I've never played or actually even seen much of either of those games. I know a bit about what they are, but I have no idea if they would be worth purchasing with this HD collection. I've been pretty happy about the ones I've bought so far (Metal Gear Solid and Ico collection), I like Kojima a whole lot and I'm intrigued by it (mostly the art designs.) You guys have any thoughts on this?

I never played much of the first, but 2nd Runner is phenomenal and continually throws the player into challenges that feel fresh. I just hope that the HD Collection can live up to it after the clusterfuck that was the Silent Hill collection.

I agree with Hailinel that the sequel is very good. I can't remember the story, but I do remember it not getting high marks among reviewers (the fact that I can't recall the plot may be telling). The action is quite fun though. Playing Vanquish recently (one of my favorite games) actually made me think about going back to Zone of the Enders 2.

Edit: I do believe that ZoE 2 was fairly short.

First one was mind-blowing for its time on a technical level. It wasn't great gameplay wise, because it focused on small encounters. It basically only really works as a prologue to the second game, in that it introduces the main villain at the end of it in the coolest way possible. ZoE2 is a fucking masterpiece.

I also never played the first and liked the second a lot when I played it back in the day. Between wanting to play 2 again, wanting to try the first, and the Revengence demo, I'm definitely getting this.

I liked the first a whole lot but couldn't stand the second one. I think my Kojima cup ran over though.

As far as I can remember there was sexy mech action, great music and tons of over dramati, pompous, long-winded story segments.

So pretty much awesome if you're into that sort of thing.

I love those games and hope enough people buy the HD collection to make Konami decide to let Kojima get a third one in motion. The second one is especially amazing and captures the over-the-top feel of space mecha anime better than any game before or after.

For a three hour game, the first one is pretty fun. The second is just a blast though.

I remember ZoE having a really cool story.

ZOE: Second Runner is pretty awesome.  As far as the story goes its alright if you can handle basic mech anime plot-lines.  But it does have some pretty awesome boss fights and great action.

It's been said already over and over, but while the first is fairly decent, the 2nd one is sublime.

Well, so far you guys have sold me on this. Thanks a lot.

The first was okay but the sequel was incredible.

And the second one has an absolutely amazing soundtrack.

Loved these games. The first is fun, but fairly short. The second expands on the gameplay, the story, the scope, and feels a lot more like a Kojima game. The 2nd Runner is probably one of my top 5 PS2 games. Even without the more ambitious campaign, the gameplay is just so damn fun (not to mention the mindblowing graphics at the time).

I've also, also only played the second one and therefore intend to pick up the collection. While I remember liking the game I feel I should share some of my caveats to temper any expectations.

Controls take a while to get a hang of, they're pretty cool in that there are context sensitive attacks that change depending on if you're moving or not, distance might also be a factor, I forget, either way just flying around can be cumbersome. The environments are pretty simple and not very interesting from what I remember, with only a few exceptions. Some missions could get frustrating, I remember a particular one where you had to carry something up a tunnel yet drop it every so often to fight enemies. Only grabbing it was difficult and seeing up or down so that you didn't drop it at a bad place where it would sink all the way to the bottom was tough because of the limited camera.

Last I remember the game still looked and sounded fantastic though, so I'm really looking forward to going back to it.

Yeah they're both really great. Visually impressive, a cool cohesive story line and the first one comes with an MGS2 demo. That game looks rad.

@Terramagi:

What exactly is the gameplay like? Hack'n slash?

@Hailinel said:

I never played much of the first, but 2nd Runner is phenomenal and continually throws the player into challenges that feel fresh. I just hope that the HD Collection can live up to it after the clusterfuck that was the Silent Hill collection.

My thoughts exactly...

Imagine lock on shooting and sword flying mech battling in a 360 degree area. its good stuff

@thegoldencat7 said:

Yeah they're both really great. Visually impressive, a cool cohesive story line and the first one comes with an MGS2 demo. That game looks rad.

I don't know man I heard that you don't even play as Snake in it.

Holy shit, I didn't know this was releasing for the 360. Hot diggity dog!