Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner MARS Reviews
Make no mistake about it, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner MARS is a game that will only really be appreciated by fans of the series.
This second Zone of the Enders remains the charming game that it was but this new version, that can played in VR, brings no added value, not even offering the Japanese VO or subtitles written correctly ...
Review in French | Read full review
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner M∀RS is a faithful remaster of a game that time has not been kind to. It fails at modernizing it for 2018 standards, making it feel like a clunky mess to play.
Hideo Kojima has been accused at various points of promoting style over substance, and in this remaster of Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner that's more apparent than ever. For all of its fantastically designed mech, and its tight and often enjoyable combat, Zone of the Enders 2nd Runner is an ugly, poorly-told and overly short slice of nostalgia that can't be saved by the introduction of VR.
Zone of the Enders comes to the current gen in better shape than ever, but still an artifact of its time.
The game does offer keyboard/mouse controls. However, on top of being convoluted and confusing at first, there is no documentation for it anywhere. Button glyphs and ADA’s voice (Jehuty’s computer voice) all reference the controller only. Tutorials only reference the controller and make no reference to the keyboard/mouse controls, and to top it all off, they can’t be configured.
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner MARS is a solid remaster with spiffy HD visuals and high-quality audio, but these updates can't cover the fact that it's a PlayStation 2 game at its core.
The addition of PSVR is gimmicky, but fun, with VR shining in cabin-based games like this one, was re-jigged to be. The rest of the game despite showing its age heavily in places manages to feel a fresh experience, as surprisingly nothing has really come out in all this time that comes close to how slickly agile aerial mech combat feels here.
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner --- M∀RS is one of the best looking mech games out there, despite being a remaster of a 15-year-old game. Its fast, flashy combat still looks and feels good, but is constantly undermined by an extremely unwieldy camera. With its short, linear campaign, dull story, and terrible dialogue, The 2nd Runner seems stuck in 2003, despite its slick graphical upgrade.
Beyond the resolution increase, improved audio mix and middling VR, there's really not much to this remaster. The exclusion of the first game also makes recommending last gen's collection easier. If you're a fan of Kojima's mech series, then Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner MARS is worth picking up. It's unlikely to win any new fans though.
It's easy for me to understand how Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner captured the attention of players back in the PlayStation 2 era, as it offered, and continues to offer, some gameplay ideas and experiences that still don't exist in abundance to this day. Even back then, however, some of what it does would have been inexcusable to me—and playing the remastered Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner – M∀RS in our modern era, those weaknesses are just too hard to ignore.
ZONE OF THE ENDERS: The 2nd Runner – M∀RS is a great experience for gamers who want a good story mixed with mecha features. It gives the original fans a chance to replay the game for the nostalgic experience as well as the ability to obtain some new trophies. New fans can pick this up and play with no knowledge of the previous game, which is always great when only one part of a series is re-released or remastered. However, gamers looking to pick this up for the VR experience may be disappointed with the ‘cinema mode’ cutscenes and the nauseatingly fast movements. Although, you can play through the whole game in full-VR, should you wish to and you have an iron stomach!
It may have a short, nonsensical story and amazingly poor voice-acting and writing, but Second Runner MARS looks great, is fun to play, and adequately fulfills every person’s fantasy of operating a giant robot suit in VR.
Surprisingly good remaster of almost forgotten mecha classic with a VR support.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner Mars gives the PS2 cult classic mech game updated touches like 4K resolution and VR support. If you played the original game, this release is unlikely to change your opinion.
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner M∀RS is both an antique and gem of its time, and one worth reexamining–especially if you've got a VR headset. But before diving in head first into an Orbital Frame, run a diagnostics on whether you are interested in returning to a PS2 game.
Another great re-release of a fantastic title that is unfortunately held back by the newly added VR mode. As good as the game is, however the package would have been stronger with the addition of the first game,
Konami wants to show its best past, but the company does it by eluding the original creative team. Zone of the Enders MARS: The Second Runner works well with virtual reality, but we miss some extra content and more effort to maintain the cult work.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Overall, the standard game is an excellent high-definition remaster and is the best version of the game to date. The VR mode ruins that impressive achievement and is wholly unnecessary. In short, play this for the high definition remaster and give the VR mode a very wide berth.