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Is Enslaved the Dark Horse of the Season?

A gorgeous post-apocalyptic adventure wrapped around a solid sci-fi story.

October 1, 2010
You won't like this if...

if you don't like post-apocalyptic environments, button mashing, and worrying about a companion.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Credit: Namco Bandai

"Your main character is named Monkey and he doesn't wear a shirt."


That was all I knew about Enslaved: Odyssey to the West about a week ago. But as I do before most review assignments I read up on the game from our previews section and learned that Enslaved is loosely based on the classic Chinese fable "Journey to the West," features the talented team from Ninja Theory (who previously created Heavenly Sword and who will be creating the next Devil May Cry), and Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) stars as the main character, Monkey -- Serkis also serves as a cut-scene director and lends his motion capture talents to the project. There, now you're all caught up as well.

Enslaved takes the standard, post-apocalyptic videogame setting and mixes in a batch of steam punk and heavy science fiction for its stylized world. But as gorgeous as the levels look, it's the characters, dialog, and story that pull it all together...even when portions of the game become repetitious.

Monkey, after a daring escape from a crashing slave ship, finds himself irrevocably attached to Trip, his companion for Enslaved's journey. She's able to control Monkey via a headband through which the two are bound -- if she dies, he dies, so he must follow her commands. Her motives for enslaving Monkey are simple: she needs help and protection to traverse the wasteland back to her homeland. The story becomes more complex as the game goes on, though, and it includes one of the more thought-provoking endings I've experienced in recent memory.

This pairing of Monkey and Trip provides the crux of Enslaved's gameplay: you play as Monkey, but use Trip's abilities to help get past obstacles. For example, she might draw enemy fire with a hologram, thus allowing you to sneak up and take out your foe. She also allows you to upgrade your shields, bo staff, health, and combat abilities, and she can detect mines, enemy turrets, and mechs (the primary adversary throughout the game) through the use of a robotic dragonfly that scans the path ahead. Essentially, she's the brains while directly control the brawn.

But the frequency with which you detect and dodge mines or disable turrets makes some of the levels feel overly repetitive; you just fall back on the exact same tactics again and again. The few puzzles you run into do little to invigorate the experience -- pull a lever, raise a platform, repeat. Even when the Cloud -- a hoverboard -- is introduced later in the game, it's underused and doesn't open up the world much; its primary function is limited to boss fights and specific sections of each stage. However, this repetition is mitigated by the combat and, in some cases, the platforming elements that channel inFamous and Assassin's Creed 2.

On one hand it's fun to control a fluid character as he ascends the side of a decaying building; on the other, it's not so much fun when you perform a stock animation (like throwing Trip to an adjacent platform) and then you inadvertently fall to your death because you're suddenly standing in the wrong place when the animation ends. Jumping from platform to platform also doesn't feel as responsive as climbing, but thankfully these incidents aren't overly frequent. Regardless, the game does a decent job with checkpoints so that even if you do happen to make a misstep, you can quickly get back into the action.

On the combat side of things, your primary foes throughout the journey are mechs with a number of different attacks, and to counter their assault, Monkey has several abilities of his own, including an upgradeable bo staff. The power-ups (like being able to fire plasma shots or creating a temporary shield) really shine in the game's later portions; not only do you feel empowered, since your opponents don't change much, the cost/benefit ratio of upgrading your weapons is actually worthwhile.

Like I stated in the opening, I knew very little about Enslaved a week ago. I've been caught up in waiting for this season's huge releases and counting the days until Fallout New Vegas's release, but Enslaved has turned out to be a welcome distraction. If you love a good science fiction tale wrapped around a gorgeous, post-apocalyptic world with some decent gameplay thrown into the mix, you should give Enslaved a try.

 

Originally posted on 1UP.

See More: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West | Ninja Theory