Presented in Retrovision: Enemy Zero
One of the systems I tend to neglect the most is my Sega Saturn. I love that little black box, and since I have it modified to play Japanese games, the system is quite the little rainy day novelty. Tragically, it was commercially overlooked, for many developers didn't like creating software for it leaving many of the best Saturn titles were overlooked and even fewer made it to the United States. I don't talk about this system nearly enough, so this week, I present to you Warp's Enemy Zero.
Enemy Zero is the brainchild of Kenji Eno. Musician and rebel designer, Kenji Eno is best known for his work on D (an FMV adventure) and later D2 for the Dreamcast. Kenji had an odd design aesthetic, often breaking away from conventional game play and providing riveting soundtracks, of which Enemy Zero was no exception.
Enemy Zero began development for the Sony Playstation. Due to some undisclosed conflict, Eno made a maneuver which I've yet to see topped to date. Eno publicly snubbed Sony. During E3 fans were given game play footage in a full length trailer that closed with the Playstation logo, which slowly began to fade into their new target: The Sega Saturn logo.
Fans of Eno's previous title D will immediately recognize Enemy Zero's main protagonist, Laura Lewis. There is no direct correlation between the twin Lauras, other than name and appearance. Laura, now co-pilot of the research vessel AKI, is awakened from a cryogenic slumber prematurely by an explosion on the ship. Thanks to a malfunction in the awakening process, most of her memory has been erased, and she has no idea why her ship is now deserted except for the occasional pile of gore.
Before I continue, I would like to state that I've never made it very far into Enemy Zero. The game scares the ever living crap out of me. As far as survival horror games go, it is, to date, the only title has has ever made me feel certifiable dread while playing. The game play generally consists of traversing maze like corridors (of which you have no map) and solving simple point and click style puzzles in various rooms. This in and of itself would be fine, if it were not for the stalking horrors in the open areas.
At your disposal is a single fire energy weapon that must recharged between each shot and has a very limited battery. This alone would be more of a minor annoyance had it not been for one major inclusion: invisible monsters. No, I'm not talking about jaw-less super models, but vicious aliens that cannot be seen and can only be heard. Thanks to to he help of echo location, you can find your would be murderers by monitoring the pitch and cadence of a reoccurring ping from an ear-piece. You miss, and you have to wait while your gun recharges, which means you are likely have your face unceremoniously devoured.
Graphically, the game is pretty desolate. This is likely design choice, as much of the game's atmosphere is reminiscent of the Alien film series. Fumito Ueda functioned as chief animator, and is now better known for his work on Ico and Shadow of Colossus. Environments are often dull and gray, or ill-lit with occasional spots of gore and carnage. Strictly speaking, the sterile feel only improves the ambiance. Breaking the otherwise static environment is the inclusion of video segments. Usually, these were reaction shots from Laura spotting carnage. Amusingly, this occurred every time she would encounter the same body or body part, making the shock factor mildly comical with each passing.
The sound, unfortunately, is mostly unnoticed. When walking outside of safe rooms, most of your attention is affixed to the sound of the radar. Much of the staff involved in the sound production for the game was thus overlooked. The voice of Laura was played by Jill Cunniff, lead singer for Luscious Jackson. The actual amount of spoken dialog in the title is limited, so her participation went mostly unnoticed. The soundtrack itself was created by the award winning composer Michael Nyman, who's reputation alone should have made the score a hit.
Enemy Zero was ultimately critically panned, most likely because the innovative game play was not very inviting to the average player. The difficulty often feels synthetic, usually death is the result of an ambush or simply missing a single shot before being able to crawl to safety. I myself have a hard time playing it. It is not for a lack of love, however. This game is still one of the best adventure titles I've played on the Saturn. I'm always happy to crack out Disk 0 again and try to give it a go, only to stop 30 minutes later stressed out. If you can get past the trivial puzzles, Laura's water-balloon like constitution and abysmally gray atmosphere, this title is definitely a game worth playing.
Asterick
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 24 April 2008
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: d, d2, enemy zero, horror, kenji eno, saturn, sega, warp
Now Enemy Zero is a criminally overlooked title, takes me back to my Saturn days, it's dying throw produced it's 5 best games.. I literally mean 5 best games as well.
Enemy Zero, which I still play to this day, I have it on PC, it's the same graphically as the Saturn.
Burning Rangers
House of the Dead
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Deep Fear
If they found that form 2 years earlier the Saturn would have lasted, it's a shame the last 5 releases in the UK [to my knowledge] were also it's greatest.
I miss the Saturn.
I've got it, but haven't really played it yet. The whole setting, atmosphere and story (I played one short session before other games drew me away) were really compelling though. Really creepy.
I also have D and D2, but only played the first one.
I've got to say though that D was a really great game. It was a fun horror game in a style remeniscent of Mansion of the hidden souls (another really good game).
Frankly, the Saturn had a lot of really great games that were really deep in concept, gameplay and story. Why the system didn't do better and these games didn't get more acclaim is beyond me.
I thought Mansion of Hidden Souls was average at best... The puzzles were mostly walk from point A to point B, and it was rather short. Interesting concept though. Yay butterflies!
OH MY GOD. D2 is probably my favorite game of all time. What an insane trip.
god damnit. Now I really want to find a Dreamcast and a copy of D2 to play again.
True, Mansion's puzzles and what not weren't the best.
However just like D it has a great atmosphere and story. I also liked the ending quite a lot.
Mind you, it's been a long time since I played it.