It’s Time to Play a Little Game

Edens Zero Chapter 252 Review/Recap

When we left off two weeks ago, the Crew of Edens was in it deep. Joker Helix, the rogue AI and member of Oracion Seis Galactica, had shown up with an army of itself. While it’s ability to slow time down was bad enough, the fact that it’s already made it onto the Edens Zero makes things worse. And now, Joker wants to play a little game with Rebecca. What follows, though, is less of a game, and more a reference to popular video games in general.

As a gamer myself, this is entertaining to watch.

Recap

With one of the Jokers aboard the Edens Zero, Rebecca has no choice but to head up onto the ship, since she’s the only one who can face them. With Shiki’s Wormhole, she and Professor Weisz warp onto the ship…only for the latter two to get frozen right away, leaving Rebecca alone.

Joker Helix then speaks to Rebecca, telling her that they want to play a game. The next thing Rebecca knows, she’s been pixelated into a video game, with her opponent being Joker Helix!

After managing to defeat Joker in the RPG game, though, Rebecca’s problems don’t end. Next, she finds herself in a racing game. She swiftly manages to escape that, only to find herself facing Joker in a fighting game. After losing her first round to Joker, though, Shiki crashes the party. Professor Weisz managed to make a watch-like device to cancel out Joker’s powers, allowing him and Shiki the chance to move again. Deciding to beat his creation on their level, Weisz modifies the game into a typical fantasy quest, complete with the outfits and everything.

Why Rebecca’s in bikini armor, nobody knows.

Review

First, sorry this review took so long to publish, but I’ve been busy. Secondly, I’m impressed with what Mashima did regarding this chapter.

First things first, I’m curious as to why Joker Helix decided to play games with Rebecca rather than flat out kill her. There’s two likely explanations: firstly, Joker is toying with the heroes before they kill them, like a cat does with its prey. Secondly, Joker may be genuinely fond of Rebecca from all her time playing games on them. Bouncing off that second concept, Joker may not be fully free of its initial programming and thus compelled to play with Rebecca. Or it could be a combination of both, though it’s likely the latter.

That said, I do appreciate the level of references to video games found in this chapter. The pixelated game evokes the feeling of classic RPGs like Final Fantasy. The racing game’s similar to Mario Kart, especially with the pipe at the end. And the fighting game Rebecca finds herself in reminds me of Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Tekken.

In any event, if the Crew wants to regain control of the ship, they’ve got to beat Joker Helix at their own game, literally. This should be entertaining!

I Give “Game Start” a 3.5/5

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