I really don't know why I bought this when it, of course, feels like more of the same, if not worse, as the previous title and I didn't like that one. The buggy still feels floaty and imprecise and the level design is even worse now. Where it was flat and uninspired or just irritating in the original, it is now apparently these boringly large rooms with an area the size of a small game within one enormous room. Or that was the first area, where I realized that I wouldn't be enjoying this game any more than I did the first one and gave up. The too-easy on-foot sections of the first game have been nerfed but now you have this anime-inspired timed move instead and it's still too easy and very boring. These games are just aggressively boring and I'm out.

In typical Inti Creates fashion, the sequel is bigger, better, and much more refined than the original. The level design is better, in both side-view and top-down sections. Top-down sections in particular have been improved significantly. Jason now moves faster in top-down sections, and while that's a pretty mundane change, it basically fixes the pacing problem that the previous game had in top-down sections. Also, weapon levels are now much more balanced. While the lv8 shot is still the strongest, it's no longer overwhelmingly powerful, and the lower level weapons were changed/buffed in such a way that you'll actually find yourself using them in various situations, instead of just "I got hit a lot and leveled down" like in BMZ1. The same goes for sub-weapons; all of them have practical applications in combat now, instead of just the grenade. The biggest change, of course, is the addition of the counter. It is very well implemented, and it made top-down combat that much more fun.

As for side-view, it has its fair share of improvements as well. The GAIA system is pretty cool, and it makes SP management feel more involved. Traversing space and exploring different planets was neat too. Shoutout to the new MA pilots too, I hope we see more of them (Leibniz in particular) in BMZ3.

My only gripes with the game are fairly minor, but gripes nonetheless. First, I personally didn't like G-SOPHIA's weaponry as much as Sophia III's from the first game. In addition, I didn't really appreciate all the backtracking I needed to do to get the true ending, compared to the first game where you could get everything as you go.

Great game, all things considered. Might try out the DLC modes later, I'm particularly interested in Copen's.

This is how a sequel should be! This game was amazingly fun to play and di everything right, the worlds are expansive, the power ups are interesting, the boss fights are very creative, the story while good is nothing really "new", the music is amazing as well as the graphics.

If I had to explain the difference between Blaster Master Zero 1 and 2, the best way to put it is, Blaster Master Zero is obviously a remake of the original Blaster Master on NES and expands upon it and does it very well.

Blaster Master Zero 2 you can tell is very much it's own game, I mean it's a sequel of course but you can tell the developers said "well now we don't have to stick strictly to a format like the remake." So they just went all out and made an amazing game that shows their creativity.

I will admit, my first hour into the game I wasn't crazy because the balancing of the difficulty felt waaay harder than the first game because it has new mechanics and how it wants you to tackle things, but after a few hours and some adjusting I totally fell into this game and it's world.

I had a lot of fun playing this for the most part. I really enjoyed the first game so getting this was an obvious choice, however I got stuck on a boss fairly early on so I stopped playing for a good while.

I decided to pick it up again the other day and the boss was toast in a few tries. This then opened up the game and I really started to enjoy it. However there was the odd difficulty spike here and there, that felt a bit too much at times, but I soldiered on and eventually got to the end boss (not before meeting tougher versions of bosses I'd previously killed). I think it's one of the more unique end bosses I've encountered and it had quite the learning curve. I must've taken some time to beat it.

Then I got a bad ending. Unless it's a cliffhanger for the new game? I'm assuming it's the former. And that I either need to pick up the remaining power ups throughout the game that I've missed or I need to defeat the final boss a lot quicker than what I did.

Despite the bad end, I had a good time playing it, it's a great action platformer with lots of variety and plenty of challenge. I look forward to playing the next one.

EDIT: I went back and picked up the remaining collectibles and power ups and beat the last boss again. Still got the same ending so fuck it, I'm done. Bring on number 3 (when it's significantly reduced in a sale).

I meant to buy the first Blaster Master Zero, but I somehow accidentally bought the second, so here I am.

Blaster Master Zero 2 is the second in a revival series of the NES game Blaster Master. It's kind of a Castleroid, but not really. While the game does indeed have a somewhat interconnected map and upgrades, there are several planets that you unlock in different levels. While there is interplanetary backtracking, very rarely will one be required to return to a planet after doing the main object (Unless you want the good ending, that is). Even so, the game never feels restrictive and does give freedom in how you tackle many of the missions. It also helps that the Tank sections are really fun. Most of the weapons are fun to use, and while movement options like Dashes, Wall Jumps, and Ground Pounds, and hovers are ridiculous to see a Tank do, they're pretty fun.

The Top-Down sections are good too, but I had a few issues. You see, in the Tank sections are pretty simple. The basic guns are your bread and butter. The special moves use gaia power, which is recharged by... jumping from a high place. It's pretty simple.

The Top-Down sections have the upgradeable blaster, a selection of grenades, and multiple counter moves. I think that there's a bit too much to deal with here. All of the 8 blaster settings are somewhat different, but I rarely felt compelled to use half of them. The same goes with many of the grenades. The counters are interesting and executed fairly well (Although I kinda wish the dash move was independent of it so I could use it without countering). Apparently Blaster Master Zero 3 simplified it with only one counter and Five Blaster Options with statistical upgrades, which sounds much simpler and funner.

Aside from that, these Top-Down sections are designed just fine, but they're pretty simple. There's really no moments where you have to use any unique powerups to progress, besides grenades breaking cracked walls. There are a few interesting level design gimmicks, but it's not as diverse or engaging as the Tank sections.

Obviously I didn't play the first game so I was kind of thrown into the story, and I can't say I'm too impressed. It's kind of neat that the other pilots you meet are references to Sunsoft titles, and they have fine enough personalities, but they aren't particularly special. I did like how occasionally gameplay mechanics were used to inform the story, such as how the gaia system was used near the end, but other than that, it's alright.

I'm definitely gonna check out the other games. It's a fun retro revival that I'm gonna give a 7/10.

I truthfully was not ready for how much of a direct upgrade this game was over the first. Now given full control to make whatever game they want Inticreates immediately capitalizes on this by creating an entirely unique entry that blows the first game out of the water for me. This game follows immediately after the ending to 1 where Jason and Eve created a new Sophia to travel space and try to find a cure to Eve's constant mutantification.

The sidescrolling gameplay in Sophia is a lot more refined in this game, giving you a new energy bar that doesn't automatically recharge (unless you run full out of energy) and can be charged by falling far distances without hovering, which removes a lot of the frustration of the first game where at some points you just had to sit there and wait for your energy bar to recharge. In the 3d section a lot has changed, with Jason getting a few tool changes to his gun levels that fall more in line with Megaman Zero. Wave has also had a nerf in this game so it gets weaker when spammed which gives incentive to try out other weapons, but it's still pretty strong on its own right anyways. Both segments have new QoL in the form of Fred who will now create wormholes to take you out of a dungeon when you finish it or warp back to the Sophia in a sidescrolling section so you don't risk getting softlocked or immediately killed by outside enemies.

By far the best parts of this game for me is the new layout of exploring, characters, and story. Instead of going through one giant web of connected zones with a bit of backtracking the game is broken up in sectors on a world map now, with a major planet in each sector to replace the Zones of the previous game and some bonus smaller planets that are usually mini challenges to get some optional upgrades. There are also some new MA pilots and I adore all of them for different reasons, plus it's just fun to see what MA's they pilot. And finally the story starts off strong and only gets better as time goes on, with all the cool fights building up to a climax in the final battle that genuinely gives me chills because of how cool the whole segment is.

If I had one gripe, it's once again the fact you need to do some extra work to get the true ending. It's not nearly as bad as 1, only requiring 3 items, but it is pretty easy to miss them if you don't know what to look out for. If you don't mind a small hint, you start the process to get them all by going back to a planet with a MA pilot after finishing the story objective there to start a new sidequest.

Overall, if you even so much as enjoyed the first game a little bit you'll absolutely love this game. It really endeared me to Jason and Eve in particular, but also a 3rd character you'll meet in the journey across space :).

The glow-up, GODDAMN!

This game is phenomenal, a thousand times better than the first game. It does everything right in my eyes.

First off, you are no longer secluded to one giant area. Instead you get to explore multiple small and medium sized areas, which I found more enjoyable. It feels like you're truly exploring space and going to different planets. It honestly did feel like a collectathon at points, probably why I liked it so much.

Second, the gameplay. There's only a few changes for Sophia and I actually really liked it. The reason why it's different is pretty iffy but I had fun controlling it so I didn't really mind. The Jason specific areas were great a lot better than the first thanks to the new mechanic of Counter. It helped make battles more interesting than just spamming the shoot button with the strongest attack.

Third, the story is also way more interesting than the first, plus the final level was hype as hell. The worldbuilding was great. And meeting other characters was cool. Helped make the world feel lived in and they all had great characterizations.

I'm all aboard the Blaster Master Zero train, very excited to play the third game. I'm really itching for what it's gonna be all about.

And lastly, Fred is best boy once again and he did SOMETHING this time! Three times in fact which is better than zero.

What a doooooowngrade. I can’t remember the last time I played a game where the sequel was a step down from its predecessor. For every step forward it made, it took three steps back.

Improving upon the original: the story is more important, there are characters (who don’t do much) that flesh out the cast, and difficulty has received a huge adjustment.

Helix Gun and homing missiles are no more, as guns and sub-weapons have been nerfed. Unfortunately, it seems “easiness” was replaced with an arsenal of gun types that are overall weak, many types of mines that I never used, and a new slew of sub-weapons.

Although aside from utility, each one essentially replaces the other. Why use the triple missiles when I can shoot a string of homing missiles? Why use a string of homing missiles when I can dash into bad guys and steal their energy?

Speaking of energy, the GAIA system: I kinda mildly dislike it. Sure, it’s fun to drop from a high perch and watch green particles flow into the tank, but there were a good number of times where my SP gauge went out before I could cross a gap so I just had to sit and wait. It gets worse with each SP gauge extension.

Backtracking and padding are the game’s two biggest sins. Despite utilizing several small world maps, there is NO fast travel system, meaning over an hour of your playthrough will be spent backtracking. Why fast travel wasn’t implemented is beyond me.

This game is padded about as well as a children’s pillow. So many planetoids act as filler levels to get a map to another planetoids. I don’t understand why they just cut out the filler nonsense.

FINALLY gonna write this thing, I beat the game months ago and just never got around to it.

Unlike the first game, though, this wasn't due to a lack of enthusiasm for the game: In fact, I'd say this was one of the biggest surprise delights I've played this year.

The original Blaster Master Zero, that I played and wrote about earlier in the year, is still a game I'm very lukewarm about. It looks and sounds great and sets up a great foundation, but nothing about the level design or weapon balance felt nearly as confident as it should. I think a large part of that stemmed from wanting to be faithful to the original to a notable degree. Inti's strength doesn't lie in creating interconnected, Metroidvanian worlds, and it seems their best solution to that was to just...not make the game difficult at all.

Its a weird little game, one thats fun enough just for its ace presentation and the satisfaction of shooting things with a tank, but I'm so unbelievably happy that Blaster Master Zero 2 decided it was time to focus more on what these developers truly want to make. Right off the bat: The awkward wall climb is replaced by a super satisfying wall jump, no interconnected world, no waiting a third of the game to get the hover, and a bunch more abilities for both Jason and SOPHIA that feel fine-tuned toward high octane movement and combat. You're just jumping and shooting with the tank anymore for so much of the game, you can move around in so many fun, fast and creative ways, and due to levels being segmented the level design finally feels like its offering the player challenges to overcome

Granted its not perfect, it still retains some of the Metroidvanian roots from Blaster Master and Zero in its individual-world level design which means a lot of it isn't quite as focused on pure gameplay as I'd like it to, but its a compromise I can live with. After all, the worlds this time around are all super visually and thematically interesting, shedding BMZs generic themes altogether and going to more interesting places. Giving each planet its own MA-Pilot also naturally helps bring the worlds to life, and I loved all of them. The small bits of stort in the original Blaster Master Zero were pretty enjoyable and I always wish the story did a little more, so it warms my heart to see Jason and Eve getting to interact with new characters and helping them with their struggles. Leibniz is fucking amazing, too.

Its not just the side-scrolling SOPHIA segments that have been improved gameplay-wise either, as Jason has finally become fun to play as. He moves around drastically faster, just about all of his different guns are good and balanced, and the dedicated counter button is just ace. I do kinda wish it wasn't so easy to rely on though...? Its always satisfying to use of course but given that every enemy is given the universal tell of "when the little reticle on them shows it" for when to counter, I kind of wish it worked more like a traditional Parry. That or just a flat-out dash, though maybe that wouldnt work as well in a game about aiming and shooting. I've been playing Hyper Light Drifter on the side which does a near perfect job at top-down combat with its dashing and slashing so I'm a little biased.

So while yeah, a lot of the individual elements of the game could be improved upon in my eyes: More challenging level design, faster movement, more intense Jason combat, etc, I think the way the game ties all its elements together and paces them out elevates them all higher. The rock-solid presentation is still here and better than ever, the quest for 100% is very fun to just do along the playthrough and gives purpose to levels being explorative still, and the bosses are only heightened in quality by how good the writing and character dynamics are.

Simply put: I was finally invested in the Blaster Master Zero games, and that investment was actually rewarded. While BMZ1's true ending did...try, coming out of nowhere, BMZ2's true ending is the real deal: A true Inti Creates climax on the same level as Gunvolt. Blaster Master Zero 2 justified my interest in the series by breaking free of the chains that held BMZ1 down, and is in my opinion just a straight improvement in every area. Sure its still not exactly the kind of game I want it to be (Gunvolt, MMZ, HLD), but I didn't care. Really, its hard to care about what I "wish" the game was, when the game is so self-assured and thoroughly expressive in doing what it wants to. And because of that, this time I was fully along for the ride.

[Playtime: 10 hours]
[Key Word: Confidence]

This is a game that far exceeds my expectations in pretty much every way. Everything I can think of is a massive improvement over the previous game, and I can easily say without hesitation that if you didn't enjoy the last game that much or really enjoyed it, then this game will blow you away.

For one, the gameplay is SO GOOD. You finally get to toy around with Sophia's great controls in great level design. Along with new additions to the arsenal, your tank is gonna be flipping and dipping like a ninja but still have the firepower of a tank. The Gaia System is my favorite addition of all, you fall from a tall height and get weapon energy back from how hard you fell. Since Hovering gets you a fixed amount always, you have to be really creative.

Pilot side gets a massive improvement too with the counter mechanic. It turns combat scenarios into a tense practice of reaction time and knowing when to best set off a counter for an enemy or boss fight. Improved weapon balance is also a major boon with the most powerful weapons not being total game breakers like 1. Jason's also gotten way better level design on his end with some neat puzzles and the blessing of not having to wait for so many obstacles like 1.

The boss fights are also a huge step up. There is not one boss fight I didn't think was at least fun. The fights against the mutant bosses are all enjoyable on both sides, and the tank fights are exemplary. Remember that actually cool true final fight in BMZ1? Imagine getting to play that like four times but it's cooler each time.

This game also has a story worth caring about, too. While it's not nothing that much special, I genuinely found myself caring about the cast this time. It helps that their interactions with other characters are really interesting such as the quirky plant girl Kanna and the very angry rival Leibniz. It helps tie the story up together in a climax that is just really REALLY cool. Kinda.

There's a few parts of this game I wasn't that big a fan of. Stranga as a level is really weird to traverse and I got stuck there for hours figuring out what to do on multiple parts of the level. Its upgrade is also very lackluster with it being used for some occasional platforming and one situation against Leibniz. The true ending part where you take control of Eve is a really good idea on paper, in practice it really shows how unbalanced the on foot platforming sections are since you can get instakilled from falling too hard very easily and get comboed by enemies you can't defend yourself against very easily as well. It's really fun still, just really frustrating conversely.

Overall, this game is great. There's a few hiccups in the experience but on the whole this is a very solid action platformer. I recommend going for 100% just to see some of the more creative puzzles in the game and play around with all the toys you can. If you're looking for an experience that'll last you less than ten hours tops, then Blaster Master Zero 2 will do you very good.

Such a great sequel, holy shit.
After playing it for just an hour I was dumbfounded. It maintains the consistency and solid gameplay from the first game, but now the BMZ team really tried to do a lot of new things for the series and they did it perfectly.
The top-down sections are now really fun and challenging, your weapons and sub-weapons do not become useless by having the full-upgrade main weapon, now you can and must adapt your playstyle based on what set of items you have. And the counter system is just so good, it adds a lot to the complexity of the gameplay. Basically, now you have real options to play as you really want to play.
The metal-attacker section didn't change that much when compared to the top-down section, but they improved it too, good platform and puzzles sections, better SP management and really cool new sub-weapons, however, I didn't find any utility to the alternatives to the main weapon. One is an "energy gatling-gun" that uses SP to shoot and the other is a "physical gatling-gun" that uses SP to recharge the ammunition, they are basically the same thing and don't have any other special utility that I find for them, but well, it did not make any difference to my playthrough so... Who cares?
Anyway, BMZ2 is a good game; fun gameplay and a nice story. Very worthy of playing!

I didn’t feel like writing a full review for the original Blaster Master Zero, so I’ll just do a quick one right here. Blaster Master Zero is a very fun remake/reimagining of a classic NES game that modernizes and tweaks some things to make it significantly more playable. It also incorporates a nice and simple story with a satisfying conclusion as long as you’re going for the true ending. For those unaware, the Blaster Master games have two very different gameplay modes: one has you controlling a tank in 2D platforming levels while the other has you control the protagonist, Jason, in overhead shooting levels that are very reminiscent of 2D Zelda dungeons. The mix of game types surprisingly works very well, and you switch between them enough that you never really get tired of either one. Some of the later levels have some awkward aspects to them that aren’t particularly fun, mainly the levels that incorporate stealth, but it never gets too annoying and the quality is very consistent throughout.

For Zero 2, it seems that Inti Creates decided to take off the kid gloves and not only introduce some pretty major gameplay changes, but also ramp up the difficulty tenfold. To some, that may be very welcome considering how easy Zero 1 can be, but to quote a sci-fi movie director who is somehow simultaneously disgraced and redeemed, “we may have gone too far in a few places.”

Zero 2 adds a counterattack button that, while a fantastic idea due to the lack of mobility in the overhead stages, also is a bit of a mixed bag due to its implementation. Now that you have this counterattack, Inti Creates has an excuse to go full Mega Man 9 on your ass and throw shit at you that, if you’re an angry manchild gremlin like myself, will make you want to bash your head into a wall. The game starts off frustratingly difficult and its difficulty curve just seems all over the place, eventually settling in a “hard but not too frustrating” area once you’ve collected enough upgrades. There are some quick moving enemies and early bosses that demand you to learn how the counterattack works or else you’ll just die over and over again. Remember how people complained that in Metal Gear Rising you’re never really properly taught how to use the parry mechanic and very early on the game throws Blade Wolf at you who pretty much forces you to use the parry mechanic? It’s like that only way worse. It also doesn’t help that it doesn’t always quite work the way you feel like it should work, especially when the game decides that you weren’t trying to counterattack the enemy 3 inches in front of you, you were clearly trying to counter the enemy that’s 3 football fields away.

Once you do get a handle of how the counter works and how to deal with the new enemies and boss fights, it does get exponentially more fun. There’s nothing more satisfying than pulling off a series of counterattacks on a group of enemies and wiping a screen in mere seconds. I just wish the devs did a better job of easing you into this brand new mechanic instead of forcing you to bite the pillow while they go in dry.

Another problem I have is with the new gun types. How the gun works in Blaster Master is you collect these red powerups that drop from enemies and crates which allow you to switch to different guns with completely different attributes. When you get hit, the power level goes down and you can no longer use that gun type until you collect more powerups. Think something like how weapon levels work in Cave Story. What makes this a problem in the original game is that the final gun type completely wrecks everything and trivializes most boss fights. Naturally, in the sequel, they tried to remedy this and decided to change all the gun types and completely nerf the final one, but what happens is almost the opposite problem. Now most of the guns feel borderline useless, and oddly enough the second gun type becomes your go-to weapon for almost every situation due to its sheer utility. I don’t know about you, but I will gladly go with incredibly unbalanced, overpowered, yet fun weapons over a bunch of balanced weapons that are mostly unsatisfying any day of the week.

As for level design, most of the game is very well crafted and fun to play, but in the late game they decided to start throwing these instant kill walls at you which becomes a massive pain in the ass to deal with. This especially becomes problematic in the overhead sections, because it can be unclear when you’re touching a wall from that perspective. Due to how far checkpoints can be, the endgame can be a slog if you keep dying over and over thanks to these fun little deathwalls. Luckily, the worst of these are found in the optional stages.

There is a portion of the game at the very end that, without spoiling anything, involves a pretty huge changeup that is neat from a narrative perspective, but good god is it painfully unfun from a gameplay perspective. If you’ve played Metroid: Zero Mission, it’s very much like the zero suit section of that game, only significantly slower, significantly longer, significantly harder, and with significantly less checkpoints. In other words, this shit sucks. Like, you can pin a lot of my other complaints on me being a big baby saying “it’s too hawwwd” but this part is inexcusable. It’s especially weird considering what follows after this are a couple of boss fights that are comparatively easy. Again, the difficulty curve of this game is all over the goddamn place.

You may be at this point in the review, and thinking to yourself, “well gee this guy seems pretty negative about this game, why did he give it a 7?” Well my friend, let me first off thank you for actually seeing a 7/10 as a good score, because it is and everyone should perceive it as such. As for the actual answer to that question, the game is still overall very fun once you get a handle of things. The general moment-to-moment gameplay is snappy, satisfying, and very fun. The controls are excellent, and there’s a lot of weight to your tank’s movements and attacks. I almost forgot to mention one of the new gameplay features involving the tank, where any impact whether it’s taking damage or falling from a certain height will give you energy that recharges your meter for subweapons. This is a pretty genius mechanic, mainly because there is nothing more fun and satisfying than being rewarded for falling from as high of a height as humanly possible. Also, holy shit, does this game have the absolute best implementation of the HD rumble out of the entire Switch library. I’m genuinely amazed at how good it is.

Graphically, the game gets a decent upgrade too. All the past characters get nice glow-ups and the pixel art is fantastic. The new characters that are introduced are all very memorable, a certain plant girl especially so, thanks to her, well… physical attributes so to speak. There is a much bigger focus on story in this game, and I gotta say it goes pretty hard. For a series that starts off with such a simple premise, it sure does go full anime at the end of this entry and I’m all for it. Like I’m talking all out, shounen-esque “win using the power of friendship and love and god and anime on my side” kind of stuff. It’s the kind of over-the-top kookiness that would make Hideki Kamiya blush a little bit.

Overall, Blaster Master Zero 2 is a very good but also very flawed sequel. It certainly has higher highs than its predecessor, but much lower lows. Inti Creates clearly were very passionate about this, and while it may be sloppy in its execution of its new ideas, I’ll always applaud experimentation of an old IP like this. In my eyes, the first game is superior, but this is still a worthwhile sequel, and fans of Blaster Master Zero should definitely check this out especially for its low price. Just prepare yourself for something that’s a couple notches higher in difficulty.

Has that same "road trip" vibe as the first one although it feels more fun, despite the protagonists' urgent and depressing reasons for going on said road trip.
I found it much shorter and much less difficult than the previous entry, which is not a bad thing in this case. The tedium of Zero-One, for the most part, has been stripped away. Travelling between areas is much quicker, and the new energy-recovery functions of SOPHIA greatly facilitate simultaneous combat and movement. It also adds a bit more of a puzzle element to combat in enclosed spaces where you now have to actively manage your energy usage and recovery. There's less to collect to fully power up SOPHIA, but what arsenal you do gain feel more like fully-fledged upgrades as opposed to "weapons you use in a very specific situation to clear an obstacle." Due to the shorter game length I feel like I didn't get to play around with all of the upgrades as much though, particularly the on-foot ones.
Speaking of, I'm still not the biggest fan of the on-foot sections, but the addition of the counter system adds some intricacy and a much needed flexibility on behalf of the player. Even just the minor tweaks to the visuals really improve the sense of speed as well.
I could actually see myself revisiting this game for a quick run-through some time in the future, unlike Zero-One which had so much slog that I think two playthroughs is currently enough for my lifetime. I'm kind of disappointed that there's no hard/destroyer mode that really forces you make use of your entire arsenal in this one, I actually would've liked that challenge this time.
Zero-One had this pervasive feeling of "you against the world" loneliness to it, with Jason and Eve being the only characters who have dialogue during the entire story. I absolutely love the way the world has been expanded in Zero-Two, especially with the references to other Sunsoft titles. I always appreciate the "you are not alone in your fight" message in video games no matter how much it gets done.
I also really like the sequence before the true ending. While I won't elaborate for spoilers, it's a great final challenge and tests the sum of what you've learned from both games in the series.
I think I have my expectations set a bit too high for Zero-Three, but I'm excited to play it anyways.

I'm giving the game 4 stars because it really did add a lot to the base stablished by BMZ1, but I think the low points were genrally lower. Some of the level design feels cheap with many insta-death obstacles.

My main problem is the final act of the game. It's been a long time since I've played such a distinctly frustrating and boring platforming section. I won't say what happens to avoid spoilers, but they tried to have a mechanical twist for the last hour or so of the game. I wish they hadn't, as it took away a lot of the fun I'd been having up to that point.

Zero 2 is an excellent example of a sequel. It's not content to be an improved version of the first, instead adding so many changes to the gameplay and structure that it feels entirely new.

Starting with the sidescrolling action, the controls feel a bit tighter. But the biggest change is that the environments are far more varied in the obstacles they present, and have some very clever use of hopping in and out of the tank.

Top-Down action is far improved as well. The new counter option makes combat more dynamic, and one of the counters is a dash move that makes moving around more fun. This added on top of improved weapons, far better boss fights, and more interesting gimmicks makes these a huge highlight compared to the slightly dull sections present in the original.

The structure is now about flying through space to different planets, which results in a much faster pace and greater variety. It's about the same length as the original, but feels twice as long thanks to how much more stuff happens here.

The story has seen an uptick as well. The stakes and goals are more clearly defined, and the new characters are a fun addition. Jason and Eve's dynamic gets a lot more time to shine, and they stay a very likable protagonist duo.

Music and visuals are improved, although a bit less obviously. Jason's sprites are much better, and his new design features a cape that gives his movement a bit more visual interest. Some sequences, especially near the end, are given a lot of visual flourish that really sells it.

All in all, a shining example of a great sequel. Taking the solid base of the original and cranking up the speed and complexity makes this one of Inti Create's best.