931st played so far
Genre: Shoot ‘Em Up
Platform: Arcade
Year of Release: 1990
Developer: Toaplan
Publisher: Tecmo/Romstar/Toaplan
While I admit I’ve never heard of them, it sounds like the main reason Out Zone is on this list is because it is one of the bigger games from its developer, Toaplan, who were apparently a big player in the shoot ’em up genre in the eighties and early nineties. While their other claim to fame is Zero Wing‘sย “All Your Base Are Belong To Us”, it’s Out Zone that the book touts as their great, slightly out there entry. Even so, I don’t think there’s a title that directly compares in my head – looking at it, Commando might be one of the closest in gameplay as a shooter that deliberately puts you on the ground rather than flying over your surroundings.
Our Thoughts
The reason I mention that is because it’s the one thing that really changes the dynamic in Out Zone. You have a far more restrained set of movement with even some simple platforming to jump over gaps and handle floor falling away. It adds an element of the environment mattering, rather than just being something visual to lend a story or setting to what you’re doing as you’re shooting your enemies.
To be fair though, beyond that Out Zone needs it. It’s a fairly standard shooter after that, looking fine, but it’s the one thing that really sets it apart from a bunch of other games that do the same thing. It’s nice and fun the way it is, butat this point it doesn’t really offer anything that exceptional.