I’m not sure about you but the trailer left me yearning for more. The reinterpretation of the classic novel Journey to the West, amazing visuals, mech enemies, and developers blurring the line between movies and games, hooked me. They might as well have been quoting lyrics from DMX.
Enslaved came out while I was knee deep in getting the latest DLC Undead Nightmare for Red Dead Redemption ready to be shipped. It was pitched to me as a poor man’s Uncharted 2, with a touch of Batman Arkham Asylum combat. With that said, I was chasing it like it was the Holy Grail. Even with a pressing deadline at work, that same night I stood eagerly waiting in line for my copy and rushed home to my Xbox. I quickly grasped why Enslaved had been compared to Uncharted 2 when the character you play, Monkey gets blown up, knocked down, and spit out simply by walking through a level. With that said and my completion of Enslaved this week. Here are my takeaways:
- Controls were responsive, which is a make or break for platform games.
- Having a female companion in the game, named Trip, whom you must protect, was not as annoying as I expected. The storyline pulls you in and you find yourself actually giving a damn about her safety.
- The captivating scenic atmosphere is like playing a game taken straight of the movie, What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr. Games made with Unreal Engine continue to look more and more spectacular. (Ex: Batman Arkham Asylum, Gears of War 2 and Mass Effects 2)
- In a platformer, games that mainly involve jumping, running and climbing everywhere must provide collectables of some sort. Players need temptation, which requires risk to get, some shiny incentive to guide them along and Enslaved does just that. Keeping them right along the main path and always within site and always rewarding the vigilant gamer. Opposed to other games that place them in some obscure hidden area that offers nothing but killing time and taking the player out of the excitement, leading him away from the main path and mission.
- During combat, when delivering the finishing blow to the last enemy standing in your way the camera will randomly zoom in for a close up of Monkey, whose “Let’s do this!” demeanor looks like a clip straight out of Bloodsport. I couldn’t find a worthy screenshot so here's a clip of Van Damme in Bloodsport. You laugh but you'll notice the similarity when you see it in game.
- There are rough animation blends that take away from the experience at the cost of keeping the player locked from running over a cliff and killing himself, which again I respect as a design decision where reloads make you stand through cutscenes and checkpoints are spread pretty far apart.
- The entire time I hated that I couldn’t pause or skip cutscenes, you know when retrying, but I understand lots of developers use cutscenes to mask loads, especially in Unreal. However, since the story was one of the 3 pillars for Ninja Theory’s product, I can respect the refusal to let you skip or interrupt it. Besides if the wifey calls and you really need to pause, you can just tap the Xbox Guide Button and not miss a beat. :)
- I felt like their use contexts, prompts across the screen when the game wants you to press a button, clashed with the presentation of the rest of the game.
(taken with my iPhone off of my LCD)
The game paces you very well and never overwhelms you. I’d rec this game to anyone who likes platformers such as Prince of Persia or Uncharted 2. If you like a good post-apocalyptic story with some good character development, with very handheld forgiving gameplay, and some of the best vistas Unreal has ever rendered, let Trip Enslave you for a bit, I bet you’ll find a gem here. 8/10Metacritic Rating
-Kingpin Out
