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Well, you know what they say, right? Imitation is the greatest form of flattery!
ZanZarah is certainly… unique. And then at the same time not. Its setting, characters and overall mood is its own. You play as Amy, some British teen, who finds a magical box in her attic. Upon opening the box, she’s swept away into a fantasy world with goblins, pixies and fairies to name a few. Being accepted as “the chosen one,” it is the hope of the denizens of ZanZarah that Amy will battle the Shadow beings and bring peace to their world, quelling the now fierce body of fairies that attack anything that tries to pass by. You’ll talk to owls, uniquely modeled plant people and discover fantastical creatures that certainly have an interesting look.
The longer I played though, I began to connect the dots on a few uncanny comparisons to other games that were popular around the time of this game’s release. For starters, you start off the game in the village of the elves–little people all in green that live in buildings that would be tiny for a grownup to move around in. You’ll talk to an owl who will give you advice and your two exits from the village are blocked by two elves that won’t let you leave until you’ve found a weapon to defend yourself. Now, do any of you, say, remember the beginning of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (perhaps the most popular Zelda game ever released)? In its beginning, you are stuck in a village of elf-like children (the Kokiri) all dressed in green, living in houses that are small when you come back to visit as an adult. Likewise, there are two Kokiri that block the two exits of the forest until you’ve found a weapon and shield to defend yourself (well and then rid the Great Deku tree of its curse for the Kokiri that blocks the exit to Hyrule Field). Also in Ocarina of Time, a large owl swoops in every now and then to give you advice. Are you starting to see the comparison?
Would you believe that it gets weirder though? Okay, so back to ZanZarah, the elves won’t let you outside because it’s dangerous to go alone. Wild fairies have been aggressive lately and the only way to defend yourself is to have a fairy of your own to fight them off. You have to run around the town until you bump into Rufus, the master of fairies, who gives you a key to his house. He says that inside you’ll find 3 unique fairies that you can choose one of to have for your own. Picking one, you can finally set out on your adventure. On your first route outside the city, an elf warns you to stay away from tall trees and grass, as fairies are more likely to jump out and attack you if you go near them. Encountering early fairies consists of running into uniquely designed critters that are a good 5 levels lower than you. After weakening them in combat, you trap them in a… fairy… sphere… in order to capture them and add them to your team. You have to know what this is obviously ripping off.
For those few of you who don’t (or for those who just love reading) lets break it down. Any of the Poke’mon games will work in this scenario, but let’s take Red/Blue, America’s original. In Red & Blue, you start out in a town where you can’t leave because it’s too dangerous to go out into the “wild” alone. If you try to do so, Oak, Prof. of Poke’mon (much like Rufus, Master of fairies) will stop you, telling you to come with him to his lab where you can choose one of three Poke’mon for your own. NPCs warn you that you are susceptible to Poke’mon attacks while walking through tall grass. While running through Route 1, you’ll encounter Poke’mon that are a good 5 levels lower than you, that you can catch in Poke’balls after weakening them in combat. Uuuggggh. What is Daedelic Entertainment playing at here?
The combat is probably the most unique part of the game, if only for how bizarre it is. I think I would best describe it as… first-person Custom Robo. You control your fairy in a first-person view in an arena and fight your opponent fairy to the death. The arena itself makes no sense given the environment that you encounter a fairy in. I was primarily running into fairies in a forest environment whereas the arenas were all made of stone and temple-like. You charge up your attack spell and aim as best you can to hit the enemy fairy, whilst flying, using your stamina to quickly zoom around the map. I don’t know if “good” is the word that comes to mind when I think of it but it’s at least original, which is more than I can say about any other parts of the game.
ZanZarah is just a bizarre game. I suppose some people are attracted to Franken-mashups of game series. I once played in a D&D campaign that mixed Zelda and Gundam. For me though, I’m not sure ZanZarah was ever a necessary game. At its core, it doesn’t seem to add anything particularly valuable or needed into the gaming world. Too much of it is based off of other popular franchises at the time. However, the character designs are appealing and the fairies’ designs themselves are unique to the game, so I can at least say that I’m interested in seeing more of them. Final tally for the game is at the low end of Tier 2. I’m not really sure if I’ll ever pick it up again but there may be a few pieces of the game here and there that would make it worth it if I did.
