Final Zone II by NEC - Cover Review

Before I spend too much time complaining about the terrible box art on display here, I think it's important to trot out a tried and true clich? that never gets old. If you're going to use the word "Final" in your game's name, it's important that it actually is the final game. Just knowing that there was a zone before this game that turned out to not be final one leads me to conclude that I shouldn't even bother with earlier game. It also makes me wonder if this zone is going to be final. There's just something unsettling about sequels that use the words "Final" and "Last". Maybe it's just me, but it makes me feel like they are somehow being disingenuous. Maybe that's something I should learn to get over.

What we have here is a cover that is laughably bad. Either the people that owned the TurboGrafz-16 weren't very picky or there was no money left over to turn this first draft into something really cool and eye catching. Either way, this box art drives about five miles past being truly horrible. Let's start with the stupid armor found in this game. When it came to selecting their silly costumes it's clear that each person went for their own individual style ... well, almost all of them. For some odd reason two of the people came to this dance with the same dress on. How embarrassing is that? To make matters even worse, this armor looks bad no matter how you wear it. Three of the fighters have the helmet up so that their head isn't protected. While that's not very wise, I have to say that the armor looks even worse when the helmet is down. And then there's the guy who isn't wearing a helmet at all, but he came with the same suit as the chick, so we already know he has no fashion sense. While we're nitpicking, why is it that most of the people have really big weapons (bazooka, double guns on the arm, etc.), yet the moron in blue came into the battle with a tiny speed gun - the type of weapon a traffic cop might use? And what is it these idiots are fighting? Looks to me like it's some sort of purple smoke coming from below them. This sounds like a perfect time for these guys to put on their masks and get the job done. Otherwise this really will be the final zone ... for them!