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Zack Zero
Zack Zero
is an exclusive title for the Playstation Network that combines retro 2D
action platforming with 3D backgrounds and visuals. The game starts the
title character Zack as he travels through various levels trying to
defeat his arch-enemy and rescue his kidnapped girlfriend. The story is
cliché and rather corny at times, but I get the vibe that the game
wasn’t trying to take itself too seriously. It’s a fun laid back game
with a few hiccups and problems, but one that is rather charming and
cute at times.
The thing that
separates Zack Zero from other platformers is the unique
spacesuit he has that comes with four different forms. The normal one, a
fire form, an ice form, and a rock form. Each suit plays a different and
unique role with all different powers, abilities, and uses. For example
the fire suit can surf in the air for a bit as well as move faster, the
rock form can move heavy objects and pull switches, the ice form can
slow down time, and the normal form gives you a fast ranged and melee
combination for fighting.
As you travel
through the game you will come across a few puzzles and areas that will
require use of each suit to traverse the map. The puzzles are very
simple and as such anybody looking for a challenge won’t find one.
However with the child-like story and corny voice acting it could be fun
for children or adults who don’t require a serious game.
Although the
game personally entertained me, it does have quite a few flaws and
problems with it that cost it in the review area. First off I would
highly recommend not being logged onto the PSN while you play for a few
reasons. The main reason is that there is a bug where the game will
freeze if you are logged in at various points in the game. The other,
more common reason is that every few seconds the game feels the need to
pop up with the stats for the leader board over and over which
eventually gets annoying.
The graphics are
actually rather pretty and could have scored much higher had it not been
for the fact that a few of the platforms and background graphics are
very unclear on which is which. Some backgrounds look like platforms,
some platforms look like backgrounds, and while the game features the
ability to “jump into the background” from time to time the majority of
the times you can’t tell when you can and when you can’t. However, the
colors, the style of the suit and enemies, and the beauty of the levels
do add and help attract your eyes.
The game lacks a
multiplayer mode, but does have leaderboards as I mentioned in passing.
The downside is that due to the bug that causes it to freeze at a
specific point in the game and the annoyance of the continual
leaderboard pop-up is that playing without the PSN is better, yet
without the PSN you can’t use the leaderboards. It ends up being a catch
22 that forces you to pick between dealing with an annoying constant
pop-up and game freezing bug or just sacrificing the leaderboards and
thus it might as well not exist.
The game
features eight varying levels and the replay value simple comes down to
if you don’t mind doing the same platforms over and over. It doesn’t
lack a replay value, but other than the leaderboard mentioned earlier
there isn’t any positive replay value either. It ends up being in the
middle ground in terms of length and replay without any clear verdict
one way or the other.
One other key
annoyance exists and that is the level-up system. Zack’s suit levels up
as the game goes on and the powers increase in strength each level,
however the system for the leveling up was implemented very poorly.
Every time the player levels up a big screen pops up pausing the game
saying LEVEL UP and then automatically throwing the points in. There are
a few problems with this. The first is the annoying pause that
interrupts what you are doing, which can be devastating in a platformer
or during a boss fight, and the second is that you don’t control your
own level-ups. In other words the game interrupts you, pops up, and then
forces its own power-up points on you with little say. When you unpause,
there is a delay between when the game unpauses and when the screen goes
away which cost you one or two seconds of being completely vulnerable
and helpless.
Overall Zack
Zero looks like a game that was developed on a low budget and as
such decided to go for a more fun, focused gameplay. It isn’t a serious
game, but it does serve the goal of entertaining you while you sit down
and play it. If you have no problem with casual games and just want to
kill some time and doesn’t mind a few bugs or kinks, I’d recommend the
game for you.
-Michael Riling |
