We’ve seen lots of great things come from Valve’s Source engine, most will think of Portal, Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead as it’s most successful uses outside the Half-Life universe. With Zeno Clash the independent developer ACE Team looks to add one more title to that list. This 7 person Chilean Developer, who cut their teeth with a Batman Mod for DOOM way back in 1999, has managed to license the Source Engine for use with their first-person fighting game that will make it’s way to Xbox LIVE Arcade in the future and has already planned a sequel.
First off, I have to say I have never seen the Source Engine look as good as it does in Zeno Clash. The textures are amazing, the color palette is bright and bold–everything comes out crisp and amazing looking. I was able to turn up all of the settings without any hiccups, and although ACE Team didn’t go for an ultra realistic appearance the graphics really pop. There were many times I was ambushed while ogling the backgrounds or taking screenshots. It’s more of an aesthetic art-style as opposed to an ultra realistic one, but it works very well in the setting of the game, and I’m willing to bet that it will add to the game’s longevity by making the graphics stand up even with more advanced hardware being released. Focusing on the setting, Zeno Clash puts the player in control of Ghat-an outcast of an odd almost prehistoric civilization in what ACE Team calls a Punk-Fantasy setting. The game’s opening sees you awake from an explosion that killed your “parent” Father-Mother while your friend Deadra tries to whisk you away before your enraged brothers and sisters catch up to you. The environments are varied as you and Deadra flee your siblings bent on revenge, crossing many different arenas. The game continues to weave it’s story though current missions involving Ghat’s flight from home and flashback missions that help paint the background story of what events led up to the opening sequence of Ghat’s attack on Father-Mother. The story, I can only describe as an LSD-inspired roller coaster as you follow Ghat and Deadra as they explore the lands outside their hometown Halstedom and try to stay alive. It can be very vague, but it’s enough to keep the game progressing at a decent pace. My one contempt with Zeno Clash’s story is that a cut scene about three quarters of the way through the game makes the end “twist” painfully obvious to anyone who has been paying the least bit of attention, and somewhat detracts from the reveal at the game’s conclusion. The game lasts a mere 5-6 hours, but replay broadens with multiple difficulty levels and a Challenge Mode containing progressively difficult waves of foes to wade through with each floor of the tower you survive. There’s plenty of achievements to keep you coming back, mostly standard fare but some have interesting twists. The voice acting and audio were very good, nothing over-the-top or cheesy, but very well done for an independent developer.
Attention has to be given to the unique weapons and combat that definitely make the game what it is. Above I’ve shown two of the weapons you can wield in the game – the fish guns and the skull bombs. All weapons seem to be pieced together from various odd-fitting parts, but work very well not only in combat but in adding to the atmosphere and immersion in the game. The fish guns have four shots each before requiring reload, also available is a musket/sniper rifle and two versions of a crossbow. One crossbow fires a single explosive skull before requiring reload, the other crossbow fires two regular projectiles. Melee combat weapons are limited to clubs/hammers that must be used to attack the games larger foes that cannot be damaged by Ghat’s melee attacks. Ghat’s physical attacks are where the game really shines. I’d never have imagined first-person fighting mechanics would work so fluidly, but ACE Team has definitely pulled it off and made it addicting. Combos can be accomplished by holding the LMB, strong attacks with the RMB and pressing ‘S’ while hitting the RMB adds to the strong attack. Block is done with the space bar, but beware—any held weapons will be thrown if you try to block while holding them. Can’t understand why that was done, or what led to that decision, but it can be frustrating until you remember that. There is an option to auto-target, and I would recommend shutting it off–it seemed to be more of a hassle to try and break my locked target if I needed to flee than it was to lock-on to an enemy the few times I wanted. Further attacks can be performed when an enemy is stunned by moving forward with the ‘W’ key you grab your opponent and then have the option of throwing them by hitting LMB + any direction, or just kneeing them in the head by tapping LMB. The combat works much better as a one on one option, the more opponents the better the chance you will be flanked and overpowered. As I mentioned, the heavy opponents don’t take damage from your regular melee attacks, but usually are accompanied by smaller foes. This also lends to confusion with blocking/weapon throwing as you need to keep a melee weapon in hand to deal damage to the heavy character, but throw your weapon if you attempt to block the smaller foe’s attacks. Hopefully this will be addressed in Zeno Clash 2, but it just takes some getting used to and definitely is not a game-breaking mechanic.
All in all, Zeno Clash is an amazing thrill ride from start to finish. I highly recommend stashing a MS Points card for when this game comes out on XBLA, if you are not a PC game player. If you are, stop reading this and pick it up from Steam or Direct2Drive! It is a short game, there is no multiplayer, but the replay value of progressive playthroughs and the Challenge Mode make it worth the $14.99 price-tag on Steam. If you are a gamer that plays ANY First-Person games, I would have to say that this game is a no-brainer for you. I can’t say enough about it, it’s hands-down the best download only title I’ve come across and it already has me waiting for ACE Team’s announced sequel.
