I have been continuing to dedicate myself to some shooters and this weekend was dedicated to the four *.zeal games. Thought I'd compare the four of them and how they've evolved from the one that came before. I didn't have these pegged out as lacklustre games but the fact that Trizeal in particular, for a long time was one of those games that came out quite a bit after the Dreamcast had died had a bit of whiff of lacklustre - unjustly as it turned out!
It was also not easy to set the right chronological order as these games were apparently released with different names and, I have to imagine, different versions through the years. This one is the one that makes sense to me, although an earlier version of Deltazeal might have come out before than the game that became XIIZEAL. For the record I've played the Steam versions.
XIIZEAL (2002;2015): This one's a retro treat, with all that means in terms of presentation. In a way, it's a love letter to an older generation. Menus and all, it looks planted right from the Dreamcast, although plenty of screen customization options are available. While difficulty is an option, number of credits isn't. It's a full sprite presentation, which look absolutely gorgeous, on par with the best. The animations are impressive. Themain gameplay gimmick is the sideshot, which looks fantastic. Bombs, as well, are not traditional. Instead of clearing the screen they create a radius of invincibility that also clears bullets, which is helpful but not as much as bullets.
Perhaps due to being a retro hommage things are less danmaku in terms of thickness of bullets but the bullet speed is the thing that kills the most. That and, of course, enemies that come from the sides or behind (hence the point of having a sideshot). As always, learning bullet patterns is crucial to progress. Particularly impressive, especially for a sprite-based game, is that enemies have multiple individual hitboxes, especially apparent in bosses. They also don't have lifebars so the only indication of being close to victory is the fact that they get degraded or incandescent red.
As there are no infinite credits, you can train individual stages on score attack mode, to get the necessary skills to beat them later in the story mode. The world setting is not as exciting as Trizeal but the enemies are, perhaps, moreso due to being so well animated. In all, a fantastic tribute to an older era that exhudes its designers programming quality - a must in this sort of games.
DELTAZEAL (2002; 2015): Presentation-wise it's exacly the same as the others. We're back with sprites but everything is now "turned up to eleven". In a way, the evolution from the first game reminds me a bit of Metal Slug. The action is more intense and even on the easiest difficulties it's hard not to be slamming into opponents or bullets when they're coming left, right and centre. It's not really thick carpets of bullets or enemies, but the sheer speed of it all. The fact that, again, everything is so well animated (again mirroring Metal Slug) eventully adds to the challenge because there are so many things moving at the same time.
The gameplay is changed as well. The sideshot is gone and three types of weapons (wide, missile and laser) are introduced. However, instead of just choosing between the three you're actually always wielding a mix of the three. So if you've picked up 2 wide powerups, 5 laser powerups and 3 missile powerups your weapon will mostly push out a midpowerful laser with a bit of auxilliary wideshot and missiles. In theory, this is a great idea and it's certainly an intelligent change of pace. In practice, however, due to the hectic pace unless you're ridiculously skilled you'll probably always have a hodgepodge of powerups and not much strategy to it. It would definitely fit a more ponderous type of game and not something that is all-out action.
The spectacle definitely contributes to its difficulty. Bullets (yours and the enemies') are multicoloured, there are coloured bonus points pickups flying around, as well as the power up pickups. When you shoot down an enemy it normally elicits an explosion animation which makes it look like more projectiles coming around. And enemies also have a tendency to appear on the lower part of the screen and shoot point blank at your direction. Also the camera sometimes moves or stops on its own for a cinematic set piece. In motion it's all beautiful with some of the slickest 2D graphics and animations. But death gets pretty cheap in this confusion and sometimes it's even hard to see what hit you. As it's so hectic, it isn't also a case of just learning the level because you'll be needing to maneuver quite fast and most enemies target you directly. In the end, this one might just be a case of too much of a good thing. It hones everything about the first game but makes it a monster only the most dedicated will conquer. To the point that it might be only recommended for hardcore players. For everyone else, it's probably too fast and too intense, but an insane ride and spectacle all the same.
TRIZEAL Remix (2005; 2016): Sharing the same menu presentation and options of the previous, the game is, however, somewhat different. Now it's a full polygon-based presentation. While it loses some of its timeless appeal, it is ridiculously cinematic and looks among the best Naomi-board style games. Fair play as well to bullet design. Every shooting game player knows how annoying it is when you can't tell the bullets from the background or other enemies, leading to unnecessary deaths. Well, here bullets are all incandescent white, making it easy to see.
Gameplay design is tight but not especially innovative. You only have one ship, pick up powerups and points and can change from wideshot to narrower shots in three tiers, at will. This one's a bit of halfway between traditional shooters and bullet hell. You have your patterns but, especially in later parts of each stage, things can get quite messy on screen. A lot of detail has gone into how the game looks and everything is quite exciting, like the best polygonal shooters.
Even in the easiest modes it's quite difficult, mirroring its origins as a bonafide arcade game. Chiefly explaining that is the relatively unforgiving hitbox, plus the fact that bullets, while quite visible, are also quite large. Hitting an enemy will also destroy your ship. As credits are limited, one mistake can prove costly. The stage designs here are brilliant. The 3rd stage where you undertake an assault on a huge spaceship is particularly thrilling. The exciting designs entice the player to push himself further, to see the stages yet unseen and finish the game. Scoring comes later.
In all, a brilliant game, certainly one of the highlights of its generation, when decent shooters started becoming scarcer. Not as innovative or beautiful as Ikaruga (but then again, which other games are?) but just something quite solid, clean and thrilling, certainly in the league other polygonal favourites like RayForce and G-Darius.
EXZEAL (2016): This one continues the legacy of Trizeal but yet again tries something a bit different.The main difference now is the weapon system which is quite complicated, offering you four vastly different types, including side and back shots or charge shots. However, these are not equipable during gameplay but only in the beggining or at the end of every credit. Despite being the more recent game, its graphics look somewhat muted compared to Trizeal, perhaps reflecting its more opressive setting. Things are also quite a bit less cinematic and more straightforward, presentation-wise.
What is not straightforward, however, is the gameplay. The gimmick this time around is mostly about destructable parts and even physics-based gameplay. Of the first, now a few enemies and not just bosses are composed of various parts and some also have specific "bulbous red" hitpoints which are their only vulnerable part. More often than not they're protected. How to get at them? Why by shooting at them at an angle, gradually giving them rotation and thereby tilting them around to destroy them. Brilliant stuff! In a way, quite the G-Darius evolution in terms of handling polygons on a shmup although some of Ikaruga is also here, especially with the more static-based situations, like boxes and labyrinths. The physics-based gameplay keeps this game fresh and original.
In a way, this one is the less spectacular one but, where it matters, the most advanced. A real player's game. Quite interesting as well to see how they handled evolution. From XIIZEAL to DELTAZEAL as a XIIZEAL on steroids, to reworking everything on Trizeal, and then delivering a really progressive sequel. Difficulty-wise its on par with Trizeal although the challenge is really in mastering four quite different weapon systems and almost counting on losing a credit to change system halfway through, as some are better than others for specific levels.
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