Review: MDK2 Armageddon for Anime on GamePro.com.

OMG!!!

FEATURED GAME

Caribbean Hideaway

QUICK POLL

Grand Theft Auto IV: does it live up to the hype?

THE GAMEPROS

FREE NEWSLETTERS

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Review: Zoids: The Battle Begins

Review by FENNECFOX | 04/03/2002 | 15:31:41 PM PST

There is something in Zoids for the kid in all of us. Assuming we?re all male and into giant warrior robots, of course.

Back in the glorious 1980s, Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy released the first Zoids collection?a group of animal-like robots that could be built up and customized any way you wanted. Tomy resurrected the line a few years ago in Japan and now, thanks to Hasbro and Cartoon Network, toy stores and TVs are awash in mechanical wolves and saber-toothed tigers, figuratively speaking. Cartoon Network began airing the second Zoids anime only a few months after the series ended in Japan, and now it holds a safe, secure place in the channel?s Toonami lineup. This particular DVD contains the first four episodes of the series.

The anime takes place on Planet Zi, where teams of Zoid pilots fight each other in some sort of sanctioned battle league (you want exposition? Go watch something else). Bit Cloud, teenage robot parts salvager, accidentally disrupts a match while driving his truck around the desert and ends up getting accosted by the Blitz Team, a group of pilots down on their luck after a string of losses. This team has a catlike Zoid, Liger Zero, and it turns out that Bit is the only person the Zoid will allow in its pilot seat. Zoids can be picky that way?kind of like the robots in Evangelion.

The four episodes on this disc serve mostly to establish the groundwork for the rest of the 67-episode series. Each story begins with the Blitz Team accepting a new challenge from the mysterious league holding all these matches. These range from Harry Champ, who has a thing for Bit?s love interest Leena, to Naomi the Red Comet, a smooth sniper who has quite possibly the sexiest voice in all of anime-dom. Working together with Leena and the rest of the team, Bit uses his Zoid?s amazing abilities (incredible quickness and a pair of ?laser claws?) to kick ass, chew bubblegum, and laugh about it afterwards.

The animators of Zoids used a strange mixture of 2D and 3D techniques to create the series? visual design. People and backgrounds are drawn with traditional animation, while 3D CG models of the Zoids are used for the battle scenes. This can be a bit jarring until you get used to it, especially since the models could be called ?cel-shaded? if we were talking about video games here. The animation is pretty average no matter how many dimensions it is, though, and the quality tends to vary from episode to episode.

So nobody is going to watch Zoids for the visuals. Indeed, hardcore anime fans would probably be turned off anyway by the Toonamified episodes (no title sequences, any racy bits cut out) and lack of any Japanese language track on the DVD. But?let?s face it?giant robots shooting each other to bits of metal and plastic is always fun. Assuming you have enough testosterone to stand it, Zoids definitely has enough action to keep you from ejecting the disc before it?s through.