable unless I was actively looking for it. The smart usage of the city buildings keep the pop in minimally distracting. The also game runs incredibly smoothly even with a lot of activity.
If you’re someone who liked Legends: Arceus, then I think you’d enjoy Z-A. It does a few things differently: some for the better, some for the worse, but ultimately it’s still a really fun experience despite it’s shortcomings.
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