Zack Zero

Zack Zero is a 2-D, sidescrolling platformer created by Crocodile Entertainment. Although it is a platformer, Zack Zero doesn't really try to imitate any sort of retro style, except in its overall outline of the dev's previous work: Phantis. It goes straight for the cheesy, comic book superhero route, and has a few gimmicks it hopes you'll find to your liking.

The game's story -what little there is- revolves around Zack's kidnapped girlfriend, Marlene. Zack of course has a long and complicated history with the villainous Zulrog, who captured his beloved, and hopes to lure the hero into a trap by which he will then be forced to power a home-made time machine. It's silly stuff, but that's part of the charm.

With that out of the way, let's talk about the gameplay. Zack's core feature is the power suit, which contains three elemental transformations. That's actually a little misleading to say, as they're more just readily available platforming hero powers than all out changes to your character.

How well does the suit work? Pretty good, actually. It gives you more options in the surprisingly difficult combat than most platformers, and plays a small, unimportant, but healthy role in the exploration of less linear stages. Could the abilities have been put to more innovative and original use? Certainly! The fire power is little more than a hover jump, the rock power is just used to break open new paths and push blocks, and the ice power briefly slows down time for some of the trickier timing puzzles.

Sound familiar? Well, it should. Zack Zero plays like every other colorful, child friendly platformer, just more challenging. There are collectibles in hidden areas of the stage, lava levels, bosses with simplistic patterns to make use of your abilities, and so on. Zack Zero's strength doesn't lie in any kind of originality or innovation: it lies in its colorful graphical presentation, fast paced jumping, and the fact that it does absolutely stick to a tired formula.

Even the trailer above lets you know exactly the kind of game it is. Unashamedly, it is every single E-rated platformer you've ever seen. And it's really good at it. If you ever want to just dig into six or so hours of no-nonsense jumping and collecting goodness, it's probably the best offering to date.