Review: Enslaved Odyssey To The West Premium Edition
Follow a gripping, surprise-filled journey as two dissimilar characters form an uneasy partnership in order to survive through a perilous, post-apocalyptic America. 150 years in the future, war and destruction have left the world in ruins with few humans remaining and nature having reclaimed the world.
Pros:
- Graphics have had a huge touch up and look fantastic on the big scree. The detail and environments in game look superb.
- Full 360 support straight out of the box.
- Game play is fast and varied from, Wall climbing to stealth sections to all out action sequences and dont forget the fighting!
- Collect red orbs either in level or by defeating enemies, To level up Monkey and unlock new abilities as you play the story.
- All FMV clips can be skipped except the first one, Which is handy if you have already played it on previous versions.
- Controls are easy to use and very responsive, Fighting is fluid and easy to rack up combo after combo. You have a gun which can kill or stun enemies. Basic combat moves involve either your fist or a staff which can be used to stun enemies. Getting the last hit on enemy usually triggers an epic slow mo kill cam. Take downs can be performed on enemies which deal a lot more damage, have there own animation and give you more orbs.
- The wall climbing is as fast and clever as Assassins creed and the set pieces can stand toe to toe with the Uncharted series. Combat can be aligned with any typical button masher really as skill is not important.
- The story whilst a bit on the tired side as stories go, Is fun and draws you in. You actually want to know what happens to our adventuring couple.
- Mild puzzle sections like navigating which bridge to raise/lower to hitting levers all over the level. None of the puzzles will have you scratching your head.
- Control your AI partners actions by the way of a command wheel. Get her to draw attention away from you to telling her when to run. She will always do as shes told and is a good mechanic in the game. For the more up close and personal situations, You can carry your partner on your back and still perform basic moves like running and climbing up smaller ledges. You can also throw her across ravines or chuck her up a level as you climb up the old fashioned way.
- You are aided throughout your journey by pop ups giving advice to on screen markers to show you where to go. This stops you from getting lost and can help you out with the puzzles.
- The world itself is a wonderful yet different take on a post apocalyptic world. With robots roaming the lands, The game world is a real treat to explore. You are not hemmed in and do have some lee way to go off on your own and hunt out some hidden pickups.
- The story is broken into 15 chapters and each chapter is roughly 20-30 minutes depending on difficulty.
- Excellent soundtrack through out the game and adds so much to the game. The sfx is on level with the musical score.
- Voice acting is of a high standard which helps bring the game to life and have you actually feeling for the characters.
Cons:
- Out of the box without any tweaking of the internal settings, The game runs terrible, from screen tearing to eye straining bloom effects. The game doesn’t even look as good with the resolution messing up despite changing the option in game. Luckily the process for tweaking such options is easy and straight forward and even a novice like me can do it.
- So it makes sense to have an entry on the lack of video options. Just a v-sync option would of been nice.
- FMV look like they were straight ported as they look dark and smudgey compared to the bright vibrant game world in play.
- It works with keyboard and mouse but it is not very optimised for it. The mouse accelerator is way too sensitive and you will find yourself fighting the controls more than the robots.
- Even after tweaking you will still find a weird slowdown/skip type effect after every cut scene.
- The camera can sporadically jump all over the place usually following a cut scene or if you are by cover.
In summay, We know by now if the game itself is any good, We know that it is a decent sleeper hit that gives you a wonderful world to play in with some great characters all wrapped up in a solid story. The question here is one rearding the port itself. The short answer is no, The port out of the box is straight up horrible, Borderline unplayable in some parts and headaches are bound to follow. But with a bit of simple tweaking you can fix the game and having it run like absolute butter. After the tweaks the game and port itself is very much a success. Having all the dlc bundled in and the possibility of mods to the game, This could become the better version to grab. Returning players wont see much new here except the graphical tweaks. Players on the fence should really consider the game as at the end of the day it is a great game to play through one weekend. If Uncharted and Assassins Creed had a sordid love affair, This would be the product produced.