Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition – Crush! Frag! Preview!

Nobody could ever write off Zeno Clash for doing what’s expected, be it either in visual style (a surreal fantasy world) or genre (first person brawler). However, despite its originality and critical acclaim, it is largely unknown to the broader gaming populace.

This is something that will be rectified in short order as Atlus has teamed up with the game’s Chilean developers, ACE Team, to port the title to Xbox Live Arcade. Tweaked, enhanced and generally rejiggered from its original PC version, Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition will give console gamers a chance to finally experience the hallucinatory vistas of Zenozoik. Atlus recently gave us a look at the game in action and talked on just what makes this port so “ultimate”. Join us inside and see for yourself.

When the first thing you’re shown of the game is a level whose culmination is a boss fight versus a blind bounty hunter riding atop a strange behemoth resembling a brontosaurus crossed with a tapir who uses thrown exploding squirrels to locate you, you know you’re in for a hell of a ride.

Let’s let that sink in for a moment. No, I’m not kidding. This kind of oddness is par for the course with Zeno Clash. It’s definitely not the kind of game that fades timidly into the woodwork.

Atlus worked closely with ACE Team to refine the 2009 release, already running on the adaptable and 360 friendly Source engine, into a leaner, meaner beast. Visuals are running in native 720p and the game’s first-person fighting controls are all mapped to the Xbox’s button layout in what sounds like a reasonably intuitive configuration for the game’s various blocks, grabs and attacks. Zeno Clash also features some ranged combat, but ammo is limited and clip sizes are small, meaning you’ll likely be saving those shots for special occasions, making each one count and to assist with this, the on-screen interface has been redone as well, now showing quest items, ammo and more.

It’s not all simply streamlining the PC experience to the home console, however, as the Ultimate Edition has received everything from new weapons and attacks to tweaks on of the game’s level structure and balance. They even went so far as to re-record the dialog for Deadra, the female companion of main character Ghat, with a new voice actress based on fan feedback that something felt a bit off with the original version.

The Tower and Pit challenge maps, which were added to the PC version as post-release content, see one of the game’s biggest additions in the form of both local split-screen and online co-op. Now you can cave in the faces of assorted grotesqueries and work your way up the leaderboards with a buddy in tow! Atlus stated that some of the Ultimate Edition‘s changes may find their way back to the PC version in the future (although this was said to be unlikely with the new co-op challenge mode), but for now these are all Xbox Live Arcade exclusives. There were also some additional new features teased that we didn’t actually get a chance to check out during the demo, much to our disappointment.

All in all, the preview served to ramp up my curiosity for a title that I’ve already been highly interested in. I actually own Zeno Clash via Steam, but have yet to sit down and play it, due to my dislike for mouse-based setups. I’d been putting the whole affair off until I could pick up a wired 360 controller for my PC, thinking it would play more intuitively for a diehard console gamer like myself. Looks like Atlus may have just saved me $30 while bringing a tighter, more refined experience to the table. Thanks guys!

Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition is due on Xbox Live Arcade on March 31st. The game will be rated T and according to Atlus will cost no more than 1200 MS points. Keep an eye out for CFD!’s review.

Tags: ACE Team Atlus preview Xbox Live Arcade Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition