The first Zone of the Enders was a great title that mixed action with great mecha combat. Konami brings back the series with Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner, which continues on the story from the first and expands the gameplay in every way. Does it hold up to the greatness of the first? Here is what I think on it.

Story

This time around the main character isn’t Leo. Instead it’s ex-BAHRAM member Dingo, who, during an excavation on Callisto, finds Jehuty, the orbital frame from the last game, which was built to be one of the greatest orbital frames. Then BAHRAM comes to Callisto to find Jehuty as well, but Dingo takes control and fights BAHRAM, ultimately getting *almost* killed(shot 5 times in vital areas) by Nohman, the highest ranked person in BAHRAM, who controls the orbital frame Anubis. He is saved by Ken, a girl spy in from the Space Force who was able to infiltrate BAHRAM. Dingo then works with her to fight and destroy BAHRAMs hold on Mars, and save both Mars and Earth. It’s an okay story with a few cool characters and some character development. It could be better though.

Graphics

First change you’ll see here is that the cut-scenes are in anime, at least when human characters are seen on the screen. When it’s just mechas it’s in full 3D. The anime style is much better than the sorta bad 3D in the first one in the cut-scenes. Now for the rest, Jehuty looks better, and even the enemies look better, with higher polycount and nicer textures. So this time the game is a much better visual experience than the first.