Zeno Clash is 3D brawler game created by ACE Team originally released on the PC. The game uses the Source Engine created and made popular by Valve (Left 4 Dead and Half Life 2). The game made its Xbox 360 Live Marketplace appearance thanks to Atlus USA.
In “Zeno Clash Ultimate Edition” you control Ghat, the son of an odd creature named Father-Mother who is both Mother and Father to all its children from birth. Ghat has always cared for Father-Mother, but at one point he decided to become free and left the town where his family lived and venturing into the forest becoming what is known as a “Corwid of the Free.” As a “Corwid of the Free” Ghat lived his life at his choosing, not having to follow any orders along with other Corwids who are all different in their own way. Ghat one day returns to his hometown of Halstedom where he wants to talk to Father-Mother when he discovers something that would change the face of his family and Father-Mother.As the game begins Ghat is escaping after killing Father-Mother, he is helped by Deadra, his female companion (sometimes hinting the two are a couple) who accompanies him throughout the game. Ghat must survive by escaping as far away as he can from the pursuit of the other family members.
The game progresses as Ghat explains to Deadra all the things that had happened which leads up to their current situation. The game progresses going back and forth in events, as Ghat is being chased he will take on his brothers and sisters, and after they have a moment of break from fighting Ghat will fill in Deadra about events leading up from his time as a Corwin up to him Killing Father-Mother. Eventually Ghat will find himself up against tough opponents hired by his brothers and sisters or members of a gang that followed Father-Mother’s orders.
The gameplay on “Zeno Clash Ultimate Edition” is fairly simple which makes it easy to keep up with all the action. Ghats fights with a small array of weapons including, different types of guns, clubs and other heavy weapons, but with the main focus on his fists. Ghat uses a style similar to boxing as the Right Trigger throws quick punches and Left Trigger throws a hard punch which can break blocking opponent’s guard to overwhelm them with your attacks. While you can block your opponents’ punches and kicks, it will deplete you of your stamina. So a nice little feature is a dodging option which is similar to a boxers dodging movement which can lead to a powerful counterattack. Once you hit your opponent enough with punches they are in a stunned mode which allows you to grab them by walking up to them and you can knee them, uppercut them, or toss them to deal maximum damage. When Ghat picks up a heavy weapon such as a hammer or mace, he can swing them to knock away opponents. However, the heavy weapons are usually used on larger enemies which take 3 hits to guard break and another to kill. Lastly Ghat also has some guns used to take down opponents, it becomes similar to a FPS mode where each gun has a specific trajectory and range which you will have to test and explore, and when that doesn’t work toss a grenade to helps knock away.
The game is very short but actually really entertaining; you have 3 difficulties to choose from for the story mode, and can return to any point in the game to complete achievements or play the game on a harder mode. The game has a Tower and Pit challenge mode which adds to the overall gameplay, challenging your skills and response time by pitting you against multiple enemies or bosses and with each one you complete an achievement will be unlocked. 5 Tower Challenges and 3 Pit challenges, but for those who love a challenge your score in the challenges are posted on Live and ranked for everyone to see. Overall the game gives you about 5-6 hours of gameplay from story mode and challenges but can add more with the co-op challenges.
“ Zeno Clash UE” is pretty quirky; from its character designs, to the level layouts. The fighting still is a bit unbalanced at times, and you can easily be stuck between 2 opponents and be stuck for an easy defeat, but once you get the hang out of it a quick hit and run can make all the difference in the battles.
Zeno clash is full worth the 1200 Microsoft points, with its quirky art style, interesting plot twist and characters, but does leave you wanting more. The shortness of the game makes it a game you can beat fairly quickly but the end of the game leaves it wide open asking yourself questions which hopefully will be answered in a sequel.
B+
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