Zeno Clash [PC]

19 Aug 2009 at 10:40:13 by Peter Parrish
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

A blind assassin stands atop a gigantic creature whose ancestry appears to be some combination of dinosaur, dromedary and Jim Hensen's creature shop. His purpose is the elimination of our protagonist - the mysterious Ghat, murderer of the hermaphrodite bird-figure Father-Mother. From his lofty perch, the assassin throws parachuting squirrels tied with explosive barrels to the desert floor below, hoping to follow their squeaks as they swarm around Ghat and ignite their crude bombs with rifle fire.

Just another day in the world of Zeno Clash.

Chilean developers ACE Team have taken a look at Valve's source engine, decided it could be used for a world filled with things even more exotic than headcrabs and antlions, and crafted a fantasy setting of refreshing originality. There are segments reminiscent of 80s fantasy flicks like The Dark Crystal or Labyrinth, but these are just echoes; tugging at the memories of visual creativity and stylistic oddness presented by those films. Everything else, though it may hint at some familiar genesis, feels unique.

This is important in ways beyond the purely artistic. Because players are thrown into an unrecognisable world with strange social conventions and twisted morality, they are unable to trust their instincts for regular fantasy conventions. Without any obvious signifiers like a cackling dark knight or a kindly old wizard to latch on to, it's much more difficult to get a grip on what motivates the characters in this curious land. The whole point of using a fantasy setting is to benefit from the 'anything can happen, anything is possible' aesthetic that it brings - something which is often forgotten in generic orcs-n-elves jaunts, but something that ACE Team have warmly embraced. The scene with the blind assassin COULD just have been a normal chap in a boring tower throwing regular bombs, but the fact that it ISN'T keeps things far more interesting.

'Things' in this instance mostly refers to punching bonkers adversaries in the face, introducing them to your knee and then flinging them into one another. Or just trying to shoot them with handguns made out of fish, as if that were the most everyday solution in the world. Aside from the shock of the surroundings, the first person shooter segments work roughly as you'd expect - it's the first person beat em up parts (which make up the majority of the game) that are rather different from the standard formula. In fact they share quite a bit in common with classic scrolling beat-em-ups, like Target Renegade or Streets of Rage. Except, you know, in first person.

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