Score: 3.5/5
Pokémon Legends: Z-A represents an exciting evolution for the hugely popular monster-catching franchise, though it remains tainted by a few flaws that feel inevitable for any modern entry in the Pokémon series.
This adventure takes the player back to the Kalos region, the setting of 2013’s Pokémon X and Y. This time, there’s a twist: Z-A takes place entirely within the confines of Lumiose City, which is undergoing a major “urban redevelopment plan” in an attempt to have wild Pokémon coexist with humans throughout the city.
A single-city setting is a first for the franchise, which traditionally has the player voyage throughout vast, diverse regions complete with various biomes and locales. The concept works surprisingly well thanks to a plethora of optional side quests dotted throughout the city, allowing the player new ways to engage with city life and the problems that the denizens of Lumiose might need help with.
The most exciting innovation, though, is the real-time combat system. For the first time in Pokémon history, you don’t need to wait for your opponent to attack before choosing your next move. Now, each of your Pokémon’s moves are on a cooldown timer, and you only need to wait for the move to become available before you can use it again. The placement of your Pokémon is important too, since the physical range and timing of your move could make the difference between a successful attack and a wasted opportunity.
This is a truly needed breath of fresh air for the franchise, and it makes battling feel far more fluid and dynamic than ever before. Several moves and status effects have been revamped to fit the new battle style, and they all come together to create a cohesive and engaging experience.
That’s not the only change that has been made to the combat system.
Z-A brings back Mega Evolution, a popular feature that first debuted in X and Y but has been sorely missing in several recent entries. Mega Evolution allows certain Pokémon to undergo new transformations and become even more powerful than their base state. Much like Pokémon moves, Mega Evolution is on a cooldown timer, meaning you’ll need to be strategic about when to Mega Evolve your Pokémon. Most of the original Mega Evolutions return in Z-A, and they’re accompanied by a variety of brand-new additions that are sure to become lasting favourites in the years to come. As with any new Pokémon game, one of the biggest joys in Z-A is encountering the new monster designs for the first time — something that still works in full force here.
When adventuring in Lumiose City, it’s important to take the dynamic day-night system into account. During daytime, you’ll be free to explore the city at your own leisure and complete any tasks you might want to finish up. You’ll want to keep an eye on the in-game clock, though, because as night falls, a random portion of the city will transform into a Battle Zone. Within a Battle Zone, Pokémon Trainers roam the streets in hopes of battling to raise their rank in the Z-A Royale. If you are spotted by one of these Trainers, you will be immediately launched into a Pokémon battle, which is a great opportunity to strengthen your team, earn some in-game currency and raise your own rank. You’ll need to consistently raise your rank to make progress in the story, so it’s a good idea to spend some time in Battle Zones whenever they pop up.
Battling has never been my favourite part of the Pokémon gameplay loop, which made it surprising that nighttime battling became one of my favourite parts of this adventure. I found myself continually returning to Battle Zones to level up my team and see how much cash I could earn in a single night — a process that has a layer of strategy all to itself.
During the daytime, you’ll probably spend some quality time exploring the various Wild Zones that sprout up across the city. Wild Zones are the sanctioned-off sections of Lumiose where wild Pokémon roam freely, and you’ll be able to sneak up on them or start a battle in hopes of catching them. The real-time catching system, which is borrowed from 2021’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus, is still as fun as ever, and the idea of collecting every single Pokémon species remains as tantalizing as it’s always been.
The story and characters of Z-A are also engaging, with the game featuring several characters that you’ll no doubt recognize if you played X or Y. The game takes place five years after the events of X and Y, following up on several story threads introduced in those games. With that said, if you haven’t played the 3DS originals, there’s still more than enough here for you to have an enjoyable time with this story — even if you won’t catch all the references along the way.
Having played the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of the game, I’m happy to report that my time spent battling and catching Pokémon was consistently smooth with great performance. This is a much-needed improvement from the disastrous launch of 2022’s Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which was littered with performance issues and glitches. It’s nice to see that the Pokémon developers are taking steps to improve the franchise after some poorly received entries on the Nintendo Switch — but that doesn’t mean that Z-A is perfect, or anywhere close to it.
I’ll start with the most glaringly obvious issue that will be visible throughout your entire adventure in Lumiose City: the city itself. Inspired by France, many of Lumiose’s apartment buildings have balconies plastered all over the sides, but the balconies and windows are simply two-dimensional images copy-and-pasted all over the place rather than 3D models that pop out of the walls. This means that Lumiose’s buildings look flat, untextured and unfinished.
Considering how often you’ll see these balconies throughout the game, it’s frankly shocking that Game Freak didn’t put more effort or time into giving them some depth. Unfortunately, they make the city feel dull and vapid, and the bustling image of Lumiose City that the game attempts to portray begins to feel like an illusion.
The city setting comes with another major issue, and that’s the lack of visually distinct biomes or places of interest. Much like the Depths in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, 95 per cent of Lumiose is virtually indistinguishable and quickly becomes uninteresting to explore. A few hours into the game, I found myself longing for the diverse landscapes that defined my previous Pokémon adventures. Once you’ve seen one street in Lumiose, you’ve effectively seen ‘em all.
This should be a problem remedied by the Wild Zones, but they suffer from a similar issue. Most of the Wild Zones are visually indistinct grassy plazas, and the most interesting things you’ll find in most of them are the occasional creek or gazebo. They’re also very small, and it usually took me less than 10 minutes to see everything a single Wild Zone had to offer. With such small, boring areas, it begs the question as to why Pokémon would choose to live here at all.
The writing of Z-A is also hurt by some of the issues that have plagued other recent Pokémon entries. The game tries to appeal to its younger audience by using modern slang that will almost definitely become irrelevant within a few years, and these moments usually left me cringing rather than laughing along. The writing also suffers from the false sense of agency it gives the protagonist, as it often gives the player multiple dialogue choices to “choose from” that ultimately make zero difference in the game’s script.
Pardon my Kalosian, but the game also spends far too much time kissing the player’s ass. Much like other modern Pokémon entries, you’re constantly reminded about how strong you are and how you’re the only one who can save the people of Lumiose. I understand that this writing is meant to be encouraging and raise the stakes for the player, but it usually comes across as lazy and, again, cringeworthy. It’s a single-player game; I know I’m the protagonist who’s here to save the day. You don’t need to keep reminding me of it.
All in all, Pokémon Legends: Z-A feels like it takes three steps forward but two steps back — something of an inevitability for modern Pokémon entries. Thanks to its real-time combat system and variety of engaging side quests, it demonstrates ways that the franchise could leap into a more exciting future, but it’s held back by baffling decisions that feel wholly unnecessary.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a decently good time, but the same can be said about virtually any other Pokémon experience. It’s clear that the game displays elements of evolution for the series, but if this game was meant to Mega Evolve the Pokémon franchise, it’s sadly not quite there yet.