Some video game genres feel so rooted in the past that it’s hard to imagine fresh innovations bursting through in new games. I’ve played dozens of shoot ‘em ups over the last few years, and while many of them have been amazing they’ve generally not been particularly innovative. If I had to describe ZOE Begone! in one word it would be innovative, but you’ll have to work hard to learn its unique language if you want to enjoy it to the fullest.
Even the concept of ZOE Begone! is unique. You play as a little hand drawn character called Zoe, who is trying to have a nap on some film. The Animator isn’t happy about this though, and decides to use all his creation tools to try and purge Zoe from the film reel. You’ll need to take down brushes, pens and even the blobs they draw to force The Animator off your back, but it absolutely won’t be easy.
Before you have any grand ideas about succeeding on this shmup adventure, it is imperative that you play the tutorial. This is because ZOE Begone! is not your traditional arcade shooter even down to the controls. By default Zoe stays on the ground and fires in five directions, which is a useful way to take out the threats needed to complete a reel (essentially a stage). She can also jump to avoid incoming attacks, and can hold the jump button to fly. When flying though she can only fire left and right, so will struggle to hit some enemies.
Now we’ve got the basics down, let’s get to the more advanced stuff. Zoe has a dash attack she can use to charge left or right, which she can use to deal a ton of damage to enemies and to avoid getting hurt herself. You can’t use this on ground level though, which means flying through the air is often safer. There are also two types of ground pound you can use, one for damaging enemies only and another for breaking open orbs that grant health and energy. I can’t pretend it’s intuitive to learn how all these controls and mechanics work, but if you spend enough time in the tutorial area you’ll probably be somewhat ready for the actual campaign.
Each area of ZOE Begone! is made up of three reels, and you’ll need to destroy all the enemies in these reels to proceed. Unlike most shmups this game has looping stages (like Defender for all you arcade nerds) so if you keep moving in one direction you’ll eventually end up back where you started. There’s something so satisfying about cleaning out a whole environment full of little hand drawn planes and spiders, which other shoot ‘em ups just can’t provide. You have to be careful when doing this though because there are limited health and energy (a resource you use to fly and dash) dots along the bottom of the reel that you have to manage supplies of across all three reels in an area.
Between reels you’ll be given the opportunity to spend your apples (a collectible enemies drop when killed) on all sorts of different upgrades at the store. You can speed up Zoe, increase her attack power, or even give her an entirely new weapon with homing bullets or a spread shot. It’s always well worth spending those apples because the upgrades you give Zoe carry on between stages, and at maximum power the later boss fights are much more manageable.
As much as I enjoyed the standard stages of ZOE Begone, the boss fights absolutely blow them out of the water. These fights trigger a frame trap, where you can no longer move freely around the film and instead have a single screen (or frame) to take on one of The Animator’s tools. These brushes and pens will send out screens of bullets that are incredibly tricky to survive, requiring you to make full use of the invincibility that your dashes provide to avoid damage. Beating each of these bosses feels amazing, although I won’t pretend I managed it the first time very often.
If you manage to beat the main game of ZOE Begone! you’ll unlock some extra modes to play that’ll keep you coming back for more. The remixed boss rush mode was my favourite for obvious reasons, but there’s also a frantic time attack mode where you need to dash through or pound enemies to gain more precious seconds. Alongside the three difficulty modes and potential for score chasing there’s plenty to become obsessed with in ZOE Begone!, and I’m proof of that.
As much as I love this creative entry in the shoot ‘em up genre, I can’t deny it has some faults. The controls are utterly baffling, and wrestling with them especially early on is not particularly entertaining. The learning curve of the game in general is probably the biggest issue that ZOE Begone! has, but once you work through it there’s gold at the end of the especially steep rainbow.
ZOE Begone! is probably the most unusual shmup I’ve ever played, and is also one of the most entertaining. You’re in for a hell of a task if you want to master it, but once you do, you’ll struggle to put it down. Zoe may be looking for a nap, but you’d be daft to sleep on this game.
