Enslaved Odyssey To The West.

Review time, I thought I would switch things up a little this week and rather than give you all a recap of the news I would put my thoughts to you about the game I have been currently playing.

The game in question is Enslaved Odyssey to the West. 

Plot

Created by developers Ninja Theory, the minds behind Heavenly Sword and the upcoming reboot of Devil May Cry, comes the tale of Monkey and Trip. 2 survivors who escape a slave ship bound for the mysterious location known only as Pyramid. Set in the distant future in a land that has been ravaged by war, where only scrap metal robots known as mechs and small pockets of humanity are able to survive. These 2 companions must work together if they are to overcome the crumbling dystopia and get back to their homes. Along the way they meet with a friend of Trip’s called Pigsy who joins them in their adventure.

The story is loosely based on the ancient Chinese novel ‘Journey to the West’ and was written by Alex Garland. Who notably also wrote the films 28 Days Later, Sunshine and The Beach. Returning to work with Ninja Theory was Andy Serkis, who not only directed the game he also performed the motion capture for Monkey.

Game play

As this game is an action adventure there are 2 core game play elements to Enslaved, these are combat and platforming. Both of which you will be doing a lot of on your play through of the game. You will take control of Monkey for the entirety of the story and Trip will accompany you as more of an advisor and at times a useful resource due to the baby sitting parts of the game play but I shall get onto that later.

The combat mechanics in Enslaved are very simple; there are no huge button combinations to remember and most enemies can be taken down with a few mashes of the strong attack. Add to this Monkey’s ranged and stun attacks and you will be dispatching a mountain of mechs in no time. I found the combat to be fluid and engaging for the most part, the only downfall as with many games in this genre was the camera. It would fixate itself on the most imminent danger, which is useful at times, however if you then try to move it with the right analogue stick to get a better view on the enemies that are circling around you it will constantly try to snap back to where it thinks you should be looking. This caused a to and fro argument between me and the control scheme with me telling it where I wanted to look and it telling me where I should be looking. Personally I think games like this require the player to have complete control over the camera allowing them to pick and choose which enemies to focus on and not have the game dictate or overrule the player’s choice.

Now to a much more enjoyable part of the game....the platforming. Anyone who has played the Uncharted games will be immediately comfortable and at home with how Monkey can move around his environment. Leaping huge gaps and finding hand holds on the tiniest of ledges, Monkey is able to scale complex structures with ease. The game will highlight each area that the player will need to move to next and Monkey will grab onto it with an almost magnetic grip. It is near impossible for the player to be killed whilst climbing and this works as a strength for the user. I have played many games in my time where jumps have been misjudged or invisible walls have been in areas that look to be reachable but turn out to be deadly. The fact that the game compensates for this is a satisfying experience and allows you to enjoy the sights and not have to become angered or agitated by unresponsive controls or deceiving level design. 

I kind of have a love hate relationship with babysitting mechanics in games. At times the AI can be perfect and will be able to fend for itself while you take on some of the harder enemies in a game, and then there are times where the AI will blindly run in to all sorts of danger and then demand that you save them. Luckily Enslaved is not the latter. As stated before you play as Monkey and you are burdened with the task to look out for Trip, fortunately she has a number of skills to aid you in your quest together. Early on in the game Trip will hack a robotic dragon fly and use it to survey the path ahead. This information will then be displayed to Monkey showing hidden mines, active mechs and other dangers in the vicinity. 

She is also able to point out mechs that have special attachments that Monkey can tear off and utilise for himself. When both Trip and Monkey are caught in a difficult position and are being hailed with gun fire, Trip is able to perform a distraction that will cause the mechs to shift target and allow Monkey to sneak in for the kill. Without a doubt this one of the better companion AI’s I have seen in games.

Graphics

Enslaved was built in the Unreal engine and as such has the classic Unreal feel to it and apart from a few slow loading textures and graphical glitches the games artwork is engrossingly beautiful. The environments that you will get to explore are particularly noteworthy ranging from huge American cities that have been overrun with vegetation and colourful organic life to vast scrap metal junk yards of old decaying mechs. The character models in the game complement their personality; Monkey has a huge upper body figure that strongly resembles that of a gorilla his scars show he is a battle hardened man just trying to survive in the wilderness. Trip is lean and nimble and in comparison to Monkey it is clear to see she is in need of care and then Pigsy.....well what can you say, he is a pig. 

The mech character models are a steam punk’s wet dream. They comprise of lots of moving parts to form bipedal robot. The latter enemies are simply breathtaking but I won’t go into detail as it is best you experience it for yourself. 

Final thoughts

Overall Enslaved is a thoroughly enjoyable game. The simplistic game play design never deters from the story allowing you to become involved with the characters and form a connection with the 2 main protagonists. Aside from the slight issues with the camera controls and loading times with the Unreal engine, the game, in my eyes, is a definite purchase. If you want a game that has a well written story, stunningly beautiful set pieces and some superb characters and voice acting then Enslaved is the game for you.

I’ll give Enslaved an 8 out of 10.

Thanks for reading this week folks. As always please comment, subscribe and share with friends. I'd love to hear back from you and hear your opinions. See ya next time.

Something for the weekend

How do, ladies and gents I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. It seems that Sunday is a slow day for gaming news so I figured as I can’t get many exclusives to people I can get everyone up to speed with what has been going down in the wonderful world of games. Let’s do this...

NOT AGAIN!!

Right let’s get the sad news out the way first. Once again Gran Turismo 5 has been delayed *sobs*. The game has now slipped from its SECOND slated release date of November 5^th to the ‘Holiday season’. GT5 was originally scheduled for release March 2010 in Japan but was quickly pushed back to November. Series creator Kazunori Yamauchi tweeted the reason for the delay was that ‘it’s because time and labour were spent ironing the kinks out of the game’s complex system.’ Sony are still confident that ‘this ambitious game will exceed expectations when it launches’. As with all delays fans are not best pleased, but when your game has a development price tag of upwards of $60 million I think it’s going to be best for everyone to make it perfect.

We’re not using the Z word

Red Dead Redemption, the Wild West, cowboy action adventure from Rockstar will be getting its next DLC pack on October 26^th. Undead Nightmare will allow players to reprise the role of John Marston in a new single player adventure. It seems something isn’t right in the old west and the dead are rising from their graves to feast. Not only will John have to fight back waves of the maggot riddled corpses of the fallen, he will also take to his zombiefied horse to hunt down other creatures of the wild that have fallen prey to the horde. Undead Nightmare will be released on both Xbox LIVE for 800 Microsoft points and Playstation Network for £7.99. 

Rockstar also announced they will be releasing a standalone version of Red Dead Redemption which will contain all the expansion packs released so far and allow players to join multiplayer games including all Free Roam game types and cooperative mission packs. No specific date has been given for the stand alone disc other than ‘coming soon’ and it will go to retail for £24.99.

Nathan wants to play Nathan

Actor and star of Firefly, Serenity and latest hit Castle, Nathan Fillion has spoke out about his passion to play Nathan Drake in the upcoming movie version of Uncharted. In a recent tweet he hailed all fans and members of the public to ‘Rise’ and get his name heard by the movie execs for a possible chance to play the games hero. Nolan North who performs the voice acting for Drake in the games is also a candidate for the role.

No casting has been confirmed yet; however the movie will be directed by David O Russell (Three Kings). Of note Fillion also performed the voice acting for Buck in Halo ODST and Reach.

 

 Personally I think Fillion would be a genius decision for the role. Although he is a little older than Drake he carries the same mannerisms and personality and would suit the character to a T. As another small fan boy request I would love to see Bruce Campbell play the part of Sully...come on Hollywood make it happen!

 

 Something for the LOLZ

...aannndd finally something that just had me in bits as soon as I saw it. The senior artist, Ian Faichnie, over at Lionhead studios released a concept image of their in game *ahem* “Companions”. I fear running into these people in Fable III.

Right that’s your lot for this week. If you took your time out to read this blog then a MASSIVE thank you to you. As always please comment, subscribe and tell your friends about me it all helps out in the end. 

See y’all next week.

Damn it's good to be back!

Well ladies and gents what can I say..... It’s been a while since I have posted on here, a LONG while in fact, but I haven’t been skiving. I have been busy graduating university (a thank you) and getting myself a job in the industry (Games Tester if you must know) but now I am back. Better, Stronger, Faster and I’m ready to get this blog into full swing.

Don’t get me wrong over the months I have had many thoughts about this place and what I can do with it. Now I finally have some time I may actually be able to put those thoughts into production and share my ideas with the world. So let’s get Kraken shall we....

First things first...

Although I have been busy and had a lot of time away from here don’t think I have let my gaming needs fall behind, oh no sir. Over the past few months I have managed to get through many of the games that were released in Q1 and Q2 2010 and I shall be sharing my opinions of those in the next few weeks. Look out for write ups on Bioshock 2, Alan Wake, Red Dead Redemption and a few others I have in my collection.

As always though this wonderful industry is constantly moving forward so for this week I shallbe talking about one of the next big hits in the coming months.

Remember, Remember 9^th November

As I’m sure many of you are all aware that 9^th November sees the release of the next instalment of the Call of Duty franchise. Black Ops, created by developers Treyarch, sees players assume the role of a foot soldier taking part in Black Op missions during the Cold War era. Players will visit a number of locations such as Vietnam, Cuba and the Ural Mountains. 

We can expect the usual fast paced, action packed game play that we are used to from the Call of Duty series. However according to recent developer videos it seems that Treyarch have gone all out on making the multiplayer side of the game something to rival even the mighty Halo Reach. Not only can weapons be customised with perks and sights it will now be possible to create your own emblems and camo patterns for your guns. Characters will also be customisable allowing users to create a unique look for their online avatar.

There will also be a host of new multiplayer game types included in Black Ops. Ones to look out for are:

Wager Match:

Players compete for currency which they can use on buying new custom items for their avatars or guns (i.e. camo paint, scopes etc). At the beginning of each round players will bet some of their hard earned cash on whether or not they will place in the top 3 for the free for all match. Players that end up in the top 3 walk away with a share of the money and everyone else goes home broke.

I for one LOVE this idea; it brings a whole new reason to continue playing online and during each match you will have a sense of tension and anxiety not knowing if the next kill will leave you bankrupt. If someone beats you and takes all your money you know you will want to jump right back in there and take it all back. Wager matches will be present across a range of free for all matches so you can expect some brilliant rivalries to arise during these games.

One in the Chamber:

Now I have to admit this will be one of the game types that I will never leave. Players will spawn into the map with a pistol and ONE bullet. They must then hunt each other down and make that shot count. If you get the kill then you can take the other players bullet and continue, if you miss well then you better be quick on that melee button.

Sticks and Stones:

In this game type all players will start with a crossbow, ballistic knife and a tomahawk. The game will play out like a normal free for all where players can run round and earn kills and currency. The twist in this game however is if a player scores a kill by throwing the tomahawk then you immediately bankrupt the killed player. Watch your back in this one people.

Gun Game:

This does exactly what it says on the tin. Players begin the game with a pistol and for each kill scored they will progress to the next more powerful gun available. Once a player has gone through each gun tier then they will win the game. If you get knifed though during the game you will move back one gun tier.

These game types will be available from launch and run alongside the standard death match and team death match.

Treyarch have also confirmed a return of the hugely successful Nazi Zombies game type although we still have no idea how this looks or what we can expect. But the announcement alone that this game type will return has more than peaked my interest in the game.

We can expect to see Call of Duty Black Ops hit retail shelves on 9^th November. I for one will be front and centre to pick up this game. 

Right that’s enough for this week. Before you all go shouting off that there are other games coming out as well as Black Ops. Yes I am aware and I shall get to them in time. Don’t worry I haven’t forgotten about Gran Turismo 5, Fallout New Vegas, Medal of Honour, Vanquish, Fable III,  Star Wars Force Unleashed 2, Little Big Planet 2 or Assassins Creed Brotherhood.......Damn =S I’m gonna have my work cut out writing about all those. Anyways as always PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE subscribe, Like, forward to friends, comment and rate it all helps =D

See y’all next time.......damn it’s good to be back!