G.G Series: Z-One

Genre: Shmup

Players: 1

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Review:

Z-One is a Shmup released on the Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service in 2010 and then grandfathered into the Nintendo 3DS eShop when that system was released. This game has players flying a ship with two “pods” (think Gradius’s “Option”-style power-ups), with players aiming their fire in eight directions by flying in the opposite direction.

For a $2 game, the presentation in Z-One is actually pretty good, with 2D pixel art visuals that feature a good amount of detail and little animations in the backgrounds. This is backed by a catchy techno-style soundtrack that works really well for the game.

For the gameplay, the one thing this game does really well is movement and aiming. Players aim their gunfire in the game by flying in the opposite direction of where they want to aim, keeping the current angle by continuing their fire. This ties your aiming to movement in a way that’s fun and surprisingly intuitive.

The problem here is… well, everything else. The game’s stages are mostly pretty bland and repetitive, with players facing the same few enemies over and over again. From what I can tell, there aren’t even proper bosses here, just brief sections where you’re trapped in one spot for a period in time while enemies you take out endlessly respawn. What’s worse, the one time the stage design gets interesting is when the corridors become extremely claustrophobic and difficult to navigate. In all likelihood, this is where you’ll end up losing the most lives, not clever, powerful, or overbearing enemies.

It’s a real disappointment that this Z-One’s excellent movement and good visuals were wasted on such lackluster stages and enemies. Even despite this, this is still a fun Shmup to play around in for a little while. Unfortunately, the repetitive enemies and tedious stage design make this a game you’ll probably only want to play in short bursts. Anything longer than that and you may find yourself getting bored, despite this game’s better qualities.

tl;dr – Z-One is a Shmup where players can aim in any direction by flying in the opposite direction. This makes for some really fun controls, but those fun controls are wasted on repetitive enemies and tedious level design. This game is still fun in short bursts, but only until the repetition starts to wear on you.

Grade: C+

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