Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a terrible game. The combat, platforming, puzzles, collectibles, and mild RPG stuff are little more than busywork, ranging from simple to superfluous. Having finishedEnslaved, I have no desire to ever play it again. The replay value is flat-out zero. The actual play value is near zero.
However, sometimes there's more to a game than just the game.
Read the review after the jump.
I really liked Enslaved a lot. Quite a lot, in fact. It's a game worth talking about, because it manages what so many games fail spectacularly: to tell a good story about characters worth caring about. And I cared enough about them that I was willing to play through Enslaved. That's no small feat.
A lot of the credit goes to people who don't work at Ninja Theory, the studio that developed the game. Alex Garland, along with Enslaved's lead designer, is credited with the writing. Garland is a novelist turned screenwriter who wrote The Beach, 28 Days Later, and Sunshine. His story is remarkable for how it's willing to take its time and unfold subtly. It's carefully focused first on a relationship, second on a vaguely drawn world, and third on a dilemma that leads to the strangely somber but satisfying conclusion.
There is no exposition. In fact, even the setting is unclear at first. If you've read about Enslaved, you might know it take place in some sort of fantasy post-apocalyptic setting. There are funky airships and weird clothes and unfamiliar technology. The world is ruined, but green and lush. Ninja Theory's artists wrestle mightily with the plastic look of the Unreal 3 engine, but they manage ruins and factories with a unique identity. Early on, during a heavily scripted action sequence (not that there's any other kind of action sequence in Enslaved) on the wing of an airship, something happens that teaches you a lot about the setting. It's a grand reveal, shrewdly written, and a hundred times more effective than any text crawl or speech.
Because the world of Enslaved is situated carefully in the background, the focus is on the two main characters. Monkey and Trip - yes, those are their names - develop a vivid relationship without resorting to the usual tropes. The closest cliché is the two mismatched fugitives handcuffed together while they're on the lam. Credit Mr. Garland's dialogue and Ninja Theory's expressive animation. But what really brings the relationship to life is the work of the actors. Andy Serkis, who is also the game's dramatic director, is the voice of Monkey and Lindsey Shaw is the voice of Trip.
Like the original Uncharted, the game appreciates what it has in its two leads. Serkis' dramatic direction takes its time, and it works its ways into bits and pieces of gameplay instead of just cut scenes. Both actors manage to show that they care about each other in the subtext of the dialogue. The relationship starts off very simply. He's pissed. She's scared. We can understand and empathize with both of them (it's worth noting Enslaved never has to resort to a villain). These motivations even manage to work themselves into gameplay, inasmuch as there's any gameplay in Enslaved.
Eventually, a sense of playfulness emerges between them. Late in the game, during a travel sequence, the characters whisper to each other about subverting a major plot point. There's a powerful sense of connection and understanding at that moment. It's not a love scene, but it's just as good as one.Enslaved knows what aspects of the relationship to explore, and what to leave unsaid. In fact, when another character comes along later in the game, he's not just the comic relief. He offers a different view of the characters. At one point, with nothing more than a glance over his shoulder, his perspective literally changes the way you see Monkey and Trip. It's a rare game that can pull off interactions like these without having to spell them out.
Ultimately, you can think of Enslaved as a movie featuring two likeable leads with fantastic chemistry. Who cares if it doesn't try very hard to be a game? For the first ten chapters or so, the gameplay is just a formality, and you can skip your way along it without much effort. Near the end, you'll have to power through (i.e. replay several times) some difficult and frustrating sequences. If I knew when I started what I know now, I wouldn't have bothered playing on medium. Aside from the 25 Gamerscore points, there really no reason to play Enslaved on anything other than easy. There's a lot here worth seeing, and not much worth playing. Easy does it just fine. LINK
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