Zone of the Enders

Sometimes, the game can be fairly fast-paced, with stages of engaging space robots in mortal combat flowing one after the other. But all too often, levels are interrupted by vague missions that require backtracking to search for a specific, but ambiguous item. And though it seemed like the cutscenes and dialog were letting up for a while, as the game reached its final phases they came back in full force.

There are a slew of secondary weapons, that could, in theory, spice up the otherwise repetitive gameplay. But the majority of them are completely useless. A lot of them don't even have a good chance of hitting the enemy, let alone doing more damage than a primary attack.

The ending? So bad, it's funny. Over the course of the game, the Orbital Frame (the fighting robot)'s AI, "ADA," is developed as a robotic character gradually learning humanity. After defeating the final boss - then being accosted by another, more powerful robot, but escaping (the final scene is a challenge to survive for about 30 seconds until the last cutscene jumps in) - the main character asks ADA what she is going to do next. She's going on a mission to Mars. Main character asks, maybe, if after the mission-- but ADA clarifies, that the mission to Mars is a suicide bombing, where the orbital frame will be detonated to take out an enemy base. The main character is upset by this for a few seconds, then leaves the robot and reunites with the game's other two-and-a-half characters.

In total ZOE was about 4 or 5 hours long. Being introduced to the game was exciting, and the later boss battles were challenging and pretty cool - other than that, it's just bad. Worth the $10 I bought it for, but probably not much more.

Progress: Complete