How Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a simple but inelegant Parisian pleasure
Pokémon Legends: Z-A (2025)
Pokémon Legends: Z-A (2025)
It has become a little bit fashionable and a little bit too easy to attack Paris for being the French city to end all French cities. It’s true that I have been to Paris, even attempted to speak a bit of French, parlay some of the old Fran-say, only to be met with English in response. But hasn’t everyone?
I at least knew enough not to accidentally find myself in a restaurant eating pigeon, frog’s legs, or even pigeon’s legs for that matter. And for whatever faults Paris has, at least it can always claim one thing - it ain’t London.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A sees us return to the Kalos region, specifically Lumiose City, the Pokémon version of Paris. Similar in nature to how the first Legends spin-off title, Legends Arceus, was something of a reimagining of the fourth Generation of Pokémon games in the region Sinnoh, Z-A brings us back to the world of the sixth Generation of Pokémon, originally featuring in Pokémon X and Pokémon Y for 3DS. Did you get all that?
Pokémon had been done in 3D before then, on the Nintendo 64, GameCube and Wii. If you really wanted to get into it, you could say that the fifth Generation of Pokémon, released late into the regular old DS’s life, had some 3D effects.
But the 3DS games are where the 3D Pokémon models first came to be in the mainline games, including the permanently-aloft Flying-type Pokémon, as well as the low effort animations that carried over to the Nintendo Switch era of Pokémon - a tiny little hop representing the Double Kick move, Bite attacks being animated with flying fists, and so on.
A few original sins committed in Kalos, then. But generally, the games were fine, just very easy to beat. Here’s an interesting one though - unlike its predecessor, Legends Z:A doesn’t take place in some sort of antiquated version of the Kalos region, before electricity and actual Pokéball technology came about. No, this is a present day rendering of the region, something like 5 years on from the timeline of when the original 3DS games released.
But here’s the even more interesting piece, not to mention the most divisive part of the whole game: the game is somewhat open-world, although open-city is really more accurate. You will be confined to one city for the entirety of your quest, a Pokémon pastiche of gay Paris, down to the landmark tower that is somehow visible from every window and horizon around.
You are wondering, “is there any way to leave the city, there must be, surely?” Actually, no. You are then wondering, “well, the city must be enormous, right?”... actually, no again on that one. You will be running around it quite a bit, but don’t expect it to take you a half-hour to get from one end of the game world to the other. You won’t be asking anyone “Où est la gare?”, let’s put it that way.
So where do you even catch Pokémon then? Well, there are designated Wild Zones all throughout Lumiose City. Simply step up, touch the translucent green barrier which repels even the strongest charging Pokémon and their attacks, and you will find yourself in parks, courtyards and clearings where wild Pokémon roam.
Typical, isn’t it? No sooner is there a bit of nice green space set up in your native city, than vicious dogs, birds and icebergs take up residence, ready to attack you at a moment’s notice.
Just like in Legends Arceus, it’s not just your Pokémon who may come under threat - some of the Pokémon, especially the large, red-eyed Alpha Pokémon, will come right after your player character and will knock you out if you ain’t careful. Paris and France in general does have good healthcare - and there are always Pokémon Centers just a brisk jog away - but it’s still no less spooky having the likes of Alpha Sharpedo chasing you down.
Coming back to the Kalos region does, fortunately, bring about a return of what is still Pokémon’s best gimmick: Mega Evolution. You can forget about your Gigantamaxes and your Terastallizing - Mega Evolution is where it’s at, giving old favourite Pokémon a breath of fresh air.
There are no outright new Pokémon added to the National Pokédex in this game, unlike Legends Arceus, but there are 27 new Mega Evolutions, for the likes of Gen 1 classics like Victreebel, Starmie and Dragonite, plus many other deserving Pokémon who didn’t get the Mega treatment the first time around. You will spend a bulk of the game’s story fighting Mega Evolved Pokémon who have gone rogue and need your help to calm them down again in fun, tense and somewhat janky battle situations.
Speaking of jank, and speaking also of collecting items in this supposed open-world, you won’t just be running around on the streets of not-Paris. You’ll be up on the rooftops as well, smashing enemy Arboks and Mareeps with Earthquakes - presumably the inhabitants in the buildings below just accept that they have to put up with the noise and property damage, if they want a Parisian postcode so badly.
You’ll be running parkour courses all around the city, going from rooftop-to-rooftop, collecting all kinds of loose items, TMs which teach your Pokémon new moves, and Colorful Screws that can be traded for permanent upgrades. Don’t be expecting parkour like Mirror’s Edge or Assassin’s Creed or anything - as I said, it’s janky - but it’s fun to explore. You won’t get loot fatigue in this one; you can while away hours just running after the next sparkle, and then the one after that.
The city does turn dodgy at night though, when the battlers come out. This is the other half of the game - once you’ve spent the day collecting Pokémon, loot and whatever else, you also have a Battle League to work your way through. The battle system has been overhauled to a more frantic, almost real-time system, which is pretty interesting and works well, even if it’s more of a button-masher.
You start the Battle League as quite literally a Z-lister, having to work your way up through the ranks, one letter at a time. It would have been fun to do this all the way, a proper journey to the top. However, early on in the game you get bumped up to Rank F, though at least the plot becomes meatier from there.
It’s a little bit like the old Gym Leader Battles in the regular mainline games, get through 8 more of them against major characters, and you become the top dog. There is online battling and online trading as well, some of which is actually necessary if you want to get everything possible.
In the end, the game is typical Pokémon fare of the last 10 or so years - quite fun, very enjoyable, but pretty lacking in ambition and amazement, and it’ll probably get a bit old before you do everything.
Loads of nonsense dialogue to sift through once again, not a hint of voice acting, with the same old graphics, and a Pokédex smaller even than that of Legends Arceus. That is unless you purchase a €30 threadbare DLC which was advertised before the game even released, to which anyone with sense would adopt a snooty French accent and exclaim: “non!”.
By the end, you’re left having had fun, but bemoaning the developers’ laziness and attitude. Picture the fanciest French chef west of Alsace, capable of making the finest Lièvre à la Royale, instead eschewing all his skills and slopping up the greasiest, most gut-rotting cheeseburgers known to man. Fine if he wants to do it his way, and still tasty, no doubt. Mais quel dommage…
3 April 2026