The Protagonist

I’m back with my full game review on Pokemon Legends: Z-A, as promised. Just in time before my trip to Japan. 😊

While I’ve finished the story, I am still going to be playing post-game content during my travel. I still need to complete all the side missions and the Pokedex- but these won’t change my opinion of the game now.

Are there spoilers in this review?

My aim is to provide context more than actual spoilers. Please be warned though that there may be light spoilers relating to story or gameplay in this review. I won’t tell you what happens in the main story though.

Would I recommend Pokemon Legends: Z-A?

Yes, because I genuinely feel that it’s been the best of the Pokemon games over the last few years in terms of quality.

If you enjoyed Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Pokemon battling or active combat style gameplay, Z-A has a lot to offer. There are also a lot of classic, older generation Pokemon in Z-A that a lot of older fans might appreciate.

However, if Pokemon catching or breeding is your absolute favourite thing to do, then I would not recommend this game. The limited Pokedex and lack of Pokemon variety in the wild zones really lets this game down. Alternatively, if you’re after a deep, engaging RPG story, this is also not your game.

If you want to know my preliminary thoughts on Z-A, read my mid-game review first- otherwise, let’s get into it!

Story & Narrative

So, the story….

Firstly, it wouldn’t be a Pokemon game if the narrative wasn’t relatively simple. I expected a couple of plot twists and holes (mostly predictable). The story is also aimed at the younger audience which I acknowledge and appreciate.

The plot was enjoyable in general with a host of diverse characters introduced. While the consecutive battles with these trainers weren’t super challenging, I did like most of the personalities of the cast. Most. 👀

The story missions started to feel really repetitive halfway through the game. I give credit to the game for being structured. However, it became stifling. Climbing the tournament ladder truly felt like a chore after a while too.

I won’t go into the details of the final battle but I did find it extremely underwhelming. The fight itself was dull and not stimulating, resulting in an anti-climactic ending.

In my mid-game review, I mentioned a lack of ‘main character’ energy for the protagonist. I still stand by that because by the end of the game, nothing changes. The plot hole still exists.

Super fans of Pokemon X and Y will recognise and appreciate the compelling narrative twist.

Although not part of the main story, the side missions were what really brought the city to life for me. The missions added great depth of storytelling to the city. There are over 100 of them, each quite unique and entertaining. Don’t sleep on them, they add heaps to the fun factor of this game!

Category score: 3/5

Gameplay

The gameplay was a mixed bag for me. On one hand, I really think they’ve improved heaps since the last few games. On the other, the negatives unfortunately undermined the game. If a few things changed, they’d really be nailing the gameplay for the fans. There are so many things to talk about when it comes to gameplay and mechanics, but I’ve tried to pick out the features that stood out the most.

Battle Zones

The Battle Zones were a big mechanic of this game. It is something that’s never been done before in other Pokemon games and is a unique feature of Lumiose City. For the most part, the battle zones themselves were cool, although the mini-missions in them were quite repetitive.

My biggest gripe with the Battle Zones though was the tedious gameplay loop it created. I did touch on this in my mid-game review, but each day in Z-A is made up of a day and night cycle. Each time it transitions between the time of day, there is an unskippable cut scene that interrupts what you’re doing. Imposing the day and night routines made the game feel rigid. It was very much: wake up, explore, battle, sleep and repeat.

Including a simple ability to skip cut scene would improve this experience immensely.

Wild Zones

Probably the biggest disappointment for me in Z-A. The Wild Zones were small and the diversity of Pokemon in them were subpar. They were unlocked as part of the story but they didn’t feel worth waiting for. I would unlock a few zones and be excited, only to explore them in a heartbeat.

Additionally, having the same line of Pokemon in later zones felt really lazy. For example, Wild Zone 1 has Mareep and then Wild Zone 16 (there’s a total of 20 zones) has Flaaffy and Alpha Ampharos. The game really encourages you to add a Mareep into your party early-game (I won’t spoil how) so it feels somewhat redundant to catch an Alpha Ampharos at that point.

The last zone in the story is easily the biggest and coolest. It was what I had hoped more of the zones to be. I have concerns about how they will fit in new zones in the DLC.

Mega-Evolution Boss Battles

The boss battles were peak gameplay for Z-A and critical to get right. I don’t have too much to say on this other than they get a dub here.

These battles were more challenging than any other in the game. Each boss was well designed with distinct move sets which were fun to play against.

The gameplay reminded me of games like Kingdom Hearts.

Catching Pokemon

Trying to select a Poke Ball from the options mid-battle was awkward. The game relied on the player having their default Poke Ball pre-selected. If you didn’t, you have to cycle through each ball to find the one you wanted.

This was frustrating because when a Pokemon is knocked out and ready to catch, there is a very short window of time to attempt a catch. It’s just one ball. So let’s say you spent all this time to knock out an Alpha Pokemon or a shiny, you only have one chance to throw a Poke Ball. If you are spending that time cycling through balls or you accidentally throw the wrong one (also very easy to do), then GG.

This could be improved by allowing the player to shortlist some Poke Balls. Or just an ability to re-order them in a meaningful manner. Adding a short description somewhere for each ball in that UI would be extremely helpful to avoid relying on prior knowledge. Poke Balls, Great Balls, and Ultra Balls might be easy to remember, but Luxury Balls or Net Ball aren’t as easy.

There is a workaround for this which is opening the Satchel mid-battle to check the information. Similarly to using items mid-battle, it does ruin the flow of the combat.

There is also a guy that collects lost Poke Balls and gives them back to you. This guy wouldn’t need to do such a ridiculous job though if the game design were improved. Free the Lost Poke Ball Collector! 🤠

Exploration of Environment & Game Mechanics

You can explore the rooftops in Z-A by climbing up ladders or holovator. The rooftops were generally fun to explore but as mentioned in my mid-game review, parkour without a dedicated jump button is very awkward. I also didn’t particularly enjoy the ‘Rotom Glide’ because it wasn’t a glide, it was more of a jump in the air.

The lack of variety in environment was another big con for this game for me. Lumiose is a circular city. Because it was a game design decision to stay within the city streets, there is only so much one can explore before it starts feeling homogenous. Areas like the Lumiose Sewers were fantastic to explore and I would’ve loved to see more places like those. Also, it was lowkey strange that there weren’t any Trubbish in the sewers. 🤯

There are also limited buildings you can walk into. I felt this was odd for a Pokemon game. For example, you can’t walk into citizens’ houses and chat to them. The only buildings you can walk into are service places like the hotels and restaurants. Gone are the days where I would walk into a random’s house and check his rubbish bins. This made me feel detached from the Lumiose folk.

Despite all of the above, the map was great UX, with a balanced level of detail and zooming functionality. The ability to pin destinations on the city map was a nice touch to a Pokemon game.

Mabel’s Research Objectives

I enjoyed helping Mabel complete the Pokedex. Z-A handled this part of the gameplay very efficiently. You could claim rewards very easily from the menu, without going to visit her each time. The rewards which were mostly TMs were satisfying to earn.

Lumiose Cabs

Last and probably the least, the Lumiose cabs were absolutely no value for me in Z-A. The cabs are intended to take the player to a new place. However, mine didn’t take me anywhere new each time I tried it. I didn’t enjoy this feature at all.

I only bring this up because it made me think of something else the game was missing. And that is: mounts. In many other Pokemon games, you could traverse the world on a Pokemon’s back. In Z-A, we could’ve crossed the Saison Canal or glided (properly!) across the rooftops.

Category score: 3/5

Art Style & Graphics

Art style

I liked the art style because the character designs are interesting. Some cool new characters were introduced that are iconic and have cosplay potential. The world is also very vibrant and aesthetic overall.

Graphics

In terms of animation, the Pokemon fare quite well. I’d attribute these to existing Pokemon models since there weren’t really any new Pokemon in this game (only mega-evolutions).

However, the animation for people could still be further improved. I’m no expert in graphic design, but I feel that there are nuances of the human condition that still aren’t captured well. For example, expressions were blank and didn’t match emotions, body language or conversations at times. The times where Z-A did a fantastic job at animating the trainers though were in the battle cut scenes.

Having said that though, this in line with my expectations of a Pokemon game.

Category score: 4/5

Music & Sound Design

Music

The soundtrack was creative and paid homage to themes such as the Pokemon Centre and traditional wild Pokemon theme. I liked the variety of genres. One of the most unique tracks is the Mega-evolution battle theme which has a heavy, hardstyle EDM influence. Z-A effectively used audio as effective cues to help the player with the objective. Overall the soundtrack is more or less as expected for Pokemon games, quality wise.

The tracks changed for battle zones, facilities, wild zones, mega-evolution battles, certain characters and other story moments. However, you’re stuck in Lumiose City the entire game. In other Pokemon games, when you go to a new tow or city, there’s a new theme. A theme for each district in the city would’ve been nice to change things up as you spend every waking moment walking around Lumiose.

Sound design

The biggest flaw with the sound design in Z-A is not having voice acting. Per my mid-game review, I still think it’s a huge loss for the franchise. I can’t give this category a higher score because of it.

Category score: 4/5

Technical Performance

I played Z-A on Switch 1 and I know that everyone was memeing about it running like a potato but, honestly, it was better than I expected. The experience is definitely an improvement from Arceus and even Scarlet/Violet.

From my time playing the game, there were no noticeable bugs or glitches. At least no shiny-spawning-in-the-middle-of-a-waterfall kind of bug (yes, this happened to me in Violet and I still have PTSD). 🦆

The game did take a while to load in some NPCs though. Additionally, in some mega-evolution battles, the game did drop frames.

The game would run better on a Switch 2 from what I’ve heard, but if you weren’t thinking of replacing your Switch 1 anytime soon, I wouldn’t stress. It is definitely playable on Switch 1.

Category score: 4.5/5

Overall Value

Overall, I would score the game a 3.5/5. It was fun, but I highly doubt it’ll be a memorable game or favourite of mine in the franchise.

The game starts from $75.00 in AUD. This only includes the base game and not the DLC coming out in 2026. The story took just shy of 38 hours to finish, and I was playing at a moderately leisurely pace. Without side missions or exploration, there’s probably around 30 hours of story content.

My Final Thoughts

My final party ended up being: Meganium, Lucario, Ampharos, Gardevoir, Camerupt and Sharpedo. I originally had Charizard and Greninja in as well but that was too many starters. 😌

Although Z-A is initially better than I expected, I think I prefer the slow life. Lumiose City is bustling with cute cafes and plenty of people to help. There are countless rooftops to explore. The city never sleeps, with trainers literally staying up all night to battle.

About half-way in though, it got tiring. I couldn’t help but miss the picturesque, lush, open plains of Arceus. Like a tourist, I started to feel homesick.

When I finished Z-A, I was ready to head ‘home’- wherever that is.

Look after yourself,

Elena