Zeno Clash 2 has issued a free update today adding a pair of fresh challenge modes: Framerate and Coliseum. Framerate mode pits players.

.: 5 May 2010,Mode(s)Zeno Clash is a with elements of a. It is the debut game of developer and uses the.

It was released for download through content delivery service on 21 April,. The Xbox 360 version, entitled Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition, was released 5 May 2010 and contains additional features not found in the PC version. The game is set in the fantasy world of Zenozoik, and follows Ghat, a young man who is on the run from his vengeful siblings, and Deadra, his female companion, as they travel through strange and exotic lands.The PC version of the game was favorably received and received an aggregate score of 77/100 on and 77.50% on. The Xbox 360 version was also praised and gained an average 74/100 at Metacritic and 75.46% at GameRankings.

Critics praised its strange yet robust setting and unique character designs. It was a finalist for Excellence in Visual Art at the 2009, was named 2009's Independent Game of the Year by, and PC Game of the Month by in April 2009. Zeno Clash places a heavy emphasis on first-person combat.In the main story mode, players assume the role of Ghat and progress through the world of Zenozoik, visiting various locations in a linear sequence. Gameplay is presented in a, with occasional in a. When the player enters certain areas, it triggers a, initiating a battle in which the player must defeat all enemies to proceed. Ghat is proficient in martial arts, and can dodge or counter enemy attacks.

While there is a strong focus on unarmed combat, Ghat can also obtain unconventional melee and ranged weapons by several means, such as disarming enemies. Intermittent segments of gameplay happen similarly to a linear progression shooter.In addition to the single-player story, Challenge Mode allows the player to defeat enemies while climbing a tower or descending into a pit. The results are ranked through every time the player beats a tower floor's final.

Father-MotherThe story takes place in a fictional fantasy world called Zenozoik, and begins in a town called Halstedom. The game commences with Ghat, the game's protagonist, regaining consciousness after setting off an explosion which kills Father-Mother, an ostensibly creature, which has raised a large and influential family. Ghat is one of Father-Mother's children, who turned on it after discovering its secret. Ghat runs away from the town, chased by his brothers and sisters seeking to kill him, and is banished from his family. He is accompanied by a female companion named Deadra who has saved Ghat from apathy.During their travels away from Halstedom, Ghat explains to Deadra through partially interactive flashbacks the events that led up to his attempt on Father-Mother's life. One of the first things that is mentioned is that he lived for a time with the Corwid of the Free, the insane residents of the forests of Zenozoik.

While he has turned away from his past life as a Corwid, his brothers and sisters still consider him as one. Ghat still harbors a sense of admiration for the single-mindedness of Corwids. Regardless, when he encounters them a fight ensues.Later on, Deadra and Ghat reach a large desert area. When Ghat returns from hunting rabbit-like creatures, he discovers a blind mercenary known only as the Hunter, who points a rifle at Deadra's head while she sleeps. The Hunter reveals that he was sent after them by Ghat's family, and was instructed to kill both him and Deadra. Ghat pleads for her life, and the Hunter agrees to let her live if Ghat will come to a secluded area with him to fight. Ghat manages to defeat the Hunter and then leaves with Deadra.

Ghat and Deadra eventually reach the end of the world. It is there that they meet Golem, an ancient being placed there by an unknown group of people to wait there until he was needed. Golem has a complete knowledge of Ghat and Father-Mother's conflict, which he says he will end, along with all other conflicts.Upon Ghat's return to the city, he is confronted by his angry brothers and sisters once more. After this confrontation, a heavily wounded Father-Mother reveals itself, showing that it is still alive.

It declares another fight with Ghat to end the strife once and for all. A ferocious battle ensues, in which Ghat defeats Father-Mother once more. With Father-Mother at his mercy, he decides neither to kill it, nor reveal its secret. However, Golem discloses the secret anyway—that Father-Mother is actually a male creature that steals babies from their families.

It is revealed that Ghat, upon inadvertently learning this, was chased out of town by Father-Mother in an attempt to protect his secret. The game ends after Golem makes several cryptic statements about their world and family. Development. Zeno Clash uses slide-in versus screens before combat akin to many fighting games.While Zeno Clash was ACE Team's first original game, they have been developing game since the 1990s. Their last project, Zenozoik, was far larger in scope than Zeno Clash, and attempted to incorporate the disparate elements of shooting, melee combat. ACE Team later realized that it was too ambitious for a small independent studio, and decided to make a more focused game. Zeno Clash is what emerged—player exploration is linear, and role-playing elements were excluded altogether.

The game was initially conceived as a total conversion modification using the. ACE Team showed a demo version to Valve, the creators of the engine, who were impressed by the game's quality. The two companies then negotiated an engine licensing and distribution deal.In an interview, the developers have stated that they consider the game to be a 'First-Person Fighter (with some shooter elements)'. They also likened it to ' meets ', and stated that they have drawn a lot of inspiration from traditional fighting games—this includes 'versus screens' sliding in before combat is initiated. Regarding the art style, they cited 's paintings and 's 'punk fantasy' illustrations as visual inspirations.

They stated that publishers were unsure if consumers could relate to the art direction, but nonetheless stuck to their vision, creating a game that looks unlike anything else on the market. To get their desired organic look, they used static props exported from with pre-rendered lighting instead of using brush-based geometry that Source was specialized for.On October 2009, ACE Team announced that they partnered with to release a port of the game for. This version of the game dubbed Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition adds new game modes and features such as for tower challenges in both offline and online games, new attacks, new weapons, a new voice actress for the character Deadra, a character gallery and an awareness system. Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition was released on Xbox Live Arcade on 5 May 2010.In July 2009 the SDK of the game to allow easier modding was released by the developer.

Marketing and release The game was first released for download through Valve's content delivery service, on 21 April 2009, and is available for purchase either directly through Steam or via Direct2Drive. It was published for retail by Noviy Disk in Russia, and by Iceberg Interactive in Europe. In October 2009, announced that it planned to publish the game for retail in 'soon'. Has announced that they will be bringing an Ultimate Edition of the game to the as an download in March 2010. ACE Team continued to provide support post-release, releasing character models for use with another Source engine game, several new Challenge levels as free, and a.Zeno Clash received some press for its developers' reaction to. ACE Team member Carlos Bordeu left comments on many torrent sites saying that ACE Team did not intend to stop the unlicensed downloading of Zeno Clash, but rather implored downloaders to purchase the game if they enjoyed it. ACE Team later claimed that their unique approach, while probably not changing the minds of potential infringers, accidentally generated press which helped to market the product.

Reception ReceptionAggregate scoresAggregatorScore77.80% (PC)75.46% (X360)77/100 (PC)74/100 (X360)Review scoresPublicationScoreA-8/10B6.5/108.4/10.0VideoGamer.com8/10The game received an aggregate score of 77/100 on and 77.80% on. In January 2009, Zeno Clash was a nominated finalist in the yearly competition, in the category of Excellence in Visual Art. It was one of five games to be selected for this award, from a total of 226 participating titles.

It was named PC Game of the Month by for April 2009. It was praised for its originality and 'satisfying sense of combat.' It was a finalist in the category of Best Debut in the Tenth Annual Game Developer Choice Awards. It also won 's 2009's Independent Game of the Year.The gaming website reviewed the game two days before its release, giving it four out of four thumbs up and highly recommending the title.

Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition was similarly received by critics, averaging 74/100 at Metacritic and 75.46% at GameRankings. Sales for Ultimate Edition are reported as being significantly lower than the PC version. It did however place eighth in sales the week of its releaseThe unique visual design and story received high praise from most critics. The reviewers from Rock, Paper, Shotgun stated that while the art of the game was 'really unusual to look at' they felt that the visuals were 'something of a reward'. 's Dan Pearson called the game's environments 'lushly crafted and massively colourful'. Jamin Smith, reviewer for VideoGamer.com felt that the 'narrative that was (probably) conjured up during an intense drug induced trip.'

He went on to call the game world 'incredibly cohesive' and stated that the story provided a perfect complement to the atmosphere. Jason Ocampo of remarked in his review that 'thanks to smart design and storytelling, it feels refreshingly original and completely compelling.' Reviewers were divided on gameplay aspects. 's Scott Sharkey felt that the first-person fisticuffs were convincing when combined with camera motion; he compared such aspects to.

Eduardo Reboucas of felt that the trigger-based controls of the Ultimate Edition took some getting used to and that some encounters with enemies can occasionally become frustrating. Jason Ocampo of IGN felt that the hand-to-hand combat was 'a bit clumsy, but wholly satisfying at the same time.' Brett Todd of was less favorable, calling it 'simplistic' and 'monotonous,' citing its lack of variety in gameplay. ^ Kieron, Gillen; Meer, Alec; Rossignol, Jim; Walker, John (19 April 2009).

Retrieved 5 November 2009. Staff.

Retrieved 5 November 2009. Bordeu, Andre (25 February 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009.

ACE Team (21 April 2009). Level/area: Return. Golem: It is by chance and not virtue, that Ghat discovered a flaw in Father-Mother. After that both Ghat's an Father-Mother's reaction was irrational and violent. ACE Team (21 April 2009). Level/area: Return. Golem: After Ghat fought Father-Mother he ran away.

Unicorn (23 April 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009. ACE Team (21 April 2009). Level/area: Return. Golem: And you, Deadra, were most kind, saving him from apathy and searching for safety with him. C, David (9 April 2009).

Retrieved 5 November 2009. ACE Team (21 April 2009). Level/area: The Corwid of the Free. ACE Team (21 April 2009).

Level/area: Hunter Hunter. ACE Team (21 April 2009). Level/area: Return.

Golem: I had a duty to stay there. To watch, to wait. Long before you were born, I was there. The people who put me there were wise.

ACE Team (21 April 2009). Level/area: Throne. ACE Team (21 April 2009). Level/area: Family Reunion.

^ Bordeu, Edmundo (30 April 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009. ^. Retrieved 5 November 2009. ^ Walker, John (30 January 2009). Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 5 November 2009.

^ Bordeu, Carlos (8 October 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009. Bordeu, Carlos (1 October 2009). Retrieved 14 December 2010. Bordeu, Carlos (10 March 2010). Retrieved 14 December 2010.

Yes, correct. Deadra's voice was completely re-recorded. She has a new voice and sounds a lot better now. Bordeu, Carlos (10 March 2010). Retrieved 14 December 2010. Bordeu, Carlos (28 April 2010). Retrieved 14 December 2010.

Hinkle, David (29 April 2010). Retrieved 14 December 2010.

(2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009. Iceberg Interactive. 10 September 2009.

Retrieved 5 November 2009. Fahey, Mike (5 October 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009.

Good, Owen (30 September 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009.

Meer, Alec (12 May 2009). Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 5 November 2009.

Plunkett, Luke (24 June 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009. Walker, John (29 June 2009). Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 5 November 2009.

Good, Owen (2 May 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009.

enigmax (27 April 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009. ^. Retrieved 5 November 2009. ^. Retrieved 14 December 2010. ^.

Retrieved 5 November 2009. ^.

Retrieved 14 December 2010. ^ Sharkey, Scott (5 May 2010). Retrieved 20 January 2011.

^ Reboucas, Eduardo (13 May 2010). Retrieved 20 January 2011.

^ Todd, Brett (22 May 2009). Retrieved 6 May 2009. ^ Pearson, Dan (22 April 2009). Retrieved 23 April 2009. ^ Ocampo, Jason (24 April 2009). Retrieved 11 September 2009.

^ Smith, Jamin (21 May 2010). Retrieved 20 January 2011.

Retrieved 5 November 2009. Staff (30 April 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009. 19 January 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2011.

'PC Gamer' (March 2010). Purchese, Robert (29 July 2010). Retrieved 14 December 2010.

Hyrb, Larry (11 May 2010). Retrieved 19 January 2011. Walker, John (19 May 2009). Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 5 November 2009.

Bordeu, Carlos (19 May 2009). Retrieved 5 November 2009.External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to.

Much like its predecessor, is a game about proving that melee combat can be more than just something to fall back on when you're out of ammo. You don't just punch and kick, but dodge an incoming blow and ram a fist into your enemy's unsuspecting head.

You charge with an elbow slam. You grab a foe to pummel and throw into the clutches of pain. All in a world whose idea of concept art must have been a Post-It note saying 'Buy more drugs'. 'Zeno Clash 2 picks up where the first left off – in a state of confusion.' Zeno Clash 2 picks up where the first left off – in a state of confusion. The main character is Ghat, 'son' of a child-stealing bird monster called Father-Mother, on a quest to help free the aforementioned from a golem trying to bring.

A seemingly reasonable sense of law and order to the world? It makes about as much sense as anything else in this poorly told tale, which looks great, but usually sounds like the chirping of crazy people. The plot does allow for more fighting, however, and lots of it.The combat is immensely satisfying, putting a solid thump behind your solid thumps, even if the combos are fiddly enough when used against a training dummy, never mind enemies actively fighting back. It's a brutal combat style that worked great in the first game, and unsurprisingly does so here too.

It's arguably the best first-person melee ever, bringing a little Punch-Out! Into a gloriously crazy fantasy world.The catch is that while the overall world design – and fighting a couple of guys at once – can be put together, circled and labelled 'Things Zeno Clash 2 Does Really Well', you're left with far too much that it doesn't do well, or at best does adequately. When battles scale up to taking on crowds, for instance, which Zeno Clash 2 loves to do, you simply don't have the situational awareness to enjoy the same sense of flow. While it's possible to mitigate this with another player in co-op, the AI companions are practically useless.

The result is that instead of focusing on the technical joy of fighting – which you do get against individual foes – you're too often stuck flailing in a scrum. 'Zeno Clash 2 is a classic example of bigger not being better.' Areas that are technically improved are still often lacking something. Guns are now scattered around, but mostly useless.

A couple of new toys, such as an explosive charge fired by pointing at the sun, are more interesting, but tend to be fiddly to use mid-battle. The most notable change is that the levels are now open, although only to a point, with little to actually do in them except wander to the next fight and be frustrated by some clumsy, bolted-on RPG mechanics.

Linking skill boosts to totems on the map rather than direct progression, for instance. Or quests to find allies who then refuse to join Team Facepunch purely because you've not spent points on Leadership.Zeno Clash 2 is a classic example of bigger not being better. Most of its new ideas aren't bad, and many are good directions, in theory. They're unsatisfying, though, and the attempts to build the dumb brawler at the game's core into something bigger just highlights how tight its limitations remain.

First time around, raw novelty was enough to make the experience feel special – but this sequel needed to expand on that. In losing focus, it's lost much of the charm. Expect to pay: £15/$20. Release: Out now. Developer: ACE Team. Publisher: Atlus.

Multiplayer: 2 player co-op. Link:.

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