View of the trial table at the City Connection booth
Tokyo Game Show 2023 is one of the largest game exhibitions in Japan, being held both on-site at Makuhari Messe in Chiba and online. We would like to bring you a play report of the side-scrolling shooting game “FZ: Formation Z” jointly developed by Granzella and City Connection, which was playable at the City Connection booth.
As the name suggests, this work is a new version of the shooting game “Formation Z” that Jaleco released in arcades in 1984. This work, which was announced as “Project:FZ” in October 2022, inherits the features of the original version such as the transformation element from robot form to fighter jet form, but also introduces completely new stages and enemies.
Modern presentation and custom elements
The version exhibited as playable this time has an editing screen for the robot form and a launch scene added at the start of gameplay compared to the version exhibited as playable last year. Also, not only could various decals be pasted on the limbs, but parts such as the eastern part and arms could also be replaced. In addition, the preset coloring and decals are enriched, and the camera moves seamlessly when transitioning to the aircraft editing screen, making it more modern than R-TYPE FINAL 2. I felt happy that I could feel the evolution even though I was there.
Customization is quite wide-ranging.However, it’s a secret that I was reminded of a certain robot work where the latest series was released for the first time in several years.You can choose between male and female pilots, and you can also choose your appearance.
There are three playable aircraft: “Innocence” with a raptor-like form, “Proof” with forward-swept wings and canards, and “Judgment” with its heavily armored appearance and tapered wings. Each aircraft has its own unique bomb and fighter form, and after selecting the aircraft, it will perform a certain pose. This time, I played mainly Innocence, which was shown at the time of its first announcement.
When you select an aircraft, it transforms from a humanoid robot form to a fighter jet and a launch sequence is performed. This is a good intro that highlights the customized parts.
The stages that can be played with playable exhibits are part of Stage 1 and Stage 3. The background that plays behind the player is still under development, so there are some parts that feel a little lonely, but you can imagine the rough final version, including enemy ships and aircraft.
A somewhat familiar formation pattern
I played on the normal difficulty level, and stage 1 is not that harsh, including the barrage of enemies. In robot form, in addition to being able to adjust the shooting angle of the rifle, it fires two types of rapid-fire normal shots and charged shots. It also has melee attacks since it can take on robot form.
It can climb to quite high altitudes.The feature of this work is that it intersects between the sky and the ground.
The enemy aircraft’s formation patterns and explosion effects are reminiscent of R-TYPE FINAL 2, but with the continuous charge firing and missile attacks that transform, you can clearly see that this is a completely different work.
There are also missiles/melee attacks that use the aircraft’s energy as bombs. In robot form, these can be used for melee attacks that store energy in blades, etc. to deliver powerful blows, and in fighter form, they can be used to fire missiles. Energy is also used for the flight of your own aircraft, and unless you regularly steal energy from enemy aircraft, you will quickly run out of energy and become unable to fly. In this game, the strategy of energy management was probably as interesting as the developers had envisioned (the only drawback was that it was easy to miss the enemy transport aircraft with energy recovery items because I couldn’t see them well).
Proof fires an unguided multi-warhead missile over a wide area. Judgment thought it was a normal dropped bomb, but I was surprised when it guided it halfway.
Also, in terms of differences from the original version, of course the graphics are different, but the biggest one is the addition of music. Although the song still had a distinctive intro, it had a natural melody that didn’t feel out of place. Another difference from R-TYPE FINAL 2 is that each stage is longer than I expected.
Stage 3, which was added from this trial, required the use of fighter aircraft form almost from the beginning, and the aforementioned energy management was put to the test. However, as this stage assumes that the player’s proficiency level has increased as the stage progresses, it cannot be helped to make things difficult. Also, in this game play, I was able to play up to the middle of stage 3.
A good sense of play that allows you to feel the growth of the creator.
After playing the game in the trial run, I found it to be a highly replayable game where players can choose multiple routes, including ground, low-altitude, mid-air, and high-altitude routes. In addition, when you play the game again, you will be able to see the difference in the background when developing routes, which will motivate you to play the game again. I wanted to visit the booth several times and try out various things.
Judgment fighter form
Although it must be kept in mind that the version exhibited this time is still under development, the basic system seemed to be close to completion. On the other hand, the animation speed of the nose up/down when tilting the stick upwards to ascend in flight mode does not feel as if it is synchronized with the stick and buttons, and it feels strange, and the screen of tornado etc. It’s true that there was still a lot of room for fine-tuning, such as the difficulty of understanding the warning display (more specifically, I would have liked an altimeter as well).
There is also a docking sequence just like the original.
However, unlike the time of “R-TYPE FINAL 2”, instead of creating the impression that the game was created by going back and forth, including mastering the game engine, we delved into the pure fun of moving and shooting with familiarity from the beginning. It felt like it was. Although it is still a version in development, it is certain that it will be one of the most popular shooting games released in 2024. “FZ: Formation Z” is scheduled to be released in 2024 for PS5/Xbox Series X|S/PC (Steam). An interview with Kazuma Kujo, the chief producer of the co-developed Granzella, will also be published at a later date!
