Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner

Hideo Kojima's giant mechs battle for the fate of the universe in Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner.

The first Zone of the Enders was a visually resplendent and frenzied button-masher, though its lack of gameplay variety made it lose most of its steam after the first couple of hours. Its sequel, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, is a logical progression from the previous game. The story has been expanded, the graphics are the most boffo eye candy, the score is epic, and you have more offensive and defensive abilities than before. You can now lock onto and hurl massive missile salvos at multiple enemies, or grab pieces of the environment and enemy mechs to use as shields and melee or projectile weapons. The 2nd Runner also arms you with an insane amount of sub-weapons, like homing missiles, stun lasers, and decoys, so there's almost no limit to the amount of ways you can whip the snot out of your enemies. For the most part, the boss battles are also excellent.

Unfortunately, The 2nd Runner suffers from the same problems as its predecessor: The action gets repetitive, awkward camerawork hinders the tight controls, lengthy cut-scenes interrupt the action every few minutes, and the final boss fight is a disappointing battle of attrition rather than a clever exploitation of attack patterns. The 2nd Runner is also easy as hell, and if you're willing to skip through the cut-scenes, you'll button-mash your way through the sucker within six hours. Sure, being a bad-ass giant ninja robot rules, but when you?re talking about $50, these things should be considered.

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