From the creators of Heavenly Sword (which really showcased what the PS3 was capable of) the developers from Ninja Theory have brought us ‘Enslaved: Odyssey To The West.’ After playing only the demo so far, this game is already set to do very well in the charts over this last quarter.
Set over 150 years in the future, the duo title characters Monkey (the big guy characterised by the man who was used for Heavenly Sword’s big baddy and Lord of The Ring’s Gollum – Andy Serkis) and Trip find themselves enslaved aboard a massive flying vessel heading (you guessed it) west. After escaping from a kind of holding cell, Trip begins to leg it to the nearest escape pod without first using her technical savvyness to cause the hulking ship to start disintegrating and falling towards a transformed earth that has been left near desolate of any form of civilisation. You then take control of Monkey (who also manages to escape) to jump, swing and quickly manoeuvre yourself through the ship’s various corridors and effortlessly navigating its outer network of pipes and ladders whilst the entire time never far from death as bits of machinery start coming to life and attacking you.
Robots left over here after near-countless wars, have taken control, and primarily its these robots you’ll be fighting and ripping apart throughout your epic journey.
The emotional ties between both central characters begins once they crash land. After waking up with a mahusive head ache, Monkey finds himself wearing a new head piece. Trip can’t make the ‘trip’ alone so with that clever brain of hers, she steals a slave head piece that forces those thus ‘enslaved’ to follow any given direction by its commander or else die. This, she has placed on a not so happy Monkey.
The snag now is that if Monkey strays to far from Trip, he dies. If for any reason, Trip’s heart stops beating, he dies and so the journey and their relationship begins.
So now the ultimate goal is to free themselves from the shackles that bind them as it were. Monkey needs to keep Trip safe and above all alive, whether by means of removing obstacles, finding safe routes through the harsh terrain or just simply kick the robots where it hurts so to speak. Though from time to time, Trip and only Trip will have to use her tech ‘know-how’ to bypass any security measures or hack computers to move themselves closer and closer to their destination.
Well now for how it plays… The game runs like liquid, with swinging or jumping from one beam or ladder to another is as smooth as butter. The camera at times can feel a little to zoomed in for comfort but this certainly doesn’t impede on the enjoyment and satisfaction of taking out huge mechanical beings with an array of combos and counter attacks along with a whopping great staff.
As far as graphics go, most will compare them to those found in Uncharted 2 and rightly so. The tiny skin creases and ever so slight facial movements and twitches really make them human and humans you can relate to. This also adds a great dimension to the tenuos yet loving friendship that you see only glimpses of at first between the two characters.
Its going to be teamwork that gets you both home and this only brings ever increasing satisfaction as you conquer the puzzles and traps that will lay before you.
The game’s well paced story line mixed with action and puzzle solving, along with some fantastic characters and great level and character designs may well make this a truly great, and in depth experience for those young and old alike. Check out the official trailer below and let us know what you think.
Enslaved: Odyssey To The West will be available to purchase on October 8th at around £39.99
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