Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

Zeno Clash has just recently been released.  It's a first person brawler set in a bizarre and surreal world, and Gamespot reviewer Brett Todd is on the job.  By apparently totally missing the point of a major group of characters.  Apparently the fact that the group of people described by the main character as insane are in fact literally psychotic is a major flaw in the game... So it seems we've come to the point where being unusual is in itself a flaw in a video game, congrats Gamespot.  You've once again proven your worthlessness.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/zenoclash/review.html

IGN on the other hand has a rather more reasonable review.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/976/976395p1.html

[beorn080]

Sounds like someone made some mistakes in the raws for that world.

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

Sounds like someone made some mistakes in the raws for that world.

Maybe, but they'd have been DF awesome mistakes.

[Soulwynd]

I full-demoed it. Very short and not worth it. I regret even having demoed it.

[Servant Corps]

Perhaps the best comment that you could make about Zeno Clash is that it is a unique experience. You get plenty weirded out for the cut-rate Steam price of $20. This is no small feat in today's copycat gaming world, although the game relies too much on strangeness and not enough on diverse, interesting fighting action to be more than a briefly engaging curiosity.

So, all it relies upon is its setting to carry through its gameplay of fighting with fists, in a world where I can find tons of games where you can fight with fists. For free.

Gamestop surely missed the boat. It went to the cruise ship instead.

[Mephisto]

I full-demoed it. Very short and not worth it. I regret even having demoed it.

You said pretty much what I was going to say, except in roughly twenty less lines, with the exception being that I didn't demo it. I was bored one night and watched someone play it on ustream.

The whole "Mother-Father" bit just didn't interest me. It turned me off of the game, instead.

[Cthulhu]

Downloading the demo-demo(Filthy pirates...) on Steam.  If the combat is fun, I'll enjoy the demo, but I'm not buying it.  If the dialog is as bizarre as the review makes it out to be, it's gonna look hackish instead of interesting.

[Neonivek]

Apparently the fact that the group of people described by the main character as insane are in fact literally psychotic is a major flaw in the game

It can be a major flaw in the right context. Making a world incomprehensible on ordinary terms can simply alienate the player. Making everyone downright insane to the point where their actions don't seem to make any sense even on a metaphorical level is a flaw.

Though Id need to play the game to see if that is what is happening... however a First Person shooter where you arn't shooting isn't all that interesting to me.

[Cthulhu]

Just played it, looks very good.  Like Dr. Seuss and Bosch had a baby, and that baby did way too much acid.

[Davion]

The art direction was interesting. That's about it, though.

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

Apparently the fact that the group of people described by the main character as insane are in fact literally psychotic is a major flaw in the game

It can be a major flaw in the right context. Making a world incomprehensible on ordinary terms can simply alienate the player. Making everyone downright insane to the point where their actions don't seem to make any sense even on a metaphorical level is a flaw.

Though Id need to play the game to see if that is what is happening... however a First Person shooter where you arn't shooting isn't all that interesting to me.

It's not like that at all.  That's what I mean about the reviewer missing the boat.  There are a specific group of characters that are supposed to be psychotic and they're actually psychotic.  They're completely out of touch with reality.  The reviewer taking a specific quote completely out of context and trying to make it seem like it's representative of the entirety of the dialogue.  It's not, and not only that, but that dialogue makes sense in context.

It's not a first person shooter.  It's a brawler.  Just because it's first person doesn't mean it needs to be about projectile combat.  The gameplay itself I find to be challenging and satisfying for the most part, it could be better but so could everything.  It's really a matter of taste.  If you don't like what it's trying to do you won't like the game.

[Neonivek]

Like Dr. Seuss

I think you mean the artist of his books. Actual Dr. Seuss writing isn't so easy.

Just because it's first person doesn't mean it needs to be about projectile combat

I am comparing. I don't like first person shooters... why would I like one that functions on almost the same level without shooting? Though it is more comparible to Oblivion if blows actually had force behind them and I found that game to be a bit Love Hate... and the combat was more on the "Hate" end of the spectrum.

There are a specific group of characters that are supposed to be psychotic and they're actually psychotic

Such lack of Subtly. I guess he wanted to go with a modernistic method where the narrator/main character is unreliable where you can't take his words at face value.

You will notice that quite a lot of people often take everything characters say as true unless told otherwise oddly enough. (This comment is random)

[Okenido]

It's because more than 99% of games always tell the truth, and nothing but the truth... (In terms of plot, and rumors.)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ViewersAreMorons

[ductape]

Like Dr. Seuss

I think you mean the artist of his books. Actual Dr. Seuss writing isn't so easy.

Um... Dr. Suess (Theodor Seuss Geisel) did all of his own art and writing for the children's books most of us are familiar with. He was a painter, sculptor, cartoonist, and writier of childrnes boks among other things. He did write lots of other stuff, usually under pen names.

[Muz]

Heh, I've stopped paying attention to Gamespot reviews. Of all the game sites, Gamespot has the lowest credibility of all.. changing reviews in light of sponsors' complains, giving high budget games high ratings and only playing the unknowns for an hour. Not as bad in credibility as Something Awful or imsonia.ac.