What developers should realise is that games must be made around the player’s experience. As camera angles are one of the most important factors in making a good game, whatever the genre, the camera itself needs to be positioned correctly to enhance the gamer’s experience, not hinder it. Camera placement can alter how the game is played altogether if positioned poorly.
For example, Resident Evil had fixed camera angles in earlier games, due to the pre rendered backgrounds. Some players found it hard to view the environments or to actually move around due to the way the camera flicked from one set angle to another awkward set angle. Thus, in Resident Evil 4, the developers opted for an “over the shoulder” camera, which gave the series a much needed boost in terms of how it was played.
Enslaved is such a great game, however, there is just one fatal flaw and you guessed it, happens to be the camera.
Still, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a stunning looking game with some clever ideas and brilliant voice acting. The story is based on the ancient Chinese story by Wu Cheng’en, except Enslaved is set 150 years into the future in a post apocalyptic world after a global war, where the main characters Monkey and Trip escape a ship, which would have forced them to become slaves.
When they crash land, Monkey awakes to find that Trip has attached a headband device that forces him to do Trip’s bidding. She wishes Monkey to help her get back to her village that just happens to be 300 miles away...And if he chooses not to, the headband will kill him and if anything happens to Trip, the same will become of Monkey. So it’s up to Monkey to act as Trip’s protector.
Further into the game, Trip discovers her abandoned village and sadly, of her father’s death. She then intends to free her people with the help of her father’s friend, Pigsy. (All the names come from the original Chinese story in case you were wondering).
The ruined New York City makes a perfect setting for the game – with Monkey being able to scale large buildings, climbing up the fallen slabs, swinging up in order to help Trip on her way. This is where Enslaved excels, the relationship between Monkey and Trip is enthralling to watch – Monkey must often go ahead to defeat enemies or enable switches so Trip can get across. Trip can create distractions so Monkey can proceed past enemies unharmed. She can also highlight where Monkey needs to go, how many enemies are in the area and even upgrade Monkey’s skills.
The fighting mechanics are quite easy to use – Monkey has a staff like weapon, which can have a short attack or a stronger attack with a flick of square and triangle. He can mash up the mechs and use their own guns to kill other enemies. Sweet! He also has a hover craft board known as a “cloud device” which breaks up the action, cruising round water when needed.
And who knew a ruined city could look so vibrant? The lush landscape is particularly pleasing to the eye; the stark contrast of overgrown green plants against fallen rusty buildings make the art style very pleasing indeed. Along with some excellent characters models add to Enslaved visual style making the story and characters more believable.
As mentioned, the downside is due to the camera. It can all be well swinging up buildings to make crucial jumps, if only for the mad swinging camera would stop shifting, forcing you to position Monkey in an awkward way to see where to jump to. The camera can be become very irritating during boss battles too as it can lead to many deaths just because of the way it swings and shifts.
If only the camera was sorted, Enslaved would be a rich and fulfilling game to play, if a little on the short side. Visually and emotionally stunning, Enslaved is well worth a look if you can see past the dodgy camera.
You can pick a copy up cheap too – I got mine for less than a tenner!
7.5 / 10 Matthew Greenacre
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