Developer: Ninja Theory

Publisher: Namco Bandi

Platforms: Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3

Released: October 2010

Genre(s): Action-Adventure, Platform

Modes: Single-player

Distribution: Physical CD, Online (DLC)

Rating(s): ESRB: T / PEGI: 16

Content Warning: Adult Language, Adult Situations, Fantasy Violence

Every Great Journey Begins With But A First Step…

In this updated sci-fi retelling of the old Chinese tale, “Journey to the West,” you play as Monkey in a post-apocalyptic world who must escort his somewhat savior/somewhat enslaver Trip to her home village after the two escape a slaver ship en route to the mysterious “Pyramid.” But what turns out to be a somewhat hectic and short trip home turns into a much larger tale before the end.

You know when I first saw this title I honestly looked at it with a somewhat biased eye. Because I didn’t know if a future retelling of the old “Journey to the West” fairy tale would go well. After experiencing a rather jolting endeavor playing through the futuristic retelling of Ragnarok with Silicon Knight’s “Too Human” title, I kind of came into this one with the expectation that Enslaved would play out pretty much the same; a great idea with broken gameplay that would’ve just killed the experience.

It finally took a demo I tried about four months after it was released to completely erase any doubt in my mind. And once I got my hands on the title proper, it was the best decision I’ve made in years (I’m still trying to forget the “jellied eels” pyramid scheme I got hooked into).

The premise is simple enough; you play as antihero Monkey (voiced by the ever prolific voice and mo-cap model Andy Serkis), who awakens on a slave ship en route to the mysterious “Pyramid” for reasons still unknown. However mid-flight a lone woman breaks free and begins to wreck havoc on her way to an escape pod. As you nimbly parkour-style scramble across the crashing ship, you’re introduced to how combat functions which is surprisingly responsive and fluid, complete at times with their own slo-mo finishing moves. With every encounter you slowly accrue “tech orbs” that you can use to upgrade Monkey’s various abilities, including expanding his health bar, damage limits on certain weapons, shield strength, and so on.

Monkey eventually gains the ability to create a “hover board” like device to cross over vast waterways or to cross large expanses quickly, which handles somewhat wonky at times, especially when you’re trying to carefully navigate yourself across a very slim walkway over a field of landmines not too far below with waiting mech death at the end of the road who like to ambush you just at the ledges in that last minute push-him-into-the-trap trap. Grrr. It takes some time to get used to, but it’s a lot of fun once you do.

Anyway, after crashing and being “enslaved” by a woman, whom we get to know as Trip, you’re forced to guard her across a devastated and overgrown ruined New York City (for three chapters anyway) a century and a half after it was blasted by, if one were to guess, the results of World War III on her sole-minded journey back to her village. To see the yellowed and weathered American flag, shredded and torn by time and nature slowly flutter in the wind; to see a broken cityscape overtaken by mother nature where steel pylons and cracked concrete walls peek out, barely, from under the greening creep; to see once bustling city streets split and gorged and cut like canyons by slowly roiling waterfalls and rivers; It’s beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. And surprisingly vibrant and visually cheerful to experience.

It’s an odd juxtaposition considering this is the future of a world devastated by warfare. After all, when one conjures the idea of  ‘apocalypse’ one would expect blackened and broken skyscrapers, fresh and smoldering craters, the black-boned bodies of the dead littering fresh war-torn landscapes. But instead we see clear blue skies, sprawling carpets of greens dotted with vibrant colorful flower beds, and even the occasional wild animal; a deer, birds, squirrels scampering up concrete walls.

The only ugly blemish in this now peaceful society would be the still active “mechs,” remnants of man’s past war, roaming across this natural beauty. They range from bipedal robots, stationary death spitting turrets, hulking wrecking-ball-fists toting bosses, and larger tiger-like predators capable of shredding both Monkey and Trip to pieces. Each area and each encounter requires a mixed use of teamwork involving stealth, practical use of flanking, and distraction to gain the upper hand in getting by these various obstacles.

Though Trip cannot physically fight on her own, at times, during moments of peril, she can unleash a stunning EMG pulse that can freeze enemies in place long enough for Monkey to scramble over and finish them off. Other moments Monkey might have to shout and wave his arms to distract an enemy long enough for Trip to move into cover safely, and so on. But while some games might make this feel more of an “escort” mission-type game, I actually found Trip quite useful than most. She was a companion rather than a burden.

Occasionally, you’ll also come across these weird floating “masks” that, once touched, give Monkey flashbacks of a pre-war life. A once blasted courtyard, for example, can be seen briefly untouched in this past, with a mysterious face (played by the real face of Andy Serkis), always being the last thing you see in these little links to the past. As the two explorers eventually move from this city to more vibrant environments, these visions begin to haunt Monkey more and more to the point that he becomes determined, almost fanatically so, to piece them all together to find out who this person is and what he means to the overall story.

Eventually, you’re paired with an unlikely third wheel, Pigsy, who begins a sort of antagonizing relationship with Monkey while they travel. This love-hate-love aspect is at times both funny and awkward, with equal parts animosity and jealousy thrown in just to keep it all in a nice little balance. I can honestly say that Pigsy is a character that I initially hated but, in the end, grew to genuinely mourn when he was no longer with my party. It’s odd, but it gives credit to the emotional chops that the game’s cast displayed with their respective characters.

Graphically, you’re looking at a very vibrant and lovingly created game. Which stands in a somewhat stark contrast to what many post-apocalyptic games give you; those bleak, grey choked skies, black ruined buildings, lifeless and glassed tundra. Here you have the crawl of mother nature giving life over rust covered iron, bright blooming flowers spiraling up broken concrete walls, calming, almost peaceful, waterfalls spilling out of high rise apartment complexes, all of this looks and feels organic and natural.

There are some visual hiccups from time to time, i.e. texture popping, collision detection errors, and some minute (very, very minute) graphical slowdown at times due to the rather overly large size of some Bosses here in the game. But again, it’s miniscule, and shouldn’t deter you from just enjoying the exceptionally and visually detailed settings that the game offers up.

My one real gripe with this otherwise stellar title is the occasional camera hang ups experienced throughout the game. You see the camera can sometimes become something of a static eye as you move from one transition area to the next, and it can oddly shift and cause you to do some frustrating things, from the occasional moving back to the previous area, to blocking up on a wall and obscuring your field of view. It also does its own thing during combat, swinging wildly at times and limiting your view of approaching enemy mechs, who can, during this brief chaos, suddenly come from behind and trounce Monkey before you have time to react. It’s a small, sometimes frustrating personal gripe, but I wished they’d of fixed this better before letting players experience it in this fashion.

The audio is absolutely amazing. From the ambient garble of brook and stream, the warble of spring birds fluttering from one perch to another, the occasional chatter of some unknown insect echoing across the city, it all makes the game feel so alive. My highest praise has to go to the voice acting. Listening to three very experienced voice actors deliver some gripping stuff here in Enslaved, they constantly impress and compliment each other to no end. Good heady stuff.

From the storypoint aspect, yes it’s a retelling of an old tale. But it’s a strong and smart retelling. It’s a tale filled with genuine characters, genuine emotion, genuine performance. This character dynamic, this gentle but harsh environment they’re forced to cross, the lover’s triangle that forms later on, and the eventual huge and emotionally rending loss afterwards, it’s all fantastic.

Which, for the life of me, boggles the mind as to why Namco Bandi and Ninja Theory didn’t do more press and advertisement for this game. I think the month it came out I saw one magazine splash advert for it in my GameInformer, but after that, nothing. Not even a commercial on TV. And to be honest, I think that’s what hurt the game’s popularity the most. Not backing a solid story and character driven game like they should have. Because I think that everyone needs to witness the graphical vibrancy, genuinely impactful character moments, and audio beauty that Enslaved gives you.

The game, unfortunately, only came with one piece of DLC and a few character skins before Namco Bandi nixed future installments. This one piece of DLC, Pigsy’s Perfect 10, takes place just before the start of the game proper. The DLC puts you in Pigsy’s pint-sized shoes as he scrambles around his rather large scrapyard with his little skybot companion “Truffles” as they decide that being a loner is, well, lonely so they decide to build a companion for them both.

Gameplay elements change a bit due to the fact that, well, let’s just say Pigsy isn’t this hulking, nimble warrior that Monkey is. So to overcome this physical disadvantage, you rely on a grappling hook/arm and Truffles help from time to time. If I had to compare to the feel of the DLC, it’s almost struck that cord reminiscent to how Bionic Commando felt. While more lighthearted than the campaign itself, its strongest point was that it enforced this already impressive character development that Ninja Theory seemed to weave so well in this game.

Final Thoughts: I had surprising fun with this title. From the exceptional story-driven moments, warm and believable cinematic exposition, to the fluid and sometimes white-knuckle combat. However my highest praise has to go to the voice acting. They deliver heart-felt performances that drive an already impressive storyline even further. And I implore anyone who might have had reservations on playing this title to give it a try. I promise you you will not be disappointed. True, you might get frustrated with certain aspects of Enslaved at times (mainly the camera), but as a whole, as a game worthy of your time, it’s totally worth going through the journey. It’s just a shame that we’ll probably never get a chance to experience this world, its inhabitants, or the talent that drives them, in any future sequels.