Compile's first projects included a set of shoot'em ups, of which Zanac was the first iteration. In many respects, it prefigures Aleste (1988), including in its story. In both games, humanity faces an AI that had become hostile and decided to send hordes of ships to destroy all traces of civilisation. This ideological matrix is not unique in Japan: its fiction has always oscillated between technophobia and technophilia, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, through digestion of Heidegger's works – Hayao Miyazaki's films illustrate it, as does the ambivalence of Japanese space science fiction.
The title puts us in control of the AFX-6502 Zanac and the objective is to traverse twelve levels to destroy the System, an alien AI that has become aggressive after its discovery. Like many vertical shoot'em ups, it is possible to shoot with standard lasers or with special weaponry. The former can be upgraded with yellow balls, while the latter can be acquired via numbered power-ups. Each number represents a different weapon and can also be upgraded by taking the same weapon several times in a row. What seems to be the gimmick of the game is the fact that it adapts to the player's skills. As the number of enemies killed increases, so does the difficulty; similarly, acquiring certain weapons will bring out more powerful enemies. On the contrary, losing a life or refraining to use the special weapon lowers the aggressiveness of the game. The concept is interesting, as it creates a certain dynamism in the gameplay loop, but it has one major drawback. Indeed, the eighth special weapon is a barrage that goes through and mows down all opponents without exception. It is an excessively powerful expedient and its ammunition is not really limited, so that enemy waves are always trivialised. It doesn't matter what the difficulty level is, as it remains below our armament. This situation, coupled with the extensive length of the levels, ends up creating a rather disappointing boredom.
Zanac is nevertheless a decent game. Without shining, nor ever offering an exceptional experience, it satisfies the minimal criteria for an acceptable shoot'em up. It is unfortunate that the title shoots down its difficulty in such a clumsy way, as all the good ideas are noticeable at the beginning of the game, but they never take off. Aleste took up the exact concept of Zanac, with more success, marking the end of the franchise – Compile only published Gun-Nac (1990), which is an obvious parody, copying Konami's Parodius (1990).
The title puts us in control of the AFX-6502 Zanac and the objective is to traverse twelve levels to destroy the System, an alien AI that has become aggressive after its discovery. Like many vertical shoot'em ups, it is possible to shoot with standard lasers or with special weaponry. The former can be upgraded with yellow balls, while the latter can be acquired via numbered power-ups. Each number represents a different weapon and can also be upgraded by taking the same weapon several times in a row. What seems to be the gimmick of the game is the fact that it adapts to the player's skills. As the number of enemies killed increases, so does the difficulty; similarly, acquiring certain weapons will bring out more powerful enemies. On the contrary, losing a life or refraining to use the special weapon lowers the aggressiveness of the game. The concept is interesting, as it creates a certain dynamism in the gameplay loop, but it has one major drawback. Indeed, the eighth special weapon is a barrage that goes through and mows down all opponents without exception. It is an excessively powerful expedient and its ammunition is not really limited, so that enemy waves are always trivialised. It doesn't matter what the difficulty level is, as it remains below our armament. This situation, coupled with the extensive length of the levels, ends up creating a rather disappointing boredom.
Zanac is nevertheless a decent game. Without shining, nor ever offering an exceptional experience, it satisfies the minimal criteria for an acceptable shoot'em up. It is unfortunate that the title shoots down its difficulty in such a clumsy way, as all the good ideas are noticeable at the beginning of the game, but they never take off. Aleste took up the exact concept of Zanac, with more success, marking the end of the franchise – Compile only published Gun-Nac (1990), which is an obvious parody, copying Konami's Parodius (1990).