Review: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is kind of a buddy videogame. And a good one, at that.

Set in the future in a decimated New York City and outskirts, the game details the efforts of Monkey – a hulking, vaguely Australian strongman – and Trip – a female computer whiz – escapees from slavers who are trying to return home, through a desolate landscape populated with large mechanical beasts.

Working as a team, however, doesn’t happen willingly initially.

After fleeing from a crashing slave ship, Trip needs help in the violent world, so she installs a slave headband on Monkey. The headband is programmed to kill him if she dies. He also suffers pain if he travels too far away from her.

Thus, the odyssey begins.

Monkey is appropriately named, as he can scale almost any building and traverse most chasms. He’s kind of a post-apocalyptic Prince of Persia.

Helping him deal with the mechs are two items at his disposal – his lightsaber-like staff that can cut through metal and also fire bolts of energy – and his “cloud” – an energy disc that, at certain points in the game, can be used much like a skateboard to move very fast.

On first blush, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West sounds it would be one protracted escort mission. In most games, escort missions – your character must keep one or more other characters from dying – are tacked on as filler to pad the length of the game. Escort missions are generally despised among gamers, since the escortees tend to be helpless and dumb.

But in Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, this really isn’t the case. Trip, being the more cerebral, helps in the efforts by unlocking doors and scanning areas with her robotic dragonfly that can detect mechs and landmines. She can also provide a decoy and discover weakpoints. When Monkey has to flank a group of mechs or avoid an area, she can generate a distraction. She does need help scaling some areas and occasionally has to be carried, but she is almost never helpless.

Another surprising aspect of the game is the voiceover work. Voiceover in a video game, if you’re lucky, is at least passable and doesn’t detract from the experience. In many cases, it’s just plain awful.

However, in Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, the voices for the two main characters are believable and manage to convey the story in a natural way. The interplay between the pair comes off as actual dialogue – two people conversing in a stressful time – with something stronger eventually coming of it. It is an unexpected bonus for the game.

Side quests are mainly finding orbs that serve to allow upgrades of Monkey’s staff, his health and combat abilities. While this aspect was fine as far as it went, gathering the orbs became a nuisance at times. Zigzagging across a level looking for orbs, while protecting Trip and battling mechs, was a bit of a hassle.

Actual hand-to-hand combat is fluid and satisfying, although a lock-on capability against specific enemies would have been nice.

Visually, the game is colorful. Levels are different all along the way, never making you feel like you’re repeating yourself.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a surprising jewel in a jam-packed videogame season. It tells a story and makes you care about its characters. And, it’s fun.

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360 Rating: Teen Manufacturer: Namco Bandai Score: 8.5 teamwork chilies