Ahead of the game’s launch later this week, review aggregator Metacritic has published the Metascore for Pokemon Legends Z-A.

With 42 critic reviews at the time of this writing, Pokemon Legends Z-A has been given a Metascore of 81. Metacritic classifies this score as “Generally Favorable”. In comparison, the game’s predecessor Pokemon Scarlet And Violet received a metascore of 71 at launch, while Pokemon Legends Arceus had a score of 83.

Check out what some of the reviews had to say below:

VGC ~ 100
Pokémon Legends Z-A is a grand adventure that once again proves that the Legends series is home to the most interesting ideas Game Freak has. It’s a game that understands its audience, and feels like a love letter to both players who grew up with X & Y, and those who’ve been here the whole time. The new battle system really worked for me, and the Rogue Mega Battles are bombastic fun, even if, like the traditional turn-based offering, it can get very easy as you level up your team. I hope the Pokémon Legends series is here to stay.

RPGSite ~ 90
Years ago, I said that Pokemon Legends: Arceus proved that there was room in the Pokemon world for more games like Pokemon Colosseum to exist, and to even thrive. While Pokemon Legends: Z-A wasn’t quite what I had in mind, it feels like validation nonetheless. Pokemon is at its best when Gamefreak is allowed to experiment with what a Pokemon game can actually be, and Pokemon Legends: Z-A is an affirmation that the series isn’t done evolving, much like the Pokemon themselves. If this is the future of the series – more experimental “Legends” titles which attempt to broaden the Pokemon world in ways that only they can, instead of merely retreading old ground with remakes – I couldn’t be happier.

Siliconera ~ 90
Pokemon Legends: Z-A is a follow-up to Arceus that feels both similar and different due to its focus on living alongside Pokemon in a modern city. The two themes are Mega Evolution and embracing life alongside Pokemon, and Game Freak and Nintendo are constantly showing and telling how that works. Admittedly, I miss the more varied biomes and locations from Arceus. But I do appreciate the story, the ambiance, the attention paid to characters, and how much it feels like a real city. After over 35 hours with it, I’m quite pleased.

NintendoLife ~ 70
Pokémon Legends: Z-A should be celebrated for its fabulous real-time combat and its largely smooth jump to the Switch 2, but in condensing things down to one single location, it loses part of the Pokémon magic that Arceus and many other entries managed to amplify. I’ll forever find filling up my Pokédex fun, and for the Switch 2 generation, this is a good starting point for the franchise. But if the Legends series is to continue, it needs to recapture its personality and fuse that real-time system with a bit more freedom.

Eurogamer ~ 60
Lumiose City could do with work, but Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a much more tightly focused – and delightfully goofy – return to better form. At least by modern Pokémon’s standards.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.