Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner

""No un-manned Mech's gonna' stop me!""

Introduction: Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is the long (or maybe not so long) awaited sequel to Hideo Kojima's 'Zone of the Enders'. Konami, however, have managed to make significant enhances on mostly every aspect of this game, yet, it just doesn't come to perfection...

Storyline: 4/10
Bad news for those who enjoyed the first game, as the storyline to this sequel will leave you crying. Z.O.E 2 pretty much follows straight on from the first game, with your basic anime style storyline. Man finds ultra-powered weapon (Which in this case, is a huge, 20ft Mecha known as 'Jehuty'), two fighting factions want this weapon to turn the tide of their small war, and this man gets caught up in it. Surprisingly, this man was actually a fighter of one of these warring factions, and ends up in a accident which leaves him stuck inside this Mecha, or he will die. Oh, and just for good measure, we'll throw in one extremely hot babe for the main character to google over. Without spoiling anything, it turns out as your over-used 'Megalomaniac sadist wants to destroy the world, and only you can stop him' kind of thing. Not much good, but it works.

Gameplay: 7/10
Now, for a game to be successful, you need good gameplay, correct? Zone of the Enders. Although at the very beginning your fighting abilities are limited to a wristblade, a plasma cannon sort of armgun, a set of homing lasers, and a Dragonball Z styled Spirit Bomb ultra-move that pretty much kills anything in one hit, you soon begin to find extra things called 'subweapons' which allow you the use of things such as machine-gun needler's, a self-regenerating super-shield, and a set of paralysis inducing laser mines to name a few things, there have been many improvements. However, one of the things which has carried over from the first game will have you tearing your hair out: The camera angle. You won't believe how many time's I have died due to the fact that the camera doesn't seem to have the energy to want to turn around so I can actually see what I'm up against. Another thing is the lock-on system. Being attacked up close by a insanely powerful enemy and almost dead? Don't count on surviving, because for being one of the most powerful Mech's in the world, Jehuty would rather lock-on to the paralyzed, weak enemy half-way across the room, other than the immediate danger, forcing you to switch through targets over and over until you can get the target you want. Apart from these facts though, it's pretty much the same as the first game.

Graphics: 10/10
I have to admit, Hideo has outdone himself fantastically with the graphics on this game. From the destroyable ice glaciers, to Ken's shapely body are all done to complete and utter perfection. Speaking of anime, even the 3D cut-scenes have now been placed with a full anime cut-scenes, a definite plus.

Sound: 8/10
For those who love J-Pop, and techno styled, hard-beat action music, you will absolutely love Zone of the Enders 2. During many scenes, you will have the pumping soundtrack of heavy trance while you fight, beautiful explosion's and amazing 'sword-crossing' sound effects which seem seem to resemble the Star War's Lightsabre battles. Other times, such as the final boss and my personal favourite, a mission involving Jehuty against five BAHRAM battleship, it plays the theme for the opening song 'Beyond the Bounds', which adds fantastic depth to the fight, which has left me replaying the same mission over and over, simply for the tune itself.

Replayablity: 3/10
This is where the game really lets itself down. For the average gamer, their first time should clock at around 6-7 hours completing it (with the cut-scenes) while seasoned players will find it at a simple 2-3 hours, my own clocking at about one hour, forty eight minutes. Theres really not much else you can do once you've beaten it, apart from unlocking the locked Mecha in Vs. Mode by finding their data during the game, and the 'Extra Mission Mode' where you replay parts of the game with different rules, such as only being able to grab or use subweapons, which looks like a simple copy and paste job with the four different versions of Jehuty you unlock, and a Gradius-style shooter with the Vic Viper. Also included are some unlockable pictures, but without a gallery to review them in, you'll have to do the same grueling tasks again, just to get another glimpse.

Conclusion:
With it's newly enhanced level-up system, multiple (and useful) subweapons and anime-styled graphics, Zone of the Enders 2 is a fantastic game in comparison with the first, yet, there are still some of the same problems such as the games length, some repetition and other factors which prevent it from becoming the game it should be. I'd suggest renting this game, because unless your a hardcore fan of Hideo Kojima or Zone of the Enders, I doubt you'll be playing this over and over much. Keep going Hideo, Zone of the Enders is getting there! ^^

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/07/03