Zone of the Enders Hands-On Update

Konami recently provided us with a new playable demo of Zone of the Enders that is nearly identical to the build we previewed last week. This one, however, features full English subtitles that allowed us to sample the game's narrative firsthand.

ZOE's story revolves around a young man named Leo Stenbuck, a native of the Jupiterian industrial colony of Antilia. Antilia is on the brink of war, because it houses a secret weapon-- Orbital Frame Jehuty, the game's starring mech--desired by many of the solar system's most powerful factions. During an innocent junkyard raid, Leo and a handful of his bullying friends are caught in the midst of an attack led by a group of fanatical Martians known as ZOE. Though all of his friends are killed during the attack, Leo manages to survive. While in hiding, Leo stumbles upon Orbital Frame Jehuty, which, as it happens, is exactly what the ZOE forces were seeking. Leo instantly bonds with Jehuty's AI, which serves as the premise of the demo's tutorial--the AI teaching Leo the basics of controlling the frame. The ensuing gameplay sequences involve Leo defending Antilia from the attacking ZOE forces, which are led by Viola, the pilot of Orbital Frame Neith. After all the attackers are dispatched, the demo ends abruptly.

As mentioned before, Jehuty controls marvelously. The ability to fly freely through the ultradetailed world of Antilia is quite liberating, and the game's controls lend themselves very well to this. Graphically, the game is unparalleled. Everything is rendered with marvelous detail, and all the animations are superbly fluid and lightning fast. Never has the world of giant robots received such a faithful video game representation. As this current demo is, for all intents and purposes, identical to the one we previewed last week, you can learn more about the game by checking out our lengthy hands-on impressions.

Zone of the Enders is due out this spring.