Zenith (2016)

You are never at risk of encountering anything unexpected when playing Zenith, but cutscenes are unpredictable and quite intelligently written (and even well directed at times), so they are genuinely entertaining. But the game is an action RPG by the numbers, and it gives the distinct impression that it is a vehicle for delivering the comedy. This would be fine, but that vehicle would need to be enjoyable and on this one, the wheels have fallen off.

Zenith isn’t that good and that’s a real shame because on the face of it, things looked promising. The trouble is that the comedy falls flat at every turn and the role-playing elements are so light they’re practically non-existant. Had the developers focused more on gameplay and less on jokes, we might be onto something. Comedy isn’t easy in games and Zenith is exhibit A in the case of how to bad things can get. All is not lost though. The developers have created a functional product and after some more QA testing could have had a fairly average game. I do hope this is a stepping stone onto greater things for them. Don’t believe the reviews giving it zeroes and ones but certainly don’t be fooled into thinking this is anything special either.

While the humour seems to be the centre of the game, Zenith has some major fundamental flaws that make it less fun to play and all the more frustrating. If you like the story, the writing and the humour, it might be worth your time. If you need fluid controls and care about the combat and game mechanics, then absolutely not.