Zero Divide

"There are many old games for the Playstation that will remain great. Zero Divide is one of them..."

Street Fighter, Tekken, Marvel Vs. Capcom; when you think of fighting games, those games probably come to mind. I don't play fighting games. With an exception of some games, I just don't like fighting games. Now, me and my best friend play our Playstation, but once in a while, we go to stores and buy old games(I'm talkin' games made in 1995). Recently, we got a free game that was called Zero Divide, a fighting game made in 1995. I remember reading an article in an old gaming magazine, and they said it was pretty good. I was dying to play it and believe me, I wasn't disappointed at all.

IMO, the story of a fighting game doesn't make a difference, but anyways, the story of Zero Divide goes like this: A computer lab(or something like that) has been taken over by a machine named XTAL, so programmers created robotic mercenary ''units'' to destroy all of the other mercenary units, as well as XTAL.
STORY: 5/10

The graphics in Zero Divide are, well..first-generation. The fighters are polygonal(remember Super Smash Bros.?), and the levels have detail, but not too much. The character don't really have a lot of detail, but enough to look like what they represent.
GRAPHICS: 7/10

The sound is quite average. You don't hear any mechanical sounds, but you hear sounds like ''TTZZZ!'' or ''CRRAAACCKK!''
The music isn't memorable, but is pretty damn good for the level you're fighting in. The only problem is that damn announcer, he gets VERY annoying.
SOUND: 9/10

The gameplay is good, for a first-generation game. Also, it's EXACTLY like Virtual Fighter. Two buttons are for blocking, though they both make no difference. One buttons is to punch and one is to kick. Though the game is in 3-D, you can only move forward and backward. Your character can only do about 2-4 combos, but have at least 20 special moves that do some serious damage. Some moves will only work at certain times, such as DRACO'S Tail Bomb, which only works when your opponent's been knocked on the ground.
Speaking of which, every time you get knocked down, you have to wait until a small bar gets filled up to get back up. Good concept, but it does get frustrating if you keep getting your @$$ kicked.

You fight in a small ring surrounded by the background of the stage. You either win by hitting your opponent with various attacks until he dies, or by knocking your opponent out of the ring, which will result to his/her death. Every character has his/her own stage. The battles are a bit slow-paced, but by timing your attacks, you can make devastating combos. It may not be Tekken or Street Fighter, but what do you expect for a game made in 1995? I expected a lot less, actually.
CONTROL/GAMEPLAY: 9/10

I'm gonna give you a little overview of the characters, just so you know who's who:

Name/Type

ZERO/Fighter
TAU/Scorpion-creature
WILD3/Army Soldier
IO/Cat-woman
EOS/Judo Fighter
CYGNUS/Ninja
DRACO/Dragon
NEIRID/Words can't describe how weird it looks

Each character has its own moves like WILD 3's Break Gun and DRACO's High Blaze, each proving to be strong or weak.
CHARACTERS: 8/10

Hmm, I really don't know how hard this game is, considering that I played against my friend all weekend. When I find out, I'll update my review.
CHALLENGE: ?/10

This game is really fun if you're playing against your friend. If you ever get tired of the one-player mode, then you can use the special code that unlocks a new game...
REPLAY VALUE: 8/10

BOTTOM LINE:
I've just told all of you people that not all first-generation Playstation games sucked, because this one really kicked @$$. If you find it somewhere for a really low price, then I advise you to buy it. If you can, rent it first. This isn't no Tekken, but it's pretty damn good!

Thank you and have a nice day.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/01, Updated 06/29/01