Pokemon Legends: Arceus is like a twin sibling to 2021’s set of Pokemon games, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Those two were straight remakes whereas this is a more ambitious re-imagining of the same region: Sinnoh. It involves time travel wherein the player-created character gets zapped back into the early days of Pokemon hunting.
There are still Poke Balls, but the tech is low. There are no computers for storing Pokemon for example. It changes a lot to the standard formula. Some things for the better and some for the worse. Pokemon Legends: Arceus does not hit every nail on the head, but it does try its hardest to make this the biggest Pokemon experience yet.
10 Best: Back To The Past
One of the more surprising elements about Pokemon Legends: Arceus is the time travel. Arceus chooses the hero, for whatever reason, and sends them back in time. The era looks like it should be at the end of the 1800s Japan, or the early 1900s.
It’s the end of the samurai era but the clothing and buildings still look similar. It’s a nice aesthetic for the game. It might have been cooler to see a true Pokemon game set in an older period, but overall Pokemon Legends: Arceus does have a great style.
9 Worst: Half-Step Battle Evolution
There are good and bad things about the retooled battle system. It’s nice that Pokemon can be fought wherever, and fights do pop up quickly. Unfortunately, it is still turn-based. This is odd because the player can run around the arena while the two Pokemon are fighting.
There is no strategic reason for doing these other than to allow players to see new angles. It would have been nice to see the battle system revamped more like into an action RPG.
8 Best: Running And Fast Travel
Players can dash as soon as they can control their character. This is not too different from recent entries in the series, but it is still nice to highlight. The bigger revelation is that fast travel is more robust. Players don’t have to rely on trains or flying Pokemon anymore.
They simply have to open up the map, tap on a fast travel point, and off they go. Open-world games seemingly demand good travel options to make backtracking less of a hassle. Thankfully Pokemon Legends: Arceus is not held back in this way.
7 Worst: An Empty World With Limited Exploration Abilities
Fast travel and dashing around are nice features in the game. Players will also be able to ride Pokemon to run around faster, climb mountains, fly, and swim. Like other entries in the series, those latter abilities come late into the experience. It would have been nice to swim or climb freely earlier on in the adventure.
The game is also devoid of interesting things to look at in the open world besides the hundreds of creatures. Pokemon Legends: Arceus is padded with a lot of empty landscape. Plus, graphically, the game is struggling on Switch with bad frame rates and blurry textures.
6 Best: Crafting
Another trademark of open-world games is crafting. For the first time, Pokemon Legends: Arceus has a robust crafting system. Everything from Poke Balls to potions can be created. All the materials can be found in the environment.
If there is a tricky substance players can’t find then shops are available too. Money should be saved for buying moves though so maybe don’t rely on buying materials too much. Just having the ability to craft Poke Balls was a brilliant move on the developers.
5 Worst: No Voice Acting
The Pokemon games are for everyone but at the same time, it is understood that they are mainly aimed at kids. If that is the case then why hasn’t Nintendo added in voice acting yet? In a world where kids watch a majority of their content online, with voices, it’s weird that Nintendo would stick to their guns and have Pokemon Legends: Arceus be text-based only. Are they reading through the story? It’s also strange that the protagonist can’t talk, although that is not as vexing.
4 Best: Saving Anywhere
One thing the Pokemon series has had right since the very beginning was allowing players to save anywhere and at any time. Very few entries have gone against this ideal. If they have then they were spinoffs. Pokemon Legends: Arceus is thankfully just as flexible as the main games.
It’s nice to be able to pop into a game like this for a few minutes at a time, save, and then back out again. It would have been nice if there were more save slots, but that is a different argument for another day.
3 Worst: Limited Online Play
Something else the series has been known for since day one is multiplayer. Unfortunately, the multiplayer in Pokemon Legends: Arceus is lacking. Players can trade items or Pokemon if they are connected online. Players can also retrieve lost bags and send them back to players online for reward points called Merits. It’s a passive experience.
Players cannot battle online which is not great. Trading is also limited to friends only and there are password codes required. It’s amazing how backward the online aspect for Pokemon Legends: Arceus is since it is forward-thinking in many other ways.
2 Best: The Move Bunker
Pokemon has always been limited to using only four Moves in battle. The same is true in this game. However, every move a Pokemon learns will be saved in a database. When not in battle, players can hop into the menu and equip moves as if they were equipping moves in a more classic RPG.
This allows players to create more diverse parties. Moves can also be bought, individually, at a town vendor. The more players rank up their Pokedex, the more Moves they can acquire.
1 Worst: Little Character Customization
Players only have eight preset options for creating their character. There are four choices for each gender. Players can further customize their character later on, but it costs money. They can buy clothes, or change their hair for example.
It would have been nice if these options weren’t hidden behind an in-game paywall. Character customization has never been a strong point in this series. So, it’s not surprising to see in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. It is disappointing though.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus was released on January 28, 2022, and is available on Switch.