Pokémon has been getting more ambitious with games like Pokémon Legends: Arceus, letting you catch Pokēmon in a much smaller open-ish world. Then Violet and Scarlet went more traditional with 3D exploration. The biggest issue they have had is the performance, which, while not game-breaking, was certainly getting worse. Well, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is here, and somehow, the game performs well!
Poké Story
Pokémon Legends: Z-A has you create your character who arrives by train in the French, I mean Kalos, city of Lumiose . They are here with a bag and plans for a fun holiday that you don’t get much info about. Anyway, their bag gets stolen, and they meet a character who is filming an ad for their hotel. This character (depending on the gender you chose for your character) gives you a Pokémon to help get the bag back, and after a battle you get to keep it because of your immediate connection.
This is where you learn about this strange city. After some changes since X and Y, the city now has a bunch of wild zones. Here Pokémon come in to explore and live alongside humans. In these zones you can capture those poor creatures. As for battles, well, there are zones for them too. There is a ranking system, where after enough battles you get to take on another trainer to get promoted up the ranks. All the way from Z to A, hence the game’s name. Along the way there is a mystery about mega evolutions, but there isn’t a whole lot to the story, so I won’t spoil it.
Poké gameplay
With the game being solely based in Lumiose city, it has to offer something big when it comes to gameplay, and to be honest, it does. In the wild zones there are Pokémon wandering free. You throw your Pokéball out, and your Pokémon runs around. You then can command it to attack a Pokémon for some first-strike action, or you can get surprised by some around. You need to hold a trigger to target a Pokémon and then choose your attacks. This immediately felt radically different for a Pokémon game. When a Pokémon you are fighting faints, you need to release the trigger and press it again to target a new Pokémon, which is weird, especially when you are in a battle with a trainer where it should auto-target the next one. But minor issues aside, it feels new and engaging for a Pokémon battle system.
When it comes to catching Pokémon, you can knock their health down to get a better chance at catching them or try throwing a ball at an unsuspecting one in the wild. You use the other trigger to throw a ball, aim, and release. I can’t tell you how many times I launched the ball right over a Pokémon’s head. That or when I was getting used to the controls and firing a ball off in the world for no reason. This isn’t a big deal, as a helpful man by the Poké Center collects your wild balls and returns them. But again, it gives the game that little bit more of something to make this game feel different.
Exploring the world is, well … limited. There are buildings to enter and climb. And rocky areas to run around. But man, when you see a lip on the ground a couple of feet high, that is far too much to possibly get over. The lack of a jump annoyed me when I wanted to get from one roof to another, and those two-foot-high ledges were too darn high. Still, we can’t ask for too much.
Poké damn good
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a damn good game. It has its flaws, and things like the long period of handholding at the start are painful, but this is a game for a wide age range. For younger gamers, this is a great introduction to open world-style-games, and for older gamers, it’s a new way to experience one of the most addictive chill game series ever.
It may not be perfect, but by god it is fun!
