Zeno Clash is a weird game. When people bring up examples of games that do first person melee, the list usually reads as Dark Messiah, the Condemned series, and Zeno Clash. I haven't tried out the Condemned games before, but I assume in terms of just fist on fist action, Zeno Clash goes the most indepth with its systems. I also thought it'd be nice timing to look at this game as well since the developer's other project, Rock of Ages, comes out in a few days.

This will probably be the end of these Source game write ups for a while. If you haven't been following, Source & Sorcery are little looks at third party Source games that usually try to include a focus on their Source engine merits. Garry's Mod is the last Source game I have and the way it automatically installs other Source games you own to fill out its models section is a turn off.

In other news, I've updated the list of PAX galleries from my last post, so if you need photos of a lady dressed up as Peach to make it through those lonely nights, them Flickr links are your oyster. I also just ran through the Space Marine demo and I have clearly been missing out (it's not too shabby).



Release Date: April 21, 2009
Developer: ACE Team
Platforms: PC, XBLA
Price: $14.99
Steam Store Page

Zeno Clash is a really weird game. Not in terms of gameplay, but the universe it's set in and the aesthetics. It doesn't make any qualms about trying to be grounded in any sort of logic or have some kind of recognizable societal hierarchy. Things and characters appear and behave in certain ways and you just have to accept their oddities.

At its core, the game consists of small arenas that pit you against a small number of opponents you primarily deal with with your fists until you can move onward in a linear fashion. The meat and potatoes comes from how you vary up the combos you have while fighting and positioning yourself around enemies using the lock on system.



This is by far the most visually unique game on Source. Every character you fight against has a unique character model and as far as I can tell a unique species. All the environments, structures, and weapons look very alien to the point where it may be offputting. Technically speaking, this is also one of the most visually impressive Source games.

There's a heavy emphasis on DOF and motion blur and it seems to be more convincing than the cheaper variations you find of it in Source games like GMod. A lot of the creatures you'll run across are huge and nicely idly animated in the background. There's a level where they tie a dynamic light to your view so any place you look, shadows are constantly being cast which is a pretty impressive effect that's usually tied to events and objects in the environments instead.



One area where the game lacks is the voice acting. All the straight voice acting feels like the actors are literally tired or unmotivated. Any of the dramatic voice acting sounds either forced or like they're acting too hard and contrasts oddly with the straight voice actors. The VA audio doesn't mix in well with the rest of the game and has a too close to the mic sound. Another area lacking in the game are all the camera movements during the cutscenes. They try to play around a lot with using dutch angles but panning cameras in Source games never animates smoothly and usually just looks really stilted.



My problem with the combat is that the pacing feels at odds with how deliberate they've designed the moves to be. Every single action you do feels like it takes slightly longer than you'd like. From when you throw a punch and it doesn't connect, to your punch being blocked, to the stun you get when your punch gets interrupted, to when you miss a kick. Even after every "successful" action, you're faced with a delay that breaks up any sort of flow or momentum you build up on top of them already implementing a stamina system to try and further limit you.

Another odd design choice is them only allowing you to look a certain angle downwards. I imagine they did this so it'd be easier to find the correct spot to look at (kicking involves the regular attack button looking downward), but this really breaks your ability to quickly (and normally, in a lot of cases) pick up items and weapons off the ground in a hurry.



I'm not so sure I'd pay $15 for it at a time like this when digitally distributed games are much more abundant than they were in 2009, you could probably do better for your money. It is definitely a game worth checking out though on sale if only to see the ridiculous art and world they've created.