As always, spoilers ahead.
One of the weirdest experiences lately, this game both frustrated and inspired me. I’ve been keeping it on my list of intriguing games for some time, and now I got to play it and finally share some thoughts on its success.
Zeno Clash did frustrate me very much with strange controls and character movement, first of all. I was often unable to time combos correctly, or even hit the appropriate key when necessary. That, however, might have been a result of me hurrying to dive into the game, and not personalising my controls adequately. The stranger thing was character movement: when you load your weapon in the game (you can carry only one at a time), you start moving slower than a newly-born snail. You become the perfect sitting duck for everyone, and believe me, in a game where hand-to-hand combat is predominant, this is really bad news. I know it is a realistic game mechanic, but it is frustrating. The final frustration for me, however, was not the combat which I managed to get along with after a while. The problem with this game is that it’s quite linear: both the environments, with the exception of some tough battle arenas, and the story move forward without much deviation. For a new developer, however, this is acceptable; we have to remember that this is the first big project for these people.
But to be honest and pay respect where it’s due, the storyline is saved by the introduction of flashbacks. These are not passively experienced by the player; they are played in sequence as Ghat tells his story to Deadra while they travel away from Halstedom, and probably constitute about 30-40% of the game time. Combined with the fierce hand-to-hand battles, the story manages to rise way above mediocrity. I was very much interested in both how Ghat had come to murdering Father-Mother, and what would happen now that he is on the run with Deadra, followed by an assassin/hunter. The good thing about it all is that the story establishes a strikingly bizarre but very believable world. The two protagonists meet a rather strange person on their journey who takes them back to Halstedom. There, they face the many children of Father-Mother again and learn something quite sinister about him/her. The important thing is that, although it gives solid closure to the proceedings, the game leaves many open doors for sequels. I find Zeno Clash very successful because of that: it not only tells a powerful story through the interactive medium of gaming, but it also establishes a beautiful world with a lot of opportunities for improvements in game-play and more and more storytelling.
The central element that helps achieve that is the visual presentation. In Zeno Clash, colour patterns are written big. Colours vividly explode all around you in characters, flora, fauna, rock and sky. The patterns beautifully blend in when you are hit during fights; they are compatible, fitting. That is also what contributes a lot into making the hand-to-hand carnage so appealing and satisfying. ACE Team were right to choose the Source engine. They were also quite right to go into game-making. I am already looking forward to their next step.
Q. W3ary
