Fighting games are complicated. Titles like Virtua Fighter or Tekken require a lot of practice. It’s daunting for new players. If you haven’t played and practiced you can absolutely destroy anyone who is inexperienced. I used to hustle people at the bar for free drinks at the Street Fighter II machine, for example. Developers always want to appeal to the casual gamer, and Yukes figured out how to do just that with their 3D fighter Evil Zone on the original PlayStation. So as someone experienced in the genre how does this brawler stand up? Keep reading to find out.
Evil Zone tries to present itself like a generic anime series. You start out with story exposition detailing an entity sealed away in what is called the “evil zone.” It’s name is Ihadurca. She is about to emerge from her confinement which would spell doom for the rest of the world. A tournament is held with fighters from different worlds to determine who would stand a chance at defeating this unnatural force. Eight people are summoned, and each have their own fighting styles.
Let’s start this review off by going over the roster. The entire game has an overwhelming anime motif that’s sure to appeal to fans of the medium. Unfortunately that’s not me. You have young girls, boys, men in suits, and even someone geared up as a mecha. I suppose it’s fun because it’s so flamboyant but I’m not really a fan to be honest. Sandwiched between every fight is a story sequence where the characters interact with each other which is fairly impressive to be honest. The problem is that it’s just so cheesy. The dialogue is cheesy, and suffers some major translation issues. Anime fans won’t mind, but it’s a little too off-the-wall for me to be honest.
Evil Zone is a 3D fighting game, but it’s very different from the pack. This is both a good and a bad thing. You can freely move your character in all directions. This includes left/right and up/down. This makes dodging attacks easier than in most fighting games, but with it comes a cost. I found that I was moving in directions that I didn’t mean to. Evil Zone is a little sloppy in that regard. You can basically move freely which pushes this one more toward novice players, and allows them to dodge attacks at random by simply mashing buttons.
This brings me to my next point. Evil Zone was made with novice players in mind. You see, the game only uses two buttons on the PlayStation controller (aside from the directional inputs, that is). Square and triangle are the only face keys that you need to worry about. The first of these is designated for blocking, and the latter is strictly for attacking. It’s actually your only offensive button in the game. That’s a lot to wrap your mind around if you’ve been playing fighting games throughout the years. This is how Evil Zone is so newbie friendly.
Your primary attacks in this game are projectiles. Yes, that’s how Street Fighter II was played but that engine had a complicated combination system. There’s nothing as complicated as that in place here. Pressing triangle is your only means of attacking, and based on the direction you’re holding during this input determines how your character strikes the foe. Most of the time this is by shooting a fireball or something similar. You can unleash brief combination attacks via punches or other physical strikes, but these are candid with a set amount of strikes for the animations.
Evil Zone instead relies on a more cinematic approach. Every time you perform a specific special move or throw the camera moves in at an angle. This is meant to make the game feel more like you’re watching an actual anime television series. Some will appreciate this approach but I personally didn’t like it. It creates a lot of needless fluff that interrupts the flow of battle. This also eliminates a lot of strategy from the match as you have plenty of time to plan button mashing combinations for when you recover.
With only one attack button Evil Zone lends itself well to button mashing. I spent hours with this game but was unable to find a better strategy than to hit the attack key while randomly pressing directions. This was true of any difficulty mode. You can string together long sequences of attacks with little thought, and almost every opponent will be unable to defend against them. Instead Evil Zone relies on it’s anime exposition to sell the product. This hits home in a really major way. In between matches you’ll witness voiced sequences that make it seem like an ‘on the next episode’ sort of set up. You really have to enjoy the medium to get enjoyment from this aspect of the game.
Graphically Evil Zone is nothing special. The character models are blocky and have lots of obviously detached parts which never seem particularly cohesive. The game is no Tekken, that’s for sure. The generic anime aesthetic does it no favors either. At least the action moves at a locked framerate. Unfortunately it’s not sixty frames per second. You’d think with so little gameplay options they really would have focused on the presentation, but that’s not the case. The audio fares even worse. The developers didn’t care to translate the dialogue very well. All the voice samples sound overly cheesy, and the actors do a horrible job. The music is okay, but it’s nothing exceptional.
I’ve been pretty hard on Evil Zone, but that’s just because I appreciate good fighting games. This just isn’t one of them. It actually represents most of what I dislike about the genre. I can get behind making a beginner friendly brawler, but Evil Zone takes it a step too far. In addition, the anime aesthetic is pushed too far. If I wanted to watch a low budget anime series then I would. I don’t need story exposition between every fight when I care so little about the characters and setting.
