Topic: Enslaved demo is out (XBL at least)

[Cobra951]

. . . Speaking of Ninja Theory, I liked Heavenly Sword and I am kinda looking forward to Enslaved.

I was fairly impressed by the demo.  It covers the escape from a crashing slave ship.  I'm not too sure about the perspective changes the game forces on you constantly to say "look there!"  Otherwise, the action feels solid, as do the game's tech and artistry.  I wish I could have gotten a bit of earthbound action in the demo.

Official site

[TheOtherBelmont]

I've been curious about this game as well and liked some of the videos I've watched of the gameplay.  I'll have to give the demo a shot.

[W7RE]

The environments look decent, but they feel too evenly lit or something. In the beginning of the demo, it seems like there's no dark shadows anywhere. It just gives an odd look overall.

Also, the controls feel unresponsive. Though I'm not sure if that it, or it's that so much priority is given to the animations that you're waiting for your character to ramp up or slow down his movement. Also, you cannot jump the wrong way. It's impossible to die or fall by jumping wrong.

Still though, I started the demo up a second time just to more closely inspect the controls, and ended up playing through the whole thing again. Despite my negative points, I really did have fun with it, and could see playing the whole game at some point.

[Cobra951]

Yes, there is an overarching intelligence propelling you along, showing you what it wants you to see, and massaging the controls for you to accomplish what it wants you to.  This is why I wanted to play some on the ground, to see if this tour guide would ever get out of the way.  Escaping from the ship may just be intended as a tutorial, after all.

[Xessive]

The animations between actions transition smoothly, so that could explain the sense of guided controls. It does hold you hand throughout, and in my experience with Ninja Theory's last game Heavenly Sword (HS) that seems to be their style at least in the early stages, whenever they introduce a new game mechanic, and any time your character learns something new. In terms of the platforming I sensed that it was very similar to Prince of Persia 2008 in its approach: fail? try again. No dire consequences. That doesn't bother me much, I think of it as an alternative to quicksave/quickload.

One thing I'm really looking forward to is a compelling story. Ninja Theory seem to do a good job with that and Andy Serkis is a brilliant character actor! His portrayal of King Bohan in HS was fantastic! Frickin' bonkers! hehe