Zone of the Enders

"What? It's over already?"

You know Hideo Kojima, right? You know, the guy who made the stealth game, Metal Gear. Well, this is no stealth game my friend. Quite the opposite, it's a full-blown running-gunning slashing-thrashing mecha game that's worth the time to check out. However, be prepared for a pretty quick ride.

In this game, you take the role of Leo, a boy who inadvertedly becomes the pilot of Jehuty, an Orbital Frame. It now rests upon him to defend a space colony orbiting Jupiter from destruction at the hands of mecha-piloting terrorists. He is joined by the Jehuty's AI, the logical and calculating ADA, and Celvice, a girl he rescues from a church in a town under siege.

The graphics are superb. Of course, what else would you suspect from the same people who brought you Metal Gear? Yoji Shinkawa, the character designer for Metal Gear, created the designs for the mecha, with a certain Evangelion feel to them. They move quite fluidly and smoothly. The character designs are also pretty good, though not as good as the mecha. You won't see a lot of them, though. The backgrounds, while all of a uniform design, are also worth merit.

The sound doesn't fair quite as well, but it's not bad. The music consists of a lot of techno that you won't pay much mind to, with the exception of the opening and closing themes, which are pleasant to listen to. The voice acting, while not horrid, has a tendency to annoy. I can tell you that Leo's whining will wear on you after a while.

The gameplay takes place in two places: a sort of overworld map where you fly between areas in the colony, and the actual areas, which consist of cities and factories. Most of the time, you'll be searching for programs (mostly weapons) downloaded from servers located in the areas to let you progress to the next area. However, most servers have password protection, so you'll need to get them from the enemies. This is where combat comes in: your main weapons are a three-shot energy cannon and an arm-mounted sword, plus any weapons you've downloaded from servers. The combat is fast-paced and never grows too dull. However, battles with the basic enemies can get repetitive and, after a while, become too easy. The boss battles, though, are another story. They remain challenging all throughout and are always fun.

Also, from time to time, an SOS will come from a town being attacked from the enemies. It's left to your discretion wether or not to help the town, but not helping them will take its toll on your final ranking. During these side missions, you must destroy all the enemies in the town while minimizing damage and casualties. Not quite as simple as it sounds, as there is always risk of stray projectiles destroying a building and.or fragging a civilian, but that's just part of the fun.

Now, for my biggest gripe about the game: IT'S TOO SHORT! The moment things start getting good and you get caught up in the story, BAM! Ending credits! I completed my first playthrough on the normal difficulty in under six hours. In the end, the game will leaving you wanting more. It's pretty much for this severe shortness that this game didn't get as high a score as I would've wanted to.

Overall, Zone Of the Enders is a good game while it lasts. After you beat it, you're gonna be craving more, like virtual crack. I suggest renting this game, as you're gonna beat it in a day or two, or buy it if you can find it in a bargin bin.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/14/08

Game Release: Zone of the Enders (US, 03/26/01)