Enslaved by Enslaved...

So yesterday I started Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, a game which was virtually shunned by a lot of people due to its demo, but has managed to garner some high marks on sites like Gamespot and IGN. Not having played the demo I relied solely on game reviews and boy this game has just knocked my blocks off. The game is frigging fantastic!

The story of Enslaved revolves around the meek and fragile Trip and her captive hulk of a man, Monkey and their journey across a perilous wasteland. The game's plot has been inspired by a 400 year old Chinese novel filled with Monkey Gods, divine princess, demons, mythical beasts and such called Journey to the West, but the game has put its own spin on things, making the world a post-apocalyptic wasteland. That in it self had got my interest piqued. Oh by the way this isnt the first time the classic novel has been used as inspirtation in games as one look on the wikipedia might attest too.

So anyways yesterday after booting up the game, I have not been able to put the game down. 5 hours in the game, the pacing and the tense situations are top notch. But by far till now the best aspect of the game is the symbiotic relationship of Trip and Monkey due to the fact as Trip is the weak character and its up Monkey to do all the heavy lifting and fighting as the pair struggle for survival. The way both the characters interact in the face adversity is quite splendid, as many a times the captor has to be the one to be saved by the captive and this opens up some great exposition between the two.

The more I play the game, the more I am reminded by a couple of games which has the same symbiotic theme between two characters. One being 2008's Prince of Persia and other being ICO. Enslaved too has the same set up but still ends up holding it own identity and that in itself is an achievement.

The end of the game is quite far away but the amount of work Ninja Theory has put in the game is really awesome and for me they are the up and coming development house esp after creating the epic Heavenly Sword and now Enslaved. Hence this makes for interesting times as Ninja Theory is handling the reboot of Devil May Cry and it may well be really good as well, emo Dante and all.