Zone of the Enders

"Look at the score.... This review is by someone who hasn't even opended the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo package."

Seven out of Ten people would most proberly spend £40 on a game, just for a demo of the latest Metal Gear game. Maybe people gave this game a high or low score, because of the free demo. Well, if you are looking for a review for Zone of the Enders, by someone who hasn't took the Metal Gear Solid 2 : Sons of Liberty out of the packet it was on, you have found it.

Storyline - 10 : It is the 22nd century, and on Jupiter, there is a colony called Antilla. There is a war going on at the moment, with Mechs and humans (It is Jupiter, so why not call them Aliens...well, maybe they wouldn't appreciate been called Aliens). Leo Stenbuck, a fourteen year old boy, who is often bullied can't bare the sight of his friends getting hurt and killed, and runs. Leo finds a an orbital frame (Mech / Robot) called Jehuty. Leo learns that he must protect the Colony with Jehuty, but Leo hates this, as he can't stand both death and killing, but he just needs to. Leo gets told to take the Orbital Frame to a special place, where the frame will be taken to Mars to help in a battle, Leo says that will be his ''only'' task.

Graphics - 9 : Most action games have good gameplay, but avrage, but glitchy graphics. Zone of the Enders make an exception here, and I hav'nt seen many glitches, apart from when the mech is in a small room / area, and the wall blacks out, but I find that its a bit rare. the FMV's (Full Motion Video) are brilliantly detailed, and great graphics. The Battle Animations are some of the best I've seen, like unimaginable light attacks with great lightning effects.

Sound and Music - 10 : The game kicks off with a awsome tune, with a fantastic female voice singing, I don't tell what language she is singing in, but it is definatly mind blowing. The music is great, and really fits in to its surroundings. You might hear danger or peaceful music in some areas, and the next you hear a the battle music tune. The time it takes to for the music to change is very fast indeed. As for your sound effects, they are just your avrage action game sound effects :D.

Gameplay - 10 : I am not that kneen on action games, as all it is mostly is run, shoot, press switch, run, shoot, press switch, run, shoot, get key.... you get the picture. Zone of the Enders is not like this. Your Orbital Frame enters a battle field, and you go round the area, looking for passcodes to help you get to your location, to get your Mech to Mars. There are squadrans of enemies in the area, with anywhere from one to about five enemys in each, and you do battle. If you watch anything like Dragon Ball Z, you might notice that the characters on the shows fight for ages, and both fighting characters bounce off each other, and charge back for more fighting, Zone of the Enders is JUST like that, the enemy might block your attack, knocking both mechs back, then go for more. Jehutys (your mech)standered weapon is a gun which shoots (unlimited ammo) and a sword, which kicks major ass. Aside that, there is javalins, snipers and other weapons the Mech can use. If you get board of the same old stuff, you can ''throw'' your enemys around, and there is a Dash attack, which makes your orbital framce dash from attacks, at the same time, you can attack which does some great damage (a sword attack then can kill an enemy in about one hit) and if you hold the dash button for a long time, you can fire a HUGE energy blast...plus theres a shield. GENIUS!

Replaybility - 9 : There is a multiplayer mode to unlock, and areanas and characters for multiplayer. There is 4 difficulty levels and you might want to play again for the outstanding things in the game.

Overall - 10 : One of my favourite games of all time. This is a classic game, who'd buy this game, just for the demo which comes in it? You buy a game for a game, not for a taster of whats going to come in a few months time.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/17/01, Updated 07/17/01