Game Title: Zero Divide
Developer:  Zoom
Publisher:  TWI
Format:     Compact Disc
System:     Sony Playstion

Review By:  Larry Tipton

What's the story?

In Zero Divide, a term that most programmers understand oh too well, is an error that can cause a computer program to crash. In this game, you are that error. You find yourself in a virtual world inside a computer system which was hijacked by a group called XTAL.  It is your job to do battle against ZTALs units.  Defeating the unit deletes them from the
system.  Destroy XTAL and crash the system before its too late.

Thus sounds kind of like an episode of Reboot or maybe Tron eh?  Well, basically this is a another  3D polygon fighter, a really good fighter  too I might add.  

The game features 8 unique characters.  In addition there are 2 hidden bosses. Apparently, you can only get to the final boss if you do not lose a match in normal or hard modes.  According to the manual, the player is awarded more game features based on the actual amount of time playing the game as well as defeating both end game bosses.

The characters are hard to describe.  They look kind of like robotic creatures to me. Theyre huge!  It times they are as tall as the game screen.  The player movements are similar to that of Virtua Fighter... 3 buttons...  Block, Punch and Kick.  There are throws, down moves, grabs, combos and special "button and pad" moves for each character.  The
characters are texture mapped.  In fact, even the backgrounds are beautifully texture mapped as well as animated to some degree.

The Characters
===============
ZERO    - Humanoid, heavily armored.
TAU     - A 4-legged creature that looks something like a scorpion.
WILD 3  - A military type character with a functional gun
IO      - A female looking humanoid with cat like features
EOS     - A humanoid unit that fights karate style
CYGNUS  - A humanoid unit that resembles a ninja, complete with sword
DRACO   - A creature that resembles a fire breathing dragon 
NEREID  - A really crazy looking character with a drill that extend from           its chest and back.

ZULU and XTAL are both endboss characters.


Game Features
================
- 1 and 2 player modes
- 3 difficulty setting
- Adjustable match point rounds
- Adjustable time limits
- 4 View Modes!  
    Normal - side view
    Switch - The game switches the view for throw moves
    Rolling - The screen constantly rotates
    Player - View from the back of player 1
- VS Handicap system
- DJ - Turn announcers voice on or off.
- Unit Break - Turn unit damage graphics on or off.
- Save and Load Settings
- Record, Best Time. Highest Score, Unit Performances are saved
- Modifiable pad settings
- Ability to save an entire match for replay later.
- Ability to hang from the ring

Read the hints and secrets section. There is quite a bit of useful information there.  There are supposed to be any secrets in this game, including a hidden alternate "game universe" whatever that is.

I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys challenging  3D polygon fighters.  The game is not as "personal" as Virtual Fighter 2 or Tekken, due to the subject matter. But Id rank this one right behind those 2.   Its the game that Rise of the Robots should have been.

OK, Game Rating on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest obtainable score:

Game Graphics   9  
Control         9
Sound F/X       8
Music           10
Fun Factor      9
Replay Value    9
 
Overall Score   9
 
 
Thats all for now,

Larry Tipton


