flying in circles
is the only way to fly-
no, seriously...
Additional Comments:
Hot off the tail of a couple quick games just days after contemplating the future of both Beat All Games and my will to put genuine effort into the project at large, I've downed yet another title. All my words are lies! (If it weren't for the fact it's taken nearly two months to post this.)
Truth be told, I have an ever increasing list of half finished games that I'm consistently losing interest in which has effectively snowballed into my lackluster finishing ratio and growing gaming malaise. Meanwhile, games that I've been itching to play sit idly by. There's reasons why I keep adhering to a list of games I have little to no interest in; why games I want to play do nothing more than collect dust. Main reason is knowing what the hell is going on. Both Shenmue and Fable are great examples: games that fell off my radar for a year or two and when I finally came back to either of them I had absolutely no idea what was going on anymore and in both instances had to restart from the very beginning. Certain games, knowing what I had to go through to get where I was, I'm not exactly keen on the idea. C'est la vie.
But then comes a time when it's time to move on. Play something fun, something exciting - hopefully - something that I've had my eye on for a while. There's a few games on my shelf that fall in that category and HyperZone happened to be one of them. I've only ever known about HyperZone by picture for years and years, but the screenshots I've seen captivated me with its F-Zero facsimile art direction and strange vertically mirrored backgrounds. However, I've never been completely certain of the game's direction. Because it copied F-Zero graphically, I expected it to be another arcade racer set in the far future, though I was aware of the game possessing some sort of shooting element. F-Zero with missiles! Seems a natural evolution of the genre given the setting. Alas, that's not exactly what HyperZone turned out to be.
HyperZone is an odd take on the forward shooter. I've seen numerous comparison across the web to Star Fox, but I find that while the viewpoint is similar, it's nothing like Star Fox. For one, Star Fox has a far greater sense of freedom even if you're still within a controlled environment. A better comparison, based on titles I've played at least, would be Star Strike for the Intellivision. The claustrophobia of being contained with a tight space is far more recognizable and constricting on the craft. There's a sense that you're not only battling an army of geometric peculiarities but also the boundaries of the stage itself. The F-Zero track boundaries, however, are merely a gentle reminder that you're about to drift off into oblivion - or at least ship-damaging conditions - as opposed to the force field like border from whence they originate. Despite feeling constricted, this at least allows leeway; risking damage for a little extra room if the situation is dire enough. It also allows the ship to "jump" from one track to another when the main route begins to splinter into smaller fragments. But in some ways, I prefer F-Zero's approach even if it would only further the feeling of general constraint. As is, I find it counter-intuitive to use a track system to begin with. Let us use the freedom of space at the risk of removing the one key element that sets this game apart from most shooters or let the track define exactly where the ship can be piloted. Of course, being able to move on a Z axis further complicates the mess.
Whatever the best approach may or may not be, as is, I find it has far more influence on the gameplay than it probably should. Maybe that's the point, but in Star Fox, for example as it's often cited as the closest comparison, I never had any fear of approaching the edge of the playable area or generally making use of the entire field. Even in Star Strike I have no fear of where I can and can't place my ship thus allowing the enemies and their weapons dictating where I should point the controls. Then again, it doesn't even matter since the entirety of HyperZone can be played by constantly circling your ship around the playing field. I don't know if I find this embarrassing on Hal's behalf or outright depressing. As a whole, this detracts from the gameplay more than anything.
It seems everything is equipped with an aiming routine which really kills the gameplay. Because of this, you just need to make sure the ship is constantly moving. Nothing ever takes on the role of an obstacle. Sure there's Board Bs and Board Rs floating around in rigid formation pretending to be an impenetrable wall, but they're easily defeated. That's not to say that all the enemies are merely static drones. There's plenty of movement on all three axes by a variety of enemies, only pretty much everything can be casually avoided as long as you stick to your endless revolutions as you barrel down the course.
The bosses proved far more tedious than difficult. In fact, I'd hesitate to call them difficult at all. Akin to a Mario game, the stages themselves proved to be much harder than each of their respective guardians. I'm of the belief where if a stage or level can stand on it's own merit, a boss may not be necessary, especially if the boss adds nothing and/or feels like a step backwards after all the hardships leading up to it. There seems to be a school of thought that bosses must exist because...well, bosses. At the same time, that doesn't mean bosses have to be these horribly difficult monstrosities that need to outplay it's stage. They just don't need to be banal chores that can possibly outplay the stage in regards to time. Some of these bosses did exactly that. Now maybe I just used glaringly incorrect strats on some of them, and that's highly possible, but on a blind playthrough, I don't think my strats were any more obscene than anyone one else's who would attempt the same. Even on my New Game+ run (which was a ridiculous waste of time), I still found a number of the bosses boring to tackle. And to make matters worse, the final stage is the unequivocal boss gauntlet. Sigh. Outside of the Mega Man series, I have yet to experience a boss gauntlet that actually adds something to a game.
The worst offense in HyperZone though was the aforementioned final stage, and not because it was a boss gauntlet, but because the entire stage is a black track on a black background. That's fucking genius. Now, after watching some footage of the game on YouTube since I played this myself, I'll admit that perhaps my brightness settings were a bit on the dark side on my TV. It's still pretty rough in the video, but I can at least see the track. When I played the game, I was completely in the dark - flying blind, if you will. I never thought to adjust the brightness because it just seemed appropriate given the variety of other shortcomings the game suffers from, not to mention, it isn't that far of a cry from any other number of dick moves made by various other 8bit/16bit developers. A gauntlet of bosses with zero inkling of where the track breaks off into a nebulous oblivion? Sure, why not?
But it's not all bad. It's just unfortunate that all those "not bad" parts have very little to do with actual gameplay, i.e. graphics and music. I love the backgrounds in this game: bright, flashy, neo-futurist canvases of wonder. Add in the mirrored effect and it really does carry the sense of wonder and wild imagination. The backgrounds give a sense of locales never before explored in other games, even if Blast Furnace is remarkably similar to Fire Field. Material Factory, on the other hand, is final frontier territory. What the hell is this? Lest I fell into an acid nightmare on the dance floor of Studio 54.
The highlight of HyperZone is by far and away, the music. From the chilling Hal opening to the epic sounding stage themes, HyperZone may easily have one of the top regarded soundtracks on the SNES. Certainly not the best, but a fantastic, at times funky, and rather unknown breakaway from the typical highly praised fare that charts most listeners' lists. Few standouts include Old Capital, Ripple Field, and Credits.
Sadly, HyperZone is not a game I'd recommend. It's unfortunate as I was really looking forward to it for so many years. Maybe if I had originally played it as a kid all those years ago when I first saw a few snapshots of its strange and futuristic worlds, seemingly presented as an F-Zero clone, I might have enjoyed it. Maybe it was the mystique that the imagery built up in my head. As I said, who wouldn't want more F-Zero style racing? Was I lied to? Not necessarily, but I did feel slightly cheated. HyperZone is a game I really wanted to enjoy, even despite the few bad reviews I read going into the game. Typically, my opinion differs wildly from the norm so I shrugged off what I read as blithering nonsense. For once, maybe I should have listened.
Nano-Rant:
Something I will never understand is the idea of New Game+. People seem to love the idea. I was first introduced to the idea though Chrono Trigger years and years ago, if memory serves. Didn't care for the idea then and still don't now. I find it self defeating - the sense of playing as an overpowered egomaniac. B games, on the other hand, seem appropriate such as those found in Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda - essentially a second quest that is much harder. Maybe I've just always read too much between the lines when it comes to New Game+.
Point in case, New Game+ for HyperZone is utterly pointless. Honestly, I feel stupid even calling it as such. You're just replaying the game with the final ship. Eh, I guess it fits the definition, but still, feels like a complete waste of time in my book. Oh well.
Rating: 2 lazily named enemies out of 5*
*Or are they just lazily drawn?
