Ninja Theory's new game: Enslaved

[deathindustrial]

... but even they suffer from cheap 3-frame dialogue animations and choppier animations in general. I'm pretty sure they don't run at 24 fps most of the time, unlike Akira.

Perhaps that's it then. . .Personally I don't consider frame rate having much correlation at all to animation quality when it comes to Anime as that is part of the structure of the medium. In my opinion, having issues with an Anime's frame rate is like criticizing a Film Noir for not being filmed in colour or the Scott Pilgrim game for looking like an old NES cart.

For a cheaper price (how cheap ?), I think it may be a good buy. However, do you have other games in mind ?

Darkstalkers comes to mind. I picked up this game for something around $30 and at that price, got a lot of value out of it. It's easier to overlook the odd issue in a game when you are not forking over $70.

Enslaved looks like it might be a fun diversion while waiting for this PS3 game drought to end (everything I am interested in seems to have been pushed to 2011).

Cheers

 

[patsu]

If you have no other options, I suppose Enslaved may entertain you in the mean time.

I'm waiting for Majin and the Forsaken myself (also from Bandai-Namco). I would consider Vanquish before Enslaved. There was a Vanquish promo earlier but I am not sure if it's still on. Going to start either Nier or Resonance of Fate next. They are running cheap on Amazon now.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Perhaps that's it then. . .Personally I don't consider frame rate having much correlation at all to animation quality when it comes to Anime as that is part of the structure of the medium. In my opinion, having issues with an Anime's frame rate is like criticizing a Film Noir for not being filmed in colour or the Scott Pilgrim game for ooking like an old NES cart.

What an odd comparison. I simply prefer smooth animation over choppy one. (and I think how smooth something animates absolutely contributes to its visual quality. If it didn't make a difference then why the hell are we obsessing over it at B3D) I also think it looks boring and cheap when people in animes talk to each other as there's usually no body language and no lip-synching involved at all. Akira didn't have those problems (simply because it was produced with both the team size and the budget of a Disney movie), and I think it just makes it that much more enjoyable to watch.

 

[Cornsnake]

I wonder if he'll do a follow-up in Extra Punctuation.

He does. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...a-Punctuation-Enslaved-As-It-Should-Have-Been

 

[patsu]

for those who have played the full game does your opinion of this game go up if the price is lowered? I liked the demo and was thinking of picking up Enslaved once the price drops.

Stolen from GAF...

US$25 today:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox?ie=UTF8&ref_=cs_top_nav_gb27

My opinion likely won't change if the price is lower, but it may make me feel more adventurous to try stuff out.
[size=-2]Should get Vanquish before this[/size]

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Games (TM) says this could turn out to be a cult classic. My My ! Mighty praise........will need to chk it out !

 

[Rangers]

Also spotted on GAF, Square Enix (who I guess, didn't even have anything to do with the game??) tweeted a lot about Enslaved and it's "commercial failure. Very interesting imo.

http://www.1up.com/news/square-enix-shiokawa-sounds-enslaved

Enslaved was well-regarded by critics but its sales have been disappointing according to Namco Bandai's recent financial reports. Amazon is already selling the game new for $40 despite it being only a month old.

In response to Enslaved's commercial failure, Square Enix's Yosuke Shiokawa fired off a series of statements on his Twitter feed (via Hachimaki) on the subject of "What [we] can learn from Enslaved." A few highlights:

"Games with less content will be considered OK to rent"

"Is it Uncharted? Prince of Persia? I'm not going to preorder and buy a game new if I don't understand what it is."

"The demo version released a few days before the game went on sale had tremendous buzz. After that, nothing could be accomplished via publicity."

"A game solely characterized as being new isn't one that people will say 'I'll buy that,' they'll say 'I want to check that out' and they will rent it."

I guess that's about the way I look at it. I find it fascinating to try to consider my own thought processes in regards to games that I feel positive for, but dont buy. Enslaved was a good example of that, I liked the demo a lot, as so far is Vanquish (though I may buy one or both in the future). I think another classic case of that was mirrors edge, well received, but few, actually plunked down the cash for it, including myself. I guess it does boil down to, $60 is a lot for 6-8 hour single player experiences.

I'm slightly peeved I missed Amazon's $25 sale, even though amazingly I still wasnt sure of buying it even at that price.

 

[PhilB]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/preview-enslaved-pigsys/707367?type=flv - Preview trailer for Pigsy DLC. Looks interesting - I love the little floating robot side kick.

 

[joker454]

I'm slightly peeved I missed Amazon's $25 sale, even though amazingly I still wasnt sure of buying it even at that price.

Yeah me too! I finally got around to playing the demo. I largely avoided it because I hated Heavenly Sword, and when I saw Enslaved was from the same dev and again with a red haired girl in it I presumed it would be a Heavenly Sword part Deux, so I passed. Well...just tried the demo and really liked it! I would have definitely bought it at $25 It definitely seems like very simplified platforming, but that's ok sometimes I just want something easy and mindless to enjoy.

 

[RobertR1]

Red Box it. $2 a night and from what I gather, beating it in a day shouldn't be an issue.

 

[PhilB]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/preview-enslaved-pigsys/707367?type=flv - Preview trailer for Pigsy DLC. Looks interesting - I love the little floating robot side kick.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/Pigsys-Perfect-10/68ba841d-95e0-4bf6-a591-6517431508b4

And it's now available on xbox - PS3 is supposed to come soon as well. I'm guessing this also includes the 3d support for both DLC and main game as they said previously.

 

[Sigfried1977]

I'm almost a little sad I sold the game already. I think the dlc looks a lot more appealing than the main game actually. I just love the character: The dude is small, morbidly obese and squeals like a pig, yet he's also super fast, agile and apparently a formidable fighter. Kind of a post-apocalyptic dwarf.

 

[PhilB]

The dlc was great and easily one of the most substantial out there (I'd say 3-5 hours - took me 3.5). Quite different from the main game and a lot harder. Mostly it involves Pigsy either sneaking past or finding clever ways to take out his enemies. I died plenty of times and had to make use of all his tools to get through it. The cutscenes are all superbly done (toon shaded) and as the main game the voice work is top notch; the ending quite touching too. There's also the new 3d addon if anyone has that.

Playing the game again really made me wish there was a pc ver - it looks fantastic already but I'd love to see it at 60fps with a ton of AA/AF.

 

[Sigfried1977]

After reading the Eurogamer review I don't really feel bad anymore. Seems like the dlc is guilty of just about everything I hated in the original Enslaved campaign.

 

[tuna]

Borrowed it, can't stand the choppy framerate on the PS3. Pretty crappy gameplay as well, even though I am only an hour in, so it might improve later....

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Borrowed it, can't stand the choppy framerate on the PS3. Pretty crappy gameplay as well, even though I am only an hour in, so it might improve later....

I , too, have been playing it these dyas, and yes the gme improves manifold as you progress further. When I started the game, I gave up somwhere around ch 2, thinking its an average game with zero gameplay mechanics and average gfx. But boy was I wrong! Somewhere around the ch4 mark, the game blossoms ! The gfx reach Uncharted 2 quality, in fact I never knew UE3 can look so good, and there is so much variety in gameplay that I have been having more fun in this game than even Uncharted 2 ! In fact, now I understand why GAMES(TM) said that it could be the cult classic game of this gen. I haven't finished it yet, but I can see what made them rate it SO high.


Persist with the game, it won't disappointed you at all.

 

[joker454]

Yeah I agree, I finished this game and really liked it. The ending was interesting as well, wasn't really expecting that. Great game and a steal at $20.