Fantasy Zone for the Ages.....

After hearing about the Sega Ages series for Playstation 2, I thought to myself "should I bother with these repackaged games?" Reading some reviews informed me that there was some "3-d elements" added to Fantasy Zone (volume 3), so I made it a point to investigate. What I found were some nice little surprises packed into this classic cute-em-up from the golden era of gaming.


The menu opens up with Normal, Arcade, Challenge, and Gallery modes. Normal is the remixed verson of FZ, which I will expand on shortly. Arcade is for the purists, a strict port of the original game. Challenge is probably the most interesting of the modes: you can select any level from the game, and you only have one life to finish the section and collect both money and bonuses for the gallery. There is a new shop in the challenge mode, with all new items AND four new levels you can buy (complete with bosses!) So sega tacked on half of a new Fantasy Zone, if you want to look at it that way......Gallery is just a 3-D model viewer of all the characters in the FZ universe, but since they are not very exciting (some are just squares that shoot at you), you won't be spending much time with that feature......

Now for the main game: the first thing you'll notice is the 3-D intro to the level. The camera spins around Opa-Opa, and then things settle into the classic side view that's necessary for 2-D gameplay. Nifty little trick, but nothing to write home about. Backgrounds are also 3-D now, it looks like you can just walk around the pastel trees in front of you to further explore the realms of the Fantasy Zone. Gameplay stays exactly the same at this point, with the main objective being to destroy a set number of monster generators to face off against an end boss. Bosses have been converted to three dimenstions, however in looks only.

After defeating the first boss I noticed it didn't turn into coins, rather it opens up a "special stage", which is set up like Space Harrier with Opa-Opa flying into the screen. Just as I'm getting pumped up for a second round of boss attacks, the previously defeated end baddie just starts throwing coins my way......so the special stage is just about catching coins and dodging some scenery......nice touch, but kinda useless. Incedentally, if you want to play a true 3-D version of the game, track down Space Fantasy Zone (look around the internet), it's an unreleased Space Harrier/Zone mix, and it's not that bad of a game.

Overall I was more impressed with the challenge mode and new levels then the 3-D "updates". The special stages were short and catching coins just isn't much fun (unless you're a wishing well). I was hoping for a little more from Sega to be included in the package, but they did take the time to rework a shmup, and that much makes me happy. Anyone up for Aleste Ages? That'd be fun.......