Would you believe this is my first real Kojima game? (Ground Zeroes doesn’t count.) Yeah, what a start. Anyway, I gotta be honest, I played the first hour of this like a year and a half ago, then I came back and beat it so i was lost on the story. I also haven’t played the first so that didn’t help. But the gameplay was fun enough. Kinda basic, but a fun mech game. Big robots shooting lasers, that’s what I bought it for and certainly what I got. VR mode sounds fun, but I shall never play it sadly.

Lovely little game, a brisk 4 hour journey of mecha goodness. Controls extremely well and you get a variety of fun to use sub-weapons and even different mech forms at the end. Good variety of missions too, wish there were more enemy types tho. Plenty of bosses at least, tho you fight one 3 times (with a different strategy each time).

The story is kinda whatever, the part of the cutscenes that I enjoyed the most was the extremely cheesy early-2000’s dub. Haven’t heard a voice actor have to speak very quickly to keep up with the Japanese speech pace in a long time, very nostalgic. The graphics are great, especially in this remaster, and the mech designs are awesome (outside of the COCKpits, which is certainly. A choice.)

I liked the final bosses a lot but disliked how they took away all your sub-weapons, those things are half the fun of the game imo.

8/10

I've had a lot of internal debate over how to approach this, because even now I still groan a little bit that I've already stepped back on something I wanted to avoid for the longest time, but I'm coming to acknowledge that my initial mentality was probably too shortsighted. To that end, maybe mentioning Metal Gear Solid immediately will be the quickest way to get it both in and out of the discussion, because, however you got here, you didn't come in to read about that. At the same time, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan's creation of ANUBIS: Zone of the Enders didn't come out of a vacuum; it only came after years of experimentation across other projects, not even just the one that it had to bear the responsibility of redeeming. Even so, I'll at least always gladly offer the reminder that Kojima's mark on this game was not as large as nearly every other indication might lead you to believe. He got the team together, including guest artist Kazuma Kaneko, and approved the initial script that would lead to CGI artist Shuyo Murata's position as director…and that's about it. Even with his name inevitably tied to it, Zone of the Enders' status as "That other series from the Metal Gear team'' being less an indication of its expected quality, and more just some piece of trivia, is a point of frustration I still don't feel guilty about having, but ignoring that series isn't the solution either.

All of this is to say that easter eggs are debatably Metal Gear Solid's most definitive feature. While the humorous reactions are the usual point of attention, the real stroke of genius is the way that even the ones primarily based around dialogue are still only the result of unrestrained, organic interaction. Any hijinks related to bathrooms, magazines, or anything else comical aren't born from highly specialized circumstances, but rather through simply acknowledging how the general mechanics on offer might be applied in a variety of general scenarios. For all of its cinematic tendencies, the blend that MGS can strike between clean arcade immediacy and constantly active simulation is genuinely impressive. Thinking about it in this way, it's easy to recognize how easter eggs can be categorized as just another application of "depth", and in the context of KCEJ, brings up the question of what it would be like if they took this approach with something of a completely different style.

I think you can guess what the answer is.

Knowing where to start with it, though, is pretty tricky, but I think just giving an example is the best way to make the idea clear: Geyser stuns enemies as long as its beams make contact with an enemy. It can be scattered across the ground, walls, and ceiling, or thrown directly at an enemy, depending on how hard you press the Sub button. That's as simple as it can be described, and yet you'll find that it can be applied in a variety of ways. If you're surrounded, you can use it to create breathing room; if enemies are approaching, you can set it up in advance; if an enemy is actively attacking you, they'll be unable to guard against it.

None of these are a given in any situation, yet they all technically remain equally possible because there's no difference in how Geyser itself is inputted; rather, any divergence is simply from having to react to enemy behavior, which is always variable thanks to how aggressive Frames have been made this time around. Even its use in the Crevasse fight manages to be free from feeling like a rigid interaction, as it still has the ability to stun enemies who get close to downed LEVs, as it still always does. That it prompts Leo to come in to heal his friends is simply an extension of what you might have already used it for.

But outside of that, there are specific qualities that, despite seeming obvious, still feel like "eureka" moments to discover: grab a stunned enemy, and you'll find that they'll take longer to break free…which makes perfect sense. Even when grabbed, it would make sense that Geyser should still work properly, and thus its effects exist alongside those of a Grab. Taking it even further, if Geyser's beams are enough to stun enemies, and a focused throw leads to beams emitting from an enemy directly, not only is it safe to assume that nearby enemies will also get stunned, but perhaps also that you could even move the initial target around to get this result more easily. Go on over, grab that poor soul, simply move over to another target…lo and behold, they'll also get stunned. Logic simply taken to its furthest point, that's all there is to it.

For how "light" the game may appear in regards to its number of individual attacks, the way that everything can be combined together still gives ANUBIS a large amount of mechanical flexibility: wall damage, tying stun and Guards into Comet rebounds, combining Decoy with Geyser or Floating Mine, or Wisp with Floating Mine, or using Gauntlet to push enemies into any of the above…I could describe everything in detail, but we'd be here for a long time. To keep it brief, you'd be surprised how easily every single fight can change with every single attempt, even if the escorts and ranked encounters feel "rigid". Jehuty's kit just allows for so many different approaches to situations, but on the opposite side of the coin, the absolutely superb enemy design bolsters this even more. Even with the new main Frame types, the interconnectedness is still strong: the blend between a Mummyhead's long-range barrages and a Raptor's up-close pressure is only strengthened with how fast and aggressively they work in tandem with each other now, not to mention the many other possible enemy combinations on offer. And this only gets further enhanced with each next difficulty option, as increased enemy vigilance and projectile density combine with much faster attack animations to make every encounter demand a lot more of your attention, even those previously seemed tame. Now, CLODs can be a little extreme, especially on…Extreme, with their whack pressure game, high damage output, and capacity for stun-locking those among us that aren't the best at button-mashing, but it's hard to call their suction move and the effects it has on your movement conceptually flawed, maybe just in need of a little more balancing.

Similarly, arenas in ANUBIS manage to be well-designed despite rarely ever becoming that complicated. Rather, it's the general ways that your movement and opportunities for environmental use might be freed or restricted that makes them effective. The piston rooms, where these two sides constantly cycle between each other, become a highlight for that reason, not to mention one of the more rightfully difficult sections, where mistakes in your awareness and positioning can be instantly fatal.


Something about it all still feels like that fine line between arcade and immersion. Describing ANUBIS sometimes genuinely feels like trying to make sense of a spiderweb: the ways everything interlinks makes it both smooth and daunting to navigate. And yet, in the moment, when you're met with planning out your next target, when you make the bet to clash with a Raptor to get some Sub back, or try to take advantage of that Mummyhead trying to heal, while being aware of that Cyclops coming in for the combo; when you have to gauge how many times you can swing a Frame around, or guide enemies into the environment for that extra collision damage…it just all comes together. A constant balancing act, just in the freedom of the air.

That said, and in fairness, the bosses do suffer a little when viewed through this lens: Zakat represents them at their peak, with nearly every Sub having utility that must be managed, whilst also presenting a strong variety of different attacks that let Jehuty's movement options shine. On the other hand, though, Nepthis's constant rigidity makes its fights feel more like following a flowchart, though an opportunity to fight it in a manner similar to Neith would have made these less sour for me…well, I guess there's always VS. Mode. Even so, the boss lineup fares well because there's always something different as the focal point: Ardjet's first fight serves as a beginner's checkup for queueing Homing Lasers (or just block-tanking, I suppose), whereas the final encounter with Viola's A.I. lets you see the value of blade-crossing. Inhert leans the most into being a "gimmicky" set piece, but still offers freedom in regards to how you want to dodge around its missiles during that second phase, as well as still being a threat up close. Vic Viper, true to its origin, focuses the most on bullet hell, but also provides good rewards for being quick to take advantage of its recovery periods. To even bring Geyser back into the discussion, land one on of its OPTION orbs, and it gets disabled until it enters Flight Mode again. Perfectly in line with how it's normally used, whilst still rewarding the inquisitive player who asks if it's even possible…that's the good shit.

And Anubis ends things off on a perfect blend of the basics of Jehuty's abilities: the combination of Homing Lasers, combos, blade-crossing, and preemptive play makes for one very satisfying final encounter to go for no-damage runs on. Absolutely phenomenal visuals for its BURST, too, of course. Pure fucking eye candy.

You're probably expecting a similar bashing of the escort missions, but they're really not as horrible as they might appear. As an example, the lock-on priority for Taper during his section is tied to if he's under attack, which works in tandem with how enemies behave there: Cyclopes go for Jehuty, Raptors go for Taper. That you'll need to learn this might be what puts people off, but even just generally, throwing Geysers in Taper's direction is a mostly foolproof way to make things more manageable. And if you still can't tolerate it, there's also ways to route that section to last as shortly as possible, which is actually something that goes for the rest of the game as a whole: if you don't like an encounter, there's ways to basically instantly skip past it. I may have qualms about how trivial spawn-kills with BURSTS are, or even just the sheer power of spin-throws, but it's not like I have to abide by using them. At this point, I can make my way around every encounter easily, but the option being there is appreciable. For a game that is mind-bogglingly free of fat, even including the extra content of the Special Edition, the ability to make it even more lean is honestly pretty respectable, even if some of it may not have been intentional.

A key point in favor of the holistic experience is the better balance around the core mechanics of play, compared to how frequently the specialized moments of the first two MGS games often sidelined their main area of focus. Managing Spiders, defeating a boss only through parries, or trying to keep all those helpless LEVs from getting themselves killed are all still better tied to Jehuty's main abilities than the moments where MGS tries to lean away from its stealth, even if its best bosses are still excellent. The aforementioned Crevasse fight is a bit too randomized compared to the rest of the game for my tastes, especially on higher difficulties, but ANUBIS otherwise still stands as an excellent example of how to navigate the balance between mechanical freedom and a strong focus on set pieces. Compared to the original's unremarkable mundanity, or the general inconsistency of the team's other works, it stands as a pretty big step forward.

Outside of that, it's fun to also acknowledge how KCEJ's other stylistic traits help elevate more than just ANUBIS's mechanical scope. The studio's trademark letterboxing still provides cutscenes with that little extra pizazz, as well as having the eternally useful benefit of making subtitles consistently readable (whoever saw no problem with how horribly they're overlaid on top of ADA's interface in the Codec scenes for the widescreen ports deserves actual jail time). Yeah, the narrative is basically left to rot in English, but in its native tongue there's a little more merit to be found both in its characters and subject matter. Granted, I think even I can recognize that some of the voice work is still a bit hammy, but anything is a masterpiece in comparison to what the rest of the world was exposed to.

Either way, I trust everyone can still agree that the visuals are nothing short of marvelous: this is easily the best looking game on the PlayStation 2, and notably one that will nearly always be friendly to HD preservation. The upscaling of the animated cutscenes can be questionable, alongside an unfortunately good deal of incorrect texture mapping in MVRS, but the stylization on its own will still stand the test of time better than most other works from its era, even its brother series (and even if MGS2 and 3 also stand as technical juggernauts for their home console).

Its soundtrack is also a contender for best on its platform: the unique combination between house-like instrumentation and surreal vocals remains just as strong as it was in the first game, perhaps even more so now that it's not restricted by the dynamic layering concept the music of the original had to abide by. You'd normally call a tradeoff like this to be a loss, but somehow the sound team outdid themselves even more with this one.

That last point feels poignant to me because I think it's also emblematic of what exactly ANUBIS did for the original Zone of the Enders: the first game did actually have a tagline in Japan, located on the back of its box in the same place that Metal Gear Solid had "Tactical Espionage Action", but all it was was…"Robot Animation Simulator". I will forever have a soft spot for that game, but there's still something bleak about it being so clearly underfed for how ambitious it was, that it couldn't even find a proper identity to latch onto. Part of why my mentality about Z.O.E.'s standing with MGS has changed is that I've come to realize that it was maybe the right choice for them to make the two closer, rather than distant: come time for ANUBIS, the series adopted Metal Gear Solid's title font, its cinematic qualities, and its same approach to depth of gameplay, but I genuinely think that the most important thing of all was that it also found its own subtitle, proudly emblazoned near the end of its iconic opening. Even with the two's DNA being inextricably linked, it still finally found its footing. Not to say that the series didn't have it at all, more so that it just wasn't fully realized.

The gold was there, it only needed to be dug out more. And this time, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan came in with the mentality and capability to make that properly happen. The result: High Speed Robot Action.

Funnily enough, I enjoyed the first game more than this one. The combat is extremely fluid and the original pales in comparison to this game, but everything else felt lacking? I really enjoyed the dynamic between Leo and ADA in the first game, and I felt like there was ample breathing space in-between set pieces; whereas The Second Runner feels like set piece after set piece. The voice acting in the first game wasn't great, but they crank it up to awful on ZoE2, and I felt like I couldn't relate to the characters at all. Needless to say, the game was alright, but not one I'd play all the way through again.

The mecha game about the egyptian robots with massive fucking cocks is actually really good. I had it on the PS2 when I was a teenager but never beat it, and decided on a whim to get it and finish it on PC, and I’m glad I did.

Gameplay is extremely fun and snappy even if simple
Story is your average mecha anime compressed into an action game. Voice acting and parts of the script in general are god awful but its par for the course
One of the few mecha games I could genuinely recommend to someone.

This is a remastered version for the PC and I think it’s really good (though it helps that the PS2 original was a technical masterpiece just like everything Kojima’s team puts out (reminder, PRODUCED by Hideo Kojima)). Don’t have a VR headset to try out the VR mode even though I wanted to puke so much.

I can't really hide that I actually decided to try this game for one reason mostly: the mechs. The designs of both Jehuty and Anubis, and most of the other mechas' tbf, is simply phenomenal, really sleek, very futuristic looking and I love the Egyptian theme they decided for them. The game proved to be an action gem, with very fluid movement, fun combat and a lot of options. I couldn't really ask anything more. I didn't play the first game, but it was easy enough to get the context for everything that was happening, and the plot itself was decent. The game is really short, sadly, and for those 4 hours or so, you basically go through different combat scenarios, with some changes here and there to keep the interest up. It's a game that I kinda wish I could see getting modernized, as despite the beautiful artstyle and the nice combat, it definitely is a bit aged as far as the general structure and level design go. Really nice port as well.

A pretty good step up from the first game.
Gameplay was very fast paced and fun cutting through enemies, in and out.
Visuals looked pretty solid while keeping that ps2 era feel in the cutscenes.
ZOE games tend to have pretty shallow stories considering their length but atleast this was something other than that gundam rip off plot in the first game lmfao