Zool 2 is a fast paced platform shooter, published by Gremlin Graphics in 1993, where we get to destroy enemies and collect a whole bunch of goodies. If that sounds like it could be fun, let's boot her up and check this out.

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Production Notes:
Captured: 15th November 2020
Narrated: 20th July 2022

Zool 2 was fairly new to me before the game came up in the acclaimed SuperLeague competition back in July 2018, which I was in charge of running at that time (and will be again next year). I knew about the kebab meat hook things on level 1, but had never reached the second level. During the compo, I managed to reach the third world, but eventually I kept on dying at the same section each time, and gave up. For the review, I played the first two levels as normal, and then used the passwords to skip levels after that.

During the narration I mention a bit about Zool NOT being an Ant, and managed to find the image which Gremlin drew to highlight this point, which pops up on the screen. I also found quite a few images from the Gremlin Archive for the game, which I included as well. The narration was slightly affected by the music for the Egyptian level being louder than the other tunes, and I guess this was an emulation bug. I had to go back and fix the audio just before release, and that means the video processing was a little delayed. The voice it still a bit loud in places. I also added in a few speech bubbles; which appear for the first time again this series.

Mistakes:
On watching this back this weekend, I noticed three verbal mistakes which somehow managed to remain in the video, even after working on it for weeks and even re-uploading it yesterday. This is annoying, but it is those kinds of small annoying things spoil this game in general. The first and the third mistake I knew about, and they were small enough that I didnt fix those, but the second verbal mistake I didn't know about, and this seems crazy considering I must have played the review over and over while editing it.

Danscore:
Zool had a lot of potential. It was fast and fluid, with a lot of action going on in the first two worlds. Zool 2 starts with some rather bland Swan Lake levels, with fairly drab colours, and a few red and green items to pick up. The levels aren't so much of a frantic dash as the original, and it isn't very fun to explore the early sections. The second world opens with some much better level design and some great music as well, and makes for some fun times. Unfortunately the third level has a steep difficulty curve, and even dedicated players will get stuck here, and probably never see the rest of the game. This is a shame as Zool 2 tried to be better than the first game, but due to some flaws it is not quite as well rounded. While the original included an option to switch off the inertia, the sequel doesn't, and slip-sliding around on items is not very welcome. The bosses take way too many hits, but aren't almost impossible like Zool 1. There is also no puzzles to solve here, which means things don't screech to a grinding halt on world 2. Still, even though this feels more forgiving in places than the original, it feels slightly more boring, and relies on milking some enemies to be able to collect enough items to open the exit. So with that in mind I give it 7 out of 10. If the first world was as good as the sweet world in Zool 1, and if the Egyptian World was slightly more forgiving, this would get a much higher score. I did have fun playing it, and certainly have a lot more respect for this title now than I had before.

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