Previous Next

As Darth turned to the good side of the Force; as the T-1000 came back to help John Connor; as Knuckles turns up to help Sonic; so too Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel has returned from his devilish exploits of the original Aero the Acrobat outing to rescue the fluffy creatures of the forest from certain doom at the hands of matchstick-monger Jacques Le Sheet.

Flipping and flopping his way through seven baddie layered levels of the kingdom that used to be his forest, Zero has only his wits, shiruken, and swooping dive attack at his disposal and defence. Can he clear his beloved land of robotic undesirables, or will the forces of evil rule the day and strike a light with the flora and fauna?

Previously starring as Aero the Acrobat's arch-rival, Zero takes centre stage in his own platform adventures.

Battle against the forces of evil lumberjack Jacques Le Sheet, and free the liccle forest creatures from the matchstick factory.

Zero heads up, up and away into the skies to the realm of the cloud kingdom in a series of hot air balloons for serious pick 'em up action. To cast off into the stratosphere, Zero has to first slice the securing rope and then step a double jump into the basket. Once airborne, the balloon can be coaxed from left to right for optimum goodie collection, but watch out for the self-destruct mechanism that activates at maximum altitude.

Perhaps the most important move in Zero's repertoire is his ability to swoop down and up in a U-shape motion through tunnels and tight corners. To perform the Super Dive, firstly our squirrel friend must leap as high as possible into the air and nose dive in true kamikaze style towards the floor. But just before he hits the floor, Zero must use all of his might to break the descent and change direction; swooping down and up to safety.

In a bizarre sort of airbed fetish, Zero has to create his own portals to the land of the bonus level. Dotted through the various locations, footpumps attacked to deflated mini bouncy castles require pressure from the squirrel to open the gateway to another dimension. Don't get too frisky with that pump, mind, as one pump too many and bang go your chances of a bonus. The footpumps can also be used as springboards to those hard-to-reach levels.

If I've sat down to play a game like this once, I've sat down to write the accompanying comment a thousand times. This is an okay platform game. What's more to say? Nothing there to frighten the forses or present a particularly memorable challenge to the class of Megadrive owner still gamely exchanging money for games.

No wonder they are a dying breed. Although Zero is a pleasantly crafted piece of work, with nice graphics and clever diving control, it has much of the character of in-flight catering. The calories are all present, but the experience seems to lack something, especially with the wealth of gourmet carts out there.

Zero has all the makings of a fine platform game - a vibrant central character, varied and challenging locations, interesting bonus levels to discover, and sufficient colour and visuals to stimulate the imagination.

Add to this the established heritage of the previous platform romp; and the end result is a solid cart. But, saying this, the overall feeling you get from playing the game is most definitely "seen it, done it, played it yesterday!" Undoubtedly, all the best elements of Zero can be found elsewhere in your cart collection, and unless you have a serious case of nostalgia for the characters from the first offering, think twice about investing.

Graphics 81%
P. Gold colourful locations that speed past at a turbo-charged pace.
N. But never breaks the tradition platform mould enough to offer anything new.

Animation 80%
P. Nicely crafted characters, especially the animation for the swoops and flik-flaks.

Music 79%
P. Run-of-the-mill tunes. Again, it doesn't offer anything new.

Effects 82%
P. Cool swoops and swishes. A good meaty thump when Zero hits the ground face first.

Playability 83%
P. A nice build up for the challenge factor, although the Super Dive Tests will have some stumped for a while.

Lastability 81%
P. Can be tricky at times, so you won't whizz through the levels.
N. Seven levels isn't really a great deal.

Overall 82%
A healthy portion of platform action, but one that we've seen time and time before.