Konami

With the glut of incomprehensible storylines, system-crashing bugs, and—most offensive of all—misspellings and bad grammar found in games these days, it seems as if in the mad rush to fill store shelves, a growing percentage of publishers and developers are getting increasingly lackadaisical.

I've noticed a trend in both my and Brad's reviews, something I'd characterize as a "glass half-full versus glass half-empty" pattern. If you disregard the scores and go by the reviews themselves, our thoughts on games are often similar, the only difference being that one of us likes or dislikes a game for or in spite of the qualities we both agree it has.

Game Description: From Metal Gear Solid 2 producer Hideo Kojima, comes the sequel to the anime inspired mech combat game Zone of the Enders. In Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, take control of a lightning fast mechanized robot and fight an evil militaristic force with new weapons, maneuvers, and tactics. Conflicts and settings of ZOE2 take place in cityscapes, enemy fortresses, and even in the depths of space! Sequel to the mech-powered combat game, with a new cast of characters and an epic story.

Loyal readers of the site may recall my less-than-favorable review of the original Zone Of The Enders back in 2001. Despite a great battle engine and the attachment of Hideo Kojima's name, it was a shallow bore that sold more copies than it deserved thanks to a massive wave of hyperbole and the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo disc it was packaged with. The project was massively unsatisfying, and I couldn't understand why an illustrious house like Konami would release such a half-baked product. Evidently, someone at Konami HQ must have been thinking the same thing.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood and Gore, Violence

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Violence

Game Description: You are a mercenary named Solid Snake entrusted with the battle against an array of enemies, including Metal Gear, a nuclear capable robot. In this latest edition, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, you must stop deadly weapons of mass destruction from falling into the wrong hands. Secret weapons technology is being shipped on an oil tanker to an unknown destination. You must infiltrate the transport and foil their evil plans.

Metal Gear Solid 2, for all of its sweeping ideology and bold provocations, was a game that suffered under the weight of its own ambitions.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Blood, Violence

After sitting down and spending time with Contra: Shattered Soldier, its clear to see that older gamers are the ones who will likely enjoy it the most. The graphics are solidly rendered in 3D, but they're not anything that will impress or engage people more accustomed to the visual flash prevalent on today's powerful hardware.