Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner

"High Speed Robot Action!!"

ZOE2 is the sequel to Zone of Enders 1, a game whose limited popularity was mostly based on its packed in MGS2 demo. Luckily, enough people bought the game to warrant a sequel. This time, Kojima has taken a larger part in the games design and Konami has listened to gamer's concerns and has improved on the original ZOE in virtually every way. This review is SPOILER-FREE, so excuse me if I am a little vague with some of my complaints.

Graphics:9/10

ZOE2 is one of the most graphically intensive games i have ever seen, and is one of the best looking games currently available on the PS2. The best part of the graphics are the special effects and the particle effects. ZOE2 features all sorts of weird graphically effects for its subweapons, explosions, and enemy attacks. ZOE2 makes heavy use of the motion blur and other types of ''blurs'' that I don't think have ever been used in a vidgame before and well, I just don't have a name for them. All i know is that they look damn cool.
All of the subweapons have great effects. The spatial distortion of the 0-shift and the sheer intensity of the vector cannon really show off the great weapon effects that exist in this game.
The burst attacks of the enemies look great too, particularly from the bosses. The graphical effects during these battles really make you feel like you are playing a robot anime.
The graphics aren't perfect though. In order for the game engine to handle this multitude of beautiful special effects, environmental detail had to be sacrificed. For the most part, the environments are pretty simple(with a few exceptions). It's not really a problem though , I’m just nitpicking. Also, there is slowdown. I never found it to be much of a problem, except during one mission, and it does not affect gameplay (except for that one mission).

Sound:9/10

ZOE2 features some of the best BGM I have heard in a while. The music brings back memories of old-school Konami shooters. Whether fighting a boss or attacking an airship, it’s all good. The music is both adrenaline-pumping and memorable. Two things you need in an action game.
The sound effects for the weapons are pretty good although there is nothing about it that stands out. Everything sounds like it should and the effects mix in well with the battle music.
The voice-acting is a mixed bag. I particularly disliked some of the voice actors(Ken’s) but liked others( Lloyd’s). As for the main character of Dingo? He’s adequate but some of his lines just sound ridiculous.

Gameplay:9/10

ZOE2 is the best playing 3d shooter ever, unless you count Panzer Dragoon Orta (which is really 2.5d). The controls are quick, precise, and intuitive. And most importantly this game is fun to play. There is no other game like it. Sure there have been other mech games, but none of them have controlled this fluidly or moved as fast as this one.
The developers really expanded the abilities of Jehuty from the first game. Jehuty can now fire many more homing lasers than he did in the first one, use objects in his environment to defend against attacks or to beat the crap out of enemies, and has a new combo slash which breaks up the monotony of the typical slash-slash-slash-slash attack. Now you can enter triangle of X at the end of the attack to hit your enemy up into the ceiling or down into the floor to inflict more damage. The game also has a more expanded throwing system. When Jehuty grabs an enemy he can swing him like a club, use him as a shield, or throw him at an enemy or into a wall.
There is much better enemy variety than in ZOE1. In the original there were only 3 enemy orbital frames. In ZOE2 there are about 3 times as many. This time around the enemies are much more interesting and more fun to battle. They are definitely harder. Sometimes they will work as a group against you and can quickly overwhelm you. Overall, a big improvement over the original.
Just like in the first ZOE, the highlight of the gameplay are the boss battles. The boss battles in ZOE2 are some of the best in any game that I have ever played. I don’t want to spoil anything, so let me just say that each boss battles presents you with a new and cool obstacle to overcome to defeat the boss. Some of these are very inventive.
One problem with gameplay is the camera. For the most part the camera is good whether fighting or just flying around, but sometimes the camera presents you with a bad perspective. Also, sometimes it will take a while to lock onto the enemy that you want to, seeing how you might have to lock onto a whole bunch of enemies to get to the one you want. I really can’t blame the developers for this seeing as how you have to face over 100 enemies some times. Nevertheless, it is a problem.
On a side note, the Normal difficulty in the NA version if ridiculously hard for a normal difficulty. I recommend playing it your first time through though. It really helps you appreciate the nuances of the battle engine and also extends the time it takes to complete the game.

Story:7/10

I’m not sure whether the story of ZOE2 is good, average or bad. The localization is just horrible. They only took a month to localize it and it shows. This is one of the worst localizations I’ve seen since FFT. The dialogue is just horrible.
Ahem. That being said, most of the cutscenes are cool and some parts of the story can be described as emotional. My favorite scenes usually involved Vic Viper and the Phantomas. My absolute favorite was the scene before the chaotic battle.

Replay Value:7/10

After completing the main game, you can play through it again as one of 4 different versions of Jehuty. This is pretty cool, especially when you play as Naked Jehuty. So dominant. You also get to start out with all the subweapons you got throughout the main story. So you can start out with Naked Jehuty and 0-Shift. This is just total domination. With Naked Jehuty you can beat the first boss of the game in just under 5 seconds. Literally.
There is also a wealth of extra missions you can play through. You can even play against all those wonderful bosses in the main game here. There are also some extra missions for Vic Viper, including a cool Gradius style 3d shooter..
ZOE2 also has a vs. mode. It is much more robust than the first game’s but fore some reason I found it less exciting.

Overall:9/10

ZOE2 is what I imagined the perfect 3d shooter to be like. Fast and beautiful, the only thing holding back ZOE2 from a 10 is the poor localization. (Sigh)If only they had taken another month.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/15/03, Updated 03/15/03