Zeno Clash Review

BY Nabeel Akhtar | POSTED: 27 June 2009

A step into a realm of something truly different.



Where do we begin, it takes a huge leap of faith to do something as drastically different with the FPS genre as ACE Team has done with Zeno Clash. Over the years people have been deeply engrained with how an FPS should feel and play like. You have your Halos, Call of Dutys, Medal of Honors, Battlefields, Killzone 2, Unreal Tournaments, Gears of War, Resistance, and countless other shooters all basically designed with the same idea in mind with variations to the rules, when you sum it up in a nutshell.



There are extremely few companies that dare to challenge the status quo, and even fewer games that result from this where elements of two or more genres are combined into the same experience. Of these few games that really shine there are a few if you can recall them. Battlezone by Activision and Battlezone 2 by Pandemic (both published by Activision), amazing games for their time that combined tank simulation, first person shooter viewpoint and real time strategy. To get a better idea of what this game was like simply Google it, or check out planetbattlezone.com, everything dedicated to it is there. Battlezone 2 had received much critical praise however due to two very different play styles being meshed together dissuaded the general populace from picking this title up, the modding community has kept this game alive still. Another game that tested these waters and met with great success is Bioware’s Mass Effect, but a note on this title is that it still IS a shooter with RPG elements.

Now we have Zeno Clash, a first person…fighting game shooter, which is probably the best way to describe it. The story takes place in Zenozoik, a world full of fantasy, betrayal, long journeys and discovery. Kudos to ACE Team, practically every level is so unique in its design, textures, look, feel, sound and music that you literally feel a certain level of discomfort and mystery as to where the heck is this game taking place. Common questions constantly on the back of this reviewers mind are, is this prehistoric Earth? Or is it some other world altogether?  Alternate dimension? Will someone please reveal to me where this is?

Part of the reason these questions came to mind is due to the fact that this game is made using the Source Engine, and it’s been put to full use. A player won’t be able to shake off the familiarity of the effects, yet there is nothing there that is similar to what has been seen with the Source Engine before.

ACE Team definitely has a vision in mind for this game, it opens with some clouded images of the events that take place just prior, your character apparently having done something terrible to someone who is close to him and now your family is out for your head. The compassionate Deadra offers her assistance to help you escape. Around this same time is when you are thrown into a dream sequence which serves as training to get you familiar with the combat system, the highlight of Zeno Clash.

Here’s how the basic gameplay mechanic works, it controls just like any other FPS, WASD keys to strafe, move forward and back, and the mouse to turn with. When you do have weapons the left click still shoots, the right click however is used to aim before you shoot. So what happens the rest of the time when you aren’t actually using weapons you ask? Good question, because this is where the meat of the game lies.

Left click throws a punch, 3 clicks or simply holding it down will do a 3 punch combo. Right click will do a hard punch, holding it down will charge it up and do a hard punch. Looking down and either mouse button makes Ghat kick. When in one on one combat, pressing E once will lock on or ‘focus’ you onto the target. E can also be used to switch between multiple targets or deselecting a target. Running backwards also deselects any target. Holding spacebar blocks…yes the spacebar blocks.



Now hang on one second I hear you say, if spacebar blocks how do you jump? That’s just it, you don’t jump for anything in this game, at all, whatsoever for anything. This is my first gripe against this game, however I want to emphasize something extremely important. This game needs to be approached with an open mind, as I said earlier, we are so accustomed to the standard way an FPS works that we do not want to think about the controls when we pick up the next FPS that comes down the pipeline. The controls should be the same right across them all. I have to mention this minor quirk because it’s my job, not because it’s very easy to forget about once you get used to it.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 »

PREVIOUS   [1]   2   3   NEXT