Oct 12 2010, 01:59 PM, updated 16y ago
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Developer(s) Ninja Theory
Publisher(s) Namco Bandai Games
Designer(s) Tameem Antoniades[1]
Writer(s) Alex Garland[1]
Composer(s) Nitin Sawhney[1]
Platform(s) PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date(s)
* US October 5, 2010
* UK October 8, 2010[2]
Genre(s) Tactical action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player
I am making this post to try to get some people to at least try this game because it is one of the most entertaining games I have played in quite a while.
Some thoughts on the game including what i liked:
The environments are simply beautiful. I've seen too many post apocalyptic cities in games such as fallout where everthing is a shade of grey or brown. What this game contains is a lot of shrubbery and colour. We'll be seeing New York City again in Crysis 2 but in spite of the more sophisticated engine, they are going to have to work really hard to make NYC as memorable as this one was. When the ship carrying our heroes crashes into the liberty torch on the statue of liberty, you would be thinking that this is what a planet of the apes game should look like.
The story is simply awesome. It's an Odyssey. To the West. That's what our heroes try to do for most of the game. But it's also based loosely on the original Journey to the West or the adventures of the monkey god. It's also better than that taiwanese version that's currently airing on 8TV. It's co-written by Alex Garland whose credits include the beach(book/movie) and 28 days later. He was supposed to have written the script for a halo movie as well. Anyway, the dialogue in this game is probably the best I've heard in a game and you really feel the bond growing between trip and monkey during the course of the game.
The characters and the way they're designed are pretty cool as well. Monkey, like the original monkey god has a 'slave band', a cloud and staff which changes size that he whips out in combat.. Andy Serkis did some really good motion capture work and voicing and you will understand why he is also known as monkey. Trip, who's based on the monk who is also called tripitaka in english versions of the story, is there to provide constant banter, get into trouble as well as help monkey out. Later on, you get introduced to pigsy, who adds a bit of comic relief to the story as well a satisfying conclusion to the story.
Music and sound is cinematic, easily comparable with the halo games. They do add quite a bit to the atmosphere.
The gameplay itself is very much like prince of persia with platforming, puzzle and combat sections which are satifying if somewhat simple. In terms of the combat, while you're not going to see a bayonetta type combo system, it involves some strategy as in identifying the most dangerous opponent first. The boss battles are also quite challenging. I would recommend playing the game on hard though. I think a lot of reviews have mentioned that the game is not long enough. I think the pacing of the game is just right and that it ends at the right time.
Like many other single player games, 1000/1000 is achievable and is a mix of progress, combat, collecting and skill. The collection ones are probably the biggest pain in the ass but doable. The skill ones will probably take a while to do as they involve quite strict time limits.
Overall, I would say that as an experience, the game is cinematically one of the most impressive games in quite a while.
Quote
Good voice acting too! 
0.0322sec
0.81
5 queries
GZIP Disabled