ExZeus™: The Complete Collection

Awsome arcade classics, on rails shooters. Had the first one on mobile and glad they are both on steam now,but just a bit of a shame they have not been updated with better graphics or remastered. But if you like arcade games and on rails shooters, then you should love this. Oh, and the soundtrack is cool to. 😊

Pure arcade bliss. Don't sleep on it.

A pair of bad rail shooter games with really bad resolution issues, at least in this version - the game plays at 624x464 or a stretched version of that, regardless of the resolution you pick. Thankfully, this comes with the "legacy" version of ExZeus 2, which can actually play in 1920x1080 resolution, even if it has a recurring bug if you alt-tab out of gameplay. But, uh, both of them are bad, ExZeus because it's really short and fairly easy except for how impossible it is to see enemy attacks half of the time, 2 because it keeps changing from the rail shooter mode to various other minigames - most notably and frequently a terrible third-person-shooter mode - which are almost all strictly worse, this is a pretty easy skip even if it's on sale and the resolution issue is fixed.

[quote]Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If you like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades [/quote] Listen... I am completely fine with bringing back niche games that not a lot of people have heard of. I appreciate Ziggurat for taking the time to hunt down the ExZeus games and re-releasing them. But I have to ask... did anyone on the dev team for this collection actually care? Or was this made under a heavy budget/time constraint? I'm asking that because I cannot find any other reason for some parts of the games being ripped away and important quality of life features being missing! This is not how you bring back games that are quite literally unknown among the masses! You're supposed to make them presentable and appealing, not whatever that has been done here! Let's get into details because there's much to talk about and little room to write them in. [h2]A series of unfortunate red flags[/h2] Mere moments after I started this collection from Steam, I was greeted by the default Unity configuration tool, except with a very glaring difference: The key rebind tab, which is almost always there in all other Unity games, was missing. It didn't take long for me to find out not only there's literally no way to rebind your controls in this collection (neither through the configurator nor in the game), but the games will only show Xbox button layouts to notify you of controls. Use a keyboard or a controller other than that? Want to change keys to something more comfortable? Figure things out yourself. I pushed forward and launched the collection. I went past the company logos and then got greeted with one of the blandest title and game select screens in the history of gaming. You just have some portraits of main characters appearing on the screen in dead silence, and there's no option visible anywhere to close the game either. Sure, you can hit the "Esc" key on the keyboard, but this collection came out in 2021. Then I saw one of the worst menu navigations in a game ever, after accessing the settings menu to check on the available options. The B key, which is standardized as the key to press and go back to the previous menu, has the function of decreasing sound volume. The A key, which is standardized as the key to press and confirm something, has the function of increasing sound volume. And the left directional key, which is standardized as the key to change menu values with, is actually the key you need to use to go back to the previous menu! [h2]Mobile ports are fine only if you put work in them[/h2] I was flabbergasted. I could not believe anyone would actually decide to publish a PC game like this in 2021. Sure, Raiden Legacy was also bad, but that game came out a decade ago! So what was Ziggurat's excuse here for putting such a thing on Steam? After doing some research and visiting PCGamingWiki, everything became clear. The developers have been using the 2010 mobile release of ExZeus 1 as a basis for this collection, which completely explains the lack of support for key rebinding, the awful menu navigation, and the way the user interface has been designed. As for the second game, it was initially conceived as a mobile game and released in 2012. So, it's not illogical to think it was also based on the foundations of the first game's mobile version, given it uses the exact same menu structure. So, I decided to do what I have always done: Doing excessive work for a review that only a few people might actually read. So I went ahead and also played the original Wii release of ExZeus 1 (named Counter Force), the PS2 re-release of that game, and also the 2017 version of ExZeus 2 on Steam (which is now branded as the legacy version) for a bit. All in an attempt to see how loyal the devs have been in preserving the features of the original games. [h2]You know what? I rather have the emulated re-releases if some content is going to get cut in native ports.[/h2] Let's start with ExZeus 1. This game has a bunch of missing content compared to the PS2 and Wii versions. The gameplay modifiers (enemy attack speed, collision accuracy, background damage toggle, screen's shake/swing amount), the top-down camera angle, the enemy radar and the weather effects of those versions [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3531363143]are completely missing[/url]. There is also a yellow reticle in the Wii version that highlights the incoming enemies, which was removed in the PS2 version and would have been very useful to have back. When it comes to ExZeus 2, our hands are a bit tied. The original 2014 release of the game has been patched and replaced with the newer, 2017 version. And since the older version is effectively wiped from the web, I cannot say for myself what differences it has compared to the 2017 version and the one we have in the collection. Though if we compare the two available ones, there is a very visible difference in how they have handled the keybinds. Not only the 2017 version of ExZeus 2 allows full key rebinding for controllers (through Unity configurator), it also shows you keyboard prompts in its tutorial and while playing the game or going through the menus. So, as you can see, I think it's safe to conclude that the original releases were way better than the versions we have in this collection. This is especially the case with ExZeus 1, as the Wii version is much more fun to play due to it allowing you to aim freely at any location on the screen without the player character obstructing the view; Something that is absent from the collection as it has no mouse support. [h2]I don't wanna play these games anymore...[/h2] We now know that this collection is not an ideal way to experience these games with. But how are they anyway? Are the games actually fun and worth playing? Well... ExZeus 1 can be a fun time if you manage to get ahold of the Wii version and play it with a mouse or a Wiimote (or something similar). It really gives out that arcade rail shooter feeling. But if you play it through the collection we have here, it will bring you nothing but misery. The camera system will give you headaches, the player character always obstructs your view and the enemies blend in with the environment especially in absence of the aforementioned yellow reticle that notified you of their arrival. ExZeus 2 is somehow even worse. It gives you a bigger field of view, but regresses in almost every way. The pickups now get scattered in a wider area and are not very recognizable while playing, so you might just go past them without knowing. The game constantly switches between different gameplay modes that make absolutely no sense (why is a battle mech riding a bike?) and are not fleshed out at all; With the worst offender being the third-person combat mode. The levels have weird pacings with some of them being way too long (as much as over 10 minutes) and making you repeat the aforementioned gameplay modes multiple times, while others end in about 3-4 minutes. And don't get me started on the sound effect chosen for the drifting as it's one of the worst and screechiest sounds I have ever heard in my life. Unfortunately, the addition of achievements is not helping the cause either as all of them are bound to the frankly purposeless level up system, which require lots of grinding to obtain instead of, you know, getting unlocked for accomplishing meaningful feats during the games. [h2]TL;DR[/h2] Just find and play Counter Force for Wii. This collection offers an inferior version of ExZeus 1 due to cut content and a sequel that regresses in every way, both without any quality of life updates.

Both are awesome games. definitely well worth the purchased. Did a play through of the first one many moons ago. Now doing the second. very fun titles. Wish they would make a 3rd. one. Big thumbs up from me. https://youtu.be/CEOMtChHatk?si=JkDxYJ8KuYhfH2Zi

I'll be honest, I didn't know that it was possible to make a rail shooter that feels bad to play. I'd read the reviews so I'm not disappointed with the purchase but even for fellow "7/10 fans" this just isn't particularly worth playing. (Based on completing ExZeus 1 and most of ExZues 2 legacy for about 2 hours total time) For ExZues 1... The biggest problem for me is the controls, not the mapping or responsiveness but the core design decisions behind movement. Traditionally, rail shooters like Star Fox have you control the crosshair first, and your ship will follow. Here, the control stick moves your mech directly and the crosshair stays locked in the center of the screen meaning. that.. you literally can't aim your shots. Instead, you get a "Lock On" meter that can fire missiles at all enemies on the screen. But this means you spend all your time mashing A and B nonstop and its just painful for my old man hands. Finally, you have a Star Fox style dodge roll but it doesn't give I-Frames only a speed boost to dodge. But your playable mech takes up massive real estate on the screen and its hard to see anything coming with the speed the game moves. You'll tank hits not skillfully evade them. Ultimately, it's functional, but nothing feels good about the game. Now for ExZeus 2: On the coolness factor, it's a massively awesome improvement in nearly every way. Your mech now transforms at different sections allowing you to fly, walk around, turn into a bike, buggy, or even a top-down shooter. There's cooler cinematics that make for exciting mid-mission events and you've got a more impactful shop to upgrade between missions. On the surface, I should love this game. But... I really don't. The problem is that the same choices in design now frustrate me in multiple game modes. The on-foot sections don't let you manually aim up or down making planes an annoying target. The bike sections have had-to-see enemies that cause you to spin-in place getting shot. The 3D flying section have frequent cutscenes that just break up your flow without adding anything to the mix. The top-down sections have asteroids that explode for some reason, but are still dangerous to hit. The top-down sections are actually halfway fun. But 3D missions take 15-25 minutes and the top-down take 3. The entire experience was me thinking "This SHOULD be fun." instead of actually having fun. So, my final recommendation is a direct no. It's a mostly functional game, but it's not even C Tier (Play in the future when you've finished the good games). You can see a vision from an alternate world where this was great, but it's not this one.

The ExZeus games are arcade style rail shooters that rock an early nineties arcade-core visual style, and I find the colorful, chunky models to be appealing. The first game is relatively tighter but can feel overly brief, and the second game adds longer levels which frequently flip between alternate game modes (unfortunately, all of these non rail shooter sections are bad). Regardless of the game, it feels like there is little opportunity for finesse. These ExZeus games are clunky garbage, but they made me happy.

Both games are bad, but the 2nd one is worse. Try it if you get it for free, otherwise do not waste a dime on this.

Incredibly underrated and charming arcade remaster of two games, entertaining visuals and peak boss fights, ExZeus 2 is definitely the better of the two being an improvement of the original (albeit missing the choice between playable characters and some of the more dynamic boss fights)

This review is a 50/50 ExZeus 1 is an excelent . ExZeus 2 sadly is the cashgrab slightly edgy sequel from the early 2000s.