Nevertheless Zeno Clash 2 will "feature open ended gameplay with large
explorable environments and RPG elements" which sounds promising. One can
only wonder how they will pull that off as large environments and RPG
elements are not easy done in the Source engine which Bloodlines showed.

Yeah, that is a clever feature because it forces you to use at least a bit
of the melee system instead of playing the game like a shooter. But still
the same key is used for picking up the weapons and for locking on enemies
which makes grabbing a weapon in the middle of a fight hard.

Hmm, the game suddenly finished on the 3rd evening after maybe 4 hours
of game play. Still, I think I kind got worth my money (US$10).
However, I think I will hardly be buying Zeno Clash 2 the development
of which was announced.

Inspite of what was said about the game, it has some novel features.
For example, if you fight with a weapon, and somebody punches you, you
drop your weapon, and you will have to continue fighting with your
bare fists which is less effective, and this motivates you to pick up
the fallen weapon. And makes the gameplay much more life-like.

The levels and enemies are really outstanding in their weirdness :)! That
world would have been a cool setting for a real FPS/RPG but right now the
story is a joke and the game itself just a sequence of fighting arenas...

Yeah, there are so many things that could have improved the gameplay. Not
only can't the protagonist jump, he can't crouch as well which nowadays
makes me feel handicapped. Both could have been used to create new melee
combos instead of the complicated system used. The key to pick up weapons
is the same one as to lock on enemies for melee which is really stupid!
Also they should have let you keep at least one weapon through the level
transitions to show some consistency and for the FPS lovers among us ;).

I was away from the PC for a while, and my desire for Cryostasis
somewhat weakened. I am now not sure if I am getting it in short term.

I purchased Zeno Clash when it was released, but started playing it
only now. The weird faces have not disappointed me. However, the
protagonist acnnot jump, and is bound by boundaries. This contributes
to the feeling of linearity of the game play ("on-rails"). The voicing
is good, I enjoy it.

I agree. This year did not produce really good games. Which solidified
me in the opinion to wait for the next game from Valve.

I thought that Cryostasis was deeply disappointing. It turned out to
be a weird mish-mash of puzzles, FPS, and horror-survival. None of it
done particularly well.

Zeno clash was also an awful game, but at least it has the excuse of
being a Mod.

This is a really crap year for games so far. I hope that Bioshock 2
doesn't turn out to be a huge disappointment.

Cryostasis didn't really look that special to me. For real game art look
at Zeno Clash! Quite a shame that there isn't much gameplay in it :(...

More quick thoughts...

* Cryostasis (new)
I want to give the developers of Cryostasis kudos for trying something
different. Cryostasis may be the first avant garde computer game made
(or at least the first commercially released game). It is experimental
and modern, from its grim, ice-locked setting  to its
out-of-left-field end-boss. It is innovative and interesting... and
sadly not that much fun to play as a game.

Like the Penumbra games which pre-dated it, Cryostasis suffers
whenever the developers try to force game-mechanics into its surreal
world; had they just let the player wander their fantastic setting,
taking in the atmosphere without worrying about the
monsters-in-the-closets or the often illogical logic-puzzles... well,
it might not have been a better GAME, but it would have been a better
something (I'm not sure what you'd call something like that; a
"virtual experience", perhaps?).

Actionforms deserves full credit for trying something different. I
just wish they had gone that extra step and decided to forego the
"game" in this title and end up with something truly memorable instead
of a hybrid that fails to satisfy on all levels.