Zool 2 by Imagitec Design
Story: Zool and his daring and lovely sidekick Zooz face the challenge that would wilt the knees of even the toughest ninja. The Nth demension is under attack from the evil forces of Krool. Our heroes must restore the Nth demension to equilibrium and exile mental block and his mind-numbing crownies before imagination is wiped out of existence. Zoon the two headed intergalactic k-9 will help, but you'll need skills from the Nth demension to save imagination!
Overview: This game has nice level design.....almost as big as Bubsy's. No switch flipping is required on this one though, which I would have like to have seen. Your goal is to get 99% of the little goodies scattered throughout the levels. The ratio of how many actual goodies it takes to make 1% is varied on which one of the difficulty settings you'll choose from. You're always hoppin' around through huge collections of goodies....which gives the game a free-for-all type setting. When you're collecting power-ups almost all of the time gives you a cool power-trip. There are also lotsa cool power-up stuffs which make the game a riot to play....not too many dull moments to be found here. There are a nice variety of enemies as well. Some are harder than others, but you'll be tested no doubt. The bosses are done extremely well. The bosses have a nice rendered look, great animation, lotsa colors, and are big on-screen. I always love a big ol' boss to kill. The game has some cool stuff for ya to do. You'll find yourself set for a curvy, bumpy ride when ya get onto the back of the snake taxi. Shoot the snowflakes in Mount Ices to reveal stepping ice cubes....watch out, they melt quick. There are alot of cool ideas to be found here....making the game very cool and fun to play by yourself or with a pal. The game has been said to be TOO hard. After I've spent a very large amount of time playing the game, I say that's untrue. The game's hard, but I don't feel that you can judge the game on your skills to play it....like the magazines did. The game is lightning fast, causing you to stay tuned for the next enemy in line. I find myself doing my super spin and using the directional pad to jump around almost non-stop. I love a game with some good challenge....more of a cool feeling to beat a hard game than one that was a total push-over. Graphically, there are two sides to this story...foreground and background. The foregrounds are colorful and look to have been spit-shined. Everything achieves a shiny look....the animation is very good too. I'd say the animation is better than that on Bubsy, and I won't compare these two to Rayman! Zool and Zooz look to be rendered or just animated with style. Everything's touched-up nicely in the foregrounds. The backdrops are way less detailed, and looked to have been "thrown in" or something. There isn't much variety in the colors here, and there just isn't any detail in the backdrop as a whole....If they would've spent a teeny weeny more time on the backdrops, the graphics would be a total success. It would've created an awesome overall look, but we only get half unfortunately. Sound effects are great....You'll hear lots of great boinks, bonks, and crashes. It's like watching a Three Stooges movie....lots of effects. They didn't miss any either...there is an effect for everything basically, and that's what you need to make sure of when ya put the sound effects in. Music....Man I'm a sucker for Imagitec's tunes. They've put together some upbeat tunes that go great with this game. It kinda sets a mood. The music sets this apart from a kiddie game, I think. Great bass, and low repetition. In my mind, Imagitec will always be remembered to have gotten two things right: Music and fun-factor. Each one of their games may have nose-dived here and there, but those things are always there, and they're two of the most important. Control is absolutely tweaked. No loose ends or glitchy controls....like Bubsy sometimes. Everything's great. You'll get used to being able to jump with the upper half of the joypad...I think it's a nice addition although it may take some getting used to. On the downside, there is some apparent slowdown. Nothing heinous, but it's there, and you will see it. The screen becomes jam-packed with enemies and goodies, and you'll experience short slowdowns here and there. It's very minor slowdown though.....not like the game just throws on the brakes....it just drops in speed....a little. No biggie there. Everything is here to make a killer game.
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