Pokémon Legends: ZA review: A great return to (huge) form.

After changing the Pokemon formula with Pokemon Legends: ArceusHis successor, Mythology: ZApushes things further – a very welcome change of pace.

with ArceusNintendo and Game Freak showed just how lively, weird, and exciting the monster hunting series can be with some major twists on the classic formula. Arceus“The historical story and the open world are what he made Pokemon The universe feels like a bigger, wilder place, just as revamped combat and capture mechanics turn the familiar process of filling out your pokédex into a completely different kind of experience.

Years after the main line Pokemon The titles appear to be slight differences from each other, Arceus It was such a breath of fresh air that it was easy to imagine it becoming a new blueprint for the series. That seemed to be the plan at first Pokemon Scarlett / Violet. But those truly open-world adventures plagued me Countless technical issuesand their uneven plot lines are best described as undercooked.

There was a huge gap in quality between them Arceus and Scarlet / Violet It was difficult to know where the franchise was headed. But with its greatly revamped combat and more immersive world, Pokemon Legends: ZA (which I played on Switch 2) represents a great return to form. This seems like another example of how Myths Experimental features for games could become the new standard as the series moves into the future.

while Arceus It transports you to the distant past when humans were first learning how to do this Coexist with Pokemon in the vast Hisui region, to Picks up in the present shortly after the events Pokemon / Y It takes place entirely in the capital of the Kalos region. The long-time residents of Lumiose City remember how their home was nearly destroyed by a nihilistic maniac bent on wiping out humanity and Pokémon alike in order to make the world a more “beautiful” place. But as a tourist visiting Lumieux — a walkable city inspired by Paris — for the first time, all your character really knows about the city is that In the process of rebuilding stronger than ever.

Lumiose’s ambitious redevelopment plan, overseen and funded by Quasartico, aims to transform the city into a place where humans and Pokémon can live peacefully side by side. Lumiose is filled with newly built housing for people, and the city’s wild areas—divided areas filled with natural features—are spaces where wild Pokémon can thrive. But while the redevelopment plan has gone smoothly for the most part, there’s also a growing concern about the growing number of dangerous Mega-Evolved Pokémon that have begun appearing in Lumiose without explanation, and your character eventually joins a squad intent on solving this mystery.

Part of what he made Arceus I feel different pleasure from others Pokemon The titles were a way in which they radically recast familiar gameplay elements as reflections of their historical setting. You can still battle wild Pokemon and other trainers in turn-based matches, but the game also has a unique focus on catching monsters stealthily without having to engage them in battles. Tonally, Arceus It was also darker and more foreboding than before Pokemon entries, which makes sense for a game where Alpha will often try to run wild Pokémon To hit you on sight.

Similarly, to Imagine the phenomenon of Rogue Mega Evolution as one of the main reasons your character should be careful while roaming around Lumiose. But most of the Pokémon you encounter in Wild Zones (and a few other places) are capable of taking out your character with just a few hits. Once again, you have the ability to sneak through the grass and tall bushes to throw Poké Balls at unsuspecting Pokémon. Stealth hunting often works like a charm when it comes to lower-level monsters in the game you encounter early on, but when it comes to alphas, you usually have to send a partner into battle.

toThe massively reworked combat mechanics are the biggest change of all. Instead of the traditional turn-based system, battles now take place in real-time with attacks assigned to the Switch’s four face buttons and recharging on specific timers. At first, even simple battles can seem chaotic due to the number of things to keep track of. You must tell your Pokémon which attacks to use, understand the range of that attack, and keep your human character moving in order to guide your monsters across the battlefield. If you are using items from your bag, you should also keep in mind the cooldown timer before you can open the bag again.

The system took some time to get used to as it is the main line Pokemon Games have always been about making measured, calculated moves. But once I got a feel for the way my Tepig could launch an Ember attack and quickly follow it up with a tackle, I could start to see how… to He wants you to fight in a (slightly disturbed) state of flow.

Strategy is still important here – understanding the advantages/disadvantages of your monster type and its strongest stats can be deciding factors in battles. but to It feels like a game that was designed with the idea of ​​embracing the chaos that could result from packs of magical animals attacking each other with elemental superpowers. Flame Wheel/One Well-Timed Punch became a combo once Tepig leveled up. But there have been more than a couple of instances where this aggressive approach to fighting stronger opponents has left my pig monster in danger of getting hit before I can tell it to get out of the way.

Combat becomes more difficult once the game properly introduces Mega Evolution – a returning mechanic from the series X / Y Era that temporarily changes the physical form of certain Pokémon and boosts their stats. in X / Yyou can only Mega Evolve one Pokémon per battle, and the transformation will revert back if your chosen monster faints before the match is completed. to It switches things up considerably by introducing a power-up meter before you can trigger Mega Evolution by pressing the right joystick. As long as the gauge is full, you can Mega Evolve your Pokémon (if they’re a species capable of doing so) as many times as you want, which is useful when you encounter Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon that act as some of the toBoss battles.

The game makes it easier for you to get into its battles by making them an essential part of how the story progresses. By day, Lumiose is a charming urban center where people and their Pokémon partners spend time relaxing in cafés, browsing museums, and shopping in boutiques. But at night, Random sections of the city are turned into combat zones Aspiring trainers participate in ZA Royale, a simulation of traditional gyms.

At the beginning of each night cycle, the battle area lights up red and becomes filled with trainers of different ranks that you must defeat in order to collect a certain number of points. Once you have enough points, you can unlock a special, slightly more difficult battle that determines whether you move up or not. Previously Pokemon In games, it can be easier to get into gym battles due to how the commanders and trainers associated with them use the same monster types. But many ZA Royale participants use more selective Pokémon teams, which requires more thinking on the fly. ZA Royale is also a great showcase of the types of people who live in Lumiose – there are overworked socialites, waiters and delivery workers who all want a taste of glory.

The Lumiose expansion feels like a big step forward after the recent period Pokemon Games to switch. I spent hours walking around listening to/reading people’s conversations, Build a spacious wardrobeand an appreciation for the horn-heavy, accordion-accented smooth jazz soundtrack. The city could use a little more visual detail, but it’s a huge improvement; Scarlet / VioletOur cities seemed like lifeless figures, and Arceus You simply don’t have that many places to enjoy.

There are also welcome adjustments to quality of life. For example, to It introduces a character whose entire mission is to track down the Poké Balls you lost and return them to you. Small details like this feel like the game’s way of keeping resource gathering to a minimum so you can focus on more interesting things. Other modifications make your Pokemon look like a partner. Instead of trees that need a slashing move to get past, Lumiose is full of rubble, tree trunks, and piles of sludge that you can only clear by summoning a Pokémon and having it use logical moves. I used to use Pokemon’s Rock Smash to smash piles of cracked stones, but I was surprised to learn that the move wouldn’t work on stones higher up on the ground out of my monster’s reach.

Clever little details like that kept surprising me the more I delved into them to And I’m really starting to feel a kind of immersion that this series has never been able to achieve before. Dialogue is still scripted rather than voiced, but when your character does a parkour move to climb a building, you can audibly hear them exercising themselves. There’s something very cool about seeing your Pokemon conjure a spell just to wash away trash or a lightning bolt to recharge a broken elevator. Meanwhile, battles pull you in from the sidelines and put you in the middle of the chaos.

Nevertheless to and Arceus Sharing a similar experimental energy, the new game is more polished and powerful. to It is launched with Online combat modeIt was already there Announcement of DLC expansionAnd on the technical side to It feels more like what you’d expect from a main game meant to aid entry A new generation of devices.

While I enjoyed playing to On Switch 2, I can’t speak to how the game runs on the original Switch. This is important Given how to improve Scarlet / Violet It was a previous Nintendo consoleThis kind of performance gap here can be a deal breaker for people who haven’t upgraded. but to It makes a strong showing as the Switch 2’s premier specialization Pokemon debut, showing how this series is at its best when it gets experimental. Hopefully some of this good energy will be channeled into the next generation Pokemon games.

Pokemon Legends: ZA Releases for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 on October 16.