Ah Enslaved. This game really struck a cord with me. Maybe it was the art style and beautiful environments, or the incredible animations and emotions conveyed by the main characters. Trip in particualr was extremely memorable. I've always meant to complete the game, and hopefully I will come the backloggers segment.
Revisiting Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Namco Bandai's commercial failure was Ninja Theory's creative success.
While history always remembers the games with the perfect reviews and the record sales, sometimes the best examples of the industry’s work have neither and become forgotten to all but the few who recognized them for being something special.
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is one such game.
Enslaved is a cinematic action/adventure game inspired by (and subtitled for) the ancient Chinese novel Odyssey to the West. Robots have destroyed civilization and enslaved humanity. Trip, a young woman who escapes their captivity, forces another prisoner, Monkey, to protect her while she returns home by using a device which prevents him from abandoning her.
Enslaved got respectable press while it was developed, owing largely to a creative team which included motion capture and voice acting by Andy Serkis and writing by Alex Garland. A number of stylish trailers got my attention, and a pre-release demo sold me completely.
Reviews were generally positive upon Enslaved’s November 2010 release. PixlBit awarded it 4 of 5 stars, echoing Metacritic averages of 80 and 82 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. Critics widely praised the presentation and story, but some believed the gameplay was too simplistic.
A single DLC pack, Pigsy’s Perfect 10, briefly extended media coverage before Enslaved was all but gone from the press. By February, Namco Bandai reported only 460,000 units sold worldwide—a far cry from the one million projected—and the game was already a popular clearance title at U.S. retailers. Since then, scarcely a word has been said about it.
Enslaved’s low sales and Ninja Theory’s involvement with Devil May Cry all but ensure Odyssey to the West will be a singular experience, but it’s one of my personal favorites nonetheless.
Monkey and Trip are well acted and well written characters who evolve both individually and as a team in response to their experiences. Monkey’s initial rage is replaced with genuine concern for his captor’s safety while Trip, initially a frightened girl who hugs her knees for comfort, challenges her fear and guilt to become a confident survivor. Vistas of an overgrown post-apocalyptic city, which is equally beautiful and unsettling, set the stage for characterization expressed more via subtle facial animations and vocal inflections than dramatic set pieces, although there are plenty of those to go around too.
Monkey uses a staff, which doubles as a melee weapon and a ranged weapon. He fights up close with a small but respectable set of combos and from a distance with a variety of ammunition. He attacks from the front and sneaks up from behind. He instructs Trip to distract and temporarily disable the enemy. He chooses which target to prioritize: the one about to explode, which he uses to damage the others, or the one about to call reinforcements. He fights bosses requiring a variety of tactics to defeat. He climbs and swings. He rides a hoverboard. He collects items to upgrade abilities and unlock achievements.
Some critics believed although the gameplay offers a lot of variety, it also offers little depth. Level design is linear. Combat mechanics are simple. Platforming requires little more than holding a direction while pressing a button to move from one highlighted spot to the next.
I concede to the game’s simplicity, but I also maintain its streamlined approach helps rather than hurts it. More challenging platforming, for example, could disrupt the pacing it establishes so well.
Considering the sum of its parts, Enslaved is both an artistic achievement and a blast to play. It may be short of a masterpiece, but it’s still an underrated game which shouldn’t be missed.
For more coverage and impressions of Enslaved, watch for a new episode of Backloggers Anonymous coming soon!
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