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Westward, ho!
Sightseeing Complete Chapter 2
Gamerscore = 10 Acquired on 23/10/2010
Often when I am choosing games to play I have a pretty narrow vision. I know what genres and franchises appeal to me, so I follow and purchase those games with very little deviation from the formula. I do buy lots of games, but some slip through the cracks. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was nearly a victim of these circumstances, but fortunately for me (and my family, which I will explain later) that was not the case.
The Xbox 360 and its Marketplace provide gamers with numerous opportunities to ‘try before you buy’, making available game demos for all their Arcade and Indie titles as well as many retail releases. I often ignore these opportunities as my gaming plate is so full and my available cash finite, I do not want to tempt fate and find another must-have title.
Via word of mouth and podcast I had listened to, I heard good rumblings about two titles that I had not paid much attention, Castlevania: Lord of Shadows (which I will discuss in a future post) and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, so downloaded both demos to see what all the hype was about.
What first drew me to Enslaved was that I had heard that it was a different take on post-apocalyptia, a more lush version of an end-of-the-world scenario. I am a huge fan of the next-gen Fallout series and Left 4 Dead which are post-apocalyptic games in their own way, call it a morbid curiosity, but I want to see the aftermath of these potential futures.
Once I started to play the demo for Enslaved I was completely blown away! The action sequences, the animation, the cinematic presentation, the acting and storytelling were at a level of quality I was not accustomed to. The look and feel of the main characters in Enslaved, Monkey and Trip, our gorgeous and really come alive on the screen. I can honestly say this is the closest I have ever come to feel like I was playing a movie and for good reason. Monkey is brought to life with voice and motion capture by Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) and co-written by screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later).
I was immediately sold on this game and purchased it straight away. When I started playing my wife and seven-year-old son were watching me play. I think they are hooked as well. Now I have to make sure they are around when I play the game, making it seem even more like a movie experience.
Enslaved reminds me very much of another game I love, Silicon Knight’s Too Human, which is a Norse mythological take of a post-apocalyptic world where machines have driven mankind to the brink of extinction. While they vary quite a bit in gameplay style, a similar thread runs between the two.
As the title of the post states I have been enraptured by Enslaved, and if you are unsure of my excitement of the game (or perhaps turned off by my comparison to Too Human), download the demo and see for yourself. I am curious as to what other gamers have to say about Enslaved, so please leave a comment and share your thoughts with me and others who may read this post.
-SG
