PixlBit

This portable shooter lets you take control of two commandos on the ground

Fortified Zone is an overhead shooter game for Game Boy, developed and published by Jaleco, and released in 1991. It plays similarly to the NES Metal Gear, moving around in any direction and shooting bad guys. There are two commandos you can use: Masato (the dude) and Mizuki (the girl). You would think they would have changed the names to Bill and Jill (or something like that) for the North American version, but they didn't.

The buttons are simple, yet different for each commando. For Masato, B shoots his gun and A allows him to use special weapons he picks up (such as the flamethrower or triple shot). For Mizuki, B shoots her gun and A allows her to jump (which looks more like a skip). While Mizuki can move faster than Masato, the latter can shoot more bullets at a time. You can change between Masato and Mizuki at any time on the Select screen. You can also look at a map of the level on the Select screen, but it's very basic, showing you each square of the level.

It's great to be able to switch between the two characters, but the quick death rate almost makes this point moot. Each character only has three blocks of health, and those blocks can be chipped away very quickly. A bullet from an enemy will take one block, whereas a bullet from a gun mount on a truck will take all three. This is made only worse by the shoddy hit detection; apparently if a bullet is one sprite next to you it counts as a hit. This means you have to try and keep as much distance as possible away from enemies and especially moving trucks with gun turrets.

If one character dies, you will have to switch to the other one and you won't be able to get the first one back. If the second character is killed, you'll restart the level at the beginning and will have to do everything over again. This isn't a problem for level 1, as it is very short and easy, but it'll be a problem for level 2 and the rest of the game (the shoddy hit detection will ensure that).

You can shoot vertically and horizontally, but not diagonally of course. It would be awesome to shoot diagonally, as many times when you face an enemy head-on, he'll shoot at you right away, and sometimes getting out of the way of that bullet is challenging. The game does a good job of having a variety of enemies as you progress; level 2 introduces enemies who move differently and shoot with different guns. Sometimes you'll even enter a room and have to fight off bats or giant mini-boss creatures (a giant crab that shoots bullets?).

The level design is fine, although basic, mostly involving you getting keys to open doors. However, they try to do different things, such as having you move in the dark until you shoot a computer which somehow turns the lights back on. Some sections have spikes which shoot out of the ground then retract. Some areas have moving floors and pits that will send you back to the bottom floor. Not bad for a Game Boy game.

At the same time, some things in the game don't make any sense. One room in level 2 shoots down missiles at you; you'll want to move out of the way and maybe try to shoot them, but they just keep coming and nothing is accomplished by you shooting them. So what's the point of this room? It's a sealed room with no way out except the way you came in. The boss of level 2 is also quite frustrating. It's a giant moving platform with a big gun in front and smaller ones on each side. It moves around sporadically and will even shoot at you off-screen, making it difficult to find the right spot to shoot at the thing! Once again, the shoddy hit detection is not your friend here.

Overall, Fortified Zoen is a shallow overhead shooter, but that's to be expected considering it's on the Game Boy. Despite how basic it is, it still offers a lot of variety. The game is also two player, but I'm not sure how that works. Perhaps both you and a friend play at the same time, moving around the level, working in different areas (which would be awesome!); or maybe you take turns, one player controlling Masato and the other controlling Mizuki when you switch or die. Whatever the case, it's two player.

Final Verdict--3 Stars: It's Okay

I didn't want to be too harsh on this basic Game Boy game, but the shoddy hit detection and low amount of life make it difficult to recommend. It's a fine game, but can be frustrating. Starting a level over after making good progress is always frustrating, and the reason is almost always because of that bad hit detection! It's a shame too, because Masato and Mizuki deserve better.

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.