Game Review: ZONE OF THE ENDERS THE 2nd RUNNER : M∀RS

Oddly enough, despite only having played one Zone of the Enders game (the one for Game Boy Advance) before this one, I've considered myself a fan of the franchise. I'm sure I would have played more of them if I had any Sony consoles...

Well, now that this remastered version of the second ZOE game has come out on PC, I can finally play more of them. Better yet, since Konami included full VR support, I can play the whole game from the cockpit of the main character's giant robot (or Orbital Frame, if you want to use the proper in-game term).

... It's quite awesome. I've tried a couple VR space combat games looking for one that I can really enjoy, but most of them either don't have a plot that interests me, don't actually have a good combat system, or cause some severe motion sickness. (In some cases, more than one of those problems.) This one, though, manages to avoid all three problems, even when I'm up close and personal with the enemy robots and the view is snapping back and forth between lock on targets as I wipe them all out.

I should be fair and mention that there are some problems. The plot has a couple of good thought-provoking moments, but then there are also plenty of scenes that are simply weird. A lot of the characters' motivations are either poorly explained or just don't make sense, and the same goes for some of the history. And there are some minor control problems - most centered around the way the game handles switching between lock on targets.

Those problems are more than outweighed by the good points. It's just fun to feel like you're actually sitting in the cockpit of a giant robot blasting your way through entire hordes of enemies. It takes a bit of experimenting to figure out which weapons are easiest to use and most effective, but there's enough time and chances to figure it out to prevent the whole thing from feeling like a irritating slog. Overall, I highly recommend this game.