Pokemon Legends Z-A review: Gorgeous battles, shallow variety

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Okay, so I’ve been playing Pokémon Legends Z-A, and honestly, it’s a really solid game! It’s a big change of pace for Pokémon, especially since it’s set in a city, and it *looks* fantastic – everything runs super smoothly and quickly. But, and this is a big but, it feels like they sacrificed some of the usual variety we get in Pokémon games. It’s a really polished and fun adventure, but it really focuses on battling, and there isn’t much else to do besides that. It’s good, just… different.

Fans were expecting a sprawling, open-world Pokémon game with lots of room to explore. However, Pokémon Legends Z-A is different – it concentrates on the city of Lumiose, swapping large landscapes for detailed, battle-focused urban environments. This change shows how much the game’s graphics have improved, but also suggests the developers are being careful not to make the game too ambitious.

Z-A isn’t a bad game – it looks great, runs smoothly, and really shows off the new technology and improved battles. However, once you get used to the new battle features, the game feels a bit shallow due to limited exploration and missions that become repetitive. It demonstrates that Pokemon can succeed with a more focused experience, but it sacrifices the sense of freedom and adventure that fans enjoy in the open-world games.

Pokemon Legends Z-A screenshots

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What is Pokemon Legends Z-A about?

Pokémon Legends Z-A takes place entirely in Lumiose City, reimagining the Kalos region as a bustling city centered around Pokémon battles. The game’s story revolves around the Z-A Royale, a competitive battle circuit where trainers face stronger and stronger opponents while also investigating a mysterious threat to the city.

Mega Evolutions happen frequently, and challenging boss battles featuring them are central to the experience. Everything else, like side quests and open areas, is built around these fights, prioritizing combat over exploring the world.

Players who enjoyed Legends: Arceus will quickly understand how Pokémon Lumia works. Unlike previous games, battles no longer pause for turns. Instead, you can move around, give commands, and catch Pokémon seamlessly. This new, fast-paced battle system is central to the Lumiose experience, requiring players to think fast and build strong teams – it’s potentially the most action-packed combat the series has ever seen.

Lumiose City: A hostile getaway with endless battles

Legends Z-A focuses heavily on battling, keeping the action fast-paced. You’ll need to think quickly and adjust your team during fights, rather than spending a lot of time preparing. As you progress, enemy Pokémon become stronger, regular trainers start using powerful Mega Evolutions, and the elite trainers really test your skills with challenging strategies.

The best parts of the game are the challenging boss fights where your Pokémon Mega Evolve unexpectedly. These battles require you to learn enemy attack patterns, dodge at the right moments, and quickly give commands to win. When the game delivers these kinds of fights, it’s a really exciting, fun, and consistently enjoyable experience.

The game relies heavily on constant combat. Main story missions often flow directly into one another, with little downtime, and progressing requires spending a lot of time repeating the same battles in the Z-A Royale to earn points. Side quests mostly serve as tutorials, reinforcing mechanics you’ve already mastered. While this non-stop action is perfect for some players, others may find it exhausting just to reach the more engaging parts of the game.

The game frequently throws more battles at you, and while the story is actually quite good – the characters and emotional depth are a huge step up from past Pokémon games – it gets frustrating. You end up battling characters repeatedly, sometimes just to progress the story and get them to talk. After a while, I found myself wanting to explore other aspects of Pokémon Legends Z-A instead of fighting constantly.

Wild Zones? More like petting zoos

While you can explore Lumiose City, it feels noticeably smaller and more confined compared to the vast open world of Paldea in Scarlet & Violet. The Wild Zones offer some breathing room between battles, but they’re quite small – often no bigger than a town square or a narrow alleyway – and typically only contain about seven different Pokemon. A few have interesting themes like snow or sand, but most lack the distinct character of the larger areas in other Pokemon games, making them easy to forget.

In previous Pokémon games, you’d often see many different Pokémon naturally appear as you explored. However, Legends Z-A limits the number of Pokémon that spawn at once. This means instead of a constant variety, you might only see a few, then have to wait or find a way to make the game generate new ones – it’s less seamless than simply wandering and discovering different species.

The game features over 100 side quests, and while some are enjoyable diversions, many ultimately lead to more fighting rather than offering unique experiences. A lot of these quests follow a similar pattern – often, the solution involves battling Pokémon. Compared to the previous game, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, there’s less variety in what the side quests offer.

Outperforming all other Pokemon on Switch

What really sets Pokémon Z-A apart from previous games – and it had to, considering how troubled Scarlet & Violet were when they first came out – is how well it runs. The game looks great with detailed character models and textures, realistic animations, and impressive visual effects, even during action-packed scenes.

As a player, I was really impressed with how smoothly the game runs. Loading screens are super quick – getting into the Wild Zones is instant, and even traveling between buildings or using fast travel doesn’t take long at all. I was expecting lag during big battles, especially with lots of Pokémon on screen or in crowded areas like Lumiose City, but it stayed consistently smooth. Even during flashy attacks like Draco Meteor, the frame rate didn’t drop once – it really lets those epic moments shine!

While some players have noticed minor issues with building details or missing features like balconies, these don’t detract from the overall impressive city environment. A key factor in the success of these games is how they present popular Pokémon, and Legends Z-A excels in making Pokémon look, feel, and animate realistically.

Verdict

Pokemon Legends Z-A successfully tries something new, demonstrating that the Pokemon series can excel with a fast-paced, battle-focused approach. However, it also highlights how much emphasis on battles is ideal. The real-time combat is incredibly satisfying, and the game represents a significant visual upgrade for the franchise. Lumiose City feels vibrant and bustling, and each battle is quick and meaningful.

While the game’s combat is incredibly exciting, it unfortunately limits what else the game offers. Exploring feels restricted to a few small areas that start to feel samey, and they don’t have the unique charm of previous games. Although there are side quests, many simply teach you how to play rather than offering engaging content. After you get used to the battle system, the game struggles to keep you hooked.

Legends Z-A is a well-made, enjoyable game with impressive technology, but it doesn’t take many risks. While it’s fun to explore Lumiose City, it lacks the open-endedness and diversity that make the best Pokémon games so special. Considering how much the series emphasizes exploration, this new installment feels merely good instead of truly outstanding.

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2025-10-14 17:20