Pokémon Legends Z-A Nintendo Switch

It's Pokémon, with a fun twist. The battles are dynamic and much faster than I was used to in the original Pokémon games released on the Game Boy and Nintendo DS. The storyline is interesting, and the day-night cycle makes the small city map feel a bit larger than it initially appears, as a lot changes during the transition from day to night. Personally, I enjoy this game a lot because of the gameplay, and if I'm completely honest, also because of the nostalgia factor. There are many Pokémon I recognize from the past, and a few nice references to older titles. If I had to find one negative, it would be the performance on the Switch 1 system and the fact that the graphics are definitely lagging behind. Perhaps the most annoying thing is that certain buildings clearly received more attention than the rest of the city, like, "It's possible, but clearly different choices were made compared to the rest of the graphics." Anyway, that doesn't bother me so much that it detracts from the gaming experience.

While quite entertaining, the gameplay experience is different from previous mainstream Pokémon games. It's certainly a good game on its own, but I do miss a world to explore. Nevertheless, you now use all the available locations repeatedly, whereas with older Pokémon games, I didn't often feel the need to return. The way it's designed, the world even feels large enough because there's plenty to do. An annoying, and in my opinion a bug, is that during the day-night switch, if you're catching or battling a Pokémon, this resets. But your lives don't, so if it's day or night, it's better to wait a bit if you want to engage in a difficult battle in the wild.

As a Pokemon fan, this is great fun. It runs smoothly on the OG Switch.