Really cool aesthetic, with fully animated cutscenes that make you feel like you're watching one of those early 90s Sci fi anime movies.
Gameplay wise, this is my favorite mecha game, if you can even call it that. It's much more like a character action game where you happen to play as a mech. It's lightning fast and you are loaded with special weapons you can use to approach fights, but my favorite thing to do is to grab enemy robots and bash them into each other. The core combat is extremely fun.
The story missions are very mixed. The game is at its best when it goes hands off and throws scores of enemies at you and let's you handle things, or during boss fights. The game is at its worst during the several escort missions where you have to protect ally mechs, and theres even a forced stealth section. Other missions, like one where you fly around in the stratosphere blowing up an enemy fleet of battleships, make up for it though.
The degree of environmental interaction is impressive, buildings can be destroyed, objects can be thrown and swung as weapons. Always appreciate when environments are more than just props in action games.
This game is a classic, wish it was talked about more.
Gameplay wise, this is my favorite mecha game, if you can even call it that. It's much more like a character action game where you happen to play as a mech. It's lightning fast and you are loaded with special weapons you can use to approach fights, but my favorite thing to do is to grab enemy robots and bash them into each other. The core combat is extremely fun.
The story missions are very mixed. The game is at its best when it goes hands off and throws scores of enemies at you and let's you handle things, or during boss fights. The game is at its worst during the several escort missions where you have to protect ally mechs, and theres even a forced stealth section. Other missions, like one where you fly around in the stratosphere blowing up an enemy fleet of battleships, make up for it though.
The degree of environmental interaction is impressive, buildings can be destroyed, objects can be thrown and swung as weapons. Always appreciate when environments are more than just props in action games.
This game is a classic, wish it was talked about more.
honk mimimimi honk shooo honk shooo
Make another. The world is ready for Orbital Frame combat again.
Konami's mecha masterpiece.
This review contains spoilers
I think the strengths are easy to identify: the compelling incorporation of animation, the soundtrack, the graphic presentation, the swift combat that's better suited to one on one battles. Most of these finer points (other than the first) are apparent in the original, which feels like a more complete, though more modest game. Yes, it functions on a boy in mech cliche, but it's a cleaner and weirdly more convincing story.
2nd Runner starts in an atmospheric way, but it isn't long until we're flinging exposition and backstories around, manufacturing another reason why the protagonist can't leave the mech. It's all presented by voice actors who bark BAHRAM and AUMAAN, and you never get the sense that they understand what they're saying. Then you're fighting Vic Viper and a zombified Viola and I was beginning to wonder if any of it was worth taking seriously.
I would have hoped Mars as a location was going to be more than rusty crevices and maintenance tunnels too. The mechs are so sharp and imaginative looking, it's a bit puzzling that the environments are so bland. They're dark as hell too, and usually aren't very detailed. This look intensifies into near-abstraction at points, like my favourite part of the game, which involves navigating a cavernous bunker with giant pistons crushing everything in the darkness. It's so abyssal that one loses sense of up or down, or any connection to the rest of the game world.
The boss fights should be where the game shines (fighting multiple enemies can be a bit fussy with the lock-on system), but I found them underwhelming. Too many require a specific approach, usually the exploitation of a single mechanic or subweapon that's spelled out, and they feel more like tutorials as a result. Even the final showdown gives you a limited arsenal and a restricted means of applying damage.
Some nice flourishes don't count for everything when the scenario is prosaic and the combat system doesn't feel like it's being utilized in interesting ways. It all sort of passed by me until I hit credits.
2nd Runner starts in an atmospheric way, but it isn't long until we're flinging exposition and backstories around, manufacturing another reason why the protagonist can't leave the mech. It's all presented by voice actors who bark BAHRAM and AUMAAN, and you never get the sense that they understand what they're saying. Then you're fighting Vic Viper and a zombified Viola and I was beginning to wonder if any of it was worth taking seriously.
I would have hoped Mars as a location was going to be more than rusty crevices and maintenance tunnels too. The mechs are so sharp and imaginative looking, it's a bit puzzling that the environments are so bland. They're dark as hell too, and usually aren't very detailed. This look intensifies into near-abstraction at points, like my favourite part of the game, which involves navigating a cavernous bunker with giant pistons crushing everything in the darkness. It's so abyssal that one loses sense of up or down, or any connection to the rest of the game world.
The boss fights should be where the game shines (fighting multiple enemies can be a bit fussy with the lock-on system), but I found them underwhelming. Too many require a specific approach, usually the exploitation of a single mechanic or subweapon that's spelled out, and they feel more like tutorials as a result. Even the final showdown gives you a limited arsenal and a restricted means of applying damage.
Some nice flourishes don't count for everything when the scenario is prosaic and the combat system doesn't feel like it's being utilized in interesting ways. It all sort of passed by me until I hit credits.
Talk about an absolute improvement. ZOE2 enhances and refines almost every element from the first game (with the exception of the voice acting and music). Jehuty controls so insanely well and zipping around the field feels so smooth. Combat feels snappier and more strategic with how subweapons got overhauled, I was discovering easier ways to take down fights on subsequent playthroughs. Dingo is a sassy bitch and I love him. NG+ runs are where ZOE2 really shines, you can blast through the game in like an hour and a half, and be ready to hop right back in for more.
Also the mech designs CONTINUE TO COOK MAN
Also the mech designs CONTINUE TO COOK MAN
This entire game was just me getting whiplashed by the constant cool ass action sequences into worst boss I've ever fought in my life, gotta respect them ps2 jank games tho, I miss them dearly
Beyond the Bounds is also an incredible song
Beyond the Bounds is also an incredible song
The optimal way to experience this game is on less than 2 hours of sleep while mixing Benadryl and diet Mountain Dew
zone of the enders 1 is an OK game. it has a hefty amount of problems, and doesn't amount to much more than a tech demo, but it's a fun enough tech demo. the combat system is fun enough to use and the story and voice acting have a kind of so-bad-they're-good quality to them. it's the exact kind of game a sequel is essential for, and in this case it would have been a doddle to make it good. give it a good narrative, make the voice acting work, and tighten up the mission design, and you would have something truly special. the high praise for this game left me excited to see what a truly good ZotE game would look like. those hopes did not last long.
there is far too much clunk. there is far too much jank. the experience of playing this game has aged like milk. the difficulty step up is monumental, for a start. certain sections of this game took far too long to complete. one after another, you are hit with missions that are just so poorly designed and repetitive. whoever conceived of the train level, there is a special place in hell for you.
the player has to constantly fight the awful camera system you get to work with. furthermore, you have to work around this hideous lock-on system. it works fine in a handful of battle scenarios (although often leads to these situations being so visually disorientating and chaotic you want to be sick) but something the game constantly likes to do is throw swarms of tiny enemies at you. this wouldn't be too bad on its own, but when there are other actually threatening robots in the mix, it's all over. when you are just trying to lock-on to the robot that is pummelling you, and the lock-on system is targeting individual enemies in these swarms, you feel a frustration i cannot put into words. just awful to play, and feels so bad.
the majority of your subweapons are useless in the majority of battle scenarios, too. this means that your best bet is to hack-and-slash through your opponents, and the game is not well-designed around this and doing it just feels so mindless and mind-numbing. the story starts out interesting, and there's a particularly cool cameo for players of the first ZotE game, which was nice. however it just doesn't lead to anything interesting happening and the cutscene writing feels like a combination of MGS and the more tech jargony stuff in a mecha anime like evangelion. that, and the voice acting is now just flat-out lifeless.
fuck, man. i was rooting for this game at the start. but, by its end, i had grown so sick and tired of it. ZotE 2 totally failed to live up to any expectations i had for it, and is proof that just because a sequel is bigger does not mean it's better. improving on the first game should have been so easy, and how hard they failed in that way just makes me sad.
yes this means i prefer the first ZotE game. i am not immune to abysmal takes, it seems.
there is far too much clunk. there is far too much jank. the experience of playing this game has aged like milk. the difficulty step up is monumental, for a start. certain sections of this game took far too long to complete. one after another, you are hit with missions that are just so poorly designed and repetitive. whoever conceived of the train level, there is a special place in hell for you.
the player has to constantly fight the awful camera system you get to work with. furthermore, you have to work around this hideous lock-on system. it works fine in a handful of battle scenarios (although often leads to these situations being so visually disorientating and chaotic you want to be sick) but something the game constantly likes to do is throw swarms of tiny enemies at you. this wouldn't be too bad on its own, but when there are other actually threatening robots in the mix, it's all over. when you are just trying to lock-on to the robot that is pummelling you, and the lock-on system is targeting individual enemies in these swarms, you feel a frustration i cannot put into words. just awful to play, and feels so bad.
the majority of your subweapons are useless in the majority of battle scenarios, too. this means that your best bet is to hack-and-slash through your opponents, and the game is not well-designed around this and doing it just feels so mindless and mind-numbing. the story starts out interesting, and there's a particularly cool cameo for players of the first ZotE game, which was nice. however it just doesn't lead to anything interesting happening and the cutscene writing feels like a combination of MGS and the more tech jargony stuff in a mecha anime like evangelion. that, and the voice acting is now just flat-out lifeless.
fuck, man. i was rooting for this game at the start. but, by its end, i had grown so sick and tired of it. ZotE 2 totally failed to live up to any expectations i had for it, and is proof that just because a sequel is bigger does not mean it's better. improving on the first game should have been so easy, and how hard they failed in that way just makes me sad.
yes this means i prefer the first ZotE game. i am not immune to abysmal takes, it seems.
One of the best action games on the PS2 and still one of the best mech action games. It's fairly short, but it allows for quick replays on higher difficulties. The campaigns momentum never lets up and every section of the game has some unique gimmick to it. City defense, destroying airships with a super weapon, navigating through minefields, fighting alongside an entire army against an enemy force in the 100s. By the end of the game you've unlocked so many powers that you feel like you're on a completely different level compared to the start of the game. The final power letting you instantly teleport behind enemies from long range and one shot them is incredible.
Much like the first game, its strongest suit is that its pretty and cool. Bit better story, bit worse pacing. We could use more cool mech games tbh, bring them back (RIP Konami)
bring pride to glorious nation
me gusto
me gusto
This is for the opening animation on its own.
The best way to experience a playable mecha anime. Admittedly I'm waiting to play the remaster on PS4, but the original PS2 version of this game is still quite a very solid experience all the way through that really tests your abilities on high octane 3D action.
An improvement on every aspect from the first game. One of the best character action games ever made.