Zone of the Enders HD Collection Review

Zone of The Enders, is a story of a child's innocence lost, forced to kill with the only alternative being death. War breaks out all around our young hero, Leo and he witnesses the deaths of his friends. In the ensuing chaos, the boy stumbles across an Orbital Frame (giant, ass-kicking robot) named Jehuty. He then proceeds to kill lots of people and smash some metal ass.

The characters start off annoying, but become more endearing during the story. The relationship between the protagonist, Leo and  A.D.A (Jehuty's onboard Artificial Intelligence) develops nicely, building a believable, symbiotic relationship. Viola is a pantomime villain, who pops into the game to try and kick your ass every now and then.

The real threat however, comes from Anubis. Anubis is an Orbital Frame, like Jehuty but the polar opposite. This O.F attracts a different kind of pilot, not an innocent child, but the leader of a terrorist cell whose objective is to retrieve the O.F's. Then there is the token damsel in distress, Celvice who is Leo's childhood friend with a good heart and squishy, human skin - easy for robots to crush. Most of the character progression is shown through cutscenes, or a view out of the cockpit of your trusty tin-opener.

The cutscenes were probably more impressive in their day, but they don't hold up so well, even after a HD spruce-up, 12 years later. In general, the main Orbital Frames' design holds up, but the environment looks decidedly meh. The environments are very samey, which is a byproduct of the game being set on a space station. The details in battle look passable, with sparks flying everywhere whilst you boost around your foes, whacking them relentlessly; which is good, as this is pretty much all you do in the game.

Z.O.E is mostly a chain of arena battles in identical battlegrounds against familiar enemy types. The camera swoops around the battles dynamically, and is mostly quite good at keeping the action centre stage. Some modern games still struggle with this now, and apart from the occasionally clunky interior battle, it holds up well in this respect. The fighting gets old pretty fast and there isn't much tactical nuance, beyond hitting things with a sword or hurling a projectile at them.

A face button swings your energy sword at close range and the same button fires projectiles when faced with a distant foe. You can block attacks with a force-field using a shoulder button, absorbing damage from incoming strikes. One of the triggers allows you to boost and you can also combine this with an attack to perform a rushing assault. If you boost on the spot, you can use a burst move: and area attack that changes depending on range. You can also grab and throw enemies/objects, causing destruction if timed correctly.

The combat gets deeper as you progress, but the game suffers from a lack of pacing. Sometimes you're killing things, sometimes you're killing things and trying not to damage the environment. Killing things is all well and good, but it often feel like it would benefit from a break in the relentless pace. The only time you're not fighting, is when you are boosting between set locations on a tiny world-map, on your way to a fight. It will probably be a fun distraction for those who played it the first time around and enjoyed it, a quick blast of nostalgia before returning to more modern titles.

The second instalment fares slightly better than its younger sibling. Younger sibling being apt, because this time the protagonist is a man: Dingo Egret. Dingo has some history with the terrorist organisation responsible for the attacks of the first game, and inevitably ends up facing off against them. He becomes critically injured during the events of the game and gets attached to A.D.A's life support system, permanently fused with the machine, to leave would be to die.

The faux world-map of the first game is forsaken for a more linear narrative in this iteration and the game largely benefits from this decision. The introduction is better thought out and you spend the first few minutes stomping around in a cumbersome machine, itching to get aboard Jehuty. Once you do get aboard the O.F though, the game mostly slips back into its comfort zone and chaos ensues. More enemies now fill your screen and you will often fight giant clouds of smaller enemies, or essentially just tap a button until they all disappear.

You are still mostly hitting things, but the pacing fares slightly better, due to its more focused approach to storytelling. The visuals are also hugely improved, and the scenery is at least interesting to look at whilst doing the hitting. The crisp, cell-shaded art still stands up today and at times, the game is a breath of fresh air in a world where stark realism is the focus. The game itself is nearly identical to the previous entry, just a smoother, better-looking version. Again, the camera pans around each battle with dramatic grace, putting many modern camera systems to shame.

You can perform all the same actions from the first title, but there are a few new skills you pick up on the way. The upgrades come at you faster and Jehuty can now use subweapons scavenged from boss battles. The combat feels more impactful this time, every blow land with force and you actually feel like a powerful hunk of metal. When your lump of steel clashes with another it makes a satisfying noise, giving the illusion of more impact.

It's hard to give both games the same amount of opinion, because they are essentially the same game. The only difference being; the sequel does it much better. If you haven't played Z.O.E before, I doubt it will hold your attention for long periods of time. Like most HD remakes, it's  more about revisiting a place you was once fond of. If you think Z.O.E is just a girls name, don't bother, but if the name makes your heart flutter with fond memories, it's worth a buy.