I was certain this game was older. Mid 2006 or so, but turns out it is from 2009 and is the first game from Chilean devs 'Ace Team'.

Pretty much different from anything I've played in recent memory. Zero Clash is quite a trip. A First Person Perspective title with full body awareness, it combines the traditional FPS style with a brawler set in a rather bizarre world named Zenozoik.

You play the game as 'Ghat', and you are immediately on the run after trying to blow up an entity named 'Father-Mother', who acts as some kind of ruler to the community.

Rather than go down the path of amnesia, Ghat's motivations remain unknown until the end of the game. However those actions immediately put him on the run as the villagers retaliate.

With the aid of a companion named 'Deadra', you escape the town and visit the varied locations of Zenozoik.

And varied they are. The various levels while mainly set in the forest, desert, and mountain cliffs all retain a feeling that the world is warped. Or that you are part of a fallen civilisation. Or that it is post apocalyptic. There's remnants of greater technology beyond the primitive tech you mainly have access to that all add to the weird fantasy world this game is set in.

And not just the world. Aside from the humans there are various other humanoids. Mutated freaks, monsters, and anthro critters all somehow interact and live with each other due to the conditions of the world and hostile forces outside of cities.

It is really something you have to play through. While your character can move reasonably past, the levels are short and I did enjoy taking time to walk through them taking in the world.

The real meat of the game is the battle sequences. And the game lets you know that you are about to enter one with a flashy VS screen before the battle starts and lets you preform combat moves. There's a lot to this and the game does introduce you to the various moves in the first few levels.

You can punch, swing, hammer, kick, and block. The camera is set from the player's eyes and behaves as if you were moving, swinging into enemies as you lunge your arm forward. It's a really dynamic feeling I've not seen since Arkane's Dark Messiah.

It's a big change from running up to something and clicking the 'kill this thing' button due to the rarely of missile/bullet items in the world. Each battle gets progressively more difficult, forcing you to use the new techniques you have learnt, and every enemy has their own attack style. Some will run right up to you with their fist raised back to SMASH, while others are more likely to call out to others and attack you when you are distracted.

While you can just jump around and try to hit things like an aggressive bunny rabbit, it will more likely result in your death. Instead focus on who you are attacking, and how they respond to you other attacks. And just what the others are doing if it is two plus against one.

And though there are projectile weapons, they're not as fun. I found it better to leave it to Daedra to pick them up and use on her own.

I did have great fun punching that read headed freak in the face. Many, many times.

The music and sound design just add to the experience. Creeping audio tracks just add to the idea that the world has died and the further you move into the bleakness of Zenozoik the greater this is ramped up.

But the combat is more faced paced and urgent, ramping up when it stars getting more hectic ands calming down right afterwards.

Punches and Collisions have a great satisfying cracking and flesh sound when executed. While the projectile weapons did sound flatter to me, I really didn't end up using them. Much more fun to hit things hard.

Alas the voice work is a bit iffy. It is not bad, it is not good, nor average. While capable and understandable I found a lot of my issues with it to be due to the dialogue/script itself and the game not telling much about Ghat's motivations. While they do explain parts of the world, why you are doing everything is not resolved until the end.

Zeno Clash. Quite an unexpected trip!

If you're looking for a first person fighter game and enjoy very different settings, I can really recommend this one. While there's not a fair amount of replay value, I can see myself going back for another replay in 12 months time. And there is a challenge tower session if you just want the combat.

Game Acquisition: Purchased on sale (Bundle Stars)
Platform Used: Steam
Tweet Threads: 1 2 - 12 June 2016
PC Used: Scorptec Venom 2009 MK2

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista / Vista64
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 3.0 GHz
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: At least 3 GB of free space
Video Card: 128 MB, Shader model 2.0, ATI 9600, NVidia 6600 or better
Sound Card: DirectX® 9.0c compatible sound card
DirectX® Version: DirectX® 9.0c, DirectX® 10