Zeno Clash (2009)

Zeno Clash came completely out of the blue for me. At first glance, it seemed like some kind of a demented lovechild from a three-way between Salvador Dali, Hieronymus Bosch and Jim Henson. And it involved punching people. Suffice to say, Zeno Clash was an immediate purchase for me, and this was helped by the game being on a pre-order sale on Steam at the time. Nevertheless, it took me a while to finally get to play it, and I was very pleasantly surprised.

One might be slightly apprehensive about buying the first game made by a small indie developer in Chile, but this apprehension is completely unfounded. These guys know what they're doing.

How would I put this? In a nutshell, Zeno Clash is a First Person Puncher. The player progresses in the story with brief travel sessions, and a series of brawls with assorted characters. The concept is fairly simple, and the result reflects this. This is not a bad thing by a long shot, however, as the development team has obviously seen a lot of trouble fine-tuning the features in the game that they decided to include. There are some ranged weapons to engage your opponents with, and they can lend an advantage in a battle, but the real meat of the game is in the up-close and personal ass-kickery applied in liberal doses. The close combat in this game feels very dynamic, and sufficiently complex to allow for some tactics in a fight, without becoming complex to learn. The combat is well made overall, and is somewhat reminiscient of the close combat in Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. All in all, it's great fun, and kneeing your enemies in the face is just very, very satisfying.

The game puts the player in the shoes of Ghat, one of the eldest children of a massive hermaphroditic bird-creature called Father-Mother, and follows the events that unfold when the rest of his family begins to pursue him after killing Father-Mother for undisclosed reasons. This journey involves punching a lot of people in the face, and shooting critters, seeing wonderful scenery and immersing yourself into a game that feels like something between a fairy-tale and a demented dream. And you punch a lot of people(with occasional kicks thrown in). As I remarked before, stylistically the game bears similarities to an odd amalgam of the works of Salvador Dali, Hieronymus Bosch and Jim Henson, with healthy amount of imagination thrown in. The Zeno Clash team has several artists, and it shows in the inspired designs, with Zeno Clash differing significantly from the current trend of grimdarkgreybrownangst gaming.

Zeno Clash is a little on the short side, with a complete playthrough ranging from 3-5 hours, or maybe more, depending on the speed of the player. Then again, the game is priced half(or one third, depending on where you live) of what most retail games go for. There is also little to no filler in the game, and those 4 hours are all gameplay. Zeno Clash is no 30-hour game with 15 hours of traveling between game areas, and the game never overstays its welcome. There is also a tower-challenge mode, if a quick fight is all you want, with some statistics that can be compared between Steam-friends. There is no real multiplayer mode though. I must also mention that the ACE Team(ze developers) are wonderfully responsive to feedback, quickly taking care of issues that players discovered shortly after release, in addition to incorporating minor features that fans felt were missing from the original release. Props to them for that.

The gameplay of Zeno Clash is solid, if a little limited, but it serves splendidly for what it set out to accomplish. The ACE Team crafted fun, and relatively realistic and interactive fighting mechanics for the game, and after the patch fixing the issues I had, there are no complaints. It might feel a little awkward at times, but I don't remember a similar system off-hand that handles itself any better. The graphics in Zeno Clash are wonderful, with ACE Team creating wonderful critters and vistas to see. I was honestly quite surprised that their first game would be so good-looking. The sound and music side of the game is quite well made as well, with very different, yet oddly fitting score. The voice acting ranges from passable to good, and it's quite good for an indie game, with the developers themselves dabbling at it themselves as well(quite successfully, I might add). The story of Zeno Clash is bizarre, but not quite as out-there as I had come to expect from the visuals. Still, it was quiet entertaining, and meshed in well with rest of the game. I was actually quite curious after finishing the game, and wanted to know more about the world of Zenozoik, so here's hoping that ACE Team gets to make more games in the same vein. Indeed, they have made one semi-related game, Malstrums Mansion, which is an old-school adventure game playable by Flash on their website. Finishing it gives an unlockable achievement in Zeno Clash, if one needs incentive to play it(even though it's quite fun).

The game feels sometimes a little rough, but the end result is overall quite polished, well executed and refreshing effort, which everyone with even a cursory interest should consider trying out. There is a demo out, if you want to try it out first.

In conclusion, Zeno Clash is an interesting and refreshing game, definitely worth checking out. I truly hope that the developers make enough from it to stay in business, and keep making more games, as they seem to have new and fresh ideas to share. More developers and games like these, thank you very much!

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10 for being a little rough]

http://www.zenoclash.com/

Quake Live (beta) [2009]

Quake III Arena was a big thing for me at its release, one of the first first-person shooters I truly invested myself into. It was fast-paced, arcade-type action, with simple, yet memorable weapons. The railgun. The BFG. Of course, the rocket launcher. Friends would come from all over my neighborhood to play. Good times. Now, like some wet dream of mine, it's back. It's free. It's playable in your browser, with a Steam-esque friends utility built in for organizing games with your comrades. Also included is the latest trend in games, in-game achievements.

To those who have never played Q3A, it's a straightforward FPS in terms of your objectives, with these game modes: Deathmatch (kill everyone else until a frag limit, or time limit, is reached), Team Deathmatch (kill the other team), and Capture the Flag (you know this one). Also included is Duel (one-on-one with someone) and Clan Arena (kind of a Duel for clans). While those are basic game modes, the action itself while playing is unique to Quake. Your character is very mobile, with a relatively fast run speed compared to other FPS games, and also bolstered by the jump pads usually strewn throughout a level. You can also rocket jump. Yeah, that's as fun as it sounds. Those aforementioned jump pads throw your character to where they point, and often times connect with others so you can quickly get out of a sticky situation and find yourself in an entirely different area of the map.

The characters that populate it consist of space biker mercenaries, re-animated skeletons, aliens of all kinds, and cyberpunk chicks on hoverboards, among others. You can choose any of those at your leisure from the settings menu. Settings vary from combat on hovering platforms in the vacuum of space (where knocking people off with splash damage, and not falling yourself, is often key to success) to the tight quarters of occult temples. An in-game announcer details the vital things as well as when you do something like frag several people in rapid succession. Further increasing the frantic gameplay is the fact that usually players are constantly spawning all over the map, with no delay. Also notable is the no-frills HUD which is highly customizeable.

The game is in beta, but the gameplay is smooth, and I've yet to experience any bugs in either the game itself or the browser-based UI. The game is seemingly intact from its Quake III: Gold iteration, with no trite additions to gameplay or weapons. The HUD has been streamlined, however. As I said, the game is played directly from your browser, that being IE or Firefox in Windows XP or Vista, but id plans on branching out to OS X and Linux eventually. How the browser connectivity works is summed up on Wikipedia:

“The program is a modified version of Quake III: Gold and executed as compiled code on the user's processor, the user downloads the game in the background as a part of the registration process and interacts with the program either through a browser plugin that can be embedded on the webpage or as fullscreen.”

No Flash or derivations thereof. After signing up, you download the client while going through a quick tutorial and training match with Crash to determine your skill, as the game suggests servers for you based on your talent relative to the players there. Note that you don’t have to follow these suggestions.

Quake Live is a terrific idea, executed well, and hell, it’s free. If you’re looking for a game to try out with friends, give it a shot. Nothing to lose.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://www.quakelive.com/

Ninja Gaiden II (2008)

Ninja Gaiden games are not for those with weak constitutions - they weren't 20 years ago, and they most certainly aren't now. Much like Metroid, this series made the jump from 2D successfully in the previous console generation, instantly entrenching its place amongst the most hardcore of action games. Four years, two expansions, a remake, and a port later, Team Ninja finally released a true sequel.

Like its predecessor, Ninja Gaiden II is a punishing game. However, although the difficulty is quite high, almost frustratingly so for newcomers, it is achieved in a totally legitimate fashion, unlike the great majority of games today. Every enemy in the game down to the most common foot soldier is totally capable of handing your ass to you; not through artificial mechanisms like rubber-banding or skewed damage/health levels, but by actually being competently programmed. Your foes will capitalize on blind spots, gang up on you, attack from afar, grab when you block - they will do anything in their power to take you down. Did you forget about that ninja who's crawling around on what remains of their limbs? Well, he'll latch on if he gets close, exploding shuriken in his mouth, a suicidal kamikaze bent on taking down that extra bit of your health. Prepare to be overwhelmed, humiliated, and brutally defeated at every step of the way. But just like before, it's totally worth it. There is a way out of every situation, and if you put the effort into understanding this, the game will be yours to control. The hardest teachers are always the ones that impart the best knowledge, and nothing shows this better than how easy killing earlier enemies becomes as you progress. The fighting controls in Ninja Gaiden II are a slightly finessed and tweaked, yet familiar style for anyone who played the first game. Combos have become more powerful and useful, which means that the player is no longer dependent on Flying Swallow spamming in tough situations. The extra weapons have likewise become more viable, with only slight differences in usefulness, allowing players to successfully fight with whichever ones they prefer. Fighting is smooth and satisfying, now with 500% more gore through the addition of severable limbs and quick executions. You just can't beat watching Ryu cut off the last leg off a ninja with the Dragon Sword, then decapitate him viciously as he stands, propped upright on rigid stumps. It feels fantastic, and looks just as good. Another new aspect is a more lenient health system, featuring light damage that is regenerated when enemies aren't present, accumulated serious damage that needs to be healed with specific items, and save points that completely fill you up the first time you save at them. Gone are the days of redoing sections over and over to make it through with the least damage in order to conserve healing items, replaced with a much more friendly system that helps keep the game moving.

Visuals, presentation, and the settings have all been improved, too. Of course, Ninja Gaiden II is shiny and modern, well removed from the early oXbox days, but the art direction is far more interesting. Whether I was running through the early skyscraper-laden neoTokyo rooftops or fighting in a werewolf gladiator battle, there were so many memorable moments in the game that really stuck out and stayed with me. I don't want to give many details, because it's best that you experience them first-hand, but I was far more entertained with the world presented here than I've been in a long time. Combine that with some of the most legitimately badass cut-scenes and fights (even normal ones) around, and you'll start to see what a gem Ninja Gaiden II is. The story is completely inconsequential, but it's a fun little take on divine creation and common folklore (Elizebeth Bathory and a rather Rasputin-esque character figure prominently), and I certainly appreciated that they at least made a unique tale that matched the outlandish nature of the game. The female companion for Ryu is rather laughable, however. She quickly goes from ginormous-titted, gun-wielding CIA operative to damsel in distress status relegated to saying, "Oh, Ryu." Actually, I have a sort of admiration for Itagaki's so over-the-top approach on her that it becomes nigh-on parody of female characters in games. I highly doubt he meant it that way, but I still applaud his frankly blatant fanservice.

Of course, all is not honey and cinnamon here. The biggest offender lies in the horrendous camera that is inexplicably unchanged from the first game. Although it's mostly noticeable in the earlier parts of the game and on certain boss fights, there's really no way around it - the camera sucks in just about every way a camera can in the 3D, action-oriented setting. However, the more you play, the less you'll notice it as you stop expecting the game to play nice and start anticipating the attacks from around blind corners. It's really not a huge deal once you get into things, but it's really jarring at first. In addition to that, the bosses can be rather hit-or-miss. While the common enemies are always a joy to fight (even the annoying ones like the blade-wielding zombie dogs or explosive shuriken-spamming spider ninjas), the bosses vary from extremely easy to beat, seemingly insurmountable until you understand them, or merely trite and annoying. This is most obvious at the end of the game, when you fight a projectile-heavy wanker full of unavoidable attacks right before going on to the mandatory bow shenanigans of the final boss. I really didn't mind any of the parts too much until I got to that, but it's a bit of a drag to end the game so poorly.

In the end, you should know if this sort of game is worth your time. If you're really itching to throw yourself into it and aren't afraid of coming out sore and bruised, then I really can't recommend this enough. If you're not huge into highly challenging games or the action-oriented hack and slash gameplay, you should definitely rent or demo this beforehand. I got fairly far into the first Ninja Gaiden before losing interest, but this one kept me riveted the entire time. Ninja Gaiden II isn't perfect by any means, but it's still a masterpiece. Now that Itagaki is free of Tecmo, I expect him to produce something flawless, but that is to be seen with the future, and for now we can fill the time with more demonic blunt force castrations.

Verdict: Win [4/5]

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/splash/n/ninjagaiden2/default.htm

Prince of Persia (PC, 2008)

The newest entry to the revived Prince of Persia franchise continues the adventures of our intrepid Prince. This time he’s walking in a desert, looking for his lost donkey, and gets swept into preventing an ancient god of evil trying to escape from his prison.

For those unfamiliar with the series, the Prince of Persia games follow the Prince, a veritable master of swordplay, acrobatics and parkour, and an uncanny knack for disturbing gods, demons and messing up the timeline. The games consist mostly of puzzles, 3d-platforming and adventuring, relying on fairy-tale Arabia for the flavor of the story and the surroundings.

Like always, the series tries to re-invent itself in each of its iterations. There are some welcome additions, and some … less welcome. The game itself is very pretty. I mean it when I say pretty. This game is bloody gorgeous. The graphics have been cell-shaded, and combined with a bit of Final Fantasy-esque graphic design this leads to a result that could be straight out of a painting in a story-book. Not to mention very pretty. However, in my personal opinion, they may have gone a bit too far in the design department, when coming up with the designs for many of the buildings in the game. Suspension of disbelief is all well and good, but at least in the previous games the impossibly tall towers were usually based on a cliff or some relatively stable platform. This time, many of them are basically perched on top of stone matchsticks, couple hundred meters long. This is not a massive problem, as I didn’t exactly go into the game expecting superb realism and grittiness with brown and grey textures. In fact, POP takes exactly the opposite course, and this is refreshing. However, part of the charm of the previous games was that the Prince was a relatively normal(at least compared to all the others he met in the games) bloke, trying to survive in world-ending situations. He could do crazy acrobatics, but he was still relatively gravity-bound. This time any pretension of adhering to the laws of physics has been chucked out of the window. This leads to very pretty combos in combat, and makes scaling the impossible routes in the game possible. However, it’s just not as satisfying to scale insane obstacle courses with a guy who defies gravity, than it is to do the same with a very skilled, if fragile acrobat.

One major change in the game is the automation of the time-rewinding tactic present in the previous titles. It’s basically no longer possible to die, as Elika, your companion in the game, pulls your arse out of the fire the moment you would actually die. This helps with those people who aren’t very good at games, and removes much of the frustration of saving and loading present in many games. Still, the game as a whole is relatively easy, and at times it feels like it’s railroading the player. The possible routes to move around the environment are marked in various ways, be it scratches or vines, not to mention pressing a button shows you the way to the next chosen area. This takes much of the free-form puzzle platforming of the previous titles away, and feels less satisfying than finding your own way. It’s still bloody good fun to see the Prince run around the walls and whatnot. This same problem occurs in the combat. Instead of the free-form-use-the-environment-and-whatever-you-want combat of the previous titles, the Prince is now reduced to blocking and shuffling around, until you can pull off a pretty combo to damage your enemy. One issue I had with the combat was the prevalence of quick time events, at which I’m pretty terrible. Nothing is quite as annoying as spending a minute or two grinding down your enemy’s health, just to fail a quick time event and Elika saving you, just to see the enemy’s health bar recharge due to this.

The game has taken a step from being fully linear, to presenting you all the levels in the game, to do in whichever order you choose. This however, leads to many levels being very similar, and loses some of the charm of discovering new and radically different places. The story isn’t terribly complex, but it never was in the previous games either. The dialogue between Elika and the Prince is sometimes funny, sometimes cringe-inducing in all its wittiness, but nevertheless I did warm up to the characters over the course of the game. The meat of the game is in the platforming, as always. It’s just too bad that while it’s been expanded, the aspect of finding your own way has been neutered along the way.

Overall, the new Prince of Persia is a worthy addition to the series, and great fun to play. It’s just not as good in some aspects as its predecessors. It’s still very pretty.

Verdict: Win

http://prince-of-persia.us.ubi.com/index.php