Available on: Switch, Switch 2
Played on: Switch 2
In 2022, Pokémon Legends: Arceus shook up the standard Pokémon formula by flirting with open-world zones, free-roaming Pokémon, out-of-combat catching, and further exploring a region from the series’ past.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A shakes things up once again by taking place entirely in a single, open-world city, but more importantly, shifting to real-time combat. The new combat system is immediately enjoyable, making me fall in love with this 30-year old franchise all over again.
Read on for our review of Pokémon Legends: Z-A!
We Built This City
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is set in Lumiose City, the large, Paris-like city from the Kalos region of Pokémon X/Y.
The story starts off on shaky ground, with a blank-slate, slightly customizable young protagonist arriving at the city. I don’t think we ever learn why we’re there, or really anything about this character, which is annoyingly normal for the Pokémon series.
Thankfully, we soon meet our new friends in Taunie/Urbain, Lida, and Naveen. Since we spend the whole game in one area, the game smartly relies on this core group of young heroes, like a TV show. We even have a home base in Hotel Z, and frequent strategy meetings between major story moments.
While I enjoyed the various characters we meet, and the writing, every single scene is dragged down by the lack of voice acting. The long-running Pokémon series has never featured voice acting. But it’s even more egregious here, with lots of side quests, NPCs, and story moments of characters wordlessly flapping their mouths.
The lack of voice acting is a terrible drag
The story revolves around two main plot lines: advancing through the Z-A Royale, and investigating Rogue Mega Evolution.
The Z-A Royale is a friendly competition in Lumiose City. Instead of battling through gym leaders, players battle other trainers every night in specially-marked Battle Zones (if they want). By earning enough points, players can then take on the challenger for that rank. Battling at night is also a great way to earn money, rewarding players for finishing many battles and collecting medals before the day dawns.
Things start off slow and safe in the lower ranks. After climbing ahead on the Royale, more interesting stuff opens up, including Mega Evolution.
Mega Evolved
Mega Evolution is a fun gimmick from Pokémon X/Y, allowing certain Pokémon to enter a limited-time, super-charged mode that changes their appearance. But something is happening in Lumiose City that’s causing some wild Pokémon to Mega Evolve on their own, creating cinematic boss battles throughout the main story.
These Rogue Mega Evolution boss fights were some of my favorite moments of the game, with big arenas, large health bars, and multiple unique attacks to dodge and counter. They take full advantage of the new real-time combat system.
It’s also a great way to show off the many new Mega Evolution forms. Only by defeating them can I earn the new Mega Stones needed to Mega Evolve my own Pokémon.
Like Scarlet and Violent, Legends: Z-A is also a truly open-world game — or at least open-city, with a few caveats.
The rooftops are an additional layer of exploration on top of Lumiose
I enjoyed running around completing side quests, grabbing items, and exploring rooftops. Some wild Pokémon can be found, especially on those rooftops, which basically act as an additional layer of the city. But most Pokémon are relegated to designated Wild Zones.
These areas spawn specific Pokémon to catch, including Alphas, another one of my favorite parts of the game.
Alpha Pokémon are physically much larger and higher level, with better stats, and at least one rare move. In the wild, they’re often accompanied by other Pokémon, creating chaotic and challenging battles that often ended in my demise. Catching and training Alpha Pokémon became a fun goal to work towards. One particularly ornery Alpha Houndoom encountered early on became the star of my entire team (and its bone-armor Mega Evolution is just the best).
On the flip side, Lumiose feels like an open-world game from several generations ago, with repetitive square buildings (almost none of which we can enter) and NPCs (and their Pokémon) who almost all stand still. The city doesn’t feel realistic or lived-in when every single person just awkwardly stands around.
Plus, I had mixed feelings about the various platforming challenges, which appear as scaffolding throughout the city. I’m all for a solid platforming break, but there’s no dang jump button, and trying to roll, glide, and slow-walk on narrow beams led to frequent frustration.
The Society of Battle Connoisseurs
I wasn’t sure how the shift to real-time battle would work for a series so deeply ingrained in turn-based combat.
Turns out, quite well!
Real-time battles are exciting and fun
While battling, I’m free to move around and swap Pokémon — though there’s a pesky cooldown on using items.
Multi-attack moves such as Rock Blast now hit all five times, but opponents can dodge out of the way. Other moves, such as the always-powerful Earthquake, hits everyone in a large area, making it particularity useful for clearing out packs of wild Pokémon.
Critical buffs such as Swords Dance only last for a set amount of time, making them a bit less potent, while Mega Evolutions are earned by collecting enough energy.
Some moves even let the Pokémon charge or teleport as part of the attack animation, including U-Turn and Drill Charge, possibly avoiding an enemy blast.
Size also matters in Legends: Z-A, with larger Pokémon (such as my beloved Alpha Tyrantrum) becoming easier targets to hit, while they in turn could struggle to hit smaller Pokémon, such as Emolga, with certain aimed moves.
Real-time combat also makes the game significantly more challenging, at least for this aging gamer. I never wipe out in a Pokémon game, but since the player can be targeted and hit by moves, Legends: Z-A served me frequent humble pies, especially during the aforementioned boss battles. Since the last several games were borderline brain-dead easy for veteran players, I welcomed this increasing challenge as a huge plus.
The Rating
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is rated E10+ with Fantasy Violence. With real-time combat, the series is more frenetic, and boss battles can last awhile and be quite stressful and challenging. See our Game Picker entry for more details.
The Takeaway
I’m a diehard turn-based combat lover, and long-time Pokémon fan, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A has opened my eyes to the magic of real-time Pokémon battling.
Despite its several embarrassing and indefensible flaws, I’ve become totally enamored with Lumiose City, hunting for Alphas and Shinies, finishing side quests, and searching every square inch of the city for extra items. While I’m not sure we’re ready to totally upend the normal formula in the mainline series, I definitely hope we get more open-world Pokémon games with real-time combat in the future.
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