This is it, Hideo Kojima's first masterpiece to grace Sony's console. Zone of the Enders is a mech game with a combat system of unprecedented speed and grace. Combine this with a compelling, touching story and you have one heck of a game, and it's only for PS2!

Gameplay
The story begins with an attack on a space colony where a young boy named Leo resides. During the scramble of an evacuation he stumbles upon a combat frame (mech) known as Jehuty. From then on most of the story is told between the interactions of the young boy and the artificial intelligence of the orbital frame in which he now controls.

The touching part of the story is how Leo and Ada (the computer program controlling Jehuty) seem to grow closer together. Ada eventually seems to show a more human side. Is it possible? It is no doubt one of the many mysteries that Hideo Kojima, the renowned videogame producer, has employed to draw players closer to the characters within the game. But for the sake of not spoiling any of the story, I will leave the rest up to you to find out.

First and foremost, aerial mech combat makes up the bulk of the gameplay. Most of your time is spent flying from location to location engaging enemy frames in fierce, lightening fast combat maneuvers. In all honesty, the fighting system is probably the fastest you've ever experienced. There are a limited number of moves at the player's disposal and they are all easy to perform which is only a slight drawback for having an ultra-fast battle system. A "Z-lock" features pioneered by Zelda 64 is used to always keep a fix on the target. There is no need to worry about controlling the camera as it provides the ideal perspective almost 100% of the time. The style of the fighting system is a bit hard to explain in words and really must be played to truly appreciate it. But one thing is for sure, it is nearly flawless and everything works extremely well. If only there were more weapons or possibly a simple combo system, they would have been perfect.

Other than combat, players will also have tasks such as getting passcodes to access drivers to get new weapons or other items that will unlock a certain area to progress further in the game. Overall it's pretty straightforward, but this may also be a drawback. Some have complained that ZOE's gameplay is too repetitive and can become boring. Although I haven't found this to be the case, it depends on how much you like the fighting system I guess.

One of the best aspects of the game is facing off against giant bosses from time to time. These battles are very fun and will really get your adrenaline pumping if the difficulty is set higher. My only complaint here is that their moves are too predictable. I was able to go to school on the bosses in no time after only a few seconds of analyzing their fighting pattern, but it was still fun.

The story really starts to come together in the last quarter of the game but the final ending while very good, seemed to be leaving the initial mission unfinished. Or perhaps it was because I did not get a high enough score in the rescue missions to deserve a better ending? But this could be a hint that a sequel is on the way. Let's hope so because this game is superb.

Graphics
ZOE is a stunning game to look at and has a unique visual quality. First and foremost, the mech models (particularly Jehuty and Neith) are sooooo incredibly cool. These aren't your typical big and bulky mechanized beasts you'll find showing up in most mech games. No, they are sleek, fast, nimble and look like they could cause some serious havoc to boot! There is also some kind of bright pulse that flows over the frame's body periodically which helps to "give life" to the mechs and looks great.

I'm pretty sure no other game on the PS2 makes use of the particle effects capabilities as well as ZOE. Throughout the game players will be dazzled by amazing explosions that send sparks, fireballs and shrapnel flying in every direction. You'll be awed by the terrific animation and motion blur among many other amazing effects throughout this game.

Yet another graphic quality that Kojima has hit on the mark is the sheer level of detail in the levels. The cities and towns that you fight in have nearly every facet of a real world location. There are vehicles in parking lots, residential blocks, gardens, individually lit streetlights and signs. And if that wasn't enough, you can destroy ALL of it!
However, ZOE is by no means perfect. Although the levels sport great detail, the draw distance is very shallow. There is no effort to hide this fact either as the horizon ahead is simply cast into a black void. Of course, it is night time during the entire game but considering how well lit the foreground is, it should not be completely dark just a few more meters away. It appears the game suffers from a bad case of nighttime "Kryptonite fog." The game overall looks very sharp but it appears that the PS2's lack of a dedicated aliasing solution is rearing its ugly head once again. Some of you may not even notice but the mech's fine lines are marred with small jaggies. This doesn't have hardly any affect on visual quality other than the fact that it makes them look at bit tacky. We shouldn't be seeing this in videogames anymore given the technology that's available. Finally, the framerate is solid and probably moves at 60fps with the very rare chance of minor slowdown.

With the exception of the shallow draw distance and the minor case of jaggies, ZOE looks absolutely stunning and will surely turn heads when they see all of the effects being thrown around in the many blindingly fast combat situations.

Sound
Once again, ZOE excels with heavy hitting techno beats that are sure to get the heart pumping even faster in those fights. I really enjoyed listening to the tunes in this game. I would love to have the sound track. The sound effects are also very good. They are crisp and clear and round out what a good mech game should be. The voice acting was pretty good considering it was a translation from the Japanese version. Players will be able to grasp the emotions of each character through their tone. Even Ada sounds emotional! Okay, so the boy sounds a little annoying but believe me, it could have been much, much worse.

I must give particular note to the opening and menu screen music, which I believe is possibly the best sound I have ever heard come out of my speakers. It's really incredible what the PS2 can do in terms of sound quality. It makes my JVC mini system sound like a $3,000 home theater! The Japanese opening song was also a unique experience for me since I cannot remember the last time I heard one. In a word, it was beautiful. I've never heard anything quite like it but I am becoming more and more fond of Japanese influence in videogames every day.

Value
Like many PS2 games, ZOE suffers from being a decidedly short game. My first time through took me six hours and twelve minutes. I was really hoping for ten hours. However, there are about four difficulty levels to challenge, which are also worth playing through. By beating the game on higher difficulties players open up the multiplayer mode (you must try it!) and additional mechs and locations for the multiplayer mode.

One of the best things about the multiplayer mode is that it is two player only and both players are on the same screen. Yes, it may seem strange at first but this is one of the best multiplayer games I've ever played. First of all, you have the advantage of having the entire screen to play on and second, anybody can pick up the controller and become skilled in literally minutes. The battle system is so simple and polished that it takes almost no time to become proficient and be competitive with another skilled player. The problem is, once you reach a certain level of skill there is a case of diminishing returns. I believe that you can only be so good at fighting with a mech because there isn't a lot of strategy involved.

So is Zone of the Enders worth buying? Of course. It is pretty short but the game is so good that it would be foolish to pass it up especially if you are a fan of mech games. You could also argue that the Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo that comes packaged with ZOE would make it worthwhile but truth be told, the demo does not have much replay value at all. Most will have done everything possible in it within the first two days but still it is definitely helping ZOE sell copies. But aside from that demo, ZOE really shines through as a top rate product that will no doubt leave many PS2 gamers in awe and desperate for more.