Adam JH

I really wanted to love Pokémon Legends: Z-A. I mean, the promise of urban Pokémon mayhem in Lumiose City, real-time battles, Mega Evolutions, all that jazz sounded thrilling. INSTEAD, what I got felt like unlike a purchase, but rather, a $75 lesson in lowered expectations. What went wrong? I'll lay them out... * A City instead of an epic adventure. They set the game mostly in one city. One. City. I expected vast wild zones, sweeping vistas, daring exploration. Instead I got drab alleyways, empty shopping arcades, balconies that look like cardboard, and NPCs standing around like mannequins at a clearance sale. Aren't cities meant to be hustlin' and hustlin'? I mean, if the game was post-apocalyptic, then I'd completely understand BUT there were no nukes, no deadly AI robots nor zombies. Speaking of zombies, I kinda felt like one myself playing this sh*t for brains game... * Graphics that scream “meh” instead of “wow”. This game came out in 2025. And here we are, moaning and carrying on about buildings with flat textures, 2D windows on 3D walls, characters popping in and out like bad ghosts. I don't understand, this is a billion dollars company, where did the budget wander off? Oh yeah that's probably it, it vanished when the f*cking day cycle turned to night, just like the Pokemon in this game. * combat mechanics: Leprechaun vs. the world. Real-time combat was supposed to be the fresh twist. And yes—on paper it’s interesting. In practice, it was janky, at best. I ran into battles where my Pokémon fell off a rooftop mid-fight, or got stuck in the environment, or had crazy hitboxes. The sneaking around seemed fun but got boring fast. And going in balls out n' guns blazing felt redundant if you really just wanted to catch Pokemon to collect. So ultimately, it felt like a chore running through wild zones after a while. * Tutorials til your old n' your t*ts or b*lls sag to the floor. I get hand-holding; I do. It's romantic and can lead to some really fun times. But 2-3 hours worth of it just leads to a stale, flaccid experience. It felt like a lecture on Pokémon rights and Mega Evolution ethics, before I even got to throw a Poké Ball. * Missing the vibe of what made “legends” fun. I played Pokémon Legends: Arceus and loved how it felt like a grand expedition, each zone with something to discover. This Z-A game felt like, Hey here’s a city map, oh look a wild zone of mediocre size, go catch stuff. I just can’t shake the feeling that the Kalos "region" isn't a region like the other games, it's more like a small town or a suburb that you skip past on a roadtrip to somewhere exciting. Final verdict: If you’re a hardcore Pokémon fan who’ll happily overlook visuals and just chase shinies, maybe you’ll find something here to enjoy. But for me, as someone who grew up and loved every game, (yes, even you Sun and Moon, and yep, you too weird crystal party hat Pokemon game) this game just felt like a huge disappointment. I'm definitely done with Pokemon games now, I'll just be an old fart and revisit the old Pokemon games to chase that nostalgia. You know - back when Pokemon games were decent and effort was out into their development.

Overall, a very average game but some aspects can be enjoyed if you give it a chance. However, among all the Pokemon games, this feels unfinished and a lot is left desired. Cons: *Storyline is very boring and uninteresting. *team star (the "bad guys") and their ploy is very unimaginative. *Many favourite Pokemon are simply not available in the game OR you are paywalled by obtaining certain Pokemon through online raids such as Charizard. So not only do you have to pay for the game itself, but you have to pay to access online features as well as obtain many of your favourite Pokemon. *Clothing and general wear/accessories are very limited to a "school boy/girl" style. *Plenty of glitches and laggy frame rates in many areas of the game *The whole tera form design is absolute trash. Hats? Seriously? What drugs were they on? It just screams "ok we are fresh out of ideas, let me just pull something out of my A$$ and call it a day". Pros: *A fresh new play style being able to freely roam and access high level areas early on. Additionally, you have the freedom to tackle gym leaders and bosses in any order you wish. *Unique boss Pokemon *Easy access to high level Pokemon and their evolutions *no random encounters, you get to pick what wild Pokemon you battle *Items easily obtainable and in-game money easy to come by I feel that this game is on the right track, but has a long way to go. The biggest negative of this game is that you're very limited with the pool of Pokemon unless you want to pay for a subscription to play online and access DLC. Had I known prior, I would have saved my money - a very big bummer since I purchased a switch mainly to play the new Pokemon games.

If you loved Green Lantern, this movie is right up your alley. Seriously though, if you want to see a good movie, this is NOT the movie to watch. Marvel really flopped hard with this one. The plot was so disjointed and stretched so thin it was almost non-existent. The villains motive was a joke amidst the whole movie really... I have nothing good to say about this film, very disappointed.