Enslaved: Odyssey To The West – Review

From the Vault — originally published October 26, 2010. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.

Let me start by saying this, if you have ever played Uncharted or even the newest Castlevania game, then Enslaved is probably going to feel instantly familiar.
It’s a platforming adventure with a dose of action served up for good measure.

You play as Monkey, voiced by the fantastic Andy Serkis of Lord of the Rings fame.
He’s been captured on a slave ship, but is set free by a mysterious girl, who immediately takes off and leaves Monkey to escape the ship in the games opening tutorial level
When you meet back up with this girl at the end of the tutorial, the ship is about to crash to earth, and she about to escape by the very last escape pods.

After Monkey awakes he see’s the girl who eventually reveals that her name is trip, sitting there, and she goes on to explain that she has attached a slave headband to him in order for him to take her back home as she won’t be able to do it by herself because the land has been overrun by Mechs. He refuses at first and threatens to kill her until she tells him that because he has now become enslaved, he is now under her command, and she holds his life in her hands. She explains that if she dies, then he dies. So with no other choice but to help, Monkey sets off on his adventure with Trip.

The story is surprisingly good , with a few twists and turns and an ending that will have you questioning all your actions.
Voice acting is top notch and you can really sense the chemistry between Monkey and Trip the more the story evolves. You are watching a relationship blossoming in front of your eyes, and it’s really nice that so much effort has been made to make these characters really connect with the audience. By the end you will be rooting for them to succeed.

Gameplay basically includes the standard elements you will find in these kind of adventure games. There is combat, platforming, puzzles and environments to explore.

Now even though Trip remains with you throughout the game you only control Monkey, there are co-op elements involved but only through a command wheel where you can tell Trip to set up decoy’s so you can move past enemies and turret guns without being detected and to operate different kinds of switches and levers. Trip isn’t as agile as Monkey either so there will be times you will need to help her climb a ledge and carry her on your back to quickly escape from enemies.
Trips AI is really good though, not once has she messed up by doing things she shouldn’t be doing or got trapped or stuck within environments etc, which is great because it really helps with the pacing of the gameplay.

Platforming in my eyes is excellent but others may think otherwise. I say this because monkey does not have an independent jump button, so he can’t just randomly jump around the environments. He will only jump where the game allows him, for example, at the end of a platform to reach another. This makes it quite tough to actually die during these parts, but as you play through the game you will notice that it isn‘t entirely impossible. So people may think it makes it too easy, but I think that’s a good thing, because it keeps the platforming fluid and you are able to build up a momentum. It was always frustrating in games like Uncharted and Castlevania when you missed timed a jump or something and ended up falling to your death.

There are also tech orbs scattered around the world, they act as the games currency which you need to collect in order to upgrade monkeys equipment etc. you bigger health bar, better shield etc
Monkey can also collect memory masks, these strange objects give him strange visions, visions that if I were to talk about them more in depth would ruin the entire story.

Unfortunately the combat is abit of a letdown as there is not much depth to it. Monkey comes equipped with a staff, which actually resembles a light sabre and most of the fighting is tackled close quarters. The staff does have the ability to shoot plasma and stun bolts to take out faraway enemies which is kind of fun to do. You have you basic light and heavy attacks, with an option to do a focus attack when meter has built up and also a takedown which is a great looking cinematic finishing move. You are unable to purchase different combos so animations are always the same, and it makes combat both tedious and repetitive as these elements are a big part of the game.

The camera is also slightly too close to Monkey so during close quarter combat sections it can make enemies difficult to see, which result in them being able to get in some cheap shots. It can be frustrating at times.

The graphics for the most part are great. I like how they have a different take on what a post apocalyptic world looks like. Instead of horrible greys and browns etc, the colour palette is great.
Buildings are covered in green moss with plants and trees growing everywhere, red roses and vegetation are scattered everywhere, the water is sky blue. It definitely looks like nature is reclaiming back the land. At times it looks amazing with some great draw distances.
Monkey and Trip look excellent, so much detail has been put into them. Sometimes they don’t even need to say anything because the expressions on their faces can tell you how they are feeling, not an easy feat in a videogame but Enslaved nails it. Unfortunately though, after the first few levels which are set within New York city, the environments become quite boring and a total letdown from the beauty of New York. Infact the whole middle section of the game kind of reminds me of some of the places seen in Borderlands, so yes, very boring indeed and not a lot to see.

There are a lot of tech issues though, especially on PS3. Regular frame rate drops and some horrible screen tear, yes possibly even worse than Mafia II on PS3. There is also a lot of texture pop in, not just in-game but during the cut scenes as well. Apparently the 360 version doesn’t suffer from these issues as bad so I’d recommend you check out that version. It’s a shame because it really dampens what is otherwise a fantastic looking game.
The frame rate issues really become a problem during the last couple of levels because of the amount of action going on onscreen. I won’t hold my breath for them to patch the game.

So going back to what I said earlier, if you have played and enjoyed the Uncharted games or the new Castlevania then I think you will enjoy this. Although I don’t think it’s as good as those games I definitely believe it’s worth a play through. I also reiterate that the Xbox 360 version is said to be superior even though there are technical issues over there as well, but it’s still the best version to play.
It’s these tech issues that really bring down the score because in a game that is story heavy and very character driven, you don’t need these things to take you out of the experience.

I still think it’s a good if not great game. I enjoyed my time playing through it and with the rumours of a sequel in the works already circulating around the web, I definitely can’t wait to return to the world.

Check out my Video Review below.

This video has been removed from YouTube.

Enslaved: Odyssey To The West is now available to buy on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360