I've been playing Pokemon for 17 years, but Pokemon Legends: Z-A makes me feel like I'm relearning everything I knew about battles in the best way possible

12 years ago when I was exploring Kalos in Pokemon X and Y, I never could have imagined that over a decade later I'd be revisiting the same region a decade later with the series' arguably biggest innovations to date. Jump forward to today, and after an hour of playing Pokemon Legends: Z-A, I believe it has what it takes to rejuvenate Game Freak's tried and tested RPG formula.

In this extended play session, the star of the show – the real-time combat system – is given even more of a chance to shine. Following my previous 20 minutes with the game, I was already pleasantly surprised by how engaging lower-level fights feel in the RPG, with battles that would have been a dull series of back and forth Tackles transformed into something much more fast and frantic, notably demanding actual thought.

Move up

In this preview session, I'm clearly a bit further ahead into the RPG than before, with higher-level Pokemon by my side who also boast a wider range of attacks. Here, I get a better idea of how different moves behave on the field in real-time, and I'm immediately excited to see how deep this system goes. The MVP of my team is a Gyarados, whose Waterfall attack crashes straight forward in a line, dealing devastating damage to anything unlucky enough to be in its way. At one point, a handful of rowdy Houndour discover this the hard way, all being knocked out at the same time after being hit with the super-effective move.

Gyarados also has Whirlpool – a move I'd normally totally avoid using given that, historically, it's very weak, with its gimmick of stopping foes from switching out and doing chip damage for a number of turns generally being profoundly unhelpful when compared to stronger attacks. Here though, it's far more interesting, actually remaining on the field for a short duration and pulling Pokemon into its vortex if they get too close, giving you a safer way to reposition yourself if needed, especially if your other moves are still on cooldown. Other moves, like Bulldoze, attack in a wide area around the Pokemon, hitting anything close.

Not every move is as notable as this. Some, like Ember, simply shoot towards their target – but I was very pleased to see how much thought has gone into differentiating moves beyond their attack power and status effects. It's clear that there's going to be good reason to try out even the moves you'd normally overlook when playing the turn-based games, as the effects and situational benefits they offer in Legends: Z-A might just make them worthwhile – higher power doesn't seem to be everything here, and I love the idea of underused options potentially being used in strategies that weren't previously feasible.

On the flip side of attacking, something I didn't notice during my shorter demo last month was the fact that healing items now have a cooldown during battles, too. During the middle of a fight with a particularly tough Alpha Houndoom, my trusty Gyarados falls, and nothing else on my team is able to withstand its attacks. Thankfully, I have a pile of Revives and potions in my bag, but after bringing the big ol' fish back into the fray, I'm quickly struck with the realization that I can't immediately bring it back to full health – use one item when actively engaged in combat, and a bar appears on your screen, gradually depleting to indicate when you can use another.

Admittedly, this initially caught me off guard, and my poor Gyarados paid the price (again), but it's a great way to balance what could have easily trivialized harder battles with constant item spamming. It's not too harsh, but if you walk into a fight underleveled, you're not going to be able to keep your team healthy at all times. Considering those wild foes are aiming at your trainer, too, you really want to be ready before taking on any huge threats.

So far, there are no bigger threats than the Rogue Mega Evolved Pokemon – boss fights which continue to be a huge highlight. In this session, I take on a Rogue Mega Victreebel, and it appears that these big battles might bring different gimmicks to the table. Throughout our tussle, the huge Grass/Poison-type spits out piles of toxic sludge, covering the field and forcing me to dodge between them as I dive out of the way of other incoming attacks, all while leading my own Pokemon away from them so they don't take damage. This definitely makes it a harder fight than the Mega Absol I took on at Gamescom, which was comparatively a much more standard battle, albeit still a fun challenge with its robust health bar and waves of attacks.

Urban legends

If there's anything I'm still concerned about, it's Lumiose City as a setting. How interesting will it be to stay in one city for an entire RPG? Some of my exploration has partially alleviated those worries – there are plenty of smaller details to spot that bring the city to life. I spend arguably too long squeezing my trainer into a tiny souvenir stall to look closely at the postcards on the shelves, each decorated with adorable Pokemon art. I even spot a manhole cover adorned with a Hawlucha design, making me wonder if there are more like this hiding elsewhere.

It's clear that the devs have put effort into making areas feel fuller with the verticality of the Wild Zones, too. The Wild Zone I explore during the preview session, for example, isn't just a section of road, as I'm also able to drop down into a lower level near a body of water and climb up onto the roofs of certain buildings to reach new locations. Doing so, I also encounter a particularly strong Alpha Pikachu – although this discovery also illustrates that the real-time combat shift hasn't necessarily made enemy AI smarter, as the electric mouse spends almost the entire battle using non-attacking moves when it could knock out most of my team in a single hit.

Pacifist Pikachu aside, I also see some of this verticality in the second zone I explore, competing in the Z-A Royale and fighting against trainers on the streets at night. In some places, I'm able to climb up some sort of scaffolding to look for items above ground, which keeps everything from being left scattered on the pavement. However, it's in this nighttime segment that I realize how similar a lot of the zone looks – it's difficult to navigate without relying on the map since there aren't many obvious landmarks to set things apart and know you're actually going somewhere new, something I worry could be a recurring issue. That's not to mention my concern over the overall map size, which I've been troubled by since the game was revealed, but that's not something I'm able to measure in just one hour of gameplay.

All in all though, I'm still very optimistic about Pokemon Legends: Z-A. I've been playing Pokemon for 17 years, and after many successful Nuzlocke challenge runs and plenty of online battles against fellow trainers, I've been very confident in my skills for the best part of two decades. With Legends: Z-A though, I feel like I have so much to learn about its new combat mechanics, as the experience so far feels like relearning so much of what I knew – especially after seeing just how different certain moves can behave compared to the turn-based games. It's safe to say that even the most hardened veterans won't just be able to rely on their old knowledge of the series when revisiting Lumiose City, and I'm excited to see what this means not just for this game, but the series' future.

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