Konami needed to do an act of penance for Zone of the Enders.
It’s not as if Zone of the Enders was a horrible game; it just fell well below expectations. It was a game that clearly stopped well short of its potential, and everybody could see it. For most gamers, the beautiful graphics of the game didn’t cover its brevity, empty storyline, stupid missions, and monotonous enemies.
However, Zone of the Enders 2 is the a proper demonstration of repentance for that past sin. It is as if the developers truly realized the exact problems of the original game, and with Hideo Kojima’s help, turned ZOE2 into something close to a masterpiece.
Just as the next installment of the Metal Gear Solid franchise will replace the pathetic Raiden with the return of Solid Snake, Kojima got rid of little boy Leo Stenbuck of part one and introduced a man’s man by the name of Dingo Egret. Unlike Leo, there is actually a a credible reason as to why Dingo can control the amazing “Orbital Frame” by the name of Jehuty, and defeat other experienced “runners”. Dingo was once an ace “runner” for the evil group BAHRAM, before he fled from a horrible circumstance and became a humble metatron miner. Now, of course, circumstances lead him to being united with Jehuty, and the one who will face Jehuty’s mirror rival, Anubis.
ZOE2’s storyline is a great one (though the Ender world is still hard to feel), and done in a very cinematic way. Interestingly enough, it’s told through a mixture of cartoon animation and computer generation. Kojima’s influence is felt all over it, though he’s learned his lessons from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty: No cut scene is too long, and the moral/spiritual lessons are kept at a palatable level. Since the time span between the two ZOE games was long, and not many people played the first part, there is a little movie synopsis explaining what happened in part one. ZOE2 does a wonderful job making the original game’s storyline look meaningful. Not only is the beginning of this tale redeemed, but the game’s ending is special and unforgettable.
Outside of the story, the premise of ZOE2 is being able to operate a very fast aerial machine in a 360 degree fighting environment. This is not easy, and this difficulty was certainly another turnoff in part one. Unfortunately for unskilled gamers, part 2 is even more difficult, mainly because the enemies are now of a greater variety than in part one, and (gasp) even attack in groups.
Hence, learning Jehuty’s controls are essential to defeating this game. Considering Jehuty’s range of movement and actions, the controls will perhaps be intimidating to some. However, anyone who has mastered the controls of Armored Core will find these to be a cinch. At the same time, it would have perhaps been nice if the controls were adjustable.
There are ample opportunities to learn the controls, however, in the tutorial at the beginning of the game and in the VR training option that can be accessed right from the opening main menu of the game. Once the controls are mastered, then the fun really begins in seeing Jehuty in combat. Sadly, even with the best of control, there are moments when the camera simply doesn’t know what to do and leads to confusion. While this doesn’t happen often, this can be an extreme bother during the game’s many tense situations.
As in part one, Jehuty’s movements and speed are a beauty to behold. The orbital frame slashes and dashes with utter style. He has more moves than in part one, being able to lock on and fire upon dozens of enemy machines at once. More incredibly cool looking weapons and abilities are added along the way. However, for this reviewer, the best was his original ability to grab another enemy frame and use it as a shield, weapon, or toss it at another enemy. Jehuty’s range of abilities and offense is extremely vast and accessible, making ZOE2 one of the best fighting games to grace any console.
Jehuty looks as good as the game does overall. The original featured smoke clouds, crumbling buildings, snow puffs, explosions, weapons, orbital frame design, and lush backgrounds; very few of the newest games look better than the original ZOE. In ZOE2, the graphics, partially cel-shaded, are upped at yet another notch. Seriously, gamers will be picking up their jaws from the ground upon seeing the settings and details of certain levels. Sometimes, and especially during a certain section of the game having to do with a train, smoke trails look angular and fake, but most of the time effects and war environments are done extremely well.
This does, of course, induce a bit of slowdown considering how fast characters are moving with and against each other on the screen. There are, after all, times when Jehuty is literally in a full fledged war with what seems to be dozens of enemies and allies on the screen at once. However, this slowdown is rare(almost a relief at times, against fast and dangerous enemies), and nothing compared to other games with much less happening on the screen and with more slowdown. The colors of the game also seem to be a bit washed out; everything appears to be a bit more pale and colorless than they were in part one. If the colors of the game were sharper and brighter, the graphical quality would have been increased quite a bit.
As was already mentioned, part one had a good share of stupid and nonsensical missions. They were obviously put into the game to make it longer, which is scary considering just how short part one was. But the missions in part two make more sense, and there is only one annoying mission where the goal is to protect villagers while fighting the bad guys. The missions in ZOE2 also bring back the feeling of old-school gaming; plenty of them require good old-fashioned thinking, hand-eye coordination, and patience. The obstacles between the tremendous amount of fighting in the game are very creative, very well done, and very Hideo Koshima. (There is only one that’s extremely stupid, having to do with finding a man who start to shake when he hears the sound of lasers. So, to find him, Jehuty much search among a bunch of crates, where the man is hidden in one with “the number 5 on it” along with other numbers. Of course, the man can just say what crate he’s in, but that wouldn’t be a challenge now, would it?)
The final major improvement upon part one has to do with the game’s music. The original’s music was electronic annoyance. In ZOE2, the music is simply outstanding, bringing to mind some of the classical, vocal, and emotional grandeur that can be heard in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Combined with the great sound effects of war and destruction, ZOE2 is truly felt beyond the scope of sight.
From start to finish, the game is a joy to play, and there is truly never a boring moment. Even after the great ending, there is more to do in terms of the game’s large replay value. First of all, everybody who’s played this game will want to look at some of those amazing graphics and feel the drama again. For that, there is a mission mode that not only lets Jehuty go through brand new missions, but also be able to relive and fight against some of the magnificent looking bosses of the game. Like before, there is a versus mode that lets one use the unique orbital frames in the game; and even though the Vic Viper frame is a bit unfair in the hands of skilled user, the variety and deepness of every frame is astounding. The versus mode is playable against another human or against the challenging AI of the computer.
Zone of the Enders 2 is Konami’s act of reconciliation for the original version. It makes up for all of the flaws of part one, and is even an improvement upon the few things that the original got right. The game is indeed difficult, but for the right reasons. Finally, there is no better looking game on the PS2. While the world of 360 degree fighting can be hard to get used to, there is certainly an ample reward for those who do so here.
