Zeno Clash

I recently completed Zeno Clash. I went through the short campaign, had a blast at the tower challenges, and got a handful of the achievements. Now whether I go back, tackle the remainder of the tower challenges and polish off the rest of the achievements is a totally different question. The real question is, did I enjoy it? Was it a worthwhile experience? There’s a lot of positivity in Zeno, and for a small indie number I think it packs quite a punch. Excuse the pun.

Now, if someone asked you: “Would you like to play a game involving alternate realities and fist-fights?” You’d probably meet their question with scepticism, or maybe glee, depending on your taste. But Zeno Clash is a breath of fresh air for anyone. It by no means nods at or homage’s the traditional Genesis Punch-em-up that you have may have familiarized yourself with in your childhood. It does something completely new that I've personally never seen before, and I love fresh concepts as much as the next gamer.

Original ideas are great to see, and the indie community are great at producing them. But I suppose the real issue is whether or not Zeno executes its ideas as well as it should. The combat system is a vial of fresh water for the weary traveller of the gaming world. I've never had so much fun punching things that don’t exist, I really got a kick out of it. You have to imagine punching someone so hard in the face that they are reduced to a tumbling, flimsy corpse, and then watching that corpse rag doll into another NPC knocking them down like a bowling pin, it's a beautiful sight to behold. Seeing a game that is heavily combat based and focuses on the functionality of how fighting techniques work is really cool. Especially considering most games these days rely on gun-play. It's a pleasure to play a game where I feel as though my hits are actually making a physical impact.

There are plenty of moves and blocking techniques that you can use to better your opponent (or in most cases opponents) and you can throw pretty much anyone, regardless of their supposed weight, into the nearest wall, or tree. Considering you’re just using the mouse and the space bar for all of your blocking and punching, the guys at ACE Team have covered about as much ground as they could. Now, it’s not like there’s as many combos as say for instance, Tekken or Street Fighter, but you can’t really expect that from a game that tries to be a punch-em-up from first person perspective.

There is only one problem I was faced with whilst playing Zeno that is worth mentioning, and that would be the lock-on function. It wasn't too hard to handle but it felt stiff compared to the other combat mechanics, and there were times where it really agitated me. If you find yourself having to retreat backwards, in particular, it can be an annoying manoeuvre trying to exit lock-on mode and running in the opposite direction. Especially when your eyes are focused on your target and you can only shift your view horizontally. I only found that to be a problem in some cases, however. For the most part it was fine and dandy.

The setting of Zeno is beautiful. It really is a visual splendour to behold. Forgive me, if in my desperate desire to express the worlds beauty, I redundantly reiterate. Did I mention this game has a stunning setting? There’s so many odd shapes and colours, but the immaculate quality behind the way the world is designed is that none of it looks out of place. It doesn't look like someone’s opened up MS-Paint and went on a frenzy, the palettes of colour ranging across the deserts, rivers and cities of Zeno are fantastic. I believe that takes professionalism. It is easy to familiarize yourself with a surrounding in a game that you've come to know in reality. But putting across something as surreal as the Zeno Clash universe must be difficult because it’s like playing God, and starting from scratch. Well, it seems as though the guys behind this game did play God, and they did it well. There are plenty of lush landscapes and countless variations in the environment that will keep your eyes occupied. And the character design is another notably strong aspect. It’s Star Wars meets Sloth from The Goonies, it’s Bird meets man meets woman. In some cases it’s even so inexplicable that it just leaves you awestruck and devoid of any descriptive capability. After the first few hours you find yourself accepting these hellish looking creatures and see them blending with the other idiosyncratic elements of the world. Some may consider it a pity that Zeno’s gameplay probably doesn't quite suffice with its visual quality, but it’s just a case of it being a game that plays fairly strong but serves as much stronger eye candy. When, as a gamer, you are presented with something so bizarre that it exceeds any expectation you may have had of a peculiar-looking game, you know you’re onto something special. So in that respect, congratulations ACE, you've succeeded in freaking me out beyond comprehension.

Overview:

So what are we left with, Is this a game that’s manipulated me as a decent punch-em-up shrouded with surrealistic beauty? Well put it this way. It’s by no means the most polished game I’ve ever played, but I didn’t have to try my damnedest to squeeze enjoyment out of it. Quite the opposite actually, I found the games campaign to be a fluent (if not a little too short) and exciting experience. In fact if it were not for the shortness of the campaign, I probably wouldn’t have attained the incentive to complete most of the tower challenges, and I enjoyed them as well. For the most part anyway, there were certain challenges that got the better of me. I think Zeno isn’t a Source™ must, not by any means, but if you’re looking for something different, I don’t think it’s lost its bite over the years it’s been out.