You Won't Be Released From the Suspense

Enslaved is a game that tries really hard, and I respect it for that, but it does come short on a few marks.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West tells the story of Monkey and Trip, two humans journeying through a post-apocalyptic America while avoiding The Slavers, an army of robots kidnapping humans for unknown sinister purposes.  The game is based loosely (extremely loosely) on the ancient Chinese story “Journey to the West”.  It's the latest from Ninja Theory, a developer known for their work on PlayStation 3 exclusive Heavenly Sword.  The game takes place over several chapters focusing largely on combat and platforming with some basic puzzle solving.

This game has some of the best motion capture I have ever seen.  Andy Serkis (better known as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies) lends his considerable talents doing motion capture for Monkey.  The most striking aspect of the mo-cap is the facial animations;  I was nearly moved to tears by some of the more emotional scenes simply because the facial animations seem so real.  The general visual quality of the game is also astounding, even when played in standard definition.  You can really see and hear the extra time they put into polish on this title; I rarely saw the jaggies or heard the pops that are so frequently characteristic of other titles.  The controls also felt really good.  I really did feel like an acrobat while dancing from rubble pile to rubble pile.

There are some problems, however.  First and foremost, the game is extremely easy.  This really didn't make the game worse, per se, but it did kill some of the realism when Monkey couldn't even walk off a cliff.  Also, the combat, while competent, does get a little tiresome by the end of the game.  My biggest complaint is probably the game's plot, however.  While the voice-acting was delivered superbly, I really felt that some of the story wasn't the best, particularly the ending, which was extremely weak and felt like a naked “Stay Tuned for Part 2!”.  I won't ruin it, but I found it a little disappointing.  There is also virtually no reason to replay this title short of achievement/trophy hunting, which seems like a big downside.

Those are nit-picky problems, however, and didn't change the fact that I had a lot of fun with this game and thoroughly respect its technical achievements.  I just wish there was more to it.

	System:	Xbox 360
	Genre:	3rd-Person Action
	Experience:	Finished the game on Normal difficulty

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