Review - Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Ah, Enslaved... It's a tragedy what you turned out to be... Throughout this year I thought, I hoped I'd like this game, it's come from a studio that's based nearby, and seemingly crashed into a rock with Heavenly Sword. Ninja-theory is back again, and...

It's okay. Enslaved is an odd game, that tries too hard, the graphics are intensely brilliant, with each characters emotions brimming out of their facial expressions like it was national eat all the ice-cream in the world day. The animation is amazing, the lip syncing is consistently, and extraordinarily on target, and you really get the impression this was something the actors were going all out on, like it was the next big epic film. Really, that's what it should have been, but however, after some research i came to see, that's what it was originally planned to be. Unfortunately, it was rejected, and what we're stuck with, is an extraordinarily good looking cg movie, with a game stapled on the side. It's like going to a cinema to see The Lord Of The Rings, and having someone pause the movie and make you play the corresponding level before moving on. Yes, the gameplay is awful, like a movie tie-in within the movie. What makes this so heart-breaking is that the narrative is so good.

To get you acquainted, the story is essentially a very unique re-telling of the Chinese tale: Journey to the west. The re-telling is based in an also very unique looking post apocalyptic world. You are Monkey (played by Andy Serkis of Lord Of the Rings fame) a very muscular loner. The guy has issues, and likes to avoid them. Unfortunately for Monkey, he's been caught by the robots which now litter the land. Although, this is quickly changed by Trip (played by Lindsey Shaw). Trip is a techno-whiz that's never really explored beyond her hometown. Her whole towns capture by the robots has forced her into a land she's never seen before, and using her tech escapes to freedom. Accidentally bringing monkey in tow. Once down on the ground from the giant airship the duo were being held captive in, Trip decides she needs Monkey if she is to make it home. So, she straps a device to Monkey's head that will kill him if she dies. In the games words "If i die. You die." So begins the thrilling and ultimately heart breaking tale of Enslaved.


The gameplay is broken down into two sections: platforming, and combat. Platforming is a relatively mundane re-tread of whatever platforming mechanics have been done before, with Monkey jumping and swinging from outcrops and pipes to reach his destination, and at odd times, having to pick up Trip and throw her across a gap, nothing you haven't seen before. What makes this part of the game incredibly annoying is the fact that whatever Monkey can jump on and off from is incredibly specific, it's very linear, and this makes it very annoying, as right from chapter 2 you are faced with turrets that will kill you in a matter of seconds. The correct procedure is to get Trip to distract them with her techno wrist whilst you run around and Flank them. The only problem is when the techno wrist runs out of juice and you're still visible, a lot of times when this happens I find there's no way to go, find I can't jump off a platform, or simply don't notice the only thing I can grab on to, and because of this, I'm killed. This is probably one of the most annoying parts of the game, and something that frustrated me so much i stopped playing on numerous occasions. In other words: Is not fun.

The combat is your basic 3rd person action game set-up, you have a standard attack, a heavy attack, a stun attack, a dodge, a block and a long ranged shooting mechanic. This is all good and well, apart from the dodge because Monkey takes so long to actually perform it that you'd have to be able to read the future for it to be an effective move. Combat in this game is very frustrating when combined with the camera, as the camera likes Monkey, perhaps too much as it's always zoomed right in on his back, and there's no camera control. So when enemies do swarm you, which they like to do by the way. You can't see hardly anything, and it doesn't matter how slow the enemies are to attack, telegraphing what they are going to do for ages before-hand, because the screen just becomes one big clusterfuck whilst your health goes down and you mash away hoping you get a lucky hit in, this part of the game is also: Not fun.

If Enslaved didn't have an incredible story it would be terrible, Terrible. The gameplay is a mess, i never found it fun, or challenging, just frustrating. The only thing that pulls the game out of the ashes is the vision itself, the amazing world displayed before you, seeded with incredible acting talent.

"If you don't mind trawling through a game for the sake of story, then this is definitely the game for you. In fact, i recommend this game to everyone, if only to experience it's narrative. However, be aware that gameplay is frustrating, and the camera is the worst I've seen in years."

Image credit: totalplaystation.com and scrawlfx.com respectively

Mafia II Review

Game: Mafia 2
Reviewed Platfom: Xbox 360
Other Platforms: Playstation 3, PC

It's 1945, world war 2 is raging on seemingly infinitely, thousands of men are dying in dank pits and... What are you doing? Drinking fine wine, wearing the latest fashion and driving the best cars money can buy. For this is the life of the Mafia, as the game sets out to present through the protagonist Vito Scaletta, an Italian American who scrubs up nice and his best buddy Joe's, an Italian American who's a bit chubbier, optimism of the lifestyle. To them the mafia is money, cars, women and most importantly, power. This leads onto one of the best and most involving storylines i've partaken in within a game.

It is impossible not to at least reference grand theft auto within the review. The mechanics are essentially the same for most of the game. It's a third person game in the same vein, You run to cover before the enemies shoot you and pop out to get them whenever you can. The difficulty is definitely alot higher however, i found myself turning around corners to be killed in one shot. However, this is usually because i'm moving too fast, and will only occur later in the game when alot of enemies have magnums, and the enemies with shotguns throughout the game. This brings me to the checkpointing system, checkpoints in missions are a very important ingredient in a game where you have to traverse a large environment to get to and from the mission, Mafia 2's checkpoint spacing was very good throughout. There was one moment very late in the game where it seemed as though they had missed a checkpoint in the middle of a fight. You start on some docks, fighting your way up to a warehouse. This bit is hard within itself, but after this you enter a warehouse. This is where the bullshittery of the game is, the only defining, stand out, bull shit momment. You are trapped in an enclosed enviroment with about 10 guys with guns that'll kill you in 2-3 shots, and a man chucking molotov cocktails which have some sort of ultimate area affect damage because they drain your life so fast it isn't funny, and to make matters worse, you go back to the start of the docks if you die. The only way i could find to do this was to, as soon as i entered the warehouse, sprint to the other side, under the balcony the guy with molotovs on and camp the stairs. It felt cheap, but on hard difficulty anything else was suicide.

Not to say the gun segments aren't fun, the last little segment especially. In which you have to drive to the planetarium, it's raining and the building looks ominous from the car lot. The situation and setting were so epic i decided to change from my summer shirt to proper Mafia garb and buy a tommy gun to suit the situation. Because the story had become so involving i knew i'd regret it if i didn't dress for the occasion. However, this gun segment made me feel like Tony Montana in Scarface, walking down the hall with my machine gun, gunning fools down. I was powerful because i was angry at the people i was shooting, and it was fun as hell.


As anyone who has played GTA will know, the missions become monotonus, drive somewhere, shoot some fools, drive back, Piss. Get's boring fast though, and whilst GTA breaks this up with things like darts, arcade games and some side missions. Mafia does something i think GTA could learn from. Every mission you do advances the narrative, you have one mission at a time, and the variety is brilliant. At the start of the game you'll be having fist fights with people, a simplified mechanic, but one that keeps the combat intense. Hold a to dodge, b for a light hit, and y for a hard hit. Timing is everything, and when you learn to counter punch later, things become even tenser. There are also a few segments to break up the shooting where you have to sneak around metal gear style, usually with a no kill bonus. Typical Mafia tasks are also at hand like extorting money from people, which, whilst not at the height of entertainment, really helps to show how things are run. The variety of the game kept me playing through in one sitting. I couldn't say this for GTA IV, which i still have not finished, Mafia 2 is helped in this department as the campaign in around 8 hours long, which is fine, as this is NOT a free form, free roam game. It is an action adventure title in a GTA vein. This is the only xbox 360 game i have played through twice, and i think there is replayablility to be had from the game-play alone.

The collectibles. Yes, they're playboy magazines, no, it's not tasteful, but theres nobody complaining. In no other game can i try to open a door by pressing x and instead pick up a picture of a topless woman. There are 50 "playmates" to collect, along with 159 wanted posters. You also unlock more artwork by playing through on different difficulties. So if collecting things is your thing, or you want to see some topless 60's chicks, Mafia 2 has some more stuff for you to do!

The best aspect of the game is probably the setting. The game has...4 setting changes within it. One chapter you're in world war 2, another you're in snowy 1945 and halfway through the game you're in 1951, theres even another setting which is very unexpected. But one of the best settings in the game. The music and colours in these periods really represent the time. In 1945 everything is snowy, and theres a sort of depressive feeling overhanging the world. Whilst 1951 has you driving around listening to "rock and roll" with bright colours everywhere. You just need to play it to feel the vibe.

Overall, this game is not the greatest, however, the narrative is movie worthy. More specifically a great movie. The game is fun, and it actually includes things that gta could learn from, it's not as good as red dead redemption gameplay wise, whilst better in a narrative sense.

"If you have the money to spare for a game, get Mafia 2, it's got some of the best atmosphere out there, and an ending that'll stay with you for a while."

Image credit: 2nd image: Coventry-telegraph.co.uk

Dead Rising 2: Review

So here it is! The sequel you've all been waiting for! Yes, the game that warmed our hearts and-

This wasn't the sequel we've been waiting for? Hardly anyone even played the first one? Oh... Well in that case, brilliant, for Dead Rising 2 is pretty much more of the same!


Game: Dead Rising 2
Reviewed platform: Playstation 3
Other platforms: Xbox 360, PC

Dead rising 2. You had me at motorbikes with chainsaws off the sides. For anyone that doesn't know, Dead rising 2 is a 3rd person action adventure romp with zombies. There are also some very unique mechanics to the game such as the "Use anything!" aspect of the combat, and the time management style of the main campaign. You'll be using Guitars, Paddles, and all sorts of objects, vehicles and contraptions to take down your fallen brethren, and you know what the best part is? It's bloody fun, and bloody... Bloody!

You are motorcyclist Chuck Greene. Chuckie has recently fallen into hard times what with the zombie outbreak and all, and consequently, his daughter was bitten by her own mother. Of course, you'll know all this if you've played the bargain prequel/demo thing that is Dead Rising 2: Case zero at the minuscule 400mp price point, but I digress. Chuck has entered into the TV series "Terror is Reality" which features a "token black guy" host, along with hundreds of zombies, a selection of men on chainsaw enabled motorbikes, and oodles and oodles of blood. So to cut a long story short, you help Chuck win the show and get the prize money with which he can buy his daughter some "Zombrex", a drug that can stave off her impending zombie infection. Unfortunately for Chuck, the shops close early because of an unscheduled outbreak of the zombies who were on tour with the show, most likely a union issue. You manage to reach a "safe room" from which the story really begins. The story from then on, is undoubtedly cheesy, what with every woman Chuck stands near coming on to him, I guess women were just drawn to a man in green wellington boots, a red one piece set of pajamas's and a blood stained Blanka mask. However, the story is satisfying enough, and includes some nice twists and turns to keep you interested.

The gameplay. OH, the gameplay. Anyone whose played the first Dead Rising will feel instantly at home with Dead Rising 2, as it has pretty much the same premise: Kill zombies. However, both games have nice campaign missions that need to be completed within a certain time frame before the next one is activated, and consequently, you're on the clock. Now, you'd think this would be annoying, but it gives the game an incredible feeling of structure and time management. The second time through I found myself thinking "right, if I go here now there's a woman I can save, and then I can head over to the sword shop for some weapons before taking out that psycho in the toilet." Which brings me to the next gameplay element. Bosses, or Psychos as they are referred to in-game, are people who have not coped well since the outbreak, and instead of looking to help humanity escape this disaster, have tied up people and stored them in cupboards and such. This is where Chuck must step in and save the day, and this is also the weakest part of the gameplay... Bosses simply have too much health when you are just starting out. As you can level up, the playing field get's fairer later on, however, I advise taking extreme caution with Psychos early on in the game. That said, meeting all the psychos is a joy as they all have different and disturbing traits that make them who they are: psychos. You can also wander around the mall and try on all the clothing the shops have to offer. This includes women's clothes and vampire masks... And you thought zombies were scary!


Now. The Zombies. They are more of a hinderence than an actual enemy, sure, they hurt, but they most likely won't be the cause of your death unless you're incredibly low on health when you enter a crowd. As I mentioned before, zombies can be beaten, or shot to death using hundreds of different items within the game world, you can even combine a fair amount using pre-assigned combo's to make cool contraptions like "the blitzkreig" which is a motorised wheelchair armed with machine guns that you can drive around in. It's brilliant. I should also mention that in Dead Rising 1, saving survivors was a pain as all the zombies would seem to focus squarely on them, however in Dead Rising 2 all attention is on you, which makes saving survivors a whole lot smoother and less frustrating.

The graphics and sound are average, there's nothing too special here, what with there being zombified moans and lift music most of the time, and obscure heavy rock on the bosses. In the graphics department however, it is impressive just how many zombies are on screen at once.

Overall Dead Rising 2 is a fantastically fun game. It's not in it for the high brow graphics or the quality soundtrack, but it provides great gameplay in shovels. For those that already played the first one I'd say you should definitely pick this one up, as it'll remind you just why you loved the first one. Of course if you didn't like the first one... Don't pick the second one up. If you've never played a Dead Rising game before, this is still a good one to start with, however I'd recommend trying case zero first.

I don't want to give a score based review, so I'll just end with a statement.

"If you are a fan of zombies and the culture that surrounds them, buy it. If not, take the prequel for a spin!"

Image credits: Techshout.com and Technabob.com respectively

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Demo Impressions

Serde's impressions

Game: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Demo
Format: PlayStation 3

So this game has been getting a lot of pessimism for it's tendencies to be "God of War". After all, nothing is worse than having one of your favorite classic series rebooted into a hack and slash game. All the long winded exploration from previous entries in the series has seemingly been dumped for functional, but none the less, dull combat. I mean, you've just seen it all before... There's a weak attack button, there's a strong attack button, there's a block button, a dodge button etc. It's all there, and none of it is new territory.

Of course, where would Castlevania be without it's story? Well, it'd pretty much be Castlevania, but hey ho, lets delve in anyway. Our main character, Gabriel (played by Robert Carlyle) has lost his Mrs. to evil things. Guess what? He wants her back! Getting her back is an epic 20 hour long journey that involves jumping, climbing, and lot's and lot's of combat! Essentially, the story seems to be there for the sake of it. However, it is presented nicely and may be enjoyable in the full game.

This demo is split into two sections: a combat segment, and a horse-back riding segment. Both of which have a heavy focus on "dropping dude's" you'll be hacking and slashing away at were-wolves one minute, and hacking and slashing away at boars (WHILST ON HORSE-BACK!!!) the next. Although the attack animations are very nice, and the satisfaction of taking foe's down, one in particular where you put a stake through it's torso, is brilliant, it's very... Simplistic, and you'll have played all the demo has to offer within 5 minutes.

The graphics in Lords of shadow though, are very very good. I mean, there's nothing to complain about here. Gabriel looks like a down-trodden knight, the were-wolves look fierce, some villagers look scared. But what really looks cool is the rain effect in the first battle area. I mean, it's really just pissing it down, and you can feel that. Essentially, that little village is currently not a nice place to be, what with the horrible weather. Oh, and the regular were-wolf massacres, of course.

Which reminds me. When you are physically in the air and someone below you punches the air beneath you, you don't feel that hit. I mean, if a punch doesn't connect. It doesn't connect right? Well, in Castlevania terms: wrong. There me and Gabe were. Happily jumping around like victims of prozac. Me mashing away at my square and triangle buttons, and him flailing his whip around like nobody's business when I jump to start an aerial combo, and a werewolf punches the air beneath my feet and I get knocked back like a man who just got hit by a bus. I vocalised concern for this atrocity, I mean... What the fuck? How does that work? I mean, I know there's that phrase "all is fair in love and war" but... REALLY? I mean... Why can't I do that? If I flail my whip around above a werewolf's face he doesn't just suddenly keel over and turn into salami. No, he sits and punches the air and knocks me down. Why does this happen? Is there some kind of upward trajectory only rule going on here or something? I don't know. But I don't like it.

The horse-back section is... Annoying. You have a side swipe to attack Hog riders and a downward sweep to attack their hogs. Nothing more, nothing less. However, they just don't seem to go down. At least, not in a sufficient time, anyway. And if they knock you off, you have to sit and fight a selection of enemies before your horse returns! I just don't feel it...

Overall I'd say give it a go! It's not bad, but it's not great and not good either. I do not think it is fair to base opinions from this on the whole game though, as that seemingly has so much more to offer! Have fun demoing peeps!

Also, be sure to check out my video impressions of the demo: here.

-Serde