The Real Way And The Easy Way

Review by superluigi77 on Wednesday, March 2nd 2011

It's finally time for my second review. I promised sopcast3 that I would review his game several days ago so it's about time I made good.

First Thoughts

The game I am reviewing is entitled "Zexal: Who Am I? I still haven't figured out who he is, but aside from the confusing title, I was intrigued right from the start. I like the title. It is a story unto itself. It gives the game a mystery. "Who or what is Zexal?" I should point out that the thumbnail is misleading. It is a nice picture to catch the attention of potential players, but I was more than a little disappointed when the game loaded and I saw my actual surroundings.

Gameplay

Right off the bat you have a puzzle. How in the world are you supposed to get out of this tiny room? No doors, no windows, not even a ventilator shaft to crawl through. This puzzle separates the good players from the bad ones. An inexperienced player probably wouldn't find his way out of this room. The way out is actually kind of obvious to more experienced players. Because there is no door there must be a switch cleverly hidden somewhere. It's not too difficult to find. The vacant spot in between the three obstacles stands out. Squeeze through, wiggle around a bit until you hear the click of a door opening and then the game really begins. The rest of the game is awfully straight forward. Blast your way through the enemies, beat the first key to unlock the second key. Take down the second key and the crystals are a stone's throw away. The layout of the game is interesting. It is quite maze-like. There are some cleverly placed invisible walls which really just serve to annoy the player more than anything.

A major flaw to this game is a certain shortcut that saves the player from traversing most of the level. I'm not going to give away the shortcut, but I will say that involves a very nonstrategic position of the second key. This shortcut makes most of the game unnecessary and far too easy. The first time I played through the game I beat it in around ten minutes give or take. I played through again utilizing the shortcut and I finished the game in about two and half minutes.

Afterthoughts

This is a great game for those who love action and testing their mettle against an armada of well placed enemies (And don't know the shortcut). It is rather simplistic and straight-forward except for the first part, very good for those who don't want to think. I was a little disappointed that I didn't find out who Zexal is. Sopcast3 should have added a description. A unique title deserves and equally unique story.

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