Preliminary Review : Zone of the Enders 2 : The 2nd Runner, for PS2 -- The Brink of Madness!

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Date Posted: 20:56:51 08/06/03 Wed
Author: Hero of Time
Author Host/IP: 66.189.225.43
Subject: Preliminary Review : Zone of the Enders 2 : The 2nd Runner, for PS2

Zone of the Enders, the first one now, was a game that had me hooked the first time I played it. It's a robot fighting game, fast paced, lots of shit can happen if you blink at the wrong time. I love it. I thought the sequel was called the Fist of Mars, and didn't even know it was released yet. I found this at Hastings, howled in delight, and rented it right away.

Dear God, it's games like this that make me wish I had my own place, where nobody could bother me while playing. This game is a tear off of the very Quilt of Amusement. I love it to no end. It's hard as hell, but funner then you might imagine.

The story starts in the original game...in the year like 2130 or something, on a colony of Jupiter. A military group called BAHRAM assaults the community there, declaring war against the oppression of Earth. It's like the civil war, just in space with robots. You play in that one as Leo, a little kid who ducks into a dark building to evade chasing Orbital Frames (the robots..much larger than a building), and you stumble into the cockpit of an Orbital Frame yourself! It has a battle computer called ADA, which is totally intelligent and basically can do everything in battle except for move and shoot. And it always is talking, giving you tips if you suck, or advice when your screwed. Cool as hell. BTW, your frame's name is Jehuty. And man, that storyline was great.

So, in this one, it's like several years later, and you're a miner on Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons. You find Jehuty when you discover traces of Metatron (the metal it's made out of...super cool stuff, apparently). Again, BAHRAM is on the attack, and you are forced to climb in. This time, however, you're already an experienced pilot, not a little whiney boy. So now, you're in control of the legendary Jehuty. One of two powerful machines meant for BAHRAM to take over the world. Since you've got it, BAHRAM wants it. Bad. And Earth's defenses are getting the floor mopped with their asses, so you have to help them, get vengeance on BAHRAM for pissing you off, AND keep Jehuty out of their hands.

The combat controls are the exact same, which is good for me! I kicked ass from the very beginning. You can fight against LITERALLY hundreds of incoming enemies. And the way I fight, I'm never in one spot for more than a split second. So it's fast as hell.

And just when I think it's smooth sailing, Anubis pops up...the second super Orbital Frame. Apparently, it's another Jehuty, but JESUS you cannot beat it. The first game ends with you losing and having to retreat from a battle against it. It moves like my Pendragon character does...superspeed. It looks like it teleports, but it's just incredibly fast. In fact, it's the final boss of ZoE, and you can't even damage it, though it tears you to shreds. ADA tells you in battle "Jehuty is not meant to face Anubis at this time." I'm assuming this game is the chance. :)

Just watching the 20 minute or so intro makes me drool. Wonderful scenes, great camera angles. And it sums up the story...except for the end, thankfully. "Jehuty requires one element before it can reach its maximum capabilities" was a line I heard in the scenes. That means that all this ass-kicking I've been doing is nothing.

I'm stuck on a boss now...another Frame that's so fast and has a shield that blocks everything I have, except physical attacks. So, I gotta grab other enemies and throw them, then move in to kill. Easier said than done, as the AI is programmed to defend against grapple attacks. *sigh*

The only bad part about this game, if there must be one, is that the versus mode only has Jehuty. I think you have to beat the game to get anything else, even the weak minions. And the scenes are actual anime, rather than the computer generated movies in the first that I liked. Still, they're well drawn and still captivate me. The first game's only downfall was that the story was...short. I mean, it took me a while, but I was thrashing towards the end before I wanted to. So far, this ones seems to have fixed that problem. What's more, there are NO load times. I dunno HOW they did it, but it's the first PS2 game that doesn't take long at all to load the levels. Maybe it's loading during the cinema scenes...which is a strategy most games use, and is a great idea. But since you can skip scenes, I still am curious how they did it.

My vote is biased by my love for this game, but I give it a solid 10/10. :-D

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