Game of the Year Awards 2010 Day 2

Coming in at 9 in my Game of the Year Awards 2010 is the diamond in the rough from Ninja Theory Enslaved.

Enslaved (PS3, 360):

To be really honest Enslaved never entered in my most anticipated games of 2010. I just watched the first trailer which came out back then only out of curiosity and dismissed it as a run of the mill action game forgetting Ninja Theory's previous title, Heavenly Sword. Even when the demo came out I did not download and on top of that I had heard my friend really disliking the demo which justified my lack of interest in the game. Just imagine my shock when most of the top video games sites where praising the game's plot and the characters. As I started to comb each and every written and video reviews (Thank God for Metacritics and Gamerankings) it become abundantly clear that Enslaved was a game which was worth my time.

What got my attention in the early sections of the game was the realistic symbiotic relationship of the main character Monkey and the 'damsel in distress' Trip. There was almost a Hollywood like quality of how the relationship was being treated by the developers. Sure Enslaved isn't the first game which has such a setup, games like ICO instantly comes to mind. But the motion capture and the acting really took the game to an amazing high. Andy Serkis, Lindsey Shaw and Richard Ridings really took a liking to their virtual counterparts and gave wonderful performances.

Hell even the game play was really solid but without really setting the world on fire. The action and platforming game play in Enslaved did come off as 'being there done that' but still what ever was presented was pretty neat. The world of Enslaved was also a star as most of post apocalyptic setting are usually bleak and desolate. Here the game world was bursting from its seam with color and hence made the exploring new areas a joy. But Enslaved would had placed much higher on my list if it weren't for inept ending which left me really frustrated. Without ruining the ending I will just like say that Ninja Theory could had ended the game on an epic note like they did with Heavenly Sword but in my opinion they did not.

Anyways Enslaved was a really good game as there were many points in the adventure which were really memorable and the relationship of the characters was done in a very believable fashion. Hence I cant wait to see what sort of game Ninja Theory comes out with.

Come back for more tomorrow as I make my way to number 8 on my Game of the Year Awards 2010.