Ninja Theory's new game: Enslaved

[patsu]

I'm confused. Didn't Sony buy Ninja Theory after releasing HS?

No they didn't. NT also decided to go multi-platform after Heavenly Sword.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

http://gamersyde.com/news_enslaved_has_new_screenshots-9244_en.html
NICE, very nice! This is now a definite get on my list, do you hear that Nao32?

My ! My ! Thats some pretty nice screens ! But I say, Where's da Jaggies ?!?!?! Fishy stuff !

 

[N_B]

Debut trailer:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-debut-enslaved/100016

Is it really UE3? Looks great and Uncharted-like.

 

[Kittonwy]

They just don't understand they need to get people interested in the gameplay, they're always try to push their games like movies, well games are not movies, gameplay mechanics and game design is key, and I'm not sold on it.

 

[patsu]

Welcome back !

T_T And you have finally acknowledged game design and gameplay in your posts.

Was wondering where you'd go after all that self shadowing debate.

 

[Billy Idol]

They just don't understand they need to get people interested in the gameplay, they're always try to push their games like movies, well games are not movies, gameplay mechanics and game design is key, and I'm not sold on it.

As they only showed some ultra short flashes of gameplay: could be a prince of persia clone? (i am talking about the POP version where you constantly have this girl around you: the climbing, combat is rather tactical according to my local game mag, the interaction with this girl,...)

 

[patsu]

The character design, weapon (long pole) and the head band spell reminds me of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong

The main character in Dragon Balls (Sun Goku) is indeed Sun Wukong (Also carries long pole, has a monkey tail, and travels on a cloud)

Sun Wukong, known in the West as the Monkey King, is the main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West. In the novel, he accompanies the monk Xuanzang on the journey to retrieve Buddhist sutras from India.

Sun Wukong possesses an immense amount of strength, being able to lift his 13,500 jīn (8,100 kg) Ruyi Jingu Bang with ease. He also has superb speed, traveling 108,000 li (54,000 kilometers) in one somersault. Sun knows 72 transformations, which allows him to transform into various animals and objects; he is, however, shown with slight problems transforming into other people, since he is unable to complete the transformation of his tail. He is a skilled fighter, capable of holding his own against the best generals of heaven. Each of his hairs possesses magical properties, and is capable of transforming into a clone of the Monkey King himself, or various weapons, animals, and other objects. He also knows various spells in order to command wind, part water, conjure protective circles against demons, and freeze humans, demons, and gods alike.

...

Five centuries later, the Bodhisattva Guanyin went out in search for disciples that could protect a pilgrim from the East to journey to India to retrieve the Buddhist sutras. In hearing this, Sun Wukong offered to serve this pilgrim, by name Xuanzang, a monk of the Tang Dynasty Empire, in exchange for his freedom. Guanyin understood that the monkey would be hard to control, and therefore gave Xuanzang a gift from the Buddha: a magical headband which, once Sun Wukong was tricked into putting it on, could never be removed.

 

[Billy Idol]

The character design, weapon (long pole) and the head band spell reminds me of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong

The main character in Dragon Balls (Sun Goku) is indeed Sun Wukong (Also carries long pole, has a monkey tail, and travels on a cloud)

The main character in Enslaved (called Monkey) is indeed designed with Sun Wukong (aka the Monkey King) in mind, as are a lot of other film, book, anime and game characters!!

 

[Arwin]

Debut trailer:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-debut-enslaved/100016

Is it really UE3? Looks great and Uncharted-like.

It looks quite unmistakeably like UE3 to me! From these short glimpses I'm getting the notion that their artists are doing some nice work with the engine though - but nevertheless all the typical weaknesses of the UE3 engine are still clearly visible imho, and like it may well visually underperform vs Heavenly Sword.

But the premise seems interesting nonetheless. I love the idea of taking the Monkey King as a character, very suitable to games, particularly as you can build up by playing as one of his hairs initially. I loved the Monkey King character played by Jet Li in that weird fantasy mashup together with Jackie Chan. Felt like there was a lot more to be gotten from that movie, and it rambled at times, but it was still pretty amusing.

 

[Kittonwy]

Welcome back !

T_T And you have finally acknowledged game design and gameplay in your posts.

Was wondering where you'd go after all that self shadowing debate.

Self-shadowing isn't the main problem with Ninja Theory's last game, the game design was fundamentally flawed.

 

[patsu]

Yes sir, the combat could be more engaging. I thought the 6 axis archery was unique and fun though. Loved the younger sis as a game character.

The game acting was good but overall, the melée seems to be missing a little something. ^_^

 

[Kittonwy]

Yes sir, the combat could be more engaging. I thought the 6 axis archery was unique and fun though. Loved the younger sis as a game character.

The game acting was good but overall, the melée seems to be missing a little something. ^_^

It was missing the jump button which took the whole vertical dimension out of the combat AND removed any possibility of meaningful platforming, and auto-block was a bad idea.

 

[JPT]

To me HS was the story/cut scenes, I worked my way through the stages to see the next cut scene and to get the story to unfold.
But Hack N Slash is not my type of game, so for instance I have not bought GoW3 even though it looks amazing, but the demo just did not justify a purchase, for me.

If Enslaved got the same type of hooks that drags me into the story, then cool I might go for it, but I am seriously on the fence.

 

[Billy Idol]

To me HS was the story/cut scenes, I worked my way through the stages to see the next cut scene and to get the story to unfold.
But Hack N Slash is not my type of game, so for instance I have not bought GoW3 even though it looks amazing, but the demo just did not justify a purchase, for me.

If Enslaved got the same type of hooks that drags me into the story, then cool I might go for it, but I am seriously on the fence.

But then you should try out GOW3!
Just forget the demo...you will find epic cut scenes and story in GOW3!!!
(And the best graphics available to date )

 

[JPT]

But then you should try out GOW3!
Just forget the demo...you will find epic cut scenes and story in GOW3!!!
(And the best graphics available to date )

Well, I did not even finish the demo, it just was not something that I connected with. I was quite underwhelmed by the experience. And just cant justify to myself that its worth the 600nkr ~ $96 ~ €75 I have to pay for it.....

 

[patsu]

The GOW3 story is straightforward; an episode in the saga.

You can borrow a copy or rent one to check out the gameplay graphics and cutscenes. They look the same for the most part.

The final game is also more polished than the demo.


For Enslaved, I hope to see Monkey transform into different animals and characters to fight or solve a puzzle. As Kittonwy mentioned, they can add jumping or even flying to the mix.

 

[Sigfried1977]

It was missing the jump button which took the whole vertical dimension out of the combat AND removed any possibility of meaningful platforming, and auto-block was a bad idea.

The quality of the platforming elements in most if not all 3rd person hack and slash games ranges from mediocre to abysmal anyway. I didn't miss the jump button at all. You can still do aerial combos if you wanted to.

 

[patsu]

I think if the color matching combat is as intense as Ikaruga's, it would be interesting. For some reason, I didn't feel as connected to the HR fight as I thought I would.

If my memory still serves me, the aerial fighting is script based right (i.e., QTE) ? Or was there a special combo ?

EDIT: I remember I liked the boss fights. It's the regular hack-n-slash grunt fights that I'm referring to.

 

[Arwin]

Well, I did not even finish the demo, it just was not something that I connected with. I was quite underwhelmed by the experience. And just cant justify to myself that its worth the 600nkr ~ $96 ~ €75 I have to pay for it.....

Yeah, but the demo isn't quite like the real game, I'm thinking (and hearing from a lot of people). But then not altogether too different either of course.

Mind you, sites like play.com also deliver to Norway. It may take a while to get there sometimes, but with free delivery, its 52 euros. I've bought a lot of stuff there. Shopto is sometimes even better.

 

[Kittonwy]

The quality of the platforming elements in most if not all 3rd person hack and slash games ranges from mediocre to abysmal anyway. I didn't miss the jump button at all. You can still do aerial combos if you wanted to.

Some platforming is always much better than absolutely no platforming because no platforming reduces the game to the player traveling through completely linear corridors, that's a reason why platforming and climbing are added to games, because it breaks the monotony of going from linear corridor to linear corridor fighting enemies. And it's not about "aerial combo", it's about jump dodging, lack of jumping completely kills vertical dodging, a whole dimension of boss attacks and the resulting evasion tactics, GONE, COMPLETELY.