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Apr 24, 2011, 03:30 AM
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Member Since: Oct 2007
Location: Durham,nc
Posts: 5,431
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Shortly after the release of Heavenly Sword in 2007, developer Ninja Theory and mo cap actor supreme, Andy Serkis (Golem, King Kong) began to forge a new project. The idea was to recast the ancient Chinese legend of the Monkey King in a radically different setting. Details for Enslaved, Odyssey to the West began to emerge, with gameplay elements lifted from Uncharted 2 and God of War. So how did the final product come out, read on…
Enslaved, Odyssey to the West
Type: Action/adventure
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Developer: Ninja Theory
Released: October 2010
Platforms: PS3 and Xbox 360
Highs: Beautiful settings, captivating narrative, solid gameplay mechanics, excellent voice acting.
Lows repetitive combat, over linear structure, derivative gameplay elements, occasional glitches
The Plot: Our game opens some 150 years in the future. Humanity has been decimated, by war, disease, famine, and economic collapse. The population is a fraction of what it once was. In what was the US, less than 20,000 people are living in small scattered settlements, with the big cities being long abandoned. In short a new dark age has settled in with only a few people having any knowledge of the “old” technology. To make matters worse, the old warbots, called “mechs” are still functioning and no one had bothered to tell them the war is over. As a result they attack anyone that wonders into the areas they occupy.
Meanwhile a mysterious entity called “Pyramid” has been abducting people on mass and taking them to a unknown location, presumably to enslave them. On one such “slave ship” several folks from a local village are being held prisoner. Among them is “Trip” a highly intelligent, tech savvy, young woman.
With her on the ship in a nearby cell is “Monkey”, an orphaned, brutish loner.
Trip is able to hack into the ships computer, ultimately freeing herself and Monkey. Trip’s actions disable the ship and both she and Monkey make a last minute escape, crashing in the middle of what was once New York City. Trip, now some 300 miles from her village, realizes that her odds of survival are slim to none. She decides to adapt one of the slaver control collars to Monkey, who was rendered unconscious during the crash landing. Monkey is of course immediately angered by what Trip has done, but has no choice but to accept her demand to escort her back home. So begins their dangerous journey back to her village.
The narrative is well written here. As Monkey and Trip spend more time together, the relationship takes on a nice organic evolution. There are a couple of good twists thrown in especially the one at the end (I will not give it away).
Gameplay: Enclaved seems to borrow a lot from several different games. Essentially you play as “Monkey” a skilled fighter and athletic climber. Trip hangs back as support. She uses her tech skills to guide Monkey around obstacles, open doors, and take over vehicles.It is vital that Trip stay alive, so Monkey cannot stray too far from her or let anything hurt her or he dies as well (shades of Ico here)
The climbing sequences seem to have been yanked straight out of Uncharted 2. For the most part they are implemented well, but are very restrictive. Monkey’s path is a narrow one, with a little too much “hand holding” which mars the experience a bit.
Monkey’s combat centers around the use of his staff (a nod to the legend of the Monkey King) beside the obvious combos, which frankly get rather repetitive, the staff can fire both plasma and stun bolts. There are some occasional boss battles, but the strategy to win them was rather simplistic.
In addition to his “powerstaff” Monkey possesses something he calls the Cloud (again a nod to the legend) the cloud essentially acts as a hover board, allowing Monkey to access places (namely over water) that he would not be able to reach. The game’s puzzles are competent, but nothing to write home about.
Sights and Sounds Graphically the game has some striking set pieces. Many post-apocalyptic themed games have a very dull color pallet (Fallout for example) with a lot of grays and browns. Enslaved takes a very different approach, with lots of saturated colors. Flora and Fauna are everywhere. The lighting is first rate and particle effects are quite good as well. The mo cap was also well executed, with only the occasional lip synching issues cropping up in some of the cut scenes.
The sound effects are solid, but not engaging. The voice acting, particularly by Mr. Serkis (a very talented actor) is excellent. The sound track is good in places, but lacks the potency of some of the better games out there, like UC2.
Kids Corner: Enslaved Odyssey to the West is rated T for teen. I think this was a fair assessment. The game does not contain any nudity or sexual elements. There is violence but it is being perpetrated against robots, so no real blood here to speak of. Language wise, Trip uses the occasional expletive, appropriate to the situation. I think frankly this game is even safe for some preteens to play.
In Summary: Enslaved is an intriguing and engaging experience overall, if you like narrative driven titles. Ninja Theory for the most part did a good job incorporating aspects of the Monkey King Legend into a unique story. The current price for this title in most game stores is around 17-19 bucks, worth it for that amount.
A bit of footage
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