Post by Jetheren on Dec 30, 2007 21:32:12 GMT -5
PREPARE YOURSELF FOR MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF TEXT!!
Hey here is another giant robot series thats been out for the PS2 and GBA. This one should appeal to people who have had disappointments with mecha games that deal with custimization. This mecha series is more like an action adventure type series, NO CUSTIMIZATION. Of any mecha series I have ever played Z.O.E definitly is the best. All the fights are all very high pace and the boss battles are some of the best I have ever played. Z.O.E and Z.O.E 2nd Runner are both third person games while Z.O.E: Fist of Mars is a turn based strategy.
The series is set in the 22nd century. Humankind has colonized the Moon, Mars and the moons of Jupiter. Also, many Space Colonys have been established. These achievements were all made possible by the discovery of two new tools. One being the Laborious Extra-Orbial Vehicle or LEV (a robot used for construction and Military purposes) and Metatron, a new mineral found on Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons. Metatron provided a source of enormous power and led to many other technological advacements. As colonization continued, humans on Earth began looking down on those living on Mars, Jupiter and their space colonies and began calling those living in those regions, Enders, meaning "people who live at the ends of the universe." Earth began oppressing Enders and issued harsh taxes. Soon friction between the two sides sky-rocketed and resistance groups began fighting against Earth. A new metatron powered military weapon was developed by the Enders to combat Earth, this was known as the Orbital Frame or OF.
The OF is the machine you pilot in the Z.O.E series and your enemies are also OFs but they are unmanned versions, except for the bosses. Yes, you are fighting against a Mars faction known as BAHRAM, not Earth. You only fight against Earth forces in Z.O.E: Fist of Mars, but you are never Earth forces. Mostly you are a civilian who is caught up in the struggle and you are piloting an OF that BAHRAM wants.
Note: (I am talking about Z.O.E and 2nd Runner, not Fist of Mars) Anyway on to what makes this game fun. you are always floating so battle is done in 360 degrees, this does not get disorientating. Also the camera doesn't stay directly behind your OF in combat. when you encounter an enemy and approach to a certain range, the camera switches and orbits the battle, so you get a more cinema style feel to the fights. The boss fights in the game are INTENSE, especially in 2nd Runner, as you boost dodge your opponents long range attack and close the distance to strike with your arm blade only to have it collide with the enemy OF's one blade. A great part of the battles is that your swords can collide, the OF's will push on each other for a moment and then automatically break off, sometimes the process of your two frames slamming their swords together will last four or five attacks until finally you both break off and try a different method of attack. My favorite thing is when you get in a lock and your opponent breaks in by boosting around your machine and goes in for a strike, if you react fast enough you can do your own boost move and boost around your enemy and get him in the back.
Anyway I will emphasize again that there is NO CUSTIMIZATION. You fly your OF and use the weapons its has, later you upgrade your machine by downloading weapons from Servers located around the area, but this requires absolutly no skill or technique or calculations. In Z.O.E and 2nd Runner, you only get one OF known as Jehuty (the main OF of the Z.O.E series) but in Fist of Mars you get characters that pilot there own OFs and also LEVs, kinda like getting new characters in Fire Emblem.
I can't say much about Fist of Mars except that it is a turn based strategy that takes place in the middle of Z.O.E and 2nd Runner. It's most distinguishing features are that you can play it as a normal strategy where your stats count or you can switch it so when you are attacked you move a reticule around and dodge the enemies targeting circles, if you screw up, the enemy hits you, dodge for the alotted time and you dodge the attack; also when you attack, you move your reticule over the moving image of the enemy frame and press the A button, if you get a lock you hit. You can also hit areas to get Criticals. The second thing is the Anime sequences when you, or an enemy attacks. After you attack it shows an Anime sequense of the attacking frame doing whatever attack you told it to do.
Anyway here is one last thing to note. Z.O.E and 2nd runner are rated M. Z.O.E was rated M because it originally came with a bonus CD with the demo for Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty and 2nd Runner was given an M rating for a scene near the begining where the main character, Dingo Egret is shot about 5 times in the chest and there is a decent amount of blood. But that's it, no more blood or anything. Also the stories are Anime style so there are some cheesy moments in the first game, but most of the cheesyness goes out the window in 2nd Runner and Fist of Mars is in the middle of cheese. Also you will probably only find this game in stores like Gamestop and things like that since its kinda old. Anyway sorry for talking your head off.
Hey here is another giant robot series thats been out for the PS2 and GBA. This one should appeal to people who have had disappointments with mecha games that deal with custimization. This mecha series is more like an action adventure type series, NO CUSTIMIZATION. Of any mecha series I have ever played Z.O.E definitly is the best. All the fights are all very high pace and the boss battles are some of the best I have ever played. Z.O.E and Z.O.E 2nd Runner are both third person games while Z.O.E: Fist of Mars is a turn based strategy.
The series is set in the 22nd century. Humankind has colonized the Moon, Mars and the moons of Jupiter. Also, many Space Colonys have been established. These achievements were all made possible by the discovery of two new tools. One being the Laborious Extra-Orbial Vehicle or LEV (a robot used for construction and Military purposes) and Metatron, a new mineral found on Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons. Metatron provided a source of enormous power and led to many other technological advacements. As colonization continued, humans on Earth began looking down on those living on Mars, Jupiter and their space colonies and began calling those living in those regions, Enders, meaning "people who live at the ends of the universe." Earth began oppressing Enders and issued harsh taxes. Soon friction between the two sides sky-rocketed and resistance groups began fighting against Earth. A new metatron powered military weapon was developed by the Enders to combat Earth, this was known as the Orbital Frame or OF.
The OF is the machine you pilot in the Z.O.E series and your enemies are also OFs but they are unmanned versions, except for the bosses. Yes, you are fighting against a Mars faction known as BAHRAM, not Earth. You only fight against Earth forces in Z.O.E: Fist of Mars, but you are never Earth forces. Mostly you are a civilian who is caught up in the struggle and you are piloting an OF that BAHRAM wants.
Note: (I am talking about Z.O.E and 2nd Runner, not Fist of Mars) Anyway on to what makes this game fun. you are always floating so battle is done in 360 degrees, this does not get disorientating. Also the camera doesn't stay directly behind your OF in combat. when you encounter an enemy and approach to a certain range, the camera switches and orbits the battle, so you get a more cinema style feel to the fights. The boss fights in the game are INTENSE, especially in 2nd Runner, as you boost dodge your opponents long range attack and close the distance to strike with your arm blade only to have it collide with the enemy OF's one blade. A great part of the battles is that your swords can collide, the OF's will push on each other for a moment and then automatically break off, sometimes the process of your two frames slamming their swords together will last four or five attacks until finally you both break off and try a different method of attack. My favorite thing is when you get in a lock and your opponent breaks in by boosting around your machine and goes in for a strike, if you react fast enough you can do your own boost move and boost around your enemy and get him in the back.
Anyway I will emphasize again that there is NO CUSTIMIZATION. You fly your OF and use the weapons its has, later you upgrade your machine by downloading weapons from Servers located around the area, but this requires absolutly no skill or technique or calculations. In Z.O.E and 2nd Runner, you only get one OF known as Jehuty (the main OF of the Z.O.E series) but in Fist of Mars you get characters that pilot there own OFs and also LEVs, kinda like getting new characters in Fire Emblem.
I can't say much about Fist of Mars except that it is a turn based strategy that takes place in the middle of Z.O.E and 2nd Runner. It's most distinguishing features are that you can play it as a normal strategy where your stats count or you can switch it so when you are attacked you move a reticule around and dodge the enemies targeting circles, if you screw up, the enemy hits you, dodge for the alotted time and you dodge the attack; also when you attack, you move your reticule over the moving image of the enemy frame and press the A button, if you get a lock you hit. You can also hit areas to get Criticals. The second thing is the Anime sequences when you, or an enemy attacks. After you attack it shows an Anime sequense of the attacking frame doing whatever attack you told it to do.
Anyway here is one last thing to note. Z.O.E and 2nd runner are rated M. Z.O.E was rated M because it originally came with a bonus CD with the demo for Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty and 2nd Runner was given an M rating for a scene near the begining where the main character, Dingo Egret is shot about 5 times in the chest and there is a decent amount of blood. But that's it, no more blood or anything. Also the stories are Anime style so there are some cheesy moments in the first game, but most of the cheesyness goes out the window in 2nd Runner and Fist of Mars is in the middle of cheese. Also you will probably only find this game in stores like Gamestop and things like that since its kinda old. Anyway sorry for talking your head off.
