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ozzie · 04-21-2008, 10:08 AM

There are two games which I've recently given up on:

Zero Zone - This is (probably) a rare science fiction adventure from Cryo. I needed some time to find it in an english version on eBay.
I'm not sure if it was worth hunting down. For one, I just had to know how this game is since I found no review online.
On the other hand, it's totally crap.
Still, I wanted to play through it, with a walkthrough. Some "puzzles" seemed so insulting to me, the player, that I didn't have the patience to trial-and-error my way through it.

For example, there's one area which you can't access because you need a radiation suit. It can't be found anywhere, though. I should mention that when the game starts you are the owner of a corporation who creates and builds cyber technology. A cyber is mostly an android in standard science fiction or a replicant in Blade Runner.
So, there's a secretary of some kind (her role isn't too clear, but the characters are superficial and are only there to push you further in the plot) and I tried to give her a coffee from an automate.
I should also mention that the interaction with the automate was very buggy. Sometimes the interaction with it looped endlessly, you couldn't stop it. Even reloading a former savegame didn't help. I restarted. Gladly, I was just minutes in the game.

So, I tried to give her the coffee, but she said it was "too early in the morning" for one. Okay, I was surprised that this interaction resulted in a feedback, and thought this was just something optional.
Well, not really. There was some other guy standing stiff like a statue in the room who wanted me to find some secret stuff of my father. Okay. If you have done that, you can give the secretary the coffee, and then she gets the idea that you could explore the company and gives you the radiation suit.
So far I didn't have the feeling that I owned the company...

So, I first have to solve an unrelated puzzle before I can give the coffee to the woman so she gives me something that I need though I had no idea before that she has it. And the relation between coffee and radiation suit isn't very clear either.

Okay, that was a bad puzzle. There are some slightly more clever ones later on, but this is mostly a very bland game. You click yourself from one generic, shiny metal room to the next and solve some puzzles to get items you have no use for yet. Oh, and if you have done that you get the possibility to meet the other, seemingly corrupt owner of the company. Huzzah for those unrelated progression triggers!!
The story stumbles along and is just an excuse so that the player drags himself through all the static screens and solves some stupid puzzles.
But there is an slightly interesting and, in my opinion, surprisingly well written story, but not inside the game. In some places you have access to the so-called GalaxyNet which should be the internet of the future. The concept looks more like an intranet though since you can read various personal stuff there, like look up the e-mails and photos of your father or the history of the company and info about its employees.
But the weird bit is that everytime you start it an all-new application starts! Zero Zone gets minimized and and GalaxyNet starts up. Which, of course, pulls you totally out of the game, if you were ever actually immersed before.
So, here you find information, character portraits and backstory.
But it's not an integral part, merely an optional component. There was only a hint for a puzzle in there which was important.
So, forget it.

To come to an end: Why did I give up? I came so far, endured the incredible dullness and fighted (well, more cheated) against dumb puzzles.
I wouldn't give up so easily then, would I? No, I wouldn't.
But a bug stopped me.
It's unbelievable that it made it into the final release since it pops up everytime I try this scene.
At one point you're in a kid's room. There's a stuffed snake on the bed. I try to take the head of it (which I have to do according to two walkthroughs). The graphic goes away, but I don't have it in my inventory then. It's just...gone! Which hinders me from playing further. Thanks a lot!

Ironically, I bought this game under the CryoCollection label and the game version was 1.8.....
I ask myself how buggy the initial version was....
If anyone can help me with this problem, please do!!

The other game, Lionheart, simply bored me.
The game lacks depth, is full of fetch quests and features glorious repetitive combat! Yippey!

04-21-2008, 10:08 AM	#60
ozzie Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 726	There are two games which I've recently given up on: Zero Zone - This is (probably) a rare science fiction adventure from Cryo. I needed some time to find it in an english version on eBay. I'm not sure if it was worth hunting down. For one, I just had to know how this game is since I found no review online. On the other hand, it's totally crap. Still, I wanted to play through it, with a walkthrough. Some "puzzles" seemed so insulting to me, the player, that I didn't have the patience to trial-and-error my way through it. For example, there's one area which you can't access because you need a radiation suit. It can't be found anywhere, though. I should mention that when the game starts you are the owner of a corporation who creates and builds cyber technology. A cyber is mostly an android in standard science fiction or a replicant in Blade Runner. So, there's a secretary of some kind (her role isn't too clear, but the characters are superficial and are only there to push you further in the plot) and I tried to give her a coffee from an automate. I should also mention that the interaction with the automate was very buggy. Sometimes the interaction with it looped endlessly, you couldn't stop it. Even reloading a former savegame didn't help. I restarted. Gladly, I was just minutes in the game. So, I tried to give her the coffee, but she said it was "too early in the morning" for one. Okay, I was surprised that this interaction resulted in a feedback, and thought this was just something optional. Well, not really. There was some other guy standing stiff like a statue in the room who wanted me to find some secret stuff of my father. Okay. If you have done that, you can give the secretary the coffee, and then she gets the idea that you could explore the company and gives you the radiation suit. So far I didn't have the feeling that I owned the company... So, I first have to solve an unrelated puzzle before I can give the coffee to the woman so she gives me something that I need though I had no idea before that she has it. And the relation between coffee and radiation suit isn't very clear either. Okay, that was a bad puzzle. There are some slightly more clever ones later on, but this is mostly a very bland game. You click yourself from one generic, shiny metal room to the next and solve some puzzles to get items you have no use for yet. Oh, and if you have done that you get the possibility to meet the other, seemingly corrupt owner of the company. Huzzah for those unrelated progression triggers!! The story stumbles along and is just an excuse so that the player drags himself through all the static screens and solves some stupid puzzles. But there is an slightly interesting and, in my opinion, surprisingly well written story, but not inside the game. In some places you have access to the so-called GalaxyNet which should be the internet of the future. The concept looks more like an intranet though since you can read various personal stuff there, like look up the e-mails and photos of your father or the history of the company and info about its employees. But the weird bit is that everytime you start it an all-new application starts! Zero Zone gets minimized and and GalaxyNet starts up. Which, of course, pulls you totally out of the game, if you were ever actually immersed before. So, here you find information, character portraits and backstory. But it's not an integral part, merely an optional component. There was only a hint for a puzzle in there which was important. So, forget it. To come to an end: Why did I give up? I came so far, endured the incredible dullness and fighted (well, more cheated) against dumb puzzles. I wouldn't give up so easily then, would I? No, I wouldn't. But a bug stopped me. It's unbelievable that it made it into the final release since it pops up everytime I try this scene. At one point you're in a kid's room. There's a stuffed snake on the bed. I try to take the head of it (which I have to do according to two walkthroughs). The graphic goes away, but I don't have it in my inventory then. It's just...gone! Which hinders me from playing further. Thanks a lot! Ironically, I bought this game under the CryoCollection label and the game version was 1.8..... I ask myself how buggy the initial version was.... If anyone can help me with this problem, please do!! The other game, Lionheart, simply bored me. The game lacks depth, is full of fetch quests and features glorious repetitive combat! Yippey! Last edited by ozzie; 04-21-2008 at 10:14 AM.