Zero 5

Zero 5 was one of the last Telegames releases for the Jaguar, right before Worms. Among those games which have been released by Telegames, Zero 5 would have to be one of the best out of the bunch, and definently ranks among the Top 10 Jag games. On with the review...

Zero 5 is a wild space-shooter, placing you in control of a small and incredibly manuverable fighter craft, or a powerful warship, depending upon the level you play. In level 1 you take control of the BAMBAM fighter craft(as it is known) which you can point in basically any direction on the screen, although it pretty much stays in the same place(looks like it moves because of the starfields). At first you will probably be overwhelmed due to the slick controland the difficulty. Enemies attack reptitively in varied patterns, which are usually fixed patterns that variate a little bit with a group, then a new group of ships comes in with a new pattern. The action is untamingly fast! The pace is kept fast throughout the entire game. I do not recommend Zero 5 for the light-hearted gamer, as the difficulty will in all veracity cause such a person to put the game down after a few minutes of being slapped around.If you feel that you have fortitude to take on such a diffiecult game, you had better be ready for the long haul, and you had better like shooting.

The graphics are 3D, and are colored in 256-colors, which allows for a quite nice poly-count on-screen. The rendering is what lacks for it in some areas. There are some nice T-maps, some of which are animated. There are also some cool real-time sequences which show you launching from your ship or whatever, which are some clever additions to the game. Zero 5 runs at 60 FPS for a majority of gameplay, especially in the trench levels, which I will elucidate on below.

There are three basic types of modes you play in. Some levels usually include two of these modes. They are:

BAMBAM Mode - Consists of piloting around in the fighter, shooting every object that moves, all in 360° freedom. Includes power-ups for weapons, shields, and score.

HIT-PAK Mode - Somewhat like a variation on the Missle Command 3D VR mode. You are in a turret with four guns to blast everything that comes your way. Has a cool asteroids like part to it in a couple of levels. No powerups which makes for more difficulty, especially when the level do not relent in sending ship after ship to thrash your ship from every direction you can look in.

Trench mode - In the BAMBAM fighter, you run a long a trench(like in Star Wars) and blow the crap out of everything that comes in your way. Most people quit after(well, during) the first trench level because it's so intense and requires a gamers elite skill as well as good concentration. It is a mode that takes practice! Once one becomes adept to the trench style, it may easily become your favorite mode to play. Also includes power-ups.

I absolutely LOVE this game. It gives you the feeling you get when playing T2k on the later levels, it's such a rush. But it does have it's frustrating side. It does get very hard, even on 'novice' difficulty. I have the greatest trouble on level 10. I wonder what the programmers were thinking when they made this level. Many people quit on level 3(even the guys at GameFan did when trying the game, same as everyone I saw play it when it was demoed at a local store). There is no auto-fire function, so you have to press the button each time you want to fire, thus rendering your thumbs into soggy pieces of meat after an encounter with a major boss.

The music is also great. I agree with Gamefan when they commented on the music being better than 90% of the n64 games' music out there. Has some techno-intensive music like Tempest, although it's a little different style. As with Tempest 2k, the game wouldn't be the same without the kind of music it has. The sound FX are also done very well.

The control takes some getting used to, but more especially if you're a beginner gamer or a soft-core. It's responsive, but you need to get used more to how the ships move. It'll take some practice in each mode. A good gamer will get used to it fast though.

Zero 5 is difficult, hard to find, intense, and very fun. If you ever happen to get a copy, make sure you give it practice time so you maybe able to develop your skills to the level required to make it far into the game, where the best excitement is! Would have been great to have this game back in the Jaguar's better days.