ZPF Review

Nowadays, it’s very common to hear someone describe a difficult game by relating it to FromSoftware’s DARK SOULS series. However, for those of us who are considerably older, we remember a different kind of challenge. Well, the ZPF team has been working to bring back one such title from the SEGA Megadrive, also called ZPF, to give the newer generation a chance to see how we used to gauge challenge. 

ZPF doesn’t really have a plot, at least not one that you’ll ever really notice. All you need to know is that you’re in a small ship and you’re trying to survive waves of enemies over several levels. The real aim here isn’t to complete a story, it’s to make it to the top of the leaderboard and use the three-letter word for posteriors as your name. To do this, you’ll have to dodge attacks while utilising either your main gun, melee attack, or the limited supply of bombs. It’s not really a complex design, but the fun is in trying to do better every time. 

The actual controls are simple; you won’t need a mouse, and crucially, there’s no lag between the input and the action in front of you. Considering you die in one hit, this is a great thing to see. It’s fun to swoop around the screen, dodging bullets while holding down the fire key. You also have three different characters to choose from, each with their own firing attack pattern. So, there’s a fair bit of variety to the game. However, there are a couple of issues that really hold back the experience for me. 

First and foremost, there are no actual leaderboards to compete on, outside of a local one. So, you won’t be aiming to unseat someone else playing the game, which makes it really easy to hit the top with no real challenge. On top of that, there’s no real save state, so if you close the program and then reload it, your scores won’t be there anymore. It’s disappointing to see, as you can’t even compete with yourself. 

The other issue is that, while you do have the option to use melee, you never will. In an ideal world, it would do something like block an opponent’s shots if hit at the right time. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and using melee will just get you killed as you’re too close to dodge anything.

Visually, ZPF feels like a time machine; the graphics and music all scream early SEGA, taking me back to being a kid watching my older brother play… although I never got a turn. The sprites used for the enemies are also great, standing out enough that it’s easy to tell where they are at any time. Unfortunately, while the levels might look awesome, there’s really no change outside of the visual design, so you’ll never have to fly through a cramped space or dodge anything other than bullets. 

In truth, ZPF feels like an emulator more than anything, which is fine, but it means that nothing that could have been changed for the better has been. That doesn’t make it bad, exactly, but it’s hard to really recommend the game outside of nostalgia. If that’s what you’re looking for, then it’s certainly a great time, but there are other options out there for anyone seeking something of a similar ilk.