Zone of the Enders 2

Mm. Mech combat, cel shaded graphics, and great controls. Zone of the Enders 2 does a lot of things right. The controls will stick to you in 5 minutes, if not less, and the graphics will wow you the first time you see them in action. You'll feel like an utter badass the first time you destroy a huge mech swarm or use one enemy mech to bash another or any number of other amazing things you'll do over the course of the game.

However ... I find that the majority of the bossfights get sorta ... boring. Like, you do them once to find out what the trick is and how to avoid their attacks, and then a second time to actually beat them. There's a single trick to them and that's it. None of the subweapons really work against them and your ranged attacks do pitiful damage. This leaves your sword and picking up the random steel beam to hit them with. But, the thing is, you can't deviate from the designated trick to beat the boss. I wish the fights were less ... linear? I suppose.

That, and the final subweapon you get is the most terrible MacGuffin ever, and then isn't even that useful for the boss that would, supposedly, absolutely destroy you without it. Except I barely used it. And found the final boss fight to be easy enough to beat with my eyes closed. I could beat it on sound cues, as the first 75% doesn't even require my attention. Blah.

Another disappointment was that the translation and dialogue, while never a shining aspect of the game, go way downhill in the last couple of hours.

Overall, a solid game, but I recall the first being better.