I'm not in the business of writing video game reviews, but Amazon.com did prompt me with an email. So, I figured: why not.
Similar to many others, I did not hear about Enslaved: Odyssey to the West until people began calling it a sleeper hit. I tend to be a fan of quietly-appreciated games (like Darksiders or Vagrant Story), so I ordered my copy once it dropped down to the reasonable price that Amazon was offering. A friend of mine is a rabid Sun Wukong (Monkey King) fan so, to be honest, I was mainly looking forward to the story.
Just for the record: I have 1250/1250 GS for this game and played it to the fullest. That all being said, here's my breakdown:
Story - 08/10:
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I love a story that begins "in media res", and Enslaved delivers big in the first few chapters. From there, the story is broken down into three (or four, depending on your take) acts -- with fourteen in-game chapters. This really stretches the game out and makes it feel quite long, when in fact, you can easily finish the game in two or three days. In any case, the characters' circumstances change throughout the story, and Monkey's motivation at the end of the game is not the same as it is in the beginning, which is a hallmark of a good plot, in my opinion. Moreover, Enslaved does a very respectable job as an homage to Journey to the West. It's not a retelling of the story by any means; rather, it takes a few select concepts/characters and kind of "plays" with them. Just like its muse, though, the story is both a physical adventure and a metaphor for the journey towards enlightenment. Unlike its muse, though, I think it botched the latter.
Without giving too much away: I was NOT a fan of the ending. It had potential, but it was very abrupt and lacked originality. After an extremely intense build-up (including the never-ending final boss fight), it felt anti-climactic.
Characters - 10/10:
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The characters are unique and likable, with Monkey's quiet practicality being one of my favorite aspects of the game itself; the script is very well written and has some wonderful dialogue (again, excluding the end sequence). Pigsy grew on me. I was genuinely surprised by how much the characters intrigued me, and by how much hidden depth each one possessed.
Graphics - 07/10:
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The game is hands-down beautiful. The colors are lush, and the character models are stunning. I couldn't stop staring at Trip's eyes, from a graphical standpoint. They also nail some very unique facial expressions that I haven't seen in any other game. Enslaved is incredibly detailed -- from the characters, to the enemies, to the environments. However, the bloom is dialed a bit high in some of the outdoor areas and, when combined with the very saturated color scheme, creates an eyesore; I eventually had to bump the brightness down. Also, Trip's hair kept flipping around her shoulders like it was possessed, even when she was hardly moving; I only mention it because the majority of the game is rather solid graphically, so it stuck out.
BIG COMPLAINT (AND POTENTIAL SPOILER?): The game flashes realistic, still images on the screen at various points throughout the game, and the final cutscene features dialogue between the in-engine character models and a live-action actor. I can respect the developers attempt to differentiate Enslaved from the norm by introducing these live-action elements. However, for me, it ruined the graphical continuity, and I didn't dig it. I wish I had known about this going in, as a warning may have made the epilogue less jarring and awkward to watch. Without this, I'd have given this game's graphics 09/10.
Sound - 09/10:
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The voice actors do a phenomenal job. The music, while not outstanding on its own, compliments the game as it should. The sound effects are all very clean and aren't over-driven during combat. I only knocked off a point because, well ... Trip did get annoying a few times. They could have nixed a few of her "instructional" voice clips.
Gameplay/Controls - 06/10:
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For all its visually-striking graphics, Enslaved borrows gameplay from titles that came before it. If you've played any of the last few Prince of Persia titles, you'll recognize the similarities. You make Monkey climb, then you stop to fight enemies in isolated battles; nothing innovative there, though there are a few variations (i.e., chase sequences, turret guns, etc.) that break up the monotony. However, the same cannot be said of the fight controls, as they're very limited. You have weak and strong attacks, but there are no combos (much to my disappointment). There is also an upgradable stun attack, an upgradable wide attack (to clear enemies away from Monkey temporarily), a timed counter-attack, and a special move (i.e., a super) that must be purchased. Aside from basic blocking, that's pretty much it for combat. Monkey can also aim and fire two types of bullets (damage and stun) from his staff, but it's difficult to incorporate this directly into combat. Mostly, the "gun" is used to snipe enemies from afar.
Also disappointing is Trip's limited functionality in combat. When faced with an enemy, Trip's only available action is to stun them with an EMP pulse. From there, it's up to you to destroy the enemies before they reactivate. She can also create a hologram that enemies will target, but its primary use is to distract long-ranged gunners (who won't rush Trip down) so Monkey can get an angle on them. Otherwise, Trip exists as a puzzle buddy. And the puzzles were just ... there. Not good. Not bad. Just there. And very simple. I suppose I expected more interaction with her.
One more note on the partnership aspect: If you move too far away from Trip, the game will trigger a warning and, eventually, will kill you for abandoning her. This works fine, until the game glitches (which, believe me, it can). If Trip gets stuck on an object, and you don't notice, you can trigger an immediate death by simply jumping down a ledge (as the game will panic and blow right past the "warning"). This happened to me a few times. Maybe I'm just lucky that way. In lieu of this unpredictable feature, they could have simple halted your progress with a physical barrier. I would have preferred that over random, unwarranted death.
Also, if you don't like a fixed and/or unreliable camera, the game can prove annoying. It will kidnap the camera from you often, which wouldn't be so much of a problem except that it occasionally interferes with the controls. For example: you may hold "up" on the analog and move through a doorway, then the angle will flip and Monkey will be running "left" into the room (while you're still holding "up"). It will hold the input and his movement until you force the analog in a different direction. Similar issues arise when climbing, from time to time. Aside from that, the camera doesn't always help you during combat; it zooms in close when Monkey attacks, has trouble resetting properly, and often blocks your view of enemies running up behind you. The camera also fights you especially hard during one of the boss fights, in a bizarre effort to help you. I wasn't a fan.
Finally, there is Monkey's "cloud", which you ride over areas with water and, in contrast with the rest of the game, is almost OVERLY responsive. A minute adjustment on the analog can create very sudden movement. I actually enjoyed this, though, because it never locked or altered the camera drastically in these areas. No matter the angle, "up" moved me away from the camera and "down" moved me towards the camera; when I hit jump, I always jumped in the direction I intended. And it was FAST. You couldn't rush down parts of the game on foot like you could on the cloud.
In summary, while they weren't awful, I found the gameplay/controls inconsistent, hence the lower score.
Overall - 08/10:
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I absolutely loved some parts of this game; when considered as a whole, though, I only liked it. Inconsistent gameplay (and, to a lesser degree, the awkward finale) was what kept me from loving Enslaved. I really enjoyed the Prince of Persia (2008) game, and it was inevitable that I'd run a comparison and label Enslaved as "inferior". However, in that sense, it really boils down to a matter of personal preference and experience. Had I picked up Enslaved first, I may have been more enthralled with the newness of the experience. So, it may be more accurate to say that it wasn't that I disliked Enslaved's gameplay features; I just didn't like it as much as other games. Although the camera is still pretty awful, by any standard.
That being said, for the story and visual experience alone, it's definitely worth playing through at least once. I would recommend downloading the demo, if you're able, and playing through it a couple of times to get a feel for the controls. If the story piques your interest, and you're down with the mechanics, then don't hesitate -- pick it up and play it. $20-$25 is definitely a fair price; I would have paid $35-$40 for it and been happy with what I paid. Had I bought it for $60, though, I may have flinched and choked down a few regrets.
I didn't mean for this review to get as long as it did, but I got carried away and stink at editing. In for a penny, in for a pound, I figure! -:) I do hope someone finds it helpful. Thanks for reading! Happy gaming!
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First Impressions - Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2010
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a game that has been on my radar for some time now. Not only is it one of the only non sequel or non remakes of Q4, but it's a story driven game. The game actually has a writer who is known for such movies as The Beach and 28 Days Later. Not too shabby, especially in the video game world. So, it's to be expected that I was really excited about this game, the story buff (in video games at least) that I am. Did Enslaved live up to it's high hopes during the first few hours of gameplay or is this game destined for B game bargain bins? Read on to find out in my first impression.Enslaved: Odyssey to the West takes place about 200 years or so after a nuclear holocaust in the United States. Vegetation is beginning to overtake structures and the world is beautiful in a despairing kind of way. You play as Monkey, a strong brute of a man who was captured by slavers and stored on a slave ship. In transit to wherever it is they were taking you, a girl breaks out of her cell and continues to sabotage the ship in her hasty attempt to get free and sets you loose. The ship is coming down and you need to make it to an escape pod. After some platforming, you eventually make it to the last escape pod, which is taken by the girl who caused the commotion. You hold on for dear life to the escape pod as she ejects and you land in a desolate NYC years after a nuclear war. Upon awaking, you find that the girl, named Trip, has fitted you with a slave headband that shocks you if you don't do her will. She can issue commands to you and you must do them for her. If she dies, you also die. So Monkey is a rough spot, but Trip isn't bad. She did this because she knows she would never get home without Monkeys brute strength. Her proposition to him, take her 300 miles to the west to her sanctuary village made by her father and she'll remove the collar. With no choice in the matter, Monkey agrees and the two set off on their Odyssey to the West.And with that, Enslaved begins. The opening sequence is very epic and the graphics in the game are some of the best I have seen on the 360 this side of Gears of War 2. If you aren't familiar, the game is actually loosely based on Journey to the West, an old Chinese story that is apparently pretty popular in the UK due to some tv shows about it. I wasn't familiar with it until I googled it. Regardless, you don't need to know about the book to enjoy the game. They use some of the same names and try to leave subtle clues to the book, but it's really a different beast altogether.The story so far is top notch and I'm really excited to see how Monkey and Trip make it to the west, but there are other things besides story in a game. Namely, gameplay. The gameplay is sort of reminiscent of a platformer like Prince of Persia. There's a lot of climbing and swinging, but at the same time combat plays a huge roll. You're going to be doing a lot of computer AI co-op to outsmart enemy mech's, the games most prevalent enemy. For instance, Monkey is the strength, Trip the brains. In one scenario, Monkey needs to make it across a huge area to take out an automated turret, less they be shredded to bits. So, Trip uses her armband to create an electronic diversion that draws their fire. That leaves you to circle around flank the enemy. In doing so, you rip the arm off the mech and use it to finish off the remaining turrets. But, the path you took here required a lot of jumping and swinging, something Trip can't do. You need to go back and carry her on your back across hazardous areas and throw her to places she can't jump to. At first, I thought it would be a pain in the ass, but I found I enjoy the times you have to carry her. During these times is when the next thing I loved about the game begins to shine...The talking between the two characters is key in the game. You never know when it will start or end, but they talk a lot. It's in these times you learn the stories of the two travelers and what worlds they come from. Without spoiling anything, they come from two totally different backgrounds so relating is a little rough. Their banter is almost flirty in some regards so if you're into the chemistry between two co-op partners, you'll enjoy this portion of the game. I found it refreshing and a nice diversion. The world around them is crumbling but they have each other in rough times.I already mentioned it but the graphics are amazing. The vistas and backdrops are truly breathtaking, especially when your ship crashes in the beginning. Take a long look at the NYC skyline and be sure to keep your jaw from hitting the floor. It's amazing and a true sight to see in a video game. Plus, this is a post apocalyptic game that isn't brown. How many games are out there that automatically equate post apocalyptic with brown, but in reality, after the fallout (if any) the world would be overtaken by nature. It's nice to see this in a game.So far, I haven't had many complaints about the game. If I had to point out anything I'd say that maybe the gameplay could get repetitive, but that's just me trying to find gripes where none exist. There's an upgrade system that Trip performs that allows you to learn new combat options and new moves (as well as health and shields) that have the ability to keep things fresh. If you like platformers though, you already know how those games can get after a solid gaming marathon. It's something that comes with the territory, but most good platformers get around this by having varied level design, which Enslaved has in spades.So, should you buy this game? Depends...do you like platformers that have heavy combat and some stealth scenarios? If so, I'd say yes. How about story? I'm a sucker for a good story in a game so this one was a no brainer. Enslaved could be a rent if you aren't too thrilled on the idea of platforming but be sure not to miss it. This has the possibility of being a sleeper hit of 2010. It won't compete in sales with the Call of Duty and Medal of Honor games, but it's a new IP in a world of sequels and remakes. Give it a shot so we can tell the industry we want to see new games, not just sequels.
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2010
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