What’s good, everyone. This is obviously Joshua Evo and I say that simply because of which game is up for review in today’s post. You guys have heard me gush on this game for quite some time now so I’m gonna forego the lengthy setup (no matter HOW much I really want to do it) and get right into it. Today we’re looking at Zone of the Enders HD Collection. This HD Collection is technically three separate games: Zone of the Enders, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner and the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance demo. I’ll be covering all three of these over two parts. Ultimately, the ZoE Collection is indeed just a HD remastered version of the original games and there’s not a whole lot of brand new material so this won’t be a full-on review as much as a brief overview.
The first game of the series, Zone of the Enders pretty hugely under appreciated when it was first released, with most people calling it “the robot game that came with the Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo”. The vast majority of the people who ended up playing the game really only did so because the MGS2 demo was fairly short, so why not try this mech combat game it came with. Those few people who did check it out and play it all the way through were met with a futuristic adventure that was much more fast-paced and action heavy than Hideo Kojima’s last hit, Metal Gear Solid.
OK so there’s a BIT of skewing here since I can’t really call them eye-popping in any way, as it still uses the 3D animated cutscenes that the PS2 used in its very early days. The the game’s HD treatment is really only apparent during game play, as the cut scenes are rather grainy and fuzzy looking. However, the game still shines in its looks, sounds and fast-paced action and is still very fun to play and adds a great touch of nostalgia to those to played this game all those years ago as well as a fulfilling experience to new fans who may have missed the boat the first time around. As fans of the series already know, the story revolves around a young boy named Leo Stenbuck who finds himself caught in the midst of an invasion and unwittingly thrust into the middle of conflict when he seeks shelter from danger in the cockpit of the Orbital Frame Jehuty. The has a very heavy anime influence (as one might expect) but is still compelling enough to keep the player interested, albeit for only a few hours, as ZoE can be completed in about four to five hours. There were also not a lot of adjustments made to the controls with the exception of incorporating the PS Home XMB button, which is great, as ZoE’s controls were perfectly fine the first time around. Trophy support was also added, which adds a bit of replay value as well. In short, Zone of the Enders HD does an excellent job retaining all of the elements that made it great, while looking prettier than it ever has.
So that’ll just about do it for Part 1 of the Zone of the Enders HD Collection review. Next time, I’ll cover and the Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance demo and the game the most people bought the entire collection for, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner HD ; which seems to be the source of a lot of heat right now… but more on that later. Stay tuned!
– Evo out
