It’s no secret that I’ve not been the biggest hype-monster when it comes to Pokémon Legends: Z-A. I’m not big on the idea of an open game being restricted to just a city, and the combat, whilst intriguing, left me apprehensive for how it would be executed.
Well, I got the chance to go and play the game on Switch 2 in the Eiffel Tower recently, courtesy of Nintendo UK and The Pokémon Company International, so I can now say a few things with far more confidence.
First and foremost, the real-time combat? It absolutely slaps. Game Freak has taken some real care and consideration into how the moves we’re all so familiar with should be adapted in order to fit within a real-time system, and it works wonders.
Every move has its own cooldown, much like the systems in the Xenoblade Chronicles games, and these vary depending on the strength of the move, as well as no doubt some other factors. Quick Attack, for example, is unsurprisingly fast to execute, and to recharge, making it a great way to dash in and swiftly poke an enemy without any real commitment.
But it’s not just the cooldowns, which is just as well, otherwise I’d be a fool for singing such praises. Toxic Spikes leaves actual toxic spikes on the ground, and the enemy Pokémon has to walk over them to be poisoned, so you not only have to use the attack, but lure them into the hazard’s hitbox, which adds another lovely extra layer to combat.
Similarly, some moves will leave a temporary area of effect in place, such as Whirlpool. These don’t do major damage at first, but if you can corral the enemy into staying in place, that damage will creep up substantially. Protect-like moves have also changed and function more as a panic button than anything else; if you see an Alpha Houndoom charging up something massive, you can tactfully negate it with a single press of a button, which gives much more application to an otherwise one-note move.
Alpha Houndoom? Oh yes indeedy, Alpha Pokémon from Legends: Arceus are back, and bolder than ever. So bold, in fact, that it managed to hit my player character enough that I was whisked back to a Pokémon Centre in an area I wasn’t supposed to explore, and was told to fast travel back to the assigned locations very quickly.
I had an absolute blast taking this thing down, and had to rely on items a fair bit in order to eventually rase the sucker. I couldn’t just spam them though, oh no; if you use an item in combat, there’s a cooldown until you’re able to use another item from your bag, so you can’t just fully revive your entire party and cheese every encounter.
I also had a pop at a Rogue Mega Victreebel and its voluminous gullet. It was a fun fight, and definitely a nice change of pace, but I can’t help but feel it might have been a little more impactful if it hadn’t taken place entirely within a near-shapeless purple haze. I prefer to have some context for this stuff, and so to suddenly take the fight out of the usual playing field felt like a bit of a cheat.
Having said that, I’m not mad keen on the usual playing field either. Lumiose City is big, but sweet mercy is it dull. The towering buildings end up providing what is, from my limited time with the game, a series of wide-ish corridors to explore, perhaps with the occasional, more-open area. It just feels very samey and lame. I’m hopeful that we get to see more interesting environs in the full game, but what I’ve seen thus far doesn’t fill me with confidence.
On that note, the game is also fairly uninspiring from a visual standpoint; it runs very smoothly at 60fps, but the price of that is seemingly buildings made of flat walls with balconies and the like being nothing more than part of the models’ textures. It really is baffling and overwhelmingly disappointing that Pokémon games continue to fall short in the looks department, especially when you consider that historically (on handheld devices) they were graphical showcases many moons prior.
In fairness, the game doesn’t look bad, just dull and serviceable. This is probably due to the game also coming to Nintendo Switch, but the end result is, sadly, uninspiring. I’m hopeful that the combat will be enough to do a lot of the heavy lifting, but until we get our hands on Pokémon Legends: Z-A proper, hoping is all we’ve got.
Are you looking forward to Pokémon Legends: Z-A? Are you concerned about the visuals? Let us know in the comments.
