Surprisingly, for such a busy series, Pokemon Legends: Z-A has felt a long time coming. When Pokemon Legends: Arceus was released in 2022, it was the biggest example of developer Game Freak tiptoeing just outside the boundaries of its decades-long comfort zone, reframing the formula with a more open foundation that seemed ever-so-slightly influenced by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Arceus was arguably ugly and too basic, yet was still the first awkward shuffle toward something new. After playing for myself, it's clear that Pokemon Legends: Z-A remains a little ugly, but an ugly duckling – Quaxly, whatever – who's slowly waddling forward.
While Arceus more or less had the same ol' turn-based mechanics as the mainline titles, Pokemon Legends: Z-A's fights take place almost entirely in real time. Trainers hustle around the battlefield alongside their chosen monster ducking and weaving through Razor Leaf barrages and Poison Sting shots. Attacks aren't back-and-forth, tit-for-tat affairs but are instead dictated entirely by cooldowns.
