Final Zone Game Sample - Genesis/MD
0Final Zone (known as "FZ Senki Axis" in Japan) is an isometric mecha shooter developed by Wolf Team and published by Telenet Japan (Japan) and Renovation Products (U.S) in 1990 for the Genesis/MD and Sharp X68000. It is not to be confused with "Final Zone Wolf", a prior shooter in the series released for the MSX in 1986.
In the game, players assume the role of Howard Bowie (originally called "Haruard Bowie", the last survivor of Team Wolf), the hero soldier of the El Sharia Military Nation's foreign legion and commander of the unit known as "Team Undead". Taking place sometime in the future where weapons of mass destruction are banned from the battlefield, your mission is to infiltrate hostile enemy territory "Point a-46K Bloody Axis" to destroy what is believed to be the sole remaining weapon of mass destruction, before the enemy decides to use it. To do so, Bowie is equipped with a versatile "NAP(S)" or "New Age Power Suit", a small but powerful mecha that will allow him to infiltrate enemy HQ and act as an efficient one-man army.
The game's premise is simple to learn but difficult to master (especially on Hard difficulty). Players must run around "looping" terrain in search of all the enemies to destroy and start with a certain amount of energy and various default weapons that can be used in two different ways: Main and Optional. Weapons set to "Main" can be used infinitely while weapons set as "Optional" have a limited amount of energy. While it's up to you to decide which is set to which, their functions change depending on how you set your weapons and this, in turn, gives players access to a large arsenal of weaponry that was basically unheard of in shooters of the time (about twenty or so different shot variations). If the player is damaged too much, they lose access to many of their weapons and once the player is in critical condition, the music changes into something ominous to raise the tension. After each main level, the player must face a stage boss.
The game has pretty good graphics and sound for its time; locales have subtle differences in design and enemies are large and distinguishable. The music is also pretty good, though the sound effects are a bit jarring. Compared with the X68000 game, this is a relatively close port. The only real issues with the game are found in the controls and navigation. Input reaction and movement is a little sluggish for my taste, and the game doesn't have a map, which isn't too important but sometimes it seems like you can find enemy groups in seconds and other times it can take a few minutes. The game is pretty challenging -- even on Easy (default difficulty), the game can take a few tries to beat, and on Hard, things are a lot worse since you default with considerably less health. The game is stingy on health-restoring pick-ups and health is not restored between stages, so enemy evasion, using the terrain to your advantage, and proper weapon set-up for various situations is a must and requires a keen understanding of the levels. In any event, Final Zone is a pretty good shooter, and very different from the TG-16 cult "classic", Final Zone II.
This is a video of the first level and boss. I'm trying to get these videos to be on the shorter side if I can help it. Enjoy.
Note: The video was supposed to go to the end of the first boss, but seems to cut off abruptly for some reason. It's no big deal, but the video has accumulated too much interest at this point for me to try and correct it right now.