Enslaved places you in a postapocalyptic world after the war when nothing but the decrepit ruins of what once was is all that remains. Buildings left in ruin with nature climbing all over them, lakes and pools of chemicals creating a beautiful but deadly world controlled by the mechs that walk through it attacking anything in sight. You will play as 1 of 2 escaped slaves named Monkey in search of a village which holds the only remaining hope for humanity.
You control the Character Monkey but this is by no means a solo campaign, although there is no co-op you will feel as if you are always accompanied by a close friend in Trip. Trip finds herself on a ship with strict rules and no real future ahead of her. She implements an escape plan however she finds herself escaping with more than just herself.
After Trip escapes from the ship she finds a fellow captive who has escaped along side her, he is big, strong, and his name is Monkey. The difference in the two characters helps create the initial feelings of dislike towards one another and make it more believable. This also shows the difference in each characters ability's, while Trip is small and thin she is very intelligent and can help with any puzzle elements. Monkey is powerful yet agile and can be used for any platforming.
Trip finds Monkey unconscious and attaches a headband to him allowing her to control him, she informs him of this when he awakes. If Monkey strays to far from his capture or her heart stops he will feel unthinkable pain.
The relationship between Monkey and Trip is the reason to spend your hard eard money on this great adventure.
The designers of this game put allot of work into creating two believable characters with real emotions, the way that Monkey and Trip communicate during cut scenes is played out perfectly and the subtle face movements help create each characters own personality. When playing through the game i experienced lot's of these great moments however one stood out to me, there is a point when Monkey is still unsure how Trip feels about him, she climbs on the back of his motorbike and rests her head on his back and although Monkey just think's it's for safety we see her close her eyes and begin to smile. This let's us know she feels something for Monkey and their relationship grows even stronger as you continue with this grand adventure.
The game uses the emotional connection you feel for each character and places Trip in situations of grave danger making the action sequences not only frantic and exhilarating, but also adds an emotional sense of worry and concern rarely felt in a video game.
The main thing is they both need each other, Trip needs Monkey to take down the mechs and other enemy's with his staff and fighting capability's. He can also scale just about any wall and leap from pole to pole, where as Monkey requires Trip for her intelligence and ability to lure enemy's away from Monkey while he is scaling a wall or ledge.
You take on the role of Trip's protector which is quite interesting considering you are her slave at the end of the day. But knowing that her life will keep you alive is all you need to justify protection the one who has enslaved you. This helps keep the two close together when normally they would be parted, helping create a believable relationship which otherwise would not exist.
You begin the game with a rather standard arsenal of attacks, only two attacks and a block and dodge movement are all you get. Although the button mashing combos are repetitive at times, the hard action and timing on screen can make you feel like you are doing allot more than re-tapping the same buttons.
The camera is the biggest drawback of the game creating more trouble than the enemy's you face at times. The camera is zoomed in very close to Monkey when you control him to give the feeling of extra impact when you attack enemy's with his brutal staff and the reverberations can be seen and felt on their body's, this works well but on the downside makes it impossible to notice approaching enemy's from behind. When scaling walls and other platforming areas throughout the beautifully designed world you feel a sense of claustrophobia at times when you can't rotate your camera to take in the sights and detail the game manages to produces so well which is such a shame.
The enemy's at first can seem repetitive and easily defeated however when you progress through the game you will begin to face tougher opponents which will test your timing more than anything. Timing is really all their is to the combat system, dodging from opponents and timing the correct blow can be fun on the tougher enemy's but not so much at the beginning of the game.
The platforming side of the game is a great way of breaking up the brutal and frantic action. It can feel liberating at time when you effortlessly scale the environment with ease, each platforming section will be a puzzle and you will have to work out how to make it from point A to point B. The disappointing aspect is you can only jump when the game let's you removing any of the mystery and puzzle solving leaving you frustrated at times. The platforming is still great fun don't get me wrong, it just feels like they have restricted the player more than need be at times.
The pacing of the action is what helps you forget about the issues with platforming or fighting because you never know what to expect and that sense of unknown is what excites you and makes you want to continue on with your adventure.
There is also thrilling chase scenes, vehicle to ride on such as a hover board and cinematic boss battles. The boss fights don't go into to much depth when it comes to the combat system and really aren't too difficult, they are more about creating that cinematic look and feeling father than testing the players skill which is great but at the same time might leave you feeling a like the fight was incomplete.
My personal favourite aspect of Enslaved and the main reason i gave the game a shot is it's graphics and art design, the world is so beautiful to look at and shows creativity and imagination in the minds of the game designers. You will begin your adventure amongst the ruins of a city overgrown with plant life venturing on into such places as underground cavers offering a new colour pallet which always keeps the pleasing visuals new and fresh on the eye. Underwater world, scrap piles, heavily guarded villages all help create a unique postapocalyptic world never before seen in such a way.
The visuals are phenomenal at times and enhanced even more with the beautiful ambient backdrop music which can also change to a punishing and frantic sound when in battle helping create a sense of fear and panic in battles that would otherwise be nothing more than an ordinary boss fight.
Enslaved is a game that offers a great story with stunning visuals in a creative and imaginative world. There are some problems with gameplay and combat but the two main characters provide a great emotional journey worth playing through.
Enslaved is a great game and shows so much potential only falling short on some minor occasions which are not big enough to make you miss out on this experience. 8.5/10
