Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner

Written by Chris Reiter on September 09, 2002

First Impressions: Metal Gear Solid 3 Demo Not Included.

From the very beginning, the PlayStation 2's file for games wasn't nearly as impressive as other console launches and ran dry for months. That was of course until the early springtime of 2001. One title, amongst others, had gamers frothing at the mouth for the Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty demo that came packaged with it. Zone of the Enders, a futuristic robot action release, was immediately put to rest by the many who bought it. Overlooking its high quality gameplay, visual, and audio values, and neglecting its genuine vision of emotional story telling all because the main character sounded, and I quote, "...like a girl..." Zone of the Enders was considered a bonus add-on compared to the short lengthened Metal Gear Solid 2 demo it shipped with. So as it goes in the game world today, Konami has went to work on a sequel, by removing the genius of Hideo Kojima from the director's chair, replacing him with the new designer and screenwriter, Shuyo Murata -- who was on the project for both the original Zone of the Enders and the second Metal Gear Solid -- and implementing new features to blend in with the old in a way that will hopefully please both who enjoyed the original (like myself) and those who were unable to be inspired by it.

Victory has come to pass. When we last left our hero, Leo Stenbuck, the confrontation between Jehuty (the mech he had control over) and Anubis (the equilibrium of Jehuty, although being the more skilled and powerful of the two) had come to a halt as Leo had no choice but to escape and leave his competition (Nohman, the commander of the Bahram army and the operator of Anubis) in the dust. It is now 2174, two years after the whole ordeal. Nohman's ultimate quest in destruction of life across Jupiter (where the first game took place) is proceeding as planned, as he is now overseeing the development of an invincible new robot design named Aumaan. Again, the most unlikely of heroes is called upon to save the day. This time the story revolves around an ex-solider named Dingo, who at the moment is presently incarcerated inside the frame of Jehuty. Dingo is supported through a respiratory system hooked into Jehuty's mainframe. Without it, Dingo will die. Having a past tied into Nohman's background, it's now up to Dingo to set the record straight.

Short but sweet, Zone of the Enders only ran players through the game at around 7 hours at the most. Mainly due to the fact that there were only a short amount of cities to enter and eliminate any enemy threats, you were limited to only so much of a great time. Zone of the Enders 2 is going to do what the first game did, but more. In and out, the primary objective of the original focused on diving into certain sectors across the planes of Jupiter. Controlling Jehuty to dispose of enemies through intense air combat all the while protecting buildings and the people who inhabited them, amongst completing other objectives such as tracking down special items throughout the stage, was how everything worked. To expand on that same premise, Konami has decided to make you do more to get more out of your game by adding in areas to explore on, around, and above the new frontier -- Mars. Amongst groups of space colonies, factories, moons, and even huge satellites orbiting space's atmosphere, you'll take Jehuty to bigger and better places beyond the first game's reaches.

At its disposal, Jehuty's offensive and defensive maneuvers in the first Zone of the Enders consisted of a variety of laser beams, kick and punch moves, dash attacks, and even the ability to grab an enemy and toss them into the far distance. Emphasizing on that same style of gameplay, this time around Jehuty will feature a host of a few improvements. Homing laser fire, energy mines, teleportation, and also an immense anti-ship cannon will all become a part of the gameplay system. Even more so, the old grab attack will range on a much bigger scale. Instead of just grabbing onto enemies and throwing them elsewhere in your defense, you'll be able to take hold of pieces from the environment including scraps from wreckage and bulkhead slabs. With these, attacking and defending will have an all-new meaning when you can use them to your advantage as a club, a shield, or just as a plain old missile weapon.

New and revised enemies will also come on board to present a different type of challenge for gamers. One new version of enemy will actually be robots similar to Jehuty, except this time there'll be lots more to deal with and with transforming segments in their body structures. Some of the revamped enemies include the Cyclops droid with four legs now that will let it skate freely and quickly along any flat surface. Raptors are also on their way: but the real difference in Zone of the Enders 2 is that rather than only dealing with around four or six enemies at a time like in the original game, players will encounter up to a dozen through a tweaked camera system. With nearly double the amount of drones to destroy, Zone of the Enders 2 is certainly shaping to double or even triple the amount of game time the first Enders ran its course through.

Out of everything, Zone of the Enders was known for its visuals that could stun even the most ignorant of persons. The graphics were beyond belief in that they were the first of their kind being in a 3D anime evolved environment. And the way that the anime transpired into 3D was absolutely gorgeous. Taking it a little more down the line, Zone of the Enders 2 will feature the same type of quality but will add fresh tidbits into the mix. Little things like cartoon shading done in smoke patterns behind trails that linger in back of mechs and in explosions set off during the game's amazing attack sequences gives the game a welcome introduction to its celluloid aspect. As before, the mech designs are coming along great and will be set to drill through even more intensified battles this time; bearing the beautiful light and shading effects as previously seen.