Jonnyboy117
Member
I rented the original ZOE back when it came out, and liked it well enough despite its many problems. I thought the sequel looked like a huge improvement, and it got much better reviews, but none of my local rental stores had a copy except the hated Blockbuster. Grrr. I finally gave in and rented it from BB.
Like Omega...something (the PSone mech shooter that ran on Gran Turismo's engine), ZOE 2 is worth playing just for the graphics. They are ASTOUNDING. Much respect for PS2. But it's also a fun game with some cool scenarios and a lot of great extras, even if the story sucks and some of the missions are frustrating more than fun.
The camera is a bit more manageable than in the original game, but it's still hard to tell what's going on much of the time. Button-mashing will win battles and get you killed in equal measures, so there's not a clear sense of learning the combat system and improving in skill. The homing laser attack is very cool...I don't think that was in the first game? The other big addition is new grab moves, which let you bash one enemy into another and even do a wind-up pitch across the level. Cool stuff indeed. Later in the game, you learn a new move called Zero Shift, which is a teleport that makes combat a lot faster and very easy against normal enemies.
The extras are amazing, which makes up for the story mode being so-so and fairly short. EX Missions let you try out the different mech forms in all kinds of combat situations, sort of like VR missions but for after you beat the normal game. One special EX Mission lets you play as Vic Viper (which shows up as a boss and supporting character in the story mode) in a 3D Gradius mini-game, called Zoradius. Awesome. Then there's the VS mode, which seems to be more balanced and generally more interesting than in the first game. I've got a buddy coming over with a second controller tonight, and we're going to really test it out. I did a practice run with Vic Viper, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
Like Omega...something (the PSone mech shooter that ran on Gran Turismo's engine), ZOE 2 is worth playing just for the graphics. They are ASTOUNDING. Much respect for PS2. But it's also a fun game with some cool scenarios and a lot of great extras, even if the story sucks and some of the missions are frustrating more than fun.
The camera is a bit more manageable than in the original game, but it's still hard to tell what's going on much of the time. Button-mashing will win battles and get you killed in equal measures, so there's not a clear sense of learning the combat system and improving in skill. The homing laser attack is very cool...I don't think that was in the first game? The other big addition is new grab moves, which let you bash one enemy into another and even do a wind-up pitch across the level. Cool stuff indeed. Later in the game, you learn a new move called Zero Shift, which is a teleport that makes combat a lot faster and very easy against normal enemies.
The extras are amazing, which makes up for the story mode being so-so and fairly short. EX Missions let you try out the different mech forms in all kinds of combat situations, sort of like VR missions but for after you beat the normal game. One special EX Mission lets you play as Vic Viper (which shows up as a boss and supporting character in the story mode) in a 3D Gradius mini-game, called Zoradius. Awesome. Then there's the VS mode, which seems to be more balanced and generally more interesting than in the first game. I've got a buddy coming over with a second controller tonight, and we're going to really test it out. I did a practice run with Vic Viper, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
