Feature By

Dale Weir

When Sony first announced its PlayStation 2, one of its biggest trump cards was having Squaresoft, the company largely responsible for the success of the original PlayStation, squarely (no pun intended) in its corner. Reputable developers like Capcom, Enix, Koei and Konami had all expressed their interest in the powerful new console, but it was largely believed that the PlayStation 2 would be Squaresoft's show, so to speak. This line of thinking was further cemented when Squaresoft previewed Driving Emotion Type-S, its own take on Sony's Gran Turismo series, The Bouncer, a beautiful side-scrolling fighting game and held private movie screenings of future Final Fantasy sequels.

Industry-wide perception changed almost overnight when Konami unveiled Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, sequel to Metal Gear Solid. It's visual splendor and trademark gameplay won over anyone who saw the early movies and it was instantly proclaimed the PlayStation 2's true killer app. Konami stole the show again when it announced four new PlayStation 2 games would hit store shelves in 2001. And what's more, they covered all the niche genres that the PlayStation 2 was lacking. Ring Of Red, a strategy-simulation that ironically along the lines of Squaresoft's own Front Mission; Shadow Of Destiny is a unique twist on the ever-popular survival-horror genre; Silent Hill 2, sequel to the underrated survival-horror hit on the PlayStation, and last but not least, Konami's innovative mech fighting game, Zone Of The Enders.

Fast forward to March of 2001, Square EA's The Bouncer and Driving Emotion Type-S have been released to a decidedly cold reception from the gaming media and public alike (Final Fantasy X won't touch U.S. shores for at least another year). Eyes are once again on Konami as its new titles, Ring Of Red, Shadow Of Destiny and Zone Of The Enders, are set for release this month. Zone Of The Enders' beautiful graphics and kinetic gameplay make it the most sought after of the bunch. Its development was directed by Noriaki Okamura with Hideo Kojima taking a hands-off role as producer. It's no surprise that the plot of Zone Of The Enders revolves around heavy moral messages—with a special emphasis on life and death. It also features some of the best real-time graphics we’ve seen on the PlayStation 2 this side of Sony's early tech demos. It doesn't hurt that Konami has decided to ship a playable demo of Metal Gear Solid 2 with the game.

More details about the story, characters and gameplay will be presented in multiple screenshots with accompanying captions in the following pages.