OZ / Over Zenith
8/10
Playstation 2


Konami' s new logo is so unmemorable.

I had never heard of this game until a little over a week ago. It is made by Konami and has good music. That' s right, a good Konami game! That' s pretty rare these days, it seems. And it' s a great game that is actually fun to play!


You go up for the slam as Almira goes back to hit the enemy
again, juggling and increasing your deathblow meter. Can you
increase it all the way to " Over Zenith" ?

Story: 5/10
The game definitely has a story because when the characters meet they talk endlessly in boring, PS2-generated cut scenes. Since I am playing the Japanese version, I have no God damn idea what the story is. I don' t know why everyone can' t just speak English. The UN should enforce this when they establish their one-world government. From what I gather you must defeat some kind of enemy who goes against the common good. You pick up two companions whom you must defeat first. Yay! Even though I can' t understand too much here, the story is still more entertaining than Hollywood crap like Sideways and that Hillary Skank boxing movie.


Almira is hot, and quite obviously a pirate as well!

Graphics: 7/10
Some of the graphics are designed with sort of a " Zone of Enders" look, especially when you see the characters in their armor. The graphics are pretty nice, but they aren' t anything tremendously exceptional in the ocean of games for the Playstation 2. The Genesis could put 80 sprites on the screen, the Neo Geo could put even more than that. What does that have to do with this game? I have no idea, but there can be so much going on onscreen that you can get confused about where your character even is. I haven' t noticed any slowdown and certainly no flicker. Everything runs at a constant 30fps, except when you fall and the GAME OVER text appears, then suddenly it is 60fps, just for those 3 or 4 seconds. Since this is Konami, 480p and widescreen are NOT supported (like Nintendo, Konami either hates that kind of stuff and the gamers who appreciate it, or are completely ignorant that such features even exist). Most of the enemies are your size or about twice your size, with a few being much bigger. Many of the stylish anime cutscenes are compressed so much that artifacts are clearly visable as the screen turns into a mess of pixels. I' m not sure why they compressed it so much, as the game is only 3.41GB. Regardless (or " irregardless" for all you peeps who dislike proper English), the anime cutscenes look cool and are really neat-o to watch.


Unleasing your deathblow causes " hella" damage!

Sound: 9/10
There is quite a lot of voice, and the characters like to gab and gab ad nauseum, as if the player is supposed to care or something. The sound effects are average and aren' t anything to write about beyond this very sentence that you are currently reading now. The music is, for the most part, outstanding. Composed by Michiru Yamane of Rocket Knight Adventures fame (and some odd game called Symphony of the Night) along with the help of two other asswipe musicians, the music really brings you in to the game with amazing tracks, and even some (Japanese) vocals sung to the tune of Alexander Borodin' s " Polovtsian Dances" . I hope they don' t translate the singing into English. This music is much better than Lament o' Innocence was, and I found myself running around the levels wasting time just to listen to the music. It is rare that a game has good music. Usually it is licensed nonsense like Grand Theft Auto or some crap that nobody wants to hear. I highly recommend purchasing the soundtrack which will be released on July 20, 2005 (3 days before my b-day). Here' s a track from the game, but don' t download this if you' d rather hear the music unfold as you play the game! I hope the next Castlevania game will have music this good, but I doubt it. They seem to find more and more ways to wreck Castlevania these days. The programmers must hate people who buy videogames. Ah well, I must keep hope alive! Free Nelson Mandela!


In this cutscene, your dude looks in the mirror, realizes that he is
a " metrosexual" and therefore super gay. Just look at that eyeliner!

Gameplay: 8/10
I am actually surprised that I enjoy this game. Maybe it is because I am playing the Japanese version before anyone and that makes me feel elite and better than everyone else. Actually I am just kidding... I feel like that all the time! But in this game you control a dude and have limited control over some chick and some other dude who fight with you after they join your religious cult. You can tell your comrades to attack certain enemies while you attack others. Special attacks can be gained when you " juggle" enemies, that is bounce them back and forth between yourselves. The more you do this, the higher your " deathblow" meter becomes. Using your deathblow you can unleash a single devastating attack, or combine with your friends for an all out melee. Your deathblow meter decreases quickly, so use the attack while you can. Some enemies and objects can only be defeated with a deathblow, so you' ll have to power yourself up again and again just to get past a certain room. This is also a combo game, which means that if you press the attack button a couple of times and stop, your characters goes through move after move before you are allowed to control him again. That kinda sucks. You try to turn your character away but nope, gotta swing the sword two more times for no reason! There are a few times when the camera is an issue as well. But overall the game is surprisingly enjoyable, and with 19 chapters it' ll keep you busy for almost a day. You can even unlock a sound gallery if you beat the game with 10 or more intelligence fragments!


Oh yeah, get ready to deal some metrosexual punishment
on the monsters and some blue/green stones!

Wrap up:
A very good game with no current US prospects. However I am betting that it will find its way over here soon. If it does, snap it up, and tell ' em Joe sent ya! Ignore the funny looks they give you when you tell them that, though.

By the way, here is a short Quicktime I made of OZ just so you can get a quick feel for it' s style of gameplay. 4.6 MB

Joe, that is one of the best reviews I' ve ever read - keep up the good work The game looks fun, so I' ll keep my eye open for a US release. Thanks.

I agree, I am intruiged. Good review, made me want to keep my eyes open for a North American release.

Well this is out right now here in Europe. It' s been retitled Sword of Etheria for some reason. It' s a Konami game so it should have an NTSC mode. Has anyone got it yet?

Hey all, I have both japanese and PAL versions of this game.

THe PAL release has 60hz selector on it which is great.

THe graphics i' d rate maybe a 6 as it goes. But the game plays nicely, I' ve been most of the way through it, and battling only gets more fun as you learn more moves and get better with combos.

I guess I was a fair way to the end when i got a new game and didn' t finish it... i have a habbit of doing that with games.

I give it a good thumbs up

what made you pick that?

Well I kinda like running around with swords and killing things, it' s quite satisfying... especially when stressed.. Sure it' s not on par with the likes on Onimusha 4 (currently playing, and very good) it does what it does well.

Seems to have slight ties with " wizard of oz" ... i was readin that somewhere and was curious... From what i' ve learned in it so far, the protagonists sister is called Dorothy, and she has a cat (yes a cat) called Toto, there are however no falling houses or witches of different compass point, and at least as far as i am, no Wizzard of Oz either.

What' s cool is when you " die" , so long as at least one of your team mates is alive, you can rapidly tap X to get life back, it gets harder for less health the more times you do it though to a certain point.

Nice one Gossi. I had a go on the Jap version but couldn' t get into it. The rename is a bit on the rubbish side, but to be expected.

Will keep an eye out for that version. Then once I understand wtf is going on I might be able to get on better with the Jap version too.

Stephen, i didn' t get on too well with the Japanese version either... i didn' t give it much attention despite seeing some pretty cool gameplay vids, but i got more into it on the PAL version