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David Cole
As a gamer, its hard to find time to experience every new game that hits the shelf. With all the hype swirling around certain new titles some can definitely fall between the cracks. I love stumbling across a lesser promoted game and discovering gold in what is otherwise an under appreciated title.
Enslaved is an action adventure game that came out last October. It is a solid title that I would recommend to anyone that enjoys an entertaining single player experience without lots of moving parts or a learning curve. You can almost immediately jump right in and start playing without having to learn tons of moves or heavily invest lots of time. The premise of the storyline comes to head with high action sequences fairly early during gameplay. It goes something like this…
You are captured on what appears to be a futuristic slaver gunship ran by automated cyborg “mechs”, with little room for escape. With a stroke of luck a fellow prisoner breaks free and causes enough system failure within the flying prison to malfunction your cell. This fellow prisoner, your future confidant makes quick work of pursuing her freedom. You, a hulking, athletic and tribal looking man follow after her, but she always seems one step ahead of you.
Problems start to unfold as the gunship malfunctions begin to escalate and explosions cause it to lose altitude. A robotic voice rings out overhead saying something about escape pods and our protagonist decides this is his best chance for survival. Still running in the same direction of the fellow ex prisoner, you jump from drainpipes to crumbling floors then to adjacent balance beams. You move through make-shift solutions, even battling the high speed winds on the outside of the now crashing ship as your crawl along the side and back in to fight with the robotic slavers.
The dialog of our character helps move us in the right direction as the graphics and eye candy keep you engaged. This is accompanied with on screen coaching, walking you through the control scheme that can quite honestly seem over-exaggerated at times but not unbearable. Moving through the ship we are met with a slave with a headband fastened to his skull working at a computer terminal for the ship. Our character demands information about his stolen weapons but the slave begs us not to force him to talk. Instead, we do and almost immediately the headband activates, frying the poor slaves brain. Surprised, but without time to spare we move forward through the doomed ship.
A few daring jumps and hand-to-hand fights with robotic mechs later, you catch up to the girl whom you’ve been chasing. Unfortunately she is on the opposite side of an airlock door sealed tight. In an authoritative but panicked tone our character demands she open the door. She does not comply. We beat upon the window of the door and command it be opened, although hesitantly she turns and walks away toward the escape pods.
Frustrated our hero begins to assess a bad situation. No sooner does the computerized voice chime in as before, this time advising the ship is down to 5 escape pods remaining. The race is on as you control our athletic beast to quickly move from the outside of this ship, jumping from wing to wing. The overhead voice counting down the escape pods as they are launched one by one. Anticipation running high as you feel pressured to get to the last pod before the massive flying boat crashes in a blaze taking you with it. With seconds to spare, you crawl upon the outside of the last pod.
Peering through the window of the last escape pod, a frantic hero sees his fellow ex prisoner seconds from ejecting. In desperation he attempts to keep her from hitting the button. A regretful look crosses her face. They both know its too late. She presses the button. Our hero holds on for dear life. The screen cuts way out as we see the afterburners from the pod stream across the sky with our muscle bound character hanging on the front of it. It flies through the sky, through the trees and…the screen goes black as our character loses consciousness.
The world slowly starts coming back into focus. The obvious brutal treatment from being shot through the air at high velocity taking its toll, yet we seem to be intact. Our hero begins to regain a sense of his surroundings. Ruins of a fallen city, jungle and – and the girl! The fellow ex prisoner from the slave ship!
Once things snap into place for our character he all but attacks her, but suddenly something stops him in his tracks. The same headband that killed the slave on the ship – he is wearing one. The girl explains that she needs him to get back home and she has thus enslaved him in order to force his assistance. She further explains that if she dies in this hostile environment – so will he. Without choice, our character must comply.
Moving forward from this rocky start to a relationship we are introduced to our character as “Monkey” and the girl as “Trip”. The gameplay proceeds by navigating puzzles and battling mechs using Monkeys brute strength and athleticism and Trips technical ingenuity. It keeps going at a fairly decent clip from this point with action enough to keep you motivated and pretty graphics. New characters are introduced along the way and each step gives a sense of satisfaction.
In closing I would say I recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of action adventure games such as the Prince Of Persia or God Of War. Enslaved came as a surprise and I enjoyed it more than I thought and hope for a sequel. Its almost a year old which puts it at a lower price point than some of the newer (and less fun) games, and you could probably even find it used. Go get it!
Good luck and happy gaming!
(c) David Cole
Written for thegamersforum.org blog
Used by permission from
davesboringlife2999.wordpress.com
Infinityward has been disbanded so its up to Activation to carry this financial powerhouse to the next level. Console wars ensue with games like the new Battlefield on the horizon, so hopefully the impending competition will drive both titles to new heights.
Time will tell….
Will this game live up to the hype or has the franchise been played out?
Fun physics based puzzles in ah first person shooter style package. Witty and challenging, and a huge time thief.
Dave's blog 