Given how the series constantly changed formats and genres, it should not be too surprising that Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero changes things up again and this time the game is now a mix of run’ngun elements and a beat em up. This may sound strange but it works extremely well, with a fast pace that sees you rush in, beat down enemies and move on. You can also destroy certain parts of the environment to access more parts of the stage, but that is not a super developed part of the game and it could have been handled better.
Some enemies have ranged attacks and will damage you before you can get close though and so Shockman’s other attack comes into play. You can hold down the attack to use a charge shot to hit enemies from afar and take them out, while rushing in to attack other enemies. As you continue on, there will be more varieties of enemies to encounter and so you will need to change up your strategy and adapt to the new challenges.
Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero has a much richer visual style than the previous entries, thanks to being on more powerful hardware, and it took full advantage of what it had to work with. There is also a more involved story this time, and it is much more humorous than in the other games. It feels like this was viewed as a fresh start for the developers and they really gave it their all with one of the best entries in the series, especially with how they used the SNES sound chip in producing some excellent music and sound effects for the game.
As usual, Ratalaika has added a number of Quality of Life improvements to the game, as well as cheats, save states, a rewind and fast forward option and multiple roms and modes to choose from. They did some great work preserving this title and it runs so well on modern hardware. I have to note that the cheats help change things up a bit, especially with how fast paced the game already is, and can be used to have a very interesting time.
Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero is easily the best of the Cyber Citizen Shockman series and makes me wish for a modern entry just like this one. It may not be a long game, but it is a fun one and that is what matters. I would greatly suggest checking this one out as you will not regret it.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
