What’s autumn without a Pokémon game to spend it with? Fortunately, we do have one: enter Pokémon Z-A, which came out last week.
But wait! This isn’t your bog-standard Pokémon game. The series’ Switch games have been of varying quality, but this is the first one in a while that really feels like it manages to stand on its own two feet. New battle mechanics? Check. New evolution mechanics? Check. Bigger boss battles? Um, check!
For this installation, we’re heading back to the (very vaguely) French inspired city of Lumiose, the largest in the Kalos region, which dedicated fans might remember from the days of Pokémon X and Y.
Sadly for them (but excitingly for us), Lumiose has fallen prey to the phenomenon of Rogue Mega Evolution, where wild Pokémon are starting to randomly evolve and cause havoc in the town.
As a simple traveller, the player’s job is to find out what’s going on and fix it. That means joining Team MZ, which functions as a kind of rudimentary Pokémon police, and by clawing your way to the top of the Z-A Royale competition rankings – which means defeating various town factions, including (for some reason) a kind of benevolent town Yakuza.
So far, so Pokémon. But the team have made a few tweaks to the formula which means this game stands out.
First of all, the battle system has been completely shaken up. No longer are Pokémon fights turn-based: instead, they take place in real time and include the trainer as much as the critter fighting for you. If you take too many hits, you’ll be knocked out; each move has its own cooldown timer, which means fighting suddenly becomes a whole lot more tactical.
Do you spam attack moves, or time a defensive move for maximum impact, thereby giving other abilities time to recharge? It’s fun and dynamic – and a much-needed shake up, especially for the game’s older fanbase.
In terms of challenge ratings, things mostly remain the same as ever – as in, your massively beefy and overlevelled Pokémon can pretty easily flatten most other things in the game with the ease of a Snorlax sitting on a Pawmi. But this time, there are boss battles that actually pose a bit of a challenge: bosses come with a massive health bar that needs to be reduced through careful tactics and strategic use of the Mega Evolve feat.
It’s good fun, but if you really fancy an anxiety-inducing activity, running through the wild zones and attracting the attention of multiple Pokémon – which can be battled 5 at a time – at least makes things entertaining.
Plus, there’s the issue of Lumiose – or more accurately, that the entire game is pretty much based within the city’s confines, which is a bit of a pain when it comes to catching cute battle babies.
Wild Pokémon can be caught at the city’s designated ‘wild zones’ (while other Pokémon can be tracked down in the city’s more remote corners), and the streets are full of shops to poke around in, or people to chat to. It does genuinely feel like a city, which is fun – even if the lack of terrain variety does start to chafe a little bit, a few hours in. There’s not a lot of variety here.
For a Pokémon game, this is good. There are no bugs, the graphics are basic but serviceable (though alas for the lack of voice acting, which does feel very noticeable) and it feels like a fun sequel to X and Y.
Available on Nintendo Switch
