Pokemon Legends: Z-A Reviews
Pokemon Legends: Z-A isn't without flaws, but its drawbacks are vastly outweighed by its fun factor.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A finally feels like Game Freak hitting its stride in Pokemon’s 3D era, with a fun setting to explore, a well-written story, and a total battle system overhaul that works surprisingly well.
Lumiose City could do with work, but Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a much more tightly focused - and delightfully goofy - return to better form. At least by modern Pokémon's standards.
That dream sold to us by the Pokemon anime? It's right here, clearer than it ever has been.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A successfully translates its iconic battle system to real-time, but its visuals and presentation leave a lot to be desired.
Hopefully Game Freak will continue using the Legends series as a playground (maybe a return to pixel graphics, just a suggestion), but, for now, Lumiose City has been a treat to revisit.
Does Pokémon Legends: Z-A successfully shake up the Pokémon formula and deliver another exciting adventure or is this another doomed trip to Kalos?
Pokémon Legends: Z-A flips everything I thought I knew about Pokémon battles on its head, putting a fresh spin on the nearly 30-year-old series. Spicing up its challenging new real-time battle system is the return of fan-favorite mega evolutions, which give every battle a subtle tinge of excitement. However, its stealth mechanics leave a lot to be desired, and the lack of voice acting still makes for rather off-putting story beats and cutscenes.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A should be celebrated for its fabulous real-time combat and its largely smooth jump to the Switch 2, but in condensing things down to one single location, it loses part of the Pokémon magic that Arceus and many other entries managed to amplify.I'll forever find filling up my Pokédex fun, and for the Switch 2 generation, this is a good starting point for the franchise. But if the Legends series is to continue, it needs to recapture its personality and fuse that real-time system with a bit more freedom.
The audacity of this exploitative cash-in is honestly quite disgusting. At least Ekans is in it.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is not the next-generation evolution of the franchise that you've been waiting for. And while that is disappointing, these spin-off titles have done a pretty good job of creating fun little diversions that will tide you over until the next mainline game. If you're expecting voice acting and a compelling story, you'll be disappointed, but the appeal of catching and battling with Pokémon is still a decent adventure worth undertaking.
Pokémon Legends: ZA is the next step in the series' mega-evolution, a title with fresh ideas, a spirit of renewal, and a desire to do things right. While there's still work to be done, this is the path future Pokémon games should follow.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I’m sure of it: beyond its imperfections and the unfinished business Game Freak has yet to resolve, Pokémon Legends: Z-A marks the first step in a smart direction—one that aligns with what many fans have been asking for over the years and shows particular respect for the legacy it inherits from the most successful franchise in history. I’m convinced we’re looking at one of those special games, one of those one-in-a-million experiments that end up working out. This time, Game Freak, you have my full attention.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Unlike the most recent Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a game that really holds your attention. The spiritual successor to Legends Arceus, it's learned from the mistakes of the distant past and beautifully shows what city life is like in the Pokémon universe. I can see myself playing this for another hundred hours as I finish my Pokédex, shiny hunt and generally have a great time. This is easily the best Pokémon game on the market.
The new battle system feels like a watershed moment for the franchise, and I hope we see it again soon. As a fan who always lamented the fact that we never got a “Pokemon Z” after X and Y, this return to Lumiose City is what I’ve been waiting over a decade for.
Pokémon Legends Z-A is a grand adventure that once again proves that the Legends series is home to the most interesting ideas Game Freak has.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is fun, but it's clearly light-years behind industry standards and what one would expect from the most profitable franchise in video game history. The good ideas are completely drowned out by shoddy graphics and dialogue that still believes children need to be banal and simple, ruining a plot that works at its best and finally gives dignity to the characters and the plot holes that Game Freak missed in the sixth generation.
Review in Italian | Read full review
How much someone loves Pokémon Legends: Z-A will really come down to how much they love Pokémon battles, versus getting to explore and catch new Pokémon. It's not that one gameplay element is better than the other — both have always existed within Pokémon — but it does make Legends: Z-A feel pretty refreshing now that catching Pokémon feels more ancillary, rather than being the game's primary objective. It's a fun, fresh take on the series' formula that really helps Pokémon Legends: Z-A set itself apart as one of the best entries yet.
It’s also worth noting that players can enjoy online link play over the internet as well as with nearby local consoles. Private matches can be created with friends. With all the gameplay changes it does feel like a substantially new Pokémon experience, but one that is being held back by a repetitive story with too little open world exploration.
Despite its flaws, it brings a breath of fresh air and stands as an interesting evolution of Arceus. After years of stagnation, despite some timid steps forward on the gameplay front, we can say that Pokémon Legends confirms its position as the series' most interesting approach, at least in the Switch era.
Review in Italian | Read full review