Zenzizenzic

Level 1: Dodge enemies. Level 2: Dodge bullets and shield. Level 3: Wait, they have tracking missiles? Level 4: God spare me. Level 5: Holy bullet hell. I wrote a much lengthier review on my site ( [url=http://www.reminisc3.com/colors-pacing-and-bullet-hell-zenzizenzic-review/]REMINISC3[/url] ), but I wanted to post here as well. This game has perfect pacing, and as someone who rarely plays bullet hell games, I'm now interested in the genre as a whole. While it has a few hitches (I ran into a weird menu bug myself...), none of the glitches or lag issues occur during gameplay. Gameplay is blissful and it feels the same as playing Audiosurf or Crypt of the Necromancer. Sure, you die a bit. Okay, you die a lot. But it's incredibly fun. The developer has already posted a patch, and new content is already on its way. Although it has a small amount of levels, the pacing curve makes the game feel complete. There are plenty of games on Steam that offer just an hour of playtime for this price point. This is not one of them. It took me three hours to beat level two. I've unlocked all the levels with my points, though, and I can at least tell that it just gets crazier from there. I'd like to see someone who's beaten the game post how long it took. Anyways, I'm rambling. This is a game I would recommend to players who have a positive outlook on life and love seeing their score go higher and higher. Shooter fans and bullet hell fans...this is a required purchase for you.

Zenzizenzic aside from having the honor of having the most Z's in a games title and sounding drunk when you say the games name, is an arcade style shmup or shoot 'em up, bullet hell game. This game is light on story, high on action, being the type of game that you would probably sink quarter after quarter into if this were sometime in the mid 90's. What that basically means is that you're in pursuit of a high score more then any clear cut goal. You play over and over again, dying, getting better, unlocking upgrades and ramping up the difficulty. Oh yeah, if you're a fan of squares and plaid then this is the game for you! Sarcasm aside, Zenzizenzic is a very geometrical strange looking game and this is the first thing that is striking about the game. Yes, it uses basic shapes for most of its design but it's the use of colors and design of enemies that can be very appealing looking, even though they're just shapes. There are times where so many things are on the screen that it becomes almost overwhelming to the senses, although this is kinda the point of bullet hell games. Enemies come in a vast range of colors and shapes while your tiny ship is mostly just a blue block that shoots things. Speaking of shooting things, you're going to do that a lot in this game. Not just shooting though, there are missiles, lasers, power ups, black holes, time travel, leveling, and more that I probably forgot to mention. The game is quite feature rich for a simplistic game, containing two game modes that are distinct from each other. Classic mode is your standard quarter guzzler, you pick a level, a difficulty, and get the highest score you can without dying. Waves upon waves of enemies spawn in all ultimately leading to a boss. One thing that Classic mode has over the other, is that you can play Co-op with a friend, while in Macro mode you can't. Your points can be spent to unlock new weapons, levels, and other goodies. Macro mode is a whole different ball game, having more roguelike elements and randomization of enemies, areas, items, bosses and anything else you would expect. You start off in a safe zone area and then are free to move about. I enjoyed this mode by far the most, mostly cause I am not a huge fan of repetitive high score games. This was refreshing, weird, but fun. The same basic elements apply though, you look for enemies, upgrades, as a small meter on the bottom of the screen fills up and eventually releases a boss at you. Once said boss is defeated you move on and get as far as you can. There are stat upgrades and many other things that you can tweak, change, and modify to your play style. All this works rather well. Zenzizenzic doesn't let down in the options department either. Ranging from rebindable keys, multiple resolutions, screenshake, dead zones, controller support, achievements, and of course leaderboards for all you score lovers out there. There are multiple difficulties and the game does offer quite a high replay value if you enjoy bullet hell style games. Offering things like bonus levels, practice modes and tutorials that teach you the basics. Musically, Zenzizenzic is pretty diverse, having nine tracks that you are free to flip through and enjoy. These all have a nice electronica style to them and for the most part never really got annoying. Sound effects were nothing too spectacular but did get the job done for. There were times I just wanted an explosion or feel a little bit more oomph to my blasts. This is a very minor complaint mind you. As to the games length, that all really depends on the player. You could play this for endless hours trying to achieve the highest scores on the leader board, or like me spend most of your time in macro mode, die, and take a break and come back later. While the roguelike elements do keep things fresh, the gameplay itself doesn't really change all that much aside from weapon choices. Again, this is all personal preference and how much you enjoy these types of games. It's fun but it gets slightly repetitive eventually. There is only so much connection one can have with a square. One thing I will say about Zenzizenzic is that it's unique. Not necessarily in the game features department but in over all design. This game looks quite striking when you first load it up and suddenly are blasted in the face with colors and shapes. Yes, other games have done similar designs but Zenzizenzic has a unique delivery that I just found peculiar and different. Zenzizenzic has everything you could want in its genre, from leaderboards, co-op, and buckets of replay value. At $9.99 it's also very affordable and very much worth your money. The game is completely bug free and controls tightly for dodging of all those pesky rectangles. So get ready for some chaos, untwist your tongue and play Zenzizenzic.

[h1]1: Avoid enemies. 2: Avoid bullets. 3:God save me. 4:Hell,chaos,armageddon[/h1] This game has an excellent pacing syndrome and as someone who rarely plays games of the genre of "bullet hell "now I got interested in it and even liked it . Although it has a few bugs (for example, in the menu), none of the problems or lag occurred during the game. The gameplay is blissful and feels like playing Audiosurf or Crypt of the Necromancer. Sure, you will die a few times . Okay, maybe a little more than a few. But it's still a lot of fun. The developer is constantly releasing new patches, and new content is on the way. Although it has a small number of levels, the stimulation curve makes the game seem full. There are many games on Steam that offer just an hour of gameplay in this price range.Zenzizenzic Not is one of them. It took me three hours to beat two levels. I would like to see someone who broke the record and how long it took them Anyway, I recommend it for players who have a positive attitude towards life and like to conquer their best score.

(Review written during Early Access Beta, opinions and info may change after time of writing) Zenzizenzic is a great addition to the shmup genre, showing great tight controls and excellent bullet hell-esque fights to conquer, and always presenting a bigger challenge after most every victory. Personally, the biggest draw for me is Macro, the rogue-like mode of this game. Having the great gameplay of a twinstick shooter mixed with the near endless replayability and tense action of a rogue-like make this interesting and fun enough to recommend to most anyone who enjoys either genre. The soundtrack also deserves mention, with great techno/electronic tunes accompanying the madness. Worth the price just to try out the uniqueness of Macro alone. However, I must also note some negatives for the sake of integrity. Even though the music is good, it appears to be relatively limited, and may become repetitive if played for long periods of time. I encountered several minor and one major bug while playing. The minor ones were temporary dips in framerate and occasional stuttering, and the major bug being several enemies spawning on top of my location in Macro, resulting in a near immediate death. The level of optimization is relatively low, as even though this is a 2d game with mostly simple geometric shapes, I am unable to run it at anything but the "Fastest" option in regards to a stable and smooth framerate, as putting it at the highest setting made it anywhere from 15-20 FPS. Mind, my computer isn't a powerhouse, but a game with visuals of this style shouldnt be an issue. All of these issues have been brought to the attention of the dev, and have been acknowledged as problems being adressed in future patches. On the issues regarding performance and framerate, here are my technical specifications for the sake on knowing what you could expect out of your own computer (I typically got 60+ on the Fastest graphical setting, and ~20 on the highest graphical setting, all running at 1366x768) Processor Information: Vendor: GenuineIntel CPU Family: 0x6 CPU Model: 0x3a CPU Stepping: 0x9 CPU Type: 0x0 Speed: 2494 Mhz 4 logical processors 2 physical processors HyperThreading: Supported FCMOV: Supported SSE2: Supported SSE3: Supported SSSE3: Supported SSE4a: Unsupported SSE41: Supported SSE42: Supported Operating System Version: Windows 7 (64 bit) NTFS: Supported Crypto Provider Codes: Supported 311 0x0 0x0 0x0 Video Card: Driver: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 DirectX Driver Name: igdumdim32.dll Driver Version: 10.18.10.3958 DirectX Driver Version: 10.18.10.3958 Driver Date: 30 Sept 2014 OpenGL Version: 4.0 Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz DirectX Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 VendorID: 0x8086 DeviceID: 0x166 Number of Monitors: 1 Number of Logical Video Cards: 1 No SLI or Crossfire Detected Primary Display Resolution: 1366 x 768 Desktop Resolution: 1366 x 768 Primary Display Size: 18.98" x 10.67" (21.73" diag) 48.2cm x 27.1cm (55.2cm diag) Primary Bus Type Not Detected Primary VRAM: -1984 MB Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 8x Sound card: Audio device: Speakers (High Definition Audio Memory: RAM: 8067 Mb

Zenzizenzic is an in your face action shooter with retro-style shooter game elements that you will recall from the game asteroids. But this is no Sunday walk in the local arcade, but instead, a bullet hell shooter that is as challenging as it is to pronounce the games name! well if you want a challenging game, this is it. When you cannot even pass the first level like myself you know that you are in for a long night of action packed, ultra-addictive fun. As shown on the steam store page, the screenshots are quite the spectacle and yes each coloured box can hurt you, grey boxes give you points. These points are rewarded upon death or level completion and can be used towards upgrades and special abilities which specify how hard the ability is to master. Fast gameplay is not a flaw as the game runs smooth as silk on my 3-year-old laptop however, I do not recommend playing this while transit or your head will spin. Jokes aside, there is a second mode in the game called Macro Mode which is an open world mode which is entertaining for 20 or so minutes. The Macro mode becomes more difficult as you move along the world, but don’t worry in both modes you can bring a buddy along to play with you locally. Also in macro mode, you can move over chests to upgrade on the fly at a cost. On any level, there are upgrades mid game that drop randomly by killing enemies, easy to talk about, but actually getting the upgrade usually is a challenge due to the slaughter house of bullets ambushing every inch of your monitor. In short, the developer bitHuffel (Ruud Koorevaar) has made a stunning heart thumping title as advertised and is a unique game where you practice endlessly your technique to complete each level. *Please do note that I have received this game for the purpose of reviewing it*

This is such a good shooter. Really worth the buy. - The art style is so simple, and yet, it's so satisfying to the eyes. I personally saw most shooters as carbon copies of others, mainly because they're all revolved around space, high tech warfare gadgets, and monsters, but this is a chainbreaker. I mean, it's just squares, but dude, it's these squares man, these squares are amazing. - The music has really good beats, really good electronic-styled music. I don't know the exact genre to call it, but I'm sure you might know what I'm talking about. The tracks go along great with the stages, so it won't distract you, in fact, it helps focus. - The gameplay, oh the gameplay. You have the basic "hold _ to shoot", but you also have the ability to select two out of six special abilities, such as lazers, a swarm of heat seeking missiles, and even a black hole generator. When you defeat an enemy, it'll drop pellets to fill energy, and when you stop shooting, you'll send out a shockwave that vacuums 'em up to use right away. Oh, and you better memorize what key buys a life back, you'll most likely press that at least a few times. ...Now, there are some cons that'll hopefully be patched up. First off, there is a bug in regular mode's level 3. If you were to buy a life back right as you're exiting the bonus stage, you might end up unable to see what's going on, as your screen would just show up blank. Another thing that struck me as odd was something about the macro mode. Not sure if this was intended or not, but there isn't a way to save progress. Judging by the time limit before boss fights, this might be intended to be unable to save. Oh well, Macro is still great. Dude, why are you still reading this? If you've got the dough for this game, go ahead and snag it already.

Solid game, unfortunately you cant buy it anymore so this review is useless X)

Beauty and the Beast, in a single game. 8 hours and still struggling with level one. also, having fun. tons of it. might look shallow at first, but that's a totally wrong impression. hard to master, very, very enjoyable game play. explosions are deep, satisfying and somewhat chilling... i love my zenzic copy.

有料ゲームに対して、「これやるくらいだったらフリーソフトにもっとマシなものがある」なんていうのは酷い話で、もちろんそれを理解した上で、作者に対して「まあ、頑張ってくれたし、買ってやるか」ってなものが、ゲーマー的に粋な計らいなのは解っている。解っているにしたって、このゲームに関しては、どうしても……その……今ならフリーソフトでもっとマシなゲームがあるよ、と言いたくなってしまう何かがある。 俺だって、何度も「これには何かがあるんじゃないか」って思ってインストールしてプレイしたよ。たった2時間だけど10回くらいはインストールしてアンインストールを繰り返したさ。でもね、結局同じく「これはダメだ」という結論になってしまう。 いろいろと重箱の隅は突けるが、今回はよしておこう。 大雑把に言って、いわゆる見下ろし型戦闘機シューティングが楽しい、と思える瞬間というのは2つあると思う。一つは敵や弾を回避する快感。そして、一つは敵を殲滅する快感だ。この両者というのは、それこそグラティウスという記念碑的な作品から、弾幕シューティング、そして東方まで続く基本的な快楽だ。相手の強烈な攻撃を潜り抜け、そして残らず敵を殲滅する……そこにシューティングの中毒性というものがある。 さて、このZenzizenzicであるが、確かにたくさん弾は出てくるし、敵も沢山出てくる。だから回避・殲滅の快楽があるというと、そうではない。 まず一つに、全方位の悪い部分が出ていて、隅にいて避けようとすると、急にそこから敵が出てくるという、地味にストレスが溜まる仕様になっている。ゲームってのは、プレイヤーに都合のよいフェアネスというのが重要で、不意打ちのように画面外から敵が出てくるのは、ただプレイヤーにとって理不尽な苛立ちを与えるだけになってしまう。 また、これ弾幕シューティングとかの類のゲームデザインであるかというと、どうもそうではないらしく、どちらかというと与えられた装備でどれだけ効率良く倒せるかということが前提になってしまっているようなのだ。スコアアタックというのは確かにシューティングの花であるが、それは脳汁が出まくってやりまくったあとの結果であって、それが前面に出てしまうと、脳汁が出ないし、そんなんされるんだったら最初っからチェスやるわ、という気分になる。 この中途半端なゲームデザイン、ゲームに一貫していて、途中に出てくるイライラ棒みたいなボーナスステージもテンポを欠いている。俺は敵や弾を避けたいのであって、壁を避けたいわけじゃない。ギミックとしてイライラ棒が出てくるのはいいけれど、それを前面に出されたところで興ざめである。 このゲーム、2015年のゲームであるが、それ以前にもそれ以降にもたくさんいいシューティングというのは出ている。良くも悪くも、フリーゲームの凡作を有料化しました、という程度のものであり、さらに言うならばネタとして遊んでも全く面白くもない。つまり、棒にも箸にもかからないというやつで、こういうゲームがキックスターターで資金を集めていた、という事実だけ覚えておいて、他のゲームをするのがいいのだ。