Hideo Kojima may be best known for creating the Metal Gear series, but I’ll always love the guy (uh, in a platonic sort of way,) because of Zone of the Enders. The two ZoE games on PS2 are some of the best mecha-based action games ever created, and fans have been waiting for almost ten years to see another entry in the series. Hell, I was so desperate for more ZoE that I even played through the mediocre GBA strategy spin-off game. Well, Kojima Productions has finally decided to end my torment, as this week they formally announced that they’ve begun work on a new entry in the series.
As with most Kojima Production projects, the team isn’t ready (or simply doesn’t want to) reveal any concrete details about the game yet — the game’s producer Ryosuke Toriyama has stated that the game is still in the early prototyping phase, but they were willing to show off some art and models of what appears to be a redesigned Anubis (the antagonist’s mecha from the first two entries in the series.) They didn’t give any details regarding the staff on the game, but it appears at least that the mecha design is once again being handled by Yoji Shinkawa (best known for his work on Metal Gear Solid.)
It’ll be interesting to see where they take the series’ narrative, given the finality of ZoE 2’s conclusion. Perhaps the new game will be a reboot or a spin-off?
Like I said earlier, Kojima Productions is keeping details regarding the game to themselves for now. Though they didn’t state what platforms the game will be released on, they did reveal that the game is being made with the Fox Engine, which was specifically designed with multi-platform development in mind. Likewise, the developers of the game weren’t ready to announce the game’s release date, but hopefully it’s sooner rather than later, because I can’t wait to get back into the cockpit of an Orbital Frame. Hopefully we’ll hear more about the new Zone of the Enders at E3 or Tokyo Game Show later this year.
Source: Andriasang
