Customer Reviews

Enclave

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

O.K. the game is more difficult than most role playing titles, but that is its strength. The entire point of the rpg is to transport the player into another world/dimension, and that is exactly what Enclave does, and then some!! Yes, it demands a high level of patience and use of strategy. The creators of this game did not make it to be impossible, 90% of the time they give the gamer clues to alert them. If you are standing on a floor made of tiles and some of them are raised, that should at least make you think twice before stepping on them!! It also gives you an idea of how the game should be played.
Beyond the difficulty of this game, which makes it more interesting, are the graphics and sound. Both are absolutely amazing, and for those who utilize the surround sound capability know that it adds a new dimension to the game.
The storyline is also complex and works to pull you into the world of Enclave even more. The characters are amazing and highly realistic. I love weapons and armor, and Enclave gives your warrior the ability to purchase more powerful equipment as they progress through the game. You'll find that after you adjust to using your weapon effectively, the game actually becomes easier(NOT EASY, JUST EASIER).
Overall, this game is amazing. Again, as others have mentioned, it is not for the 'super mario' type gamer. This is a 'thinking' game, and I thank the programmers for making a game that might take a while for me to truly master. If you want more of a challenge, BUY THIS GAME!

Enclave is a first person dungeon crawl which began on the XBox and GameCube before coming out for the PC.

First, the plot. You're in a medieval village. A giant chasm has split you (the "good guys") from the Outlanders (the "bad guys"). In the console versions you must play the good guy missions before taking on the bad guys. On the PC you can start with either.

I really think playing the good guys first made more sense, because you get to meet and know characters that you then play on the bad guy side. There's more "payback" feeling. But some people can't stand being good and want to just be bad.

The graphics are nice, but not spellbinding. There are many other games out there that I can think of that are more polished or authentic feeling. Still, you do get the stone and wood feel for the medieval areas. You work from level to level, gaining gold, gaining experience, buying new weapons and armor.

There are a few puzzles and a lot of hack and slash. Which leads to the next issue with the console versions. You can't save mid-mission which means if you hit something you're having problems with, you keep restarting the entire thing. So then you try another armor combination, or another weapon and go through it all over again. It can get pretty tedious. The PC version lets you save mid-mission.

On the up side, this means that you can easily play the game for weeks and still have challenges waiting for you. You can go back and replay levels, looking for the treasure you missed. You can try for different weapon or armor to see how it might help or hurt. If you race through to find the ending, you're missing the whole point of the game. It's meant to be enjoyed, not to be trashed and then thrown out.

With the XBox lacking in the RPG department, i started searching for "close" games. Enclave captures RPG style, Diablo style, and even some Parappa de Rappa style! no, not so much parappa style. but, you get everything you need in a game! the sound is top notch. it reminds me very much of Gladiator movie style music, and it really puts you into the atmosphere! the graphics are superb, any and all minor details were looked into when they made this one! a few snags, however.....
1) difficulty: no easy/medium/hard settings. you really have to go in there and kick some but. on a couple levels i had to put in the God Mode code, since i couldn't have beat them otherwise
2) no save during missions. only 2-3 times will you find checkpoints, and they are immediately before a boss. these guys will come at you in hordes, and if you die it's back to the beginning!
3) the cut-scenes between missions look like the game. yes, the game looks great byitself, but they really could have suped up the cutscenes FFX style
Enclave also offers both the Light and Dark (after you beat Light) campaigns, so once you play the role of the good buy and save everybody, you get to destroy everything and conquer the world! sort of a good facelift from the usual nice guy role!
all in all, if you're looking for an awesome game with great graphics, story-line and sound. there's nothing clunky about the fighting system, and you get alot of freedom with which character you use on which mission and what equipment they use. 2 thumbs up, 5 stars all around the board!

Truly I am going to admit at the very start:
This game isn't the BEST one I have ever played - but, being the only one for X-Box I currently own I have forced myself to become obsessed with it.

Graphics - 9.8/10 very pretty! BUT this game could have been so much better had the cut-scenes been cinematic graphics as opposed to gameplay-graphics. Some characters faces lack expression, but are topped off with blinking and mouth movement when talking. Over-all it's not bad at all!! You will be pleased with the looks Enclave has to deliver!

Gameplay - 8/10 This game was so hard. Oh wow. The other reviews explain it pretty well: no save points + impossible enemies = incredibly annoying. Bridges will collapse beneath you, an unseen crevace will pull you into a lake of lava, or one glance in the wrong direction and you fall of a bridge into shark-infested waters... honestly - the old cheat codes came in handy more than once or twice. :) (X,Y,X,Y,X,X,Y,Y = God Mode, Complete Mission Menu during Pause in gameplay, FYI... SHHH!)

Soundtrack - 10/10 looooved the sounds! what more could you ask for? everything, absolutely everything - from whirring unseen motors, to blood squirts, to chinking wood off of posts to relieve stress with a decorated dagger when you can't figure out what to do next! The musical score, though it can become quite repetitive....

This game deserves 5 stars simply because it's so fun! The story might be hard to follow since you find yourself repeating missions 10-20 times each, and the graphics might leave you sitting and staring instead of hacking and slashing, but there is no reason not to own this game. It is one I would suggest you add to your library!

Final Comment: "This is a MAN's game."

I really wanted to like this game. I had been anticipating its release for months. And, it really delivered at first. The first couple of levels, while dificult, where at least tolerable (even with the lack of a "save game" option). The graphics are absolutley top notch, and the controls (the "right stick jump" notwithstanding) are really pretty solid. In fact, if you invert the Y-axis in the controller set-up it's just like Halo. The sound is good and the music is very story appropriate.

That said, this game really starts to fall apart by the 6th and 7th level. If fact, the dificulty level is so ridiculously high by level 13, I didn't even want to finish it. Being killed by a challenging opponent is one thing, but, after working on a level for 45 minutes just to have a rock land on your head and make you start from the begining is quite another. Really, what [...]desinged this thing. By mission 14, you find yourself set against opponents who are as heavily armoured as you, can kill you with a single blow, and, there's 10 on you at ounce. Oops. Time to start again. If you think that type of challenge is fun, this is the game for you. I just found it frustrating, and eventually, a waste of my gaming time. It's not impossible, but replaying a mission 12 times just to move forward gets downright boring. This is what you will be doing in "Enclave."

Enclave is a big, brutal, beast of a game that will leave you breathless with its stunning graphics, sprawling levels, and savage combat. Freshman Swedish developer Starbreeze does not dissapoint with their first game ever, and they have me eagerly awaiting a sequel.

Though it is true that all the promising multiplayer was removed for the final build, (Perhaps they left hooks in to add Xbox Live support later?) the single player game left over is excellent. The graphics set a new standard for this type of game on Xbox, rivaling even DOA3 in every department except for Character models.. but DOA3 never had levels like THIS! Huge, massive levels..where enemies surpise you from all directions, setting up traps, ambushes, dropping things on you, rolling things toward you. (bombs usally) and generally doing their darndest to see that you never make out alive.

Luckily for you, The starbreeze guys gave you a MAx Payne style control scheme that allows you to seemlessly move, fire and keep an eye on the ever dangerous and changing environement. And if you get tired of the ol' hack and slash..you can also switch to a "halo-sytle" FPS mode on the fly and at any time, perfect for shooting the heads off orcs from 200 feet away with your sniper arrows.

The replay value is insane as well, with a dozen unlockable characters, each with their own set of attacks and defense capabilities..and a fully customizable list of gear that you can updgrade with gold found while exploring the game's 50+ levels. In fact, selecting the right character and the right mix of toys for them to carry is what elevates Enclave above the purview of the typical action game. Playing through a level as the Druid (who can summon Earth elementals to fight for her) is a totally different experience from playing the same level as the Knight (best of the cutlery experts) or the Huntress. (Sniping Heaven)

Be warned though. Enclave is not just another romp in the medieval park. You will die.. maybe even a lot. The level of difficulty and challenge is old school. The AI is brutal..and they know when you have a missle weapon or melee weapon in your hands and change tactics accordingly. If you start sniping them..they know not to stand still and wait for you to pick them all off one by one. They will bring the fight to you if they can, or duck behind cover and patiently wait for you to advance. You have to be cunning to succeed in Enclave.

Much like Halflife, the environment will also try to kill you at times. Walls come crashing down, bridges collapse, spike shoot up out of the floor, bombs explode..and.. the dreaded bane of all video game heroes..bottomless pits and gaps will have to be crossed, with one wrong step leading to certain death.

And here's where the rub comes. In Enclave. you must complete a level to save your progress. The only time you get a grace save is before a boss fight. (thank goodness) This may frustrate some casual gamers who are used to Max Payne's save anywhere vibe.

The good news is.. if you make it to the end..completely out of ammo and with one hp to your name..you are completely restored for the next sequence. I personally loved the fact that this was not a game I was going to beat in few days or even a week. The addictive gameplay and exploring the excellent levels will keep me busy for some time. If you are looking for a great single player action game, with a lot of depth, challenge and replayablity..you'd be a fool not to at least check it out.

If Enclave were a woman, she'd be a 6'5' leather clad swedish dominatrix in stilletto heels.

She'd hurt you plenty..but you'd keep coming back for more, all the same. :D

A great game! A wonderful combination of stategy, great graphics, a variety of interesting playable characters, variable weapons, and interactive scenery! The graphics are the best of any role-playing type game I've seen!

My only critisism (but a significant one) is the lack of adequate "save areas". If your character dies before completing a level you start from the beginning (all over again) every-single-time. Since many of these levels are very difficult this means you repeat the earlier portions of certain levels many, many times. I confess. I actually went on-line to get the invincibility cheat-code so that I could complete certain very frustrating levels. This is the only thing that keeps this from being a 5-star game.

Enclave is a game targeted to a mature player that enjoys intelligent strategic exploration.

And this is where this game is most often misunderstood. Many impatient players tend to go into Enclave with a "hack 'n slash" mentality. They believe that this game will be a "3D Diablo". These players are like an illiterate adult trying to sound out the phonics of War and Peace. Enclave will be a lesson in frustration time and time again for these players and it is best for them to seek a milder form of entertainment.

So what is the gameplay of Enclave really like?

It is slow, deliberate, and cautious. It is strategic. There are no mid-level saves and the levels can be challenging. But the gameplay rewards the player in ways that games often do not.

Imagine being 30 minutes into an underground tomb. The atmospheric sounds of the damp stone environments echo around in full Dolby Digital 5.1. You can almost smell the damp moss on the walls. You are facing a wooden staircase. You take your time, look around, and be still. Do you hear any enemies waiting below? No, just the soft drip of unseen moisture.

You begin to descend the stairs. As you continue your slow descent, you notice the creak of the staircase growing in intensity. You stop and examine the floor boards. The boards to the right look rotted out, so you slowly stick left and pray the staircase doesn't collapse. It holds and you continue the adventure.

All traps in this game have visual clues and are all based on logic. Nothing is illogical and "cheap". Where one player takes his time and uses his wits, another may plunge on ahead and meet an untimely death.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg! This game contains strategic combat - both hand to hand and missile. The magic available is incredibly complicated and its use would make a chess player smile with glee. The graphics are almost photorealistic and are always eerily fluid. If you have a Dolby Digital 5.1 setup, you are in for a new experience. Have you ever played a game where a falling rock from a cliff shakes the entire room? The use of the subwoofer is the most technically impressive feat yet accomplished on the XBox.

But it is not for everyone. Mainstream gamers may walk away with a damaged ego and a frustrated sense of failure. But there are those of you out there that loved the slow deliberate speed of Thief and Thief 2. There are those of you out there that loved the strategic combat of Blade of Darkness. There are those of you out there that still enjoy the sight of a scantily clad female druid, who's curves are yet unmatched on either the PC or the XBox. Enclave does not suffer from the cancer of political correctness.

There are those of you out there that this game was made for. It is waiting.

Enclave is a 3rd person Action game, in the spirit of Blade of Darkness and Rune, but with better graphics. In terms of gameplay, there is a big difference though. Enclave seems to have a better story, that keeps you well involved for good part of the game.
The problems start however with the total lack of an in-game save. Enclave is not a hard game, but it's a very frustrating one. Most of the time you'll die not because you're not skilled enough, but because of something you can't predict (being killed with an arrow by somebody you don't see, etc). Developers want you to replay those levels and very soon you realize why. This game is really not that long and without this 'cheating', any skilled player will finish it really fast.
Second frustration element comes from the fact that in order to progress and do more damage, you have to gain gold and then buy better weapons, between missions. Also, between missions you have to choose which character you want to use for that level, which leaves place for a lot of guessing, since you're never given info on what's ahead.
Overall, Enclave may be worth buying at this price, especially if you are a very patient player, with a lot of time on your hands. I decided to take the game back, because i think developers have to learn - the hard way - that they have to take advantage of what XBox has: a hard-drive!

What can I say? This game is great. If you like difficult games, this is THE ONE GAME you really need to get. But, be forewarned, some levels are really hard. In those cases, you really do need to come up with clever strategies in order to pass them.