Enslaved: Odyssey To The West - ROQ Review

Released in October, on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Enslaved: Odyssey To The West is an action adventure platformer with a unique story and look. Going into this game I wasn't sure if I was going to throughly enjoy it. Seeing a game run on the universally used Unreal Engine and not looking very sharp was signs enough for me to worry. Lets break it down into the basics shall we?


Story
In a world ruled by robots, over grown with plant life and set 150 war torn years in the future, Enslaved places you in the shoes of a character named Monkey, well it would if he actually wore shoes. Monkey is an outcast of society. A lone wanderer, seeking only to survive, is enslaved by a young girl named Trip using a mind controlling head band.

Keeping Trip alive, for the sake of his own life linked to hers by the head band, Monkey reluctantly helps her to get home after an escape from a slave ship. The Adventure continues as Monkey and Trip find her village over taken by robot Mechs and her father dead. Rather than choosing to be released by Trip, Monkey decides to help her avenge her father by striking back at the source of the robotic take over.

The two adventures travel to an old friend of Trip's father, who could have the resources they need to strike at the heart of the Mechs. Meeting up with Pigsy, Monkey and Trip find theres is a Mech base near by housing an ultimate weapon, the Leviathan. The trio set out to take control of this giant Mech to use it against its creators. They soon find out its a much more difficult task than planned. Ultimately they are successful and take the Leviathan into battle at the command center of the Mechs, called simply, Pyramid. This is where the story comes to a climax.




Gameplay
Being an action adventure, Enslaved mainly consists of platforming, running from point A to point B to complete a level or chapter. Boss battles are also mixed in, but one in particular boss called the Dog is used far too many times. Platforming is smooth and feels great. Jumping from one ledge to the next and from pole to pole is seamlessly fluid.



Combat is another strong point, making Monkey feel like controlling an unstoppable man of great strength. Every strike feeling like the appropriate weight is put behind the movement of your character. Occasionally given the opportunity, Monkey will be able to use a plate like disc of electricity to traverse a level quickly. This plate is called Monkey's Cloud, and feels much like a hover board, giving the player an increase in speed and jumping.

Presentation
Running on the Unreal Engine, Enslaved looks a little dated, with some of its textures not loading in for a while. Or the draw distance being a little out of focus for a few seconds before fixing itself. Where Enslaved stands out is its use of colors and level design that can sometimes be quite breath taking. For example, the picture below shows a post apocalyptic New York, over grown by nature without the influence of man.

 Verdict
Overall Enslaved surprised me to say the least. What I thought was a rushed game, turned out to be a very interesting take on the ancient Chinese novel Journey to the West and an exciting adventure. The climax of the game was a little out there and felt a little too much like The Matrix, but I'll let you decide that for your self. Like any game, Enslaved had some bugs, most being texture loading. With a little more polish time this game could have looked fantastic. Frame rates slowed slightly when a lot of action was on screen, especially while fighting multiple enemies, and character clipping was abundant.

Gameplay was very satisfying, the story stood out and the look had its moments.Without the inclusion of any form of multi-player or any indication that the title will be supported by DLC other than a "Downloadable Content" option in the main menu, I'm going to recommend this as a "High Rental". It may mot be worth $60, but its a well writen game and a solid action adventure.