Review: Zeno Clash

Zeno Clash isn't quite as good as it is strange ... but it's close.

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That looks an interesting game. For what systems is it available for?

blackcherry:
That looks an interesting game. For what systems is it available for?

PC.

Nice review, and that game looks really interesting.
But it's only available on steam and I don't have a credit card.... dammit.

CantFaketheFunk:

blackcherry:
That looks an interesting game. For what systems is it available for?

PC.

In that case I may get it. I have never used steam before, so it should be an experience.

A warning:: The brawls start to get boring after the third encounter or so, trust me they do.

A game like that could only be made while on a month long acid trip. I doubt anyone sober could come up with such creatures. It's original at least.

That was probably the best review I have seen on this site so far. I tend to dislike the reviews here, but this one has me intrigued, nice job.

You should do more reviews in the future.

aBlackKnight:
A warning:: The brawls start to get boring after the third encounter or so, trust me they do.

I didn't think so. They kept me interested, anyway.

I bought this game, it is brilliant!

One of the best indie games ever (not as amazing as DEFCON or World of Goo though)

Loved the review, but did you know, this week (possibly) they are adding some patches and DLC?

Is it longer or shorter than Portal?

It's interesting that the same criticism of Chronicles of Riddick came up in this game: brawling is fun & new, shooting things is getting old. I'm all for the FPS genre changing things up a bit and that seems as good a way as any.

Mirror's Edge got the ball rolling (before dropping it) and now these games seem to be pushing it even more. I wonder what's next, a sword fighting game from the FPS that actually works?

Cheesebob:
I bought this game, it is brilliant!

One of the best indie games ever (not as amazing as DEFCON or World of Goo though)

Loved the review, but did you know, this week (possibly) they are adding some patches and DLC?

Is it longer or shorter than Portal?

I'd say longer than Portal. It's probably halfway between Portal and one of the HL2 episodes in length.

CantFaketheFunk:

Cheesebob:
I bought this game, it is brilliant!

One of the best indie games ever (not as amazing as DEFCON or World of Goo though)

Loved the review, but did you know, this week (possibly) they are adding some patches and DLC?

Is it longer or shorter than Portal?

I'd say longer than Portal. It's probably halfway between Portal and one of the HL2 episodes in length.

Perfect then :D thanks.

CantFaketheFunk:

aBlackKnight:
A warning:: The brawls start to get boring after the third encounter or so, trust me they do.

I didn't think so. They kept me interested, anyway.

Yeah, they are nice, but right at the beginning you know 3 techniques
that fast punch combo
the charge punch
and the knee to the head.

And, well most of the time I did charge punch + knee, always...

The other thing that "annoys" me is the lack of a chart, to lookup the combos you can do and how extremely linear (and small) the maps are and the lack of jumping.

Thanks for the review Funk, this looks interesting I'll probably get it once I have spare moneys.

I now sure if it was down to Funk or the bizarre character and levels designs, but this review was a joy to watch...

I threw the game into my Steam basket when I was buying UT3 and ZC was 50% off (that was quite a while before the release) since it neatly fit into the 20€ I had uploaded to my PayPal account. Definitely interesting though I really can't understand much of what some characters (e.g. Metamok, the tutorial dude) say (then again the same goes for all games on the Source engine, fortunately they support subtitles). The game did leave a slightly bad taste in my mouth though since when it finally got released and I played it my graphics card burned out (VRAM overheat, caused permanent damage). OTOH I got a significantly better one for 70€ because the broken one was already 5 years old.

Hey, you know what this game looks exactly like? Breakdown, a game that I loved to pieces on the Original Xbox, and one I still count as my favorite game of all time. Problem is, noone has ever heard of Breakdown, so everyone thinks this is new and exciting. If you need me, I'll be over in a corner being a fanboy.

Ok, to be honest i didnt read the full review all i needed to see was those knees to the face and i was sold. I have been complaining an awful lot about originality in games recently so ill be damned if i dont give this one a shot. Thanks Mr. Funk, when i grow up i want to be just like you.

It certainly Looks interesting. I said the same of a few other indie games. Dyson wowed me, Castle Crashers was a resounding "meh" and Mount & Blade was just "gouge my eyes out with forks" annoying. I may give it a try just for the uniqueness of it (the Killer 7 argument)

Another first person (sorta) brawler was Condemned. Just sayin.
And if I still pc gamed, I'd check this out.

I've been playing and loving this game for a few days now. It's hard, and I'm stuck (at the market) but it's really, really FUN. So few games are FUN these days - so many are more like work than play...

Another useful titbit: Zeno Clash is available in English, Spanish, French, German and Polish, which is quite exceptional for an indie game.

Piotr Burzykowski
LocWorks - Play. Adapt. Disseminate.

That looks like Spore meets Asault on Dark Athena.

Ahh, man, this review makes me wish I could play FP games. It sounds surreal and awesome.

Think it's time to trade it in the Xbox soon..There is no way something like this would ever make it to a console, unfortunately.

This uses a modified Source engine, right?

this game is made by southamericans from chile, and believe me, takes a lot of courage and effort make a video game here in the south (im from peru). so give it a try, its a great game.

Actually it just uses the stock Episode 2 engine. This game looks very interesting. I am trying to get it but steam is bitching at me about my billing address. Have you guys heard about what the company did about the people pirating it? They asked them to buy it if they like it, just like all the cool indie devs. They are planning on releasing a demo of the game soon for people who are unsure of it.

I'm considering buying this game just to see the strange world it takes place in. The gameplay can be mediocre for all I care, I just want to this games artistic design.

good review; I liked the game, but didn't necessarily love it

Kinda puts me in mind of Condemned, well the earlier parts of Condemned 2, as far as the gameplay goes. Do like the strange and bizarre world it is set in though.

good review

apparently its made using the source engine for the half life stuff

to all the people who are 'iffy' about getting steam; GET IT, they have a deal every weekend, and sometimes its like 75% off, its like they are giving the games away some weeks

also demos, see if the games will run before you buy....even this game, i pronounce zen-o clash, has a demo

I definitely plan on getting this, but I have 2 questions

1. Can you kick?
2. I saw you using a sword or something at the end, is using melee weapons as good as the fist fights?

You can kick but its a crappy mechanic to do so. You have to aim your camera down at the ground and press the punch button (at least that's the only way I found to do it, maybe there's another way I was not aware of).

I downloaded the demo, and while I love the art direction and would love to explore the world, I have to say the subpar voice acting and controls discouraged me from getting into the game. I really didn't find the play control or fighting mechanics to be very good at all. The "locking on" system just seems to be clumsy and unneccessary. All it serves to do is restrict your view and movements from seeing what's going on around you.

Anyway, I know this isn't a discussion for the game I appologize for posting that here. Good review, and I agree on many of your points. Maybe if they had put squirrel bombs in the demo i would have considered purchasing it... then again maybe not.

I'm pretty sure Zeno is pronounced with a short e, it's short for Zenozoik and we hear that said in the game a few times.

Kicks are mostly used to kick people when they're down or deal with wildlife. You also kick when you parry an attack and counter though that's more of a roundhouse kick.

Melee weapons are fairly clunky, they're really powerful but after you take damage there's a few seconds before you can start a swing with the weapon and there's no visual indication of that, leaving you feeling like Ghat doesn't obey your inputs. They're also really damn slow.

I agree the lock-on is unnecessary, it's not like someone right in front of you is hard to hit with manual aim. All it does is get in the way when you want to grab an object on the ground in the middle of a brawl. Well, okay, it's a way of letting you holster your weapon to avoid having it knocked away but I'd rather have a holster button for that since it often gets knocked away the moment I lose the lock on a target and Ghat pulls the weapon out again even if there's another enemy right next to you.

Also I'm not sure what's supposed to be confusing about the ending. Yeah, we don't know much about Golem but that's not really a direct part of the main story about the family.