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Zone of Enders HD Collection
Available on PS3 (reviewed), XBOX 360 & PS Vita
The recent surge of remastered editions of
classic Playstation 2 titles has given faithful Sony fans hit after hit
of nostalgia, and it continues with the release of the Zone of the
Enders HD Collection. Not having played these games myself but
having heard of their cult status, I was rather anxious to get stuck
into this release. This collection comes with the original Zone of
the Enders and its sequel The 2nd Runner, as well as a demo
for the highly anticipated Metal Gear Rising. While the ZoE:
HD Collection certainly is a beefy package, there's too much of a
gap in terms of quality of the games, and even then both of the games
have their own flaws, resulting in a sometimes inconsistent experience.
Gameplay
The
ZoE games are all about robots shooting each other and little
else. The original game has you play as Leo, a little boy who happens to
discover the 'orbital frame' named Jehuty which assists him in fighting
off the evil corporation known as BARHAM on his home planet of Mars.
The 2nd Runner follows a somewhat similar premise, having you play
as Dingo, an ice miner who stumbles upon Jehuty two years after the
events of the first game, and is almost immediately attacked by BARHAM
forces who still want the frame for themselves. While both games start
almost the same way, The 2nd Runner is executed a lot better,
giving players control of the character almost instantly, whereas in the
first ZoE, there are some rather lengthy cut scenes to watch in
order to get a grip of the story. Even after that the gameplay is
constantly interrupted by conversations between Leo and Jehuty's
computer, which in turn makes the short amount of gameplay available
feel pointless early on.
Both games feature nearly almost identical gameplay, with both Leo and
Dingo having to shoot and slash their way through countless of BARHAM
robots and minions. What starts off as an intriguing premise quickly
becomes stale, and you'll soon realise that after nearly 5 hours of
gameplay (in both titles), you'll still be fighting the same waves of
enemies, albeit being slightly tougher. While it can become quite tense
in some situations when you're outnumbered ten to one, it doesn't stop
this HD Collection from becoming old fast.
Graphics
In
my opinion the quality of the visuals in the remastered collection has
been quite remarkable. Unfortunately the ZoE Collection fails to
live up to the rest of the releases. The first game in particular
features some rather muddy and blocky textures, and the environments are
so dark and confusing to navigate it can become quite frustrating. While
The 2nd Runner features some rather substantial
improvements in presentation, it’s bogged down by a poor frame rate
which changes at the drop of a hat, making it difficult to take on a
large wave of enemies in any sort of environment. What’s shocking to
realise is that the game actually runs worse than the original
Playstation 2 versions, which is unacceptable considering the age of the
Playstation 3 and the already low quality of graphics seen in this
collection. The most impressive thing about the game’s presentation is
how the great anime cut scenes have managed to hold up after all these
years; they’re extremely entertaining to watch.
Audio
There’s plenty of dialogue in the ZoE Collection but most of it
is downright cheesy. Although everything the characters say is in
context, the way it’s delivered results in some serious moments becoming
rather humorous. Character’s say ”damnit” in an anything but serious
tone when they die like it’s not that big of a deal, and some of the
sentences the characters say are poorly structured as if the voice
actors forgot that the sentence wasn’t finished. On the other hand the
game’s soundtrack is done rather well. Fast paced electronic music is
played as you fight off enemies, making combat a lot more engaging than
it should be, and some of the orchestral pieces used in emotional cut
scenes are quite spectacular. It’s just a shame that the bad voice
acting kills the mood on more than one occasion.
Final Thoughts
The
Zone of the Enders HD Collection is once again a perfect way for
fans of the original games to get a nostalgia fix, but this collection
would have to be the weakest release thus far. A choppy frame rate,
inconsistency between games and a lacklustre presentation prevent it
from being as satisfying for fans as it should have been. |
