Zone of the Enders the 2nd Runner review/thoughts on

Right off,the intro movie was better than the intro from the first game,so I was excited already.
The intro song,Beyond the Bounds,is easily the best song in the entire HD collection.
Playtime was 5 hours and 51 seconds according to the end result screen.


The protagonist,Dingo,was more cooler than Leo in the last game and the whole game felt a little more badass because of him.
Gameplay is pretty much the same,but it feels a little bit better here,more polished with more weapons.My favorite of the new weapons is the Zero Shift,not gotten until the last part of the game.Speaking of which,like it's predecessor,it's only 5 hours long,

Music,apart from the intro song,is nothing special.I liked what I heard but it's just not very memorable.

While I made an effort to understand the story,I really didn't care in the end.I'm just not a fan of typical mech war stories,they need to be more interesting like Code Geass or Evangelion for me to give a shit.

Graphics have a cel-shaded look and according to the gameplay videos I studied,the cel-shaded look was added for the HD release.One thing to note is that the awkward character models are gone,mechs are the only ones with 3D models,and whenever they show someone inside the cockpit,they are in anime form.
While in the cockpit,you can now view the characters talk like in a mecha anime via some portraits.
The 3D cutscenes just scream Hideo Kojima,if you played (or rather,seen) Metal Gear Solid,you WILL notice similarities on presentation.

Voice acting didn't annoy me this time,and while it's not ideal,it's better than the first game.

There's also a multiplayer,but it feels tacked on,the camera isn't what you want in a multiplayer game.
They force you to share 1 screen,no split screen for you!

You noticed a theme here,and it's that this game is better in everyway to the first,even the developers seem to notice that,as the HD anime intro has a minute and a half covering the 1st game and the other 4 minutes are about the 2nd Runner!

The 2nd Runner is much better than the first,in fact,I'd almost say picking up the HD collection for the 2nd Runner alone is worth it...if it wasn't so short.
Yeah,there's replay value and all that,but I want to move on to other games and I have to return this copy to my friend anyway,as he didn't finish it yet.

I guess for the obligatory score at the end,I guess an 8.5 out of 10 reflects my feelings towards it.
I'll be picking up my own copy of Zone of the Enders HD collection in the future,and with that,I'm out.