Pokémon Legends: Z-A Preview - Breakneck Battles

Pokémon Legends: Z-A finally fixes one of the franchise’s biggest problems, so while it still feels like it’s being held back from its full potential I’m excited for the final product.

As someone who’s been a Pokémon fan since the early Nintendo DS era I was thrilled to be able to play Pokémon Legends: Z-A at this year’s Gamescom. I thought Pokémon Legends: Arceus was an excellent deviation from the usual Pokémon formula and I was excited to see how this spin-off series would develop with a sequel, and so far I’m impressed.

While battling trainers and subduing a rampaging Mega Absol one aspect of the game stood out to me the most, the speed. Like most turn-based RPGs, Pokémon tends to operate at a slow pace, which gives you time to plan your next move carefully regardless of your end objective, e.g. defeating a trainer, catching a new ‘mon, etc.

Pokémon for whatever reason however has always felt excessively slow-paced, and no amount of text speed settings have been able to fix that for me.

The Pokémon Company

Playing Pokémon Legends: Z-A felt like a speedrun in comparison to what I’d played before, and I couldn’t be happier. Battles against trainers actually felt intense, and with the player now having to move around the battle to help their ‘mon evade attacks and set them up for new ones it felt more engaging than ever. The aura of having my Mega Lucario jump in front of me, use Protect, and tank a wave of incoming damage from the Mega Absol felt like something straight out of the anime.

Pokémon moves now work off a cooldown mechanic rather than costing you an entire turn, which means I might actually bother to use status moves now during battles.

You can even sneak up on trainers to get the drop on them before a battle starts, another feature I love as we’re finally able to turn the tables in those surprise encounters.

There are still some drawbacks from what I’ve played, mainly the visuals and the cutscenes. I’ve never been one to judge a game solely off how it looks though I do understand the frustration other players feel knowing what a modern Pokémon game could look like, yet we’re still forced to endure flat textures and static models. The lack of voice acting in cutscenes is also starting to feel a little ridiculous…

All in all the demo, despite being short-lived, got me excited for the future. So far it feels like Pokémon Legends: Z-A is building off the best mechanics introduced during Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. I think it’ll all hinge on the performance and post-game content for me, but this has all the makings of an excellent Pokémon game, I just wish we could have gotten a visual upgrade to go with our new Nintendo Switch 2 consoles…