Developer: Infinigon
Publisher: BadLand Indie
Release Date: September 20, 2016
Platforms: PS4 (reviewed), Windows PC
Zenith is an action RPG with a strong foundation of parody-like humor. As you embark on your adventure through this medieval fantasy realm you’ll meet oddly similar characters as well as lovable original ones, encounter cliché enemies with something weirdly unique (like giant singing spiders in the opening scene), and play out a story mixed with so many movies and games it’s hard to list. As good as this may sound, Zenith ultimately ends up being a poorly designed experience which grows old quick.
World Of Wizardry
The story begins with the lonely wizard Argus Windell who wants to build himself an isolated and magical ice palace in an attempt to flee society. Or at least this is what you tell the Elf Captain as you attempt to make your way back to the Temple of Tempers, where you’re actually a member of the Imperial Mages. You need to return to camp in order to grab a sacred book which will assist you in opening the passageways into said Temple. After narrowly escaping the Elves with the help of your two friends and singing spiders (yes, operatic singing spiders), the Emperor’s military comes into the scene in a sci-fi looking aircraft.
After traveling to the mountain housing the temple with him and his entourage of highly official, but arguably unprofessional guards, you enter the palace. This is the introduction of the game which takes about half an hour or so to reach, depending on your reading speed. From here the story plays out in a cliché fashion with the strangest of events: An apocalypse is released from portals, and now it’s up to you to fix what you have started.
According to developer Infinigon, Zenith supposedly tries to capture the golden era of RPG’s, and while the pieces are in place for a grand adventure, it ends up failing on almost every front. The warning signs are present right from the beginning. The first is a classic hallmark of bad games: Overly long loading screens while displaying static, inferior graphics. To put it simply, they did not put the time in optimization for consoles. Once you actually begin playing, things do not get much better. Character movement is clunky as you run too slowly like you’re moving through molasses, there are invisible walls at every turn, and NPC’s get stuck in walls/flooring or jittering up and down in place. Unfortunately, this all happens in the first few moments of the game.
It’s All Downhill From Here
Combat is typical of an ARPG where you “smash X to win.” Your combat moves and wizard powers can be modified with over a hundred items of loot, such as Boots, Belts, Tunics, Bracers, Rings, and Pendants, plus potions and other consumables. You can adapt to each battle and situation with different gear loadouts or find the one which works for you. This could all work out well, but unfortunately most of the time combat is purely luck based. When I came across my first boss fight, I was instantly destroyed due to my dodge being ineffective.
Even when timed right enemies will have an easy time hitting you, and health is a somewhat constant problem. You will have great difficulties targeting enemies when there are more than one; there’s no targeting assist or system, so even attacks are just as much luck based as defensive maneuvering. The camera is arguably your greatest enemy while playing. It is always in a locked position, forcing you to somewhat fight in uncomfortable views. During cutscenes or times of puzzle solving, the camera is set in a helpful spot, but those are obviously of less important moments.
The graphics are nothing to get excited about, but they do their job. What the world lacks in detail, it makes up for with awesome looking magic effects and lighting. Character designs were pretty good: You will be able to comprehend who was meant to be represented when the game’s parody jokes were being made, but as far as Argus goes, he maintained the same appearance regardless of armor choice.
The music is particularly awful. While funny and unique for an RPG, it carries and many times felt overplayed and repetitive. It also brings unadjustable and unbalanced volumes, which when mixed in with the same issues with the sound effects, is a little rough on the ears. There’s a lot of cursing thrown into texts, and sometimes it’s actually what makes a particular scene humorous, perhaps leading to the choice to not have voice actors and come across too vulgar. On very rare occasions, it manages to raise something approaching a smile, but most of the time it’s just eye-rollingly juvenile.
Final Verdict
Overall, Zenith fails in many regards, but does deliver on a fun story to play through. Polishing would go a long way to make this game appealable: The game suffers from frame rate drops and glitches, as well as a locked camera that is at times unbearably miserable. The camera could be less of an issue if the combat was more intuitive and strategic: It’s really just a hack and slash game based on luck with the skin of a comedy RPG. If you can deal with the many faults found in this game, though, you will find a decent game with a humorous story, but it will really come down to how patient you are as a gamer to enjoy the few things it does well.
