Years after the release of Pokemon X and Y we finally get some kind of Pokemon Z. Maybe not quite the one we expected, but we still got one. Pokemon Legends Z-A takes place after the events of Pokemon X and Y and is entirely in Lumiose City. Within the city is a tournament where trainers start at rank Z and work their way up to A to have their wish granted. As you progress through the ranks you find a mysterious energy has caused wild Pokemon to mega evolve on their own and go on a rampage leaving you to stop them.

I actually want to start with the gameplay first this time. I know normally it’s story first but I feel like the gameplay is the best starting point here. We see a departure from the normal turn based battle system for real time combat. Pokemon moves have a cool down as you use them in the middle of combat at any time. It’s a fun departure from tradition and it did take some getting use to but I grew to enjoy it. You can battle a bunch of wild Pokemon at once and use a wide range attack to defeat them all, sneak up on one for a surprise attack and switch Pokemon right in the middle of being attacked. It’s a fun system that really reinvents Pokemon battling in a positive way. I would love to see this continue in future games.

Moving onto the story it’s also fairly interesting. At night a section of Lumiose City becomes a battleground where trainers fight on sight for points. Get enough points and you earn a challenger’s ticket to fight in a promotion match to the next rank. Unlike regular battles you can sneak up on trainers here to get an easy upper hand and this was so addicting. I would hide behind buildings and snipe trainers with long ranged attacks. It’s a repetitive but really fun format, though with one problem. You skip half the alphabet. I know it’s technically a spoiler but it’s hard to talk about my issue with this otherwise. I will say if this format happened for all the alphabet it would get old fast but because you skipped so much I feel like we could have had more.

After the skip is when the story really gets deep in the plot. We see rogue mega Pokemon and we learn more on what’s causing them to do that. It ends up tying perfectly with the events of Pokemon X and Y rather well and feels like a sequel similar to Pokemon Black and White 2. It’s not really all that deep and pretty predictable, but entertaining and you can tell a lot of work was done to craft something that rewards players who waited so long for the Kalos region to finally have more than it’s initial two games.

While the story is lore heavy and the gameplay is a blast one of the defining features for this game are the characters. You run into a lot of trainers with vibrant personalities, stories and individuality. I really feel like this has my favorite cast of characters of any Pokemon game I’ve ever played. These characters are not one off adversaries either as they stay as reoccurring characters throughout the game so you get plenty of time to get attached to them.

I was also happy to see mega evolutions return. It’s by far my favorite mechanic in Pokemon. As far as the new megas they are mixed but I like that. Some designs I really loved while others looked crazy and some I loved because they looked crazy.

The act of catching Pokemon and exploring is a little hit and miss for me. I love the catching mechanic as it returns from Pokemon Legends: Arceus but the location is the issue. The city has wild zones placed within the city and more unlock as you progress through the game. These zones are pretty cramped and leave no room for exploration. Same with the city as everything is the same so there’s again no sense of wonder and exploration here. It’s something I love in the series and it’s missing here. The setting works for the story the game is telling. I just don’t want them to do this again. I want to see them take this gameplay, the characters and combine it with a game that allows for exploration.

The side quests are interesting and well spread out but they get a bit overwhelming as they pop up fast the later you get in the game. Plus a lot of them fall under a few set missions. Battle a trainer, battle a Pokemon, or give a Pokemon. You do have others but a vast majority of the quests are one of these. It’s really fun at first but after awhile I became more invested with seeing where the story was going or going to the battle zones.

So overall I like this game a lot. It’s innovative new style of combat is addicting and the characters are some of the most memorable in the franchise. The problem is the game is very short as I beat it in less than 20 hours and that’s with looking around a bit. It was a really fun 20 hours and I still plan to play more to get the rest of the side quests, collect Pokemon and more but it did leave me wanting more.