- Kind of like Morrowind on
steroids
- Two campaigns from both sides of the coin
- Some wicked-looking equipment upgrades
- Good character design
- Aiming with a ranged weapon has never been easier
- Camera too variable
- No mid-mission save option
- Incredibly difficult end sequences
- Some annoying stutter
- Swimming sucks
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Enclave
Score: 7.0 / 10
If the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind were
stripped of its depth, its open-ended gameplay, its plethora of quests
and overarching story, and its hardcore role-playing game (RPG)
mystique, Enclave would be the result, an often entertaining but equally
often frustrating game.
Although Enclave is lacking in brain power, it’s clear its been popping
performance enhancers. Make no mistake; Enclave is pure hack and slash
with very little strategy or thought involved. No need to think of the
best approach of attacking an enemy, just walk up and stick him with
your biggest and pointiest weapon or snipe him with your dwarven
crossbow. (And as always, magic users have to hit and run.) The most
thinking required is before the start of each stage when you chose and
equip
your character. (And possibly in the late
stages of each campaign.)
There is a semi-interesting backstory to Enclave, but for most players
the driving force for completing levels won’t be to find out what
happens next, but to unlock another powerful weapon or new character.
There are two campaigns available but you’re forced to play through the
“good” campaign before the
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“evil” campaign opens up, and the good campaign starts you off in the
boots of a barbarian type escaping from an area under siege, complete
with mortars and orcish-type invaders. As you progress from there you
open up other character classes like Druid, Sorcerer, Engineer, Huntress
and Halfling. (And rough equivalents in the evil campaign.) Depending on
how much gold you collect through a level (and the gold reward you get
at the finish of each level) you can outfit your character with varying
weapons and equipment of specific effectiveness and power. For example,
heavy armor costs an arm and a leg so if you miss some loot during the
course of a level it’s extra incentive to retread earlier levels before
tackling harder ones – if you don’t have the ability to buy the most
powerful stuff before the end confrontation go back and search every
nook and cranny for the gold.
It’s the character upgrades that really show off Enclave’s detailed
graphics and animation. (Flaming swords are just cool!) Enclave looks
great but on occasion this turns out to be a curse. When facing off
against more than a couple of enemies it’s not uncommon to encounter a
second or two of stutter (sometimes three). In itself this isn’t a
problem, but when the camera is taken into account it can result in
critical slashes (or spell casts) missing their mark.
The left stick is used to move your character and the right stick
controls where you’re looking. More often than not, during a
confrontation I always wound up looking at the ground (or trying to
correct myself). I never really found an optimal camera angle to fight
enemies – a camera and target lock would have helped this enormously.
And for whatever reason, the developers didn’t implement limb hacking –
the ability to cleave off parts of the opposition would have been sweet,
even though a well executed swing-through combo does provide a feeling
of accomplishment. Getting the combos to work is mostly a matter of good
timing on the attack button and since timing changes for each weapon
(i.e. a sword slashes faster than a big war hammer) this in itself can
take some practice. I give kudos to the developers for implementing one
of the easiest methods for aiming ranged weapons I’ve ever come across
in a 3rd Person game. When equipped with a ranged weapon and a enemy is
in sight a circle highlights the target. The longer your targeting
reticule sits in the circle the more accurate your arrow will fly,
indicated by the circle gradually changing to red for the best accuracy.
Besides the camera though the control is fairly straightforward even
with most of the buttons on the controller put to use, with the
exception of swimming, which proves to be freakin’ annoying – more so on
levels where you actually have to swim.
Puzzles and level design are unimaginative and occasionally
awe-inspiring respectively. Morrowind sported some of the best
architecture I’ve ever seen in a game – Enclave doesn’t quite reach the
same level of spectacle but man, oh, man, some of sights are practically
ripped right out of Lord of the Rings. Then there’s this fight between a
mammoth lava man and a mammoth ice man – some cool moments. Interiors
and exteriors are consistent for the theme of each level but both are
extremely linear. Forget Morrowind’s wide-open expanses. Hit the edge of
an area in Enclave and a “leaving the game” timer begins to click down
from 5. There are small hidden areas to discover but there’s no raft of
side quests to undertake for extra rewards. Puzzles are mostly key hunts
– kill this guy steal the key and unlock the door to progress. There is
also the usual lever pulling puzzles – and one that is incredibly funny
thanks to some good voice acting – and a few escort missions. It’s a
good mix but nothing outstanding.
The challenge is not always consistent. I’ll admit, I finally succumbed
to the lure of the God Mode to complete the showdown with the uber bad
guy the first time through – one of the most incredibly ugly bosses
ever. Even equipped with the latest and greatest equipment and trying
each character endlessly for nearly week I would get close but never
finish. There’s a series of events you have to fulfill before finally
being able to go toe-to-toe with the beast – it’s a good setup in theory
and implementation but it’s extremely hard. The same can be said for a
few other levels where one misstep mid-way through a mission means
instant death. There’s no in-mission save or check-point feature, which
would have gone a long way to alleviate some of the frustration of
instant death or getting so close only to fail by a miscalculation.
There’s something to be said for a game like Enclave that goes for the
visceral experience – lots of good-looking graphics and hack ‘n slash
action. But the camera trips it up, not so much that it falls on its
face – more of a stumble. It’s like popcorn with extra butter and just
the right amount of salt but with a surprise used band-aid somewhere
near the top puffs just out of sight. You may enjoy the rest of the
popcorn but you’re always thinking about that band-aid, tinting your
enjoyment. Then there's the lack of in-game saves, extreme linearity,
and extreme difficulty in some areas -- okay, so there are a few
band-aids.
In short, Enclave’s definitely not all bad and is worth a rental at
least.
