Enemy Zero

In Enemy Zero, gameplay sequences alternate between interactive full motion video (FMV) and real time exploration, both from a first person perspective. The interactive FMV component uses gameplay identical to an earlier Warp game, D. The player explores node-based environments, acquiring items for their inventory and solving puzzles. The real time component of Enemy Zero is unique. Enemies are invisible, and location is only possible through the use of sound, with notes of different pitch helping the player find the distance and direction of enemies. Additionally, every gun in the game must be charged up immediately before each shot, and charging a shot for too long will cause the charge to dissipate, after which the charging must start over. Since all available guns have very limited range, this makes timing crucial; beginning to charge the gun too late or too soon will allow the enemy to reach Laura, resulting in an immediate game over. Reloading the gun and moving the character around are mechanics that have been made intentionally slow, which incentives players to avoid combat and direct contact with the alien enemies as much as possible. In the early segments of the game, avoiding detection is not only recommended; it is required, since the player has no means to defend themselves without a gun. ==Plot==

Aboard the AKI space craft, a space station dedicated to biological research, Laura Lewis is in a deep cryogenic slumber. The jets of the chamber dissipate as the craft's emergency systems are activated. Laura is awakened by a large detonation on her deck. Outside a door marked with the letters E0, something of great strength is trying to break free. The door is thrown down, and the hallway is filled with a bright, incandescent light, followed by a horrific growl. Pipes and the remains of the steel door shift around, as if being stepped on. Laura, unaware of what is happening, uses the video phone above her sleep chamber to contact one of her crewmates, Parker. Laura watches in confusion as Parker looks away from the monitor, to his room's entryway doors. A screech sends him backing up to reach for his gun. Laura watches as Parker is mutilated by an unseen enemy. Getting dressed and grabbing her gun, Laura heads out to learn what attacked Parker. As she ventures through the ship, Laura's earring-shaped "guidance system" gives her aural warnings of invisible enemies (seen escaping in the intro sequence) roaming the ship's corridors. She discovers that even the ship's captain Ronny has also been killed by the creatures as well. Laura eventually meets up with Kimberley, another crewmate, and they make a plan to rendezvous with the other survivors. On their way Kimberley is attacked by an enemy and disappears, forcing Laura to make the journey on her own. She meets up with George, the ship's resident computer scientist; as well as David, her lover, and together they plan to head for the escape shuttles. Exploring the deceased captain's study, Laura discovers a log file that reveals that goal of the mission is to capture the enemies and bring them back to Earth over a 5 year long space journey (2059 - 2064) for use as biological weapons on behalf of Vexx Industries, and that the crew is expendable in case of an accident. David is attacked by one of the enemies, and when Laura discovers his corpse, she learns that David was actually an android. She performs a body-scan on herself and finds that not only is she also an android herself, but that one of the enemy larvae is developing in her neck. George confronts her and tries to wipe her memories, but is attacked and killed by an enemy. When Laura heads for the escape pods, she finds Kimberley again, who kills the larva nesting inside of Laura, and reveals that she and Parker were assigned by Vexx Industries to supervise the mission. Kimberley then triggers the ship's self-destruct mechanism, and leaves Laura to join Parker, killing herself while cradled up next to his corpse. As Laura heads for the escape shuttle, her guidance system runs out of battery, but instead she receives guidance from David, whose consciousness has been uploaded to the ship's computer systems. Laura reaches the escape shuttle just in time as the AKI blows up behind her, and she enters cryogenic sleep one more time as she makes the return voyage to Earth. ==Development==

Commenting on the impetus for Enemy Zero, designer Kenji Eno said, "I wanted to ask the question, 'Why do human beings exist?' That's why the game evolved into something with an enclosed space and invisible enemy - so that you would be forced to think about your own existence." Enemy Zero began life on Sony's PlayStation. Its unveiling at the 1996 PlayStation Expo in Tokyo was described by journalists as the highlight of the show. Irritated by Sony's failure to meet even a third of preorders for the PlayStation version of D (and to a lesser extent, their policy that all marketing for third party games had to be approved by them Despite popular opinion that the Saturn cannot handle 3D games as well as the PlayStation, Eno commented "...the PlayStation and the Saturn aren't that different, so moving [Enemy Zero] to Saturn wasn't too difficult." Fumito Ueda, director of the video games Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, worked as an animator on Enemy Zero before becoming a video game director. Enemy Zero was in development for nine months. Music }} While Eno did the music for D, he recruited Michael Nyman, composer for films such as Gattaca and The Piano, to create the soundtrack for Enemy Zero. The music was performed by the Michael Nyman Orchestra and Sarah Leonard. "Confusion" is a modification of material from Nyman's previous score, The Ogre, while the Enemy Zero/Invisible Enemy/Battle theme were modified into portions of Nyman's score for Man with a Movie Camera. The main theme is a variation on "Bird Anthem" from Michael Nyman. "Laura's Theme," "Digital Tragedy," and "Love Theme" are solo piano works and are included on the EP, Enemy Zero Piano Sketches, which was released eight months before the complete soundtrack, and two months before the game. ==Release==

Enemy Zero was released for the Sega Saturn on December 13, 1996 in Japan. It was later ported to Microsoft Windows by Sega. 20 copies of a limited edition of the Saturn version were produced and sold for a price roughly equal to 2,000 US dollars. These special copies were hand-delivered to recipients by Kenji Eno himself. The game thus holds the record for the "Most Exclusive Special Edition" of a video game, according to the 2012 ''Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition. Due to popularity in Japan, Sega sponsored the production of a few Enemy Zero items such as the official Enemy Zero'' soundtrack by Michael Nyman, a model of the in-game gun, and a strategy guide. ==Reception==

Prior to Enemy Zeros U.S. release, John Ricciardi of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) made it his pick for "Sleeper Hit of the Holidays" for 1997, having enjoyed what he played of the Japanese version. American magazine GameFan called it their "Best Import Game of the Year" of 1996. British magazine Mean Machines ran a full review of the Japanese version of the game, nearly a year before its release in Europe. They opined that the state-of-the-art full-motion video rendering was itself enough to give the game a high review score. However, a slight majority of critics instead praised the difficult challenge of confronting invisible enemies with a slow-firing weapon, saying that it creates a unique and intense brand of tension. French magazine Consoles + concluded that, while it might not please everyone, it is a "gory, original and beautiful" adventure game with "high difficulty" and a "special atmosphere". The game was a commercial success, with Eno projecting the Saturn version to sell between 500,000 and 700,000 and achieving that goal. ==Notes==