A memorable journey filled with great characters is marred with inconsistent gameplay.
You play as Monkey--a hugely powerful man who can swing from branch to branch easily and has a retractable staff that can hit harder than hell. At the outset of the game you've been captured by slavers and you're on their ship. Suddenly the air-ship starts to break apart and you spot a red headed woman tinkering with a console. Left with no options, Monkey sprints and climbs to get to an escape pod but there's only one left and that red headed woman has already taken it. The pod flies off with Monkey clinging on and crashes into New York City. When Monkey wakes up, he has a splitting headache and a new headband. The woman explains it is a slave collar and that if she dies than Monkey dies. Monkey has to get her back to her village if he wants to be freed. So the story begins and it's a good story.
Monkey and Trip (the red headed woman) are both good leads and their relationship grows naturally over the course of the game. The small moments around a campfire or atop Monkey's motorcycle work great and more games should have these quiet moments that allow characterization. There's another character you encounter but I won't spoil him. He's something else to be sure.
The actual events that led to the world ending are never explained overtly, only with billboards seen here or there that hint at what caused the end. I like that a lot; it leaves time for the story to focus on the characters and what they're dealing with instead of dumping exposition on you at all times.
What's different from other post-apocalyptic fiction is that New York isn't a barren wasteland with no life. Quite the contrary in fact, nature has moved back in and the city is covered with greens, reds and blues. Waterfalls abound, deer are seen once or twice and it seems almost like a Garden of Eden. It's a shockingly beautiful end of the world except for the mechs but more on those bastards in a moment. The richness of the game is somewhat diminished with the constant popping in of textures but the game is routinely stunning.
Special mention must be paid to the facial animation that sells the characters' humanity very well. The actual jumping, fighting, usw. animations are great as well. Andy Serkis both voices and models Monkey and his mo-cap work is still wonderful--Monkey's movements are fluid and wholly natural. Trip's is great as well, she clambers up walls without grace but it sure does look real. It's those superb fighting animations that help alleviate some of my concerns with the combat.
Speaking of combat, your main enemies of the game consist of mechs that come in a number of varieties. The basic bladed lithe ones, the heavy bruisers that batter through defenses, the shock mechs that send out electric bursts that distort vision, the gun mechs that often require some jumping around the terrain to defeat and construction mechs that lash out with a ranged attack that can ruin your day.
Some mechs also occasionally have a weakness that can be exploited. Gun mechs can have their gun detached and used on their fellows, blade mechs can have a faulty self-destruct move and flung at their compatriots and the shock mechs can short-circuit out their comrades. I'm like a thesaurus over here.
Monkey has a number of ways with which to deal with those baddies: his staff is the most basic tool in his arsenal and it has both light attacks and heavy attacks but no combos. Purchasing the right upgrades also unlocks a counter move, an evade attack and, most useful, a focus attack that can shatter any one opponent aside from the construction mechs in one blow. The combat works but it's possible to be totally swarmed by enemies with no way out.
Monkey does have an attack that can stun a group of enemies and a swing move that sends them back. These work but not when four or five mechs are swinging at you wanting blood. It's just too simple to be swarmed in a few fights. It pays to be cautious and focus on the most dangerous enemy and focus on him entirely. Patience also helps.
Even with these moves, it's still easy to be murdered by mechs because your block breaks and you've no options. Try and charge the stun attack and two mechs decide that right now is a good time to take a swing at you. The game gives you lots of options in combat...okay, I'll admit that maybe I just wasn't all that good in a few fights and had the death coming for me. I'm a big enough man to admit my faults.
Monkey also has a duo of ranged options: the standard ranged energy attack that, when upgraded, can destroy just about anything with one hit and can even pierce through and take out a string of mechs and a stun attack that does exactly what it says on the tin. The ammo for both is routinely minimal unless you refrain from using them until absolutely needed to.
There's also the platforming. It's simple enough, whatever Monkey can jump to is highlighted but getting Monkey to jump there can be troublesome. I found myself jumping in place all the time or not moving from a ledge (and seeing as how some ledges will fall if you don't move, that ain't fun) or getting stabbed in the back because Monkey wouldn't grab onto the damn pole right in front of him. It works most of the time but I can't help but think back to the times it didn't and I was pushed back to a checkpoint...I nitpick I suppose.
Yeah, I do. So, here's another thing that really irked me. Getting the trophy for collecting all energy orbs in the game? Screw that noise. That was the most tedious trophy I've ever gotten. They're hard to spot sometimes and often times only one is left to find and there's no mid-level selection. Want to get the last orb? Play through the entire level again! I know that this doesn't affect that many people but it bothered the hell outta me. Just saying.
I'll remember Enslaved for its characters and its world but also its finicky platforming and brow wrinkling combat.