Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is an ambitious project by the developers Ninja Theory who gave us Heavenly Sword and dauntlessly plagued a much worshipped character. It has always been the aim of Ninja Theory to influence games with a cinematic and literary touch and this is exactly what they bundled in this adventure. Written by Alex Garland of 28 Days Later with voice-acting talents of Andy Serkis and Lindsey Shaw, Enslaved is somewhat based on the Chinese novel of Journey to the West but instead in the future.
Enslaved takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting where the world is being dominated by mechs and robots and the humans have been scattered into tribes. Our protagonist, Monkey is a solitary soul who is taken prisoner by a mech ship and after barely escaping he wakes up being enslaved via a slaver’s headband to a teenage girl named Trip. The headband forces him to obey Trip and protect her at all costs because if she dies, he dies.
Gotta save the girl
So starts the journey of Monkey and Trip set in a very Uncharter-ish environment. The game is very linear with the exploration rewarding only in tech-orbs which enhance Monkey’s abilities but as you progress some abilities of Monkey become crucial in order to get past a certain segment in the game. Monkey is armed with a staff of sorts which delivers powerful blows and can also be used for ranged attacks to shoot stun bolts and plasma bolts. Throughout the game your main nemesis will be the mechs and their variants, initially coming out with fairly easier levels but later on developing much challenging situations with shielded mechs, Brutes and electric mechs. It is basically the grouping of mechs and their number which calls for the difficulty. For instance the shielded mechs require to be stunned before they can take any damage but unlocking Monkey’s evade move will allow you to attack them from behind. So if you are out of stun bolts, you definitely need an alternative to pass through.
Overall, Enslaved does not offer much of a challenge but there are a few difficulty spikes. Even those wouldn’t take you more than a third try to get through. Health is abundantly available. Besides that you can always upgrade Monkey’s health bar and shields and unlock the health regen with enough tech-orbs collected. Monkey also has a takedown ability which can be used as a bonus during combat on defective mechs. Defective units have indications over their heads according to which you benefit after performing the take-down.
8...7...6... Too bad you're dead
Platforming, which constitutes of most part of the game, is a walk in the park. Ridiculously automated levels which won’t allow you to fall off and sometimes Monkey plainly refuses to make jumps even in the right direction. Plus, a tricky camera which can sometimes completely block your view of what is going on during a fight. So, pitfalls and climbing hardly provide any challenge. Raising up the difficulty results in the increase in number of enemies in some areas but mostly accounts for the damage struck as well as adding a little strategical approach to handling some situations.
Clearly Ninja Theory takes their characters seriously and it is here that the game did an outstanding job. The characters were not exactly provided with much background and even though I had a hard time relating to a protagonist named Monkey, the journey beautifully brought the characters to life with superb voice-acting and facial expressions. In a game where you can understand the emotions of the character just by looking at their face means some pretty dedicated work went into it.
Trip has mad computer skills and proves to be quite a useful assistance of AI rather than a dumb companion you have to babysit throughout the escort. You can command Trip most of the times and Trip’s decoy is really useful in many battles. She also uses a programmed dragonfly which scans the area for mechs, mines and other threats. Trip is also the one who upgrades Monkey’s weapons and skills. So she barely ever feels like a burden.
The Trip-tified Dragon fly
Trip might have been the focus throughout the game but Monkey as well provides some really memorable moments and even delivers some quite surprising reactions during the game providing quite a bit of depth to his character. Serkis had complete authority over the voice-acting and Lindsey Shaw did a superb job with the facial expressions of Trip. Both actors outstandingly carried out the script and performed the interactions of the characters. Another character Pigsy who is introduced much later in the game adds the much needed “life” to the journey.
The music is an easily over-looked department of the game as it quietly breathes into the emotional and relaxing bits of the game. The sound effects might be subtle but they are present giving some segments a very moody feel. The visuals similarly please the eyes. The secluded areas of the West have not turned into barren deserts but nature seems to have taken over showcasing a beautiful and deadly landscape.
Beautiful ... apart from that
Technically, the game is a mess. Frame-rates are on a sub par level throughout the game. During the segments using cloud (a floating disc Monkey uses to move about sometimes) which were also my favourite parts, the game barely manages to keep up and turns some of the most action-packed areas into frame chugging fests. Also keeping in view some instances of texture popping as well as badly pixelated shadows, clearly the game fell behind in this territory.
And That's how you ride the cloud
The game has its flaws and it needs much polishing. However, with all the flaws, the game still manages to be an interesting experience. Combat might be simplistic but it’s enjoyable; controls may be sluggish but you will get used to them; technically flawed but it is a beautiful game and it is definitely something special.
Score:
Presentation:9
Superb voice-acting that goes excellently with the characters set in great environments and hey it’s a UE3 game.
Graphics:8.5
If you manage to look past the frame-rates, Enslaved has some beautiful landscapes to offer with a prominent palette of greens and reds.
Multiplayer: N/A
Bummer
Sound:8.5
Enslaved has a great soundtrack and really nice sound effects and to top it off the game offers some outstanding voice-acting.
Gameplay:8
You might feel the controls to be a little slow and the combat to be very easy but it is still fun.
Overall: 8
A flawed game which could have used some polish however it is still worth a rent.
Last edited:
!
