Zool: Ninja Of The 'Nth' Dimension
ZooL, developed and published by Gremlin for the CD32 in 1993. The original game was released on the Amiga 500 in 1992.
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Player's Review
Once a year, the games world is rocked by a game so stunning, so fast, so colourful, so big, so demanding, so mega, so awesome, so fantastic, so incredible and so unbelievably full of fabulous features and treats that everyone just looks and says "THAT'S IT!" Now available on the Amiga CD with an extra, brand new world to explore and some astonishing 3D animation, ZOOL THE NINJA FROM THE "Nth" DIMENSION is definitely 'IT!'
Zool was released in three version for the various Amiga models. Firstly for the Amiga 500/600 class, then later for the Amiga 1200/4000 AGA class and finally here for the Amiga CD32 game console. The main contribution of the cd format is multiple per level CD audio tracks along with the standard sfx. The floppy versions were plagued with either sfx or a single tune that plays throughout the game. The CD32 game also has an extra world to visit and each world also has an additional level to play. Its worth noting that some of the original three maps seem to differ very slightly from the originals and the colour palette looks a little to bright verses the 1200 aga game. Note that the first special stage seems to be missing here in level 2-1.
Note that in emulation at least, their is a game breaking bug in level 2-2 where if you take the first piano to the secret area for extra lives then you are unable to exit the level at the end of the stage. The game locks up where the score tally screen should be. This was not an issue when playing the floppy based games.
The game features seven themed worlds with some highly varied platforming. Some are fairly easy allowing you to pretty much run through it, destroying everything in your way. Others are very maze like requiring some exploration. There is a time limit but that's not a huge issue. To exit a stage you need collect a set amount of collectables scatters throughout the level. Some are hidden behind walls you need to find a way to. There are secret bonus stages to find which are like shoot em up stages. You only get one shot at them and the collision detection is really bad and I think you get an extra life if you make it through.
The longplay goes through each level one by one and showing any secret stages encountered. Note that I initially show the secret area in stage 2-2 leading to thegame crashing. I then cut to a run where I bypass that area whch leads to a score mismatch in the video but otherwise shows how it should work. I show the Gamesmaster bonus in stage 1-3 which works differently in this version. You can burst straight in without waiting for the the timer to count down to 70 and there is no hidden warp out of the level.
Overall, its not bad game and it's one game that most if Amiga owners would have played or at least known about. But it's not without its issues. The Boss battles whilst as simple as just shooting a specific point is made really annoying by having lots of enemy fire on screen that can be difficult to evade draining you energy in seconds. Then there are the notorious music levels which require you to play a tune on the piano to complete the stage. Now it's not difficult and the solution is only a few screens away but its a show stoper on an otherwise run and gun game. The cactus world suffers from poor level design and too many things out to kill you. There is some slowdown in parts and some areas that are too fast making jumping really challenging when you are trying to precision land on the piano keys.
00:00:00 Intro / Title Music
00:02:55 Sweet World 1
00:05:12 Sweet World 2
00:07:03 Sweet World 3
00:09:11 Sweet World 4
00:12:06 Music World 1
00:13:54 Bonus Level 1
00:18:11 Music World 2
00:23:00 Music World 3
00:25:02 Music World 4
00:29:18 Fruit World 1
00:31:35 Fruit World 2
00:33:47 Fruit World 3
00:35:47 Fruit World 4
00:38:50 Tool World 1
00:39:11 Bonus Level 2
00:45:25 Tool World 2
00:51:15 Tool World 3
00:54:34 Tool World 4
01:01:36 Toy World 1
01:02:00 Bonus Level 3
01:06:13 Toy World 2
01:08:40 Toy World 3
01:10:45 Toy World 4
01:14:32 Fair World 1
01:18:26 Fair World 2
01:20:12 Fair World 3
01:21:43 Fair World 4
01:25:18 Cactus World 1
01:27:36 Cactus World 1
01:29:52 Cactus World 3
01:32:20 Cactus World 4
01:35:13 Ending
Zool was released in three version for the various Amiga models. Firstly for the Amiga 500/600 class, then later for the Amiga 1200/4000 AGA class and finally here for the Amiga CD32 game console. The main contribution of the cd format is multiple per level CD audio tracks along with the standard sfx. The floppy versions were plagued with either sfx or a single tune that plays throughout the game. The CD32 game also has an extra world to visit and each world also has an additional level to play. Its worth noting that some of the original three maps seem to differ very slightly from the originals and the colour palette looks a little to bright verses the 1200 aga game. Note that the first special stage seems to be missing here in level 2-1.
Note that in emulation at least, their is a game breaking bug in level 2-2 where if you take the first piano to the secret area for extra lives then you are unable to exit the level at the end of the stage. The game locks up where the score tally screen should be. This was not an issue when playing the floppy based games.
The game features seven themed worlds with some highly varied platforming. Some are fairly easy allowing you to pretty much run through it, destroying everything in your way. Others are very maze like requiring some exploration. There is a time limit but that's not a huge issue. To exit a stage you need collect a set amount of collectables scatters throughout the level. Some are hidden behind walls you need to find a way to. There are secret bonus stages to find which are like shoot em up stages. You only get one shot at them and the collision detection is really bad and I think you get an extra life if you make it through.
The longplay goes through each level one by one and showing any secret stages encountered. Note that I initially show the secret area in stage 2-2 leading to thegame crashing. I then cut to a run where I bypass that area whch leads to a score mismatch in the video but otherwise shows how it should work. I show the Gamesmaster bonus in stage 1-3 which works differently in this version. You can burst straight in without waiting for the the timer to count down to 70 and there is no hidden warp out of the level.
Overall, its not bad game and it's one game that most if Amiga owners would have played or at least known about. But it's not without its issues. The Boss battles whilst as simple as just shooting a specific point is made really annoying by having lots of enemy fire on screen that can be difficult to evade draining you energy in seconds. Then there are the notorious music levels which require you to play a tune on the piano to complete the stage. Now it's not difficult and the solution is only a few screens away but its a show stoper on an otherwise run and gun game. The cactus world suffers from poor level design and too many things out to kill you. There is some slowdown in parts and some areas that are too fast making jumping really challenging when you are trying to precision land on the piano keys.
00:00:00 Intro / Title Music
00:02:55 Sweet World 1
00:05:12 Sweet World 2
00:07:03 Sweet World 3
00:09:11 Sweet World 4
00:12:06 Music World 1
00:13:54 Bonus Level 1
00:18:11 Music World 2
00:23:00 Music World 3
00:25:02 Music World 4
00:29:18 Fruit World 1
00:31:35 Fruit World 2
00:33:47 Fruit World 3
00:35:47 Fruit World 4
00:38:50 Tool World 1
00:39:11 Bonus Level 2
00:45:25 Tool World 2
00:51:15 Tool World 3
00:54:34 Tool World 4
01:01:36 Toy World 1
01:02:00 Bonus Level 3
01:06:13 Toy World 2
01:08:40 Toy World 3
01:10:45 Toy World 4
01:14:32 Fair World 1
01:18:26 Fair World 2
01:20:12 Fair World 3
01:21:43 Fair World 4
01:25:18 Cactus World 1
01:27:36 Cactus World 1
01:29:52 Cactus World 3
01:32:20 Cactus World 4
01:35:13 Ending
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