Review of HoYoverse's latest title "Zenless Zone Zero"! You can enjoy a fun story with manga-style comical direction and battles with flashy yet simple controls!

The main character is an expert who helps people escape from dangerous areas

The story is about a supernatural natural disaster called "The Hollow", which has created an alien space crawling with monsters called "Aetherius", and as a result, modern civilization is coming to an end. The "New Erie Metropolis," where people who survived the catastrophe gather, accumulates technology and resources to resist the disasters caused by the hollows, and gradually becomes the last hope for mankind. This work takes place in this city of New Erie.

The main characters are Akira and Rin. The player can choose which one to control.

The protagonist, a "proxy" who specializes in safely escaping people who have entered the Hollow, a space that creates aetherias, will be asked to fulfill requests from various forces in the New Erie Metropolis, and will discover the existence of the Hollow and the secrets hidden in the New Erie Metropolis.

Despite the background that civilization was destroyed by the Hollow, the atmosphere of this work is very cheerful. In the early part of the story, the comic dialogue between Nico, Billy, and Amby, members of an organization called "Evil Rabbit Shop," is impressive. In addition, the conversational scenes are illustrated, almost like reading a manga in a comedic style. Incidentally, the scenes drawn in a manga style can be read at any time of your choice for a good tempo, and you can go back to previous scenes at any time to reread them.

In addition to the manga-style presentation, movies are played during the story, and the characters' movements are smooth and dynamic. The characters' hair and clothes swaying in the wind and the changes in facial expressions are also finely rendered. Combined with the anime-style graphics, it is almost as if you are watching an anime. Although it is a game, the conversational scenes in which the story unfolds are both manga-like and anime-like, giving the player the luxury of tasting three different subcultures at once.

Simple and exhilarating action that can be played with a series of hits

Battles in this title are played out as an action game in which teams of three battle against each other. Each character has four main actions: normal attack, special skill, evasion, and switching.

Normal attacks are the basic battle action, in which the character attacks with his or her own weapon. Special skills are another means of attack, different from normal attacks. When a character accumulates a certain amount of energy by attacking an opponent, the special skill becomes an "enhanced special skill," which allows the character to attack more powerfully than normal.

Evasion is literally the action of avoiding an opponent's attack. If you evade just in time to receive an enemy's attack, it changes to "extreme evasion," and if you launch a normal attack after extreme evasion, you can use a special technique called "evasive counterattack.

Alternation is the ability to swap with other members of the team and change the character you are controlling. Alternation is possible at any time, but the effect changes depending on the timing of the activation. When a player is attacked by an opponent, the "Quick Support" function is activated, which cancels the negative effects of the previous character, such as being blown away or being frozen in place, and allows the player to immediately return to the fight with a reserve member.

Some may think that it is difficult to control the game at ......, where these four actions (normal attack, special skill, evasion, and substitution) are used in real time, but the actual battle strategy is simple. Basically, you just launch normal attacks and occasionally use special or enhanced skills. Just go on the offensive. Since both normal attacks and special/enhanced special skills can be launched with a single button press, you should be able to get by just by repeatedly hitting them.

The advantage of continuing to attack is not only that you can accumulate the energy needed for enhanced special skills. As you repeatedly attack, the enemy accumulates a "break value. When this value reaches full, the enemy enters a "break state" and cannot move for a while, and the damage he receives increases.

If an attack with a "heavy blow" effect is made at this time, a "linkage skill" will occur, in which the attacker will attack while switching to another member of the team. This allows for a powerful follow-up attack against the enemy. This is a great chance to decide the game at once. Incidentally, attacks with the effect of "heavy blow" refer to the last technique in a normal attack combo, special skills, enhanced special skills, and some other techniques.

The moment when a coordinated skill is activated. Any member can be replaced at this time.

When the yellow light turns on, the player switches to a member in reserve to activate "Extreme Support. The attack is carried out while switching the operating character. This is an offensive system that is typical of this title, using the opponent's attack to launch a counterattack.

The player can use the special skills to strengthen his or her opponent's energy and the enemy's break value at the same time by attacking, which has many advantages for the player. Using the "linkage skill," the members switch one after another, which is visually appealing and interesting even when just taking turns.

In addition, all actions are completed with only four buttons. When using a special skill or a linked skill, an icon is displayed on the screen, and the icon itself lights up, so there is no need to worry about missing the timing of the activation. The controls are so simple that even those who are not good at action games will be able to enjoy the game with ease.

In the part where the player explores the interior of the Hollow, the player moves around a screen that looks like a CRT TV. Various events occur depending on where you stop, making it a backgammon-like system.

You can also enjoy playing games in the arcade! Feature-packed Sextant Town

The main character is a proxy, an expert in rescuing people from hollows, but that is only his backstage face; ostensibly, he is the owner of a video shop. In this film, "Rokubunkai," where various stores are lined up, is also a base of activities. The sense of life is well expressed everywhere, with students using the stores and cats in the alleys.

Various facilities are clustered in Rokubunkai, including a ramen shop and a coffee shop that provide good effects in battles when used, and specialty stores that sell items that the characters equip themselves with.

One of the most well-designed facilities is the game center. Here, you can actually play two types of mini-games. The game center is also multiplayer, allowing up to four players to play against each other at the same time.

At the beginning of the game, you can only play in Rokubunkai, but as you progress through the storyline, the number of places you can go gradually increases. There is a wide variety of locations, including facilities where you can obtain materials to strengthen your character. The fast-travel function makes it easy to move from one map to another.

Although this game is a social game, the feel of playing it is quite similar to that of a dedicated consumer game. There was none of the "press a button to go to the content you want" feel that is common in social games that emphasize convenience, but rather, each content seemed to exist as a real facility or NPC within the well-developed field of the six-minute town. Therefore, the sense of immersion is quite different from that of ordinary social games.

I enjoyed the comical storyline with manga-style direction, the simple yet flashy battles with an emphasis on aggression, and the immersive map design. I can recommend this title to a wide range of people, from those who like RPGs and lighthearted titles to those who are not good at action games but still want to enjoy flashy battles.

• DL for i OS
• DL for Android
• DL EPIC STORE
• DL for PS5

Zenless Zone Zero

Genre: Urban fantasy action RPG

Platform: PC, iOS, Android, PlayStation5, Epic Games

Price: Basically free (with some items charged)

Zenless Zone Zero official website: ##

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Xenless Zone Zero Official YouTube Channel：#

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