Code Zero (PC) Review

 

If Code Zero is your new Counter Strike, than you must have arrived in hell and playing this game is your eternal punishment.

Most assets and gameplay inspirations are indeed taken straight out of CS, but Code Zero has anime characters as Terrorists and Counter Terrorists instead. There is only one gamemode (the classic bomb mode from CS) and one map in this game. Another 'twist' of Code Zero is, that you can respawn multiple times during a round before it ends.

These 'innovations' however don't really matter since Code Zero is just an awful Counter Strike Copy, that fails in practically all regards. There is nothing wrong with trying to take inspiration from popular games, but Code Zero simply doesn't function at all. The movement in the game is super slow and stiff. It is no fun to move around, but that is nothing in comparison to the gunplay.  I have never experienced a game with a more horrible recoil pattern than in Code Zero. The weapons are completely uncontrollable and after every shot the gun will aim at least half a meter higher than the previous shot. The gunplay in this game is simply abysmal.

This already sounds horrible enough, but Code Zero is far more broken. The technical status of the game is a disaster. If you open the settings, the game already tells you  that the main menu is broken. Opening the settings during a match however (to change the mouse sensitivity for example) is even worse, since you can't use the mouse anymore and are forced to alt F4 to play again. Hosting/Joining matches is also mostly broken and will take forever to get into a game, even if you find another player. There are far more things broken in this game than functioning, which is unacceptable even for amateur developers.

The map is probably the best part of the game and it is a really weird and badly designed map. There are no death animations, characters just disappear after being shot at. The weird anime character models also don't fit into the CS graphics engine at all. I have no idea what the dev has been thinking while 'developing' this abomination.

Since there is only one mode and one map, there is also no replay value at all. Therefore barely anybody plays it, which is very understandable. Oh and by the way, the Tutorial of the game is a Youtube video of the Dev talking about the game...

 

Pro:

+ Map is not a disaster (but rather badly designed)

+ Occasionaly (but rarely) the game isn't broken

 

Contra:

- Movement is slow and stiff

- Gunplay is abysmal (horrible recoil)

- No Death animations (players just disappear)

- Weird anime characters don't fit in CS setting

- Game is broken if you open settings during a match

- Main Menu is broken (according to Settings)

- Hosting/Joining matches often broken

- Only 1 map and mode...

- Tutorial is a link to a Youtube Video

- Barely anybody plays it (very understandable!)

 

Result:

Code Zero is another reminder, that games can always get worse. Mediocre games seem like masterpieces after having experienced games like Code Zero. Making a Counter Strike copy with anime characters isn't a failed concept in itself (even though it is certainly a weird one), but the execution kills Code Zero. Movement is bad, gunplay is absolutely terrible and all of the broken elements make the game practically unplayable. There are only few parts of the game, which aren't broken and those are truly terrible.

 

1/10