Enslaved is a great looking game with average, uninspired gameplay...
Now I shall talk about the platforming elements. There are many jumping and climbing segments in Enslaved. Movement in these areas is highly restricted to certain handholds or ledges. You will not be able jump unless there is another platform, ledge, pipe or handhold there to jump to. These items will flash to let you know that you can climb on them. This system makes platforming far too simple and it grows tiring very quickly due to the lack of challenge. Generally your character will move fluidly from object to object, but there are times when he will refuse to jump where you want him to or get stuck momentarily on something in the environment. I found this to be a moderate nuisance and cursed at my tv on occasion. Your reaction may vary however.
Combat is basic. You have a few combos and special moves at your disposal as well as a normal and strong attack. You can purchase combat upgrades with orbs that are scattered across the levels or dropped by fallen foes. You may find the variety of enemies to be lacking and the combat to be overly reliant on button mashing since there is not a great deal of combos. Later on in the game it gets slightly more hectic with more enemies coming at you, but I never found the game to be difficult. Boss battles are typically very easy and require little skill. In one particular battle against a mechanized dog you are able to stun it with your pole weapon. During this time the boss is completely immobilized and open to attack. The problem is that you can stun it immediately after it gets up, thus eliminating any challenge.
So now let me talk about the story. Early on you meet up with a female character called Trish who straps a slave headband to you while you lay unconscious and then informs you that if you don't do as she says, she will terminate you. This is the basis of your relationship in the early part of the game and over time you'll see this relationship develop into a romance of sorts. Since the game relies so much on the story it would seem imperative for it to have interesting characters, right? Unfortunately I did not feel very connected to any of these people. The only one I remotely cared about in the entire game was Monkey. It's not that they aren't well acted, they just lack a certain depth I feel. That and I found Trish to be a brutally annoying supporting character with her constant yelling for you to save her. I think it says a lot when I say that I enjoyed failing to rescue her. Yes, I am psychotic...
Graphically the game looks quite good, but it suffers from screen tearing and framerate problems. These are not game breaking, but they can affect gameplay at certain times. Near the end of the game during the final battle, it stuttered so much at one point that it caused my character to glitch and become unable to attack or take damage. It's just a case of there being too much going on at the same time. Anyways, overall the game looks great and has some very nice scenery to gawk at. Though I did not spend a huge amount of time looking at things, I'd still say that it's probably the best part of the game.
So in the end, what is Enslaved? Enslaved is a great looking game with average, uninspired gameplay. It has the tendency of feeling like more like a chore than an exciting journey. There's just not much depth here. Platforming is simple and occasionally unresponsive. Combat is repetitive and enemies lack variety. The characters are well acted, but uninteresting and hard to care about. The only thing the game really has going for it is how it looks. Nothing else about it really stands out to me. It's just a very average game and one that I felt like selling the moment after I beat it. Not bad, just average. If it ever drops to $10 or less I might recommend picking it up.