I miss Renovation games. I realize their output on the Genesis was hit or miss but I’ll be damned if most of it wasn’t interesting. The Valis series was a guilty pleasure. Some were good, some were bad but I liked them. But for every good game there was a bad one. Earnest Evans was terrible and the less said about Traysia the better. Final Zone sits somewhere in the middle. It is an otherwise enjoyable top down shooter let down by an annoying viewpoint and controls. Whether you will like it or not is dependent on your ability to tolerate frustration.
Despite the name this is not a port of the first game in the series but an original title. In fact it released after Final Zone II on the Turbo CD. Unlike that game Final Zone is an isometric shooter rather than a traditional top down affair. Each level tasks you with destroying a number of set targets before proceeding to the end level boss. These targets are varied and all stages take place within a specific environment.
Each level in Final Zone is an open arena that allows you to explore and track down targets. While they may seem massive each map is actually pretty small. They are only about four or five screens wide in all directions and wrap around. Despite that somehow your targets still find a way to stay hidden. The enemies and your targets specifically, differ in their behavior. Some are aggressive and will actively seek you out. Others will avoid you and even duck behind buildings to avoid being hit. The smaller insect bots will swarm in groups to overwhelm you. In spite of this each level is generally short, no matter the number of targets given. This leads to the boss battles.
Boss battles in Final Zone take place in walled off arenas, limiting your movement. Each boss battle is pretty unique and incredibly fun. The first encounter is a thrilling high speed chase against a multi-part train that needs to be dismantled one piece at a time. This is followed by a battle against three NAP suits that are more agile and better equipped by your own. Not every battle is a winner; stage three is another group of NAP suits and stage six‘s control tower is more frustrating than exhilarating. But the good outweighs the bad.
During its best moments Final Zone is fun. But to see those you will have to work around the game’s flaws. The biggest is the viewpoint, which is twofold. The isometric perspective makes targeting and simply walking around a hassle. The Genesis D-pad is murder on your thumb as you try to move diagonally. It works in games like Landstalker that don’t require twitch reflexes. Here it results in plenty of cheap hits you can’t afford. The other issue is the camera, which is zoomed in too close in my opinion. The large sprites and zoomed in view make the game feel claustrophobic. Ironically during some boss battles it is zoomed out. Had they used that perspective Final Zone would be more playable.
Between the viewpoint and control issues Final Zone is tougher than it should be. Part of that is by design. You have a single life and limited continues depending on difficulty. The game stacks the odds heavily against you. In between primary targets are an infinite number of drones that swarm and fire heat seeking attacks. You can easily outrun them but they never stop coming. Outside of your weapons (which I’ll get to) there are no power-ups outside of health. And what they give you is a pittance. Every so often a drone will follow you. Destroying it drops an item that refills one bar of health. One! The game doesn’t even refill your life bar after each level! It’s unfair and even though the game is of medium length it will take some time to see its end. It is not satisfying for the effort involved either.
Another factor that adds to the difficulty is the disappointing weapon system. On paper it is extremely cool. The NAP has an extensive weapon system, with close to twenty in total. You can equip one on your hand and one in your backpack as a secondary, with their functionality changing. As the primary your attacks are straightforward while secondary fire is usually an AOE and has limited ammo. Unfortunately most of the weapons are slight variations of each other and nearly indistinguishable. Even worse, as you take damage weapons become unavailable. It’s actually possible to lose everything, at which point you can’t attack and must die. I don’t know why it was included but this is one of the worst design decisions I’ve come across in a while and nearly ruins the game.
In Closing
Final Zone falls in the same category as many early Genesis titles; interesting ideas but lacking execution. It is almost solid but has too many flaws. I won’t say it is worthless but it has too many problems to recommend when there are so many better options available.
