140°

SG Review: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Love throwing women around like they’re sacks of wheat? Want to let out your frustration on technology before it kills humanity (because you know it’s only a matter of time)?

Like monkeys?

Want just an overall great story?

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is not only your game, but it’s the sleeper hit of 2010.

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sarcasticgamer.com
Ares84PS34972d ago

I think it might be on the level of Heavenly Sword. Maybe not as good....just judgeing by the demo.

But to be honest, I really started dislikeing N.T. after their comments on UC2 and what they did with Dante...well this has nothing to do with Enslaved but I don't look at their games now the same way as I did before.

Active Reload4972d ago

Wow, this emotional stuff is killing me, lol.

Lucky14972d ago

I mentioned it in the article, the demo doesn't do the game justice. Players don't really get to experience what Enslaved is like. It was a weak level they featured.

Baka-akaB4972d ago (Edited 4972d ago )

that's only partially true .

The gameplay isnt suddenly different later on when it comes to how the control feels , or the automatic platforming . Wich doesnt sit well for a few of us .

I know i'm lambasting the game often , part of it as well due to my feelings for their gameplay in games , how easy it is(and recently the whole dmc affair ) ... but i just didnt felt a game worthy of a stellar 9 ..

It's a good game definitively however ...that's all that matter anyway

FACTUAL evidence4972d ago

It disgust me that NT talked all that shit, but pretty much revamped EVERY character from Heavenly Sword. Way to go ninjas...Love the generic characters.

BannedForNineYears4972d ago

More like sleeper flop.......
This game had so much hype around it.
Most of the hype was from Ninja Theory though. :P

Xof4972d ago

A heavily hyped game, with lots of marketing and pre-release attention, from an established "AAA" developer cannot, be definition, be a sleeper hit.

Honestly, the PS3/360 cannot yet even have sleeper hits because there are simply too few games out there for one to be lost under the pile. Sleeper hits need to be relatively esoteric--they come out of nowhere--which means either from unknown developers, or released alongside much bigger games that overshadow them--and need to be released with relatively no hype or advertising.... AND be really good.

At best, we could say Nier was a sleeper hit--no one really saw it coming, and it was a fantastic game. But, still, even that doesn't count. Hell, most people don't even remember sleeper hits because they tend to STAY relatively unknown. Steambot Chronicles, anyone?

Anyway, the biggest sleeper hits we've ever seen have probably been Persona 3, which single-handedly ballooned the SMT franchise from cult to pop status, and Shogun: Total War. Both of which came out of nowhere and had HUGE impacts on the market, the industry, and gamers ourselves.

tl;dr Enslaved is not, will not, and can NEVER be called a sleeper hit. Calling it one only INCREASES the hype and FURTHER solidifies its inability to EVER be considered a sleeper hit.

Baka-akaB4972d ago (Edited 4972d ago )

Ninja theory never was an established AAA developer . Enslaved is their first game actually gaining success in reviews .

Nier does count , it's from a (now defunct) Cavia studio that had quite a few misses and barely remember games .

Hell who even mention Nier nowadays and remember drakengaard ?

Also , I think it was Nocturne first who truly put the SMT/PEs series on many western players' radar . Sure p3 was a hit , but persona was always a popular niche serie of roughly the same sales value , asides from p4 .

Persona 1 outsold the original P3 ... P2 had good sales too , despite of missing half the entire episode in usa/eu due to censorship .
And shin megami tensei as a whole always sold within the same ballpark only mostly in japan till Nocturne and its dante from dmc cameo , among other things .

But i'm mostly rambling , i also dont see how Enslaved would be a sleeper hit , not when from the start it kept having praises and some midlevel hype till the current explosion

Nicky74972d ago

Love throwing women around like they’re sacks of wheat?

Can't say I've ever tried that to be honest. Something about jail and big men wanting to beat me up comes to mind.

WLPowell4972d ago (Edited 4972d ago )

If the media machine tells us that (over and over), doesn't it make it no longer a sleeper hit?

edit: Xof beat me to it.

4972d ago
320°

Ninja Theory trends on X as gamers fear for studio following Tango Gameworks closure

Following the closure of 4 studios, many are now worried for the future of Ninja Theory once Hellblade 2 is released.

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videogamer.com
Sonic18816d ago (Edited 6d ago )

How is it going to sell well when it's also releasing on gamepass 🤔

Sephiroushin6d ago

Meant better to sell the studio and not closing it 🤦🏻 not to sell more games….
and games are sold anyways, you can buy it on xbox (not recommended if you got gamepass) but many pc gamers prefer to buy on steam than deal with the xbox app or pc gamepass!

On a side note to OP, the sales of studios wont happen though, especially when they want to retain the IPs, and well nobody is gonna buy a studios without its IPs; the other publishers that want a certain dev from the studio that are closing on their team can try to grab them as soon as they see they notice of the studio.

RaidenBlack6d ago (Edited 6d ago )

@Sephiroushin
Well hypothetically speaking, Ninja Theory can be sold to Sony at a lower rate sans the Hellblade IP.
Sony can then welcome them to work on the Heavenly Sword IP, which they still own.
Will be a nice proposition for Sony who can continue to offer a God of War-like hack n slash in their portfolio via Heavenly Sword 2, whilst Cory Barlog & co. decides to take a break from the God of War IP & venture some other genres.
On top of that, Ninja Theory was also interested in a sequel to Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and such Sony can come to a deal with Namco Bandai regarding the Enslaved IP.

badz1495d ago

selling the studio wouldn't be an attractive offer unless they come with their IPs. MS wants to keep these IPs, so even if MS is selling just the studio, no one would wants them

Lightning777d ago

Because they're next come next year. HB2 won't hit some impossible metric within MS so they're getting axed in 2025. Leave gaming now MS.

XiNatsuDragnel6d ago

Ninja theory might as well be gone in 2025 at this rate

notachance6d ago

Every xbox studio is in danger now because there’s just no way they’re gonna rake in big money from game sales because of gamepass, even CoD was rumored to not come to gamepass because it would canibalize their sales number.

neutralgamer19926d ago

If they are smart they don’t put COD on GP day one. It’s one of the best selling games on yearly basis

Hofstaderman6d ago

Satya will make sure that doesnt happen. As you rightly put it; why kill the cash cow?

But then again, it is MS after all.....

thesoftware7306d ago

I agree and disagree. They should not put it on GP, but CoD makes real money from the overpriced MTX that people buy for over a year. They also have it all linked up to the Mobile CoD, which will incentivize Twitch spending from consumers.

neutralgamer19926d ago

Software

That’s true but keep in mind COD is the best selling or top 3 selling game every year. So yes micro transactions money is there but so are billions more

They should have tiers of GP subscriptions and the higher end tier received AAA games while everyone else gets them in 60 days

MontyeKristo5d ago

Wouldn't putting it on Gamepass be smarter? Cod is typically played, I believe, for far longer than 6 months.. if you get everyone playing the game for a year, on Gamepass, you've essentially doubled your profit. $10 a month for a year $120 compared to selling the game once for $60.

Not to mention MT's, on top of it. Sell on PS5, PC and Switch, keep it on Gamepass for Xbox and PC. Much smarter in my opinion..

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-Foxtrot6d ago

Also if you punish a studio for releasing a great critically acclaimed game which won some awards then what chance does anyone have

Elda6d ago

After this mess, I highly doubt the next installment of COD will be on Gamepass day one. It'll probably land on Gamepass 6 months after release date.

Noskypeno6d ago

Like I said earlier, I wouldn't even mind. There's a good selection of games on GP already, and it gives me time to play my backlog of games while allowing the games that need to sell millions of copies to make a profit a chance to succeed, a win win scenario.

badz1495d ago

not putting CoD on GP is sort of a violation of their own marketing though. they said ALL MS 1st party games will be on GP day 1, not some. CoD is 1st party, so to not put it on GP day 1 would be considered as false marketing.

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Rynxie6d ago (Edited 6d ago )

Ninja theory games were never big sellers. I could be wrong, but I doubt hellblade 2 will sell millions. I would rather they go independent and make heavenly sword 2.

solideagle6d ago (Edited 6d ago )

heavenly sword is Sony owned IP. this will never happen as original didn't sell enough...

Wikipedia: "In 2008, it was reported that a sequel to Heavenly Sword was in-development at SCE Studio Cambridge, but was canceled due to Sony no longer seeing it as a commercially viable product"

Flewid6386d ago (Edited 6d ago )

I remember. I feel like the amount of time & technology that has passed would make a sequel a big seller now. The game has enough legacy recognition to build hype.

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120°

15 PS3 Games That Would Absolutely Shine as PS5 Remakes

GB: "With this feature, we talk about 15 games on the PS3 that should be remade for the PlayStation 5."

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gamingbolt.com
kenpachi35d ago

You left out The Darkness games bring those back

fan_of_gaming34d ago

The head of Nightdive Studios has posted that The Darkness is on their list of games they want to do, so hopefully something comes from that

Yi-Long34d ago

Little Big Planet 1 and 2 deserve a mention, IMO.

Good call on Motorstorm, a game released 2 gens ago but still looks and feels so good. Motorstorm 2 and Motorstorm RC were gems as well. They followed up the Motorstorm games with the brilliant Driveclub, which still manages to put modern racing games to shame. Imagine closing down a studio as talented as that ... (!) Incredible.

A little 'arcade-gem' back then was The Last Guy, a top down 'follow the leader' snake-like game where you had to find and lead survivors to safety during an alien invasion, on terrible looking 'Google-earth' maps. Graphics were poor, even back then, but would love that same gameplay with modern maps and graphics.

Street Fighter 4, once it finally had a full roster, was quite good, but it was always an ugly game, sadly. Imagine bringing that back while using the current SF6 engine.

fan_of_gaming34d ago

Good suggestions, I'd be in for
LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet 2
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
Motorstorm: RC

purple10134d ago

God damn I love motorstorm so much

At the time I had a low-mid range sony 40” tv, The latency to the controller was waaaay too high, would to play a modern version

In saying that later I got a 3d lg tv and playing the 3d motorstorm in my bedroom with the environment crumbling around the track, was something special, specially compared to what others were playing at the time, will always remember that

Skuletor34d ago

Some good choices here and Resistance: Fall of Man is my most wanted PS3 remaster/remake. Not sure about their claim it was Sony's answer to Gears of War though.

CrimsonWing6934d ago

I’d rather have sequels than remakes. Look at Dead Space 1 Remake. Would’ve been cooler if we got a new entry and it failed with sales sealing the fate of a sequel rather than just replay the same game and it fail in sales and we never get a new entry.

Remakes are great for things like PS2 and earlier games to really get a crazy new graphical coat, but I think we should ease up on all these remakes and actually do sequels.

fan_of_gaming34d ago

Yeah for sure, sequels would be ideal. But in the current market environment where many big publishers are risk-averse, I'd rather get a remaster or remake that a developer can do on a budget that will be approved, rather than nothing for an IP.

Inverno34d ago

I rather they remaster and port over to PC and current gen all the games permanently stuck on PS360. Those games don't need remakes, they need to be given a chance to live again outside of their confined consoles and then give a few proper sequels. Like Sleeping Dogs, Motor Storm, LA Noir, should get another entry.

fan_of_gaming34d ago

Yeah I'd be fine with remasters of PS3 games too, they don't have to be remakes.

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410°

Former Hellblade Director & Ninja Theory Founder Explains Why He Left The Studio

Former Hellblade director and Ninja Theory co-founder has offered an explanation regarding his departure from the now Microsoft-owned studio.

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twistedvoxel.com
XiNatsuDragnel38d ago

I hope he forms a new studio soon

Cacabunga37d ago

It is a good studio.. i really enjoyed their dmc game that i platinumed it.
I did not try hellblade, because it doesnt tell me much.. Enslaved was very mehhh
Heavenly Sword was good not great. Amazing graphics back in the day but so repetitive and not so engaging in the long run.

stoney10137d ago

I really enjoyed Enslaved and Heavenly Sword back in the day. Wish they'd return to that sort of game. Hellblade isn't really for me to be honest. Not saying it's not a good game, I just couldn't get into it.

Popsicle37d ago (Edited 37d ago )

That is fair. I enjoyed Hellblade but can definitely see how it isn’t for everyone.

Would like to see how Heavenly Sword would have turned out if developed today. It’s easy to forget that games like Heavenly Sword were unprecedented and in their infancy.

shinoff218336d ago (Edited 36d ago )

Enslaved has been their favorite game for me. Loved the atmosphere.

1nsomniac37d ago

Heavenly sword was a staggeringly good game!! One of the most memorable of the PS3 generation in my opinion.

Babadook737d ago (Edited 37d ago )

Heavenly sword was good. It had ambitious graphics and as a result the frame rate suffered and as a result the gameplay suffered. But the story was phenomenal. Great acting, especially Andy Serkis as the king.

Jingsing37d ago (Edited 37d ago )

"Microsoft" we all read between the lines. We have seen the exact same thing happen with many of their other acquisitions

InUrFoxHole36d ago

Jesus man! Try reading the article at least.

cthulhucultist37d ago

One thing that pleasantly surprised me, was the Switch port, as back then it was my only console. The graphics were amazing and the artistic design helped a lot to enhance the visuals.I took some really impressive screen shots while playing which I still revisit them from time to time to remind me what a capable developer (QLOC) can achieve with weaker hardware.

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