Review: Enslaved [PS3]

Review: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

Enslaved is a game that attempts to be a lot of things. It yearns for the emotional impact of Ico, and reaches for the cinematic quality action of Uncharted.  While it fails to achieve either it does offer a ride worth taking.

You are Monkey, a large brutish man who’s good at heart, tasked with returning Trip to her home village, whether he wants to or not. Enslaved is basically a linear 3^rd person action platformer. You leap from ledge to ledge and bash enemies with a large baton. The platforming is fast, well animated and elegant, yet often mindless. This works great in the games many action set pieces adding to the excitement as you seamlessly fly from platform to platform like a monkey from tree to tree; but, diminishes the impact of sequences that would be otherwise nerve racking and dangerous, because the threat of falling is almost non-existent. Games like Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed can play to ones fear of heights because the thought of falling is always present; Enslaved fails because the player knows safety is always one button prompt away.

 Enslaved’s combat is your standard Light/Heavy attack dichotomy. Combat takes a little bit of thought, the enemies they toss at you vary enough that you aren’t using the same strategies over and over. You’ll get caught in animations a lot, which leads to some incredibly frustrating situations. The game lacks the finesse of a Bayonetta or Ninja Gaiden, but manages to feel impactful. Hitting your baton against an enemy as it tears through its metal components feels incredibly satisfying and every so often the game rewards you with a sequence in which the camera shifts and Monkey smashes through a robot in a manner in which audio and visual elements combine to create a genuinely visceral moment.

Enlaved’s biggest success is the relationship between the titles two main characters Monkey and Trip. As the game progresses the characters develop and grow in an interesting way and there are plenty of incredible moments that the two share, such as emotional back and forth in cut-scenes or simply being able to carry your companion through certain sequences in the game. The game’s characters actually feel human, and much of this is because of the expertly crafted animation. The cut-scenes demonstrate great attention to detail, characters pull of emotions that have only ever looked comical in games before and small little mannerisms add incredible depth to the games narrative repertoire. This all cumulates into a narrative that is well crafted and enjoyable. 

Enslaved is an inconsistent ride, at times it feels on par with some of my favourite games, yet at other times it seems mundane and tired. It relegates itself to its genre constraints and doesn’t do much we haven’t seen before; its narrative is enjoyable but too often relies on cut-scenes and other non-interactive sequences. Enslaved comes close to being something wonderful but fails to take enough risks to achieve it. 

Score: 6 / 10.

I’d like to note that I never liked Dragon Ball.

[Reviews scale: 5 = Average, goes up 1 unit at a time] ­­­