Zool

The majority of you may never have heard of Zool and for those who haven’t it’s rather imperative you read on and discover the root to many of today’s platformers; yes it was largely to do with Mario, yes it was largely to do with Sonic, but Zool also played a major part too.

It was a lightning fast game; a lot faster than Mario, yet a little slower than Sonic and was released around the same time as both. However, Zool unlike its rivals never sacrificed speed or ability in search of a good game mechanic, instead it incorporated both nicely and this was the key to its success. It also had its own cool mascot who didn’t have a dodgy moustache and didn’t spin into some puny blue ball; instead it had a wily Ninja from the nth dimension. He had the punches, kicks, tricks, flicks, and even a red scarf covering his shifty-looking eyes to boot.

While Zool looks like your average platformer on the surface if you peel away the ninja-esque layers what you will find is a psychedelic experience that will blow your very mind. No you haven’t been taking some illegal substance those really are giant sweets attacking your face, those really are hills made out of scrumptious yellow jelly and yes those really are lollipops excitedly buzzing around your cranium awaiting your collection. Everything within this game bursts through your monitor with a venomous vibrancy and brings out your inner-child every time.

This game is packed with seven worlds, each one as unrealistically exuberant as the next. Every course carefully thought out, resulting in some pretty outstanding level designs and thrilling gameplay. There are multiple ways to play through each level and adds just enough variety to keep things interesting; which was relatively new ground for many games of this generation. In fact I would go as far to say this is one of the best Amiga games of all time, which is some going considering the system had easily over a million titles.

The game isn’t perfect though; it does have some big flaws and these should be addressed. Firstly, there just are not enough puzzles in here and sometimes the game can feel a little too run and gun; there also isn’t a solid enough reward system and at times you feel like you’re collecting random items just for the sake of it. The biggest fault is the games lack of any real depth and doesn’t make for the most intellectually challenging experience; I mean how long can you whack demonic sweets for before it starts to get old? Really that long? Oh, then this sounds like the retro platformer for you.

The graphics are disturbingly bright and sickeningly cheerful; at times it makes you feel like reaching for the Aspirin, but you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way, because while it’s unnaturally bright the graphics surpassed anything seen on the Amiga before it. Everything flows at such a smooth pace, which is rather impressive considering the speeds that little ninja can reach. The sound fits right in with the visuals; an addictive blend of rave and techno style music which is complimented by some quirky sound effects. It really feels like each track was written on an individual basis for each level, the only downfall being its tendency to grate on you after a while.

Some may say Zool didn’t break the mould; some may say Zool, Huh? But I disagree that this is just another platformer. This game is so much more than that, it incorporates thing’s its console rivals could not achieve on the hardware they were running on. This game was the missing piece of the puzzle and just like its counterparts did just as much for the platform genre, if not more at the time; it’s just a shame it hasn’t lasted the test of time given what this game actually achieved.

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed