Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

[Flawless]

Not much info.

IGN

Ninja Theory, the developer behind the graphically-impressive action title Heavenly Sword for PlayStation 3, announced a partnership with Namco Bandai on a new, multiplatform title.

"Ninja Theory's first title exemplified their incredible talent and ability to deliver a high-quality, cinematic and captivating gameplay experience," said Makoto Iwai, executive vice president and chief operating officer at NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. "With producers from our North American office working closely with such a strong European development studio, we will be able to create a blockbuster title with strong pan-Western sensibilities and appeal for a global gaming audience."

The game will be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation and is planned for release in 2010.

"This new project pushes our core strengths of rich story-telling, cutting-edge technology and exciting gameplay beyond anything we have created before," said Nina Kristensen, co-founder and chief development ninja, Ninja Theory Ltd. "The support of NAMCO BANDAI combined with the skills and talent we have nurtured over the years means that players are going to be in for a truly deep and memorable experience."

Expect to hear more news about this during the coming months.

[Flawless]

Re: Heavenly Sword Dev Working on Multiplatform Title

Name of the game is Enslaved. Details in the October issue of Game Informer.

Heavenly Sword devs announce new title

Just about 2 years ago today, Ninja Theory and Sony teamed up to deliver the heavily hyped Heavenly Sword. Though the game wasn't perfect, it was an enjoyable title that ultimately didn't live up to the hype - critically nor commercially. Since then, the franchise was put on indefinite hold, despite a trilogy being planned from the start. Ninja Theory announced they would be working on a new project, but told us not to give up hope on a sequel.

And now, we know what they've been working on across the past two years. Ninja Theory will be announcing their latest title next month, in Game Informer magazine. Ninja Theory's new title, Enslaved, is a post-apocolyptic journey and will be launched across multiple platforms.

[bkfount]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

interesting to see what they can do without a blank check funding their project like Sony did with Heavenly Sword. Their only other game was Kung Fu Chaos on the xbox.

[Flawless]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

Some info from Game Informer is starting to come out.

• 150 years in the future. Giant mechanical airships in the sky. Main character has a "headband" that will blow up if you don't follow mysterious chick who walked into your life!
  
• Facial expression system from Heavenly Sword being applied to the body this time.
  
• Andy Serkis voices main character named "Monkey", directs the game's cutscenes, and is responsible for casting.
  
• Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine) doing the dialogue.
  
• No co-op, but a second character is involved in the (theoretically) third-person adventure.
  
• Game takes place in "dilapidated New York"
  
• Action "more strategic than Heavenly Sword

[jmood88]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

Can't wait for this, I loved Heavenly Sword.

[Flawless]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

Pretty easy to tell this is using UE3. Art style and lighting isn't as good as Heavenly Sword. Probably unrealistic to expect similar production values, as I doubt this game has anywhere near the same budget as HS did with Sony. Still, the game sounds interesting.

Screens

[goh]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

• 150 years in the future. Giant mechanical airships in the sky. Main character has a "headband" that will blow up if you don't follow mysterious chick who walked into your life!

This sort of thing always works out well. Partner AI never gets stuck on things or can't figure out where they're going. It seems to be otherwise good looking.

[Flawless]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

IGN Preview

During my demo, Ninja Theory continually impressed upon me how seriously the development team was taking storytelling. The group tapped Alex Garland, the writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine to pen the tale. Andy Serkis, known for his work as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films, will do the motion capture for Monkey. The team is hoping to meld these talents and the story directly into the game, ensuring that it flows more smoothly than most videogames that alternate between story and gameplay in distinct chunks.

The game itself is not like Ninja Theory's previous work, Heavenly Sword. In fact, it loosely reminded me more of Prince of Persia with a bit more emphasis on action and less on platforming. You control Monkey, but Trip is always at your side. If she dies, you die, so it's best to keep her out of trouble. There's a lot of trouble to be found, so you'll have to work closely with Trip to keep her in one piece.

Trip will generally follow by your side, but it is entirely possible to leave her in one spot while you clear out an area. She can also lend you a hand by projecting a little decoy to draw enemies away from you. Most importantly, as I mentioned before, she can offer intel and advice. Some of these mechanical beasts and auto-turrets scattered about simply won't go down easily. "The combat is supposed to be quite hard," I was told by Ninja Theory.

The level of difficulty is there to make you think. Is there a better way through this mine field? Can I avoid this trench lined with turrets? Is it possible to sneak up behind that robot, rip off its machine gun arm and use it against the rest of these enemies? The answer looks in general to be 'yes.' Walk into an area, call in Trip to scope out the scene, and then get to some quick platforming to find a better way through to the fight.

The part of the combat that most impressed me was how impactful each swing of Monkey's staff felt. A heavy swing will knock a mech back. Follow up with an overhead smash and it will be pounded down to the ground. Too many action games have a simple hit animation -- or no animation at all -- for every type of contact. Enslaved has an element of realism to the blows that is too often absent.

As there aren't many people left on earth, the majority of the foes you face will be of the mechanical variety. At first, these will be fairly primitive. That's the type I saw in my demo. General attack bots were called in upon the trigger of alarms. A huge end boss looked like it was made out of a clump of demolition balls, which is what it was originally intended to be used as during more peaceful times. Later on in the game, you'll meet a few surviving humans and nastier, new-gen organic-looking robots will be introduced.

Enslaved is still pretty early on in development, so don't expect to see it on store shelves until closer to the end of 2010. That was reflected in my demo, which still had placeholder animations and voicework. That didn't give me a very good sense of how well the storytelling being so highly touted will come together, but what I saw in terms of combat and platforming looked promising. Namco Bandai promised more on Enslaved as we approach E3 so we won't have to wait long to learn more.

New Screens

[DickDalewood]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

Looks pretty awesome. I'll be interested to see some vids.

[Flawless]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

<div style="width: 480px;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="gtembed" width="480" height="392"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=100015"/><param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=100015" swLiveConnect="true" name="gtembed" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="392"></embed> </object><div style="font-size: 10px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: center; width: 480px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; background-color: black; height: 32px;"><div><a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.gametrailers.com" title="GameTrailers.com">Video Games</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/enslaved-odyssey-to-the-west/12933" title="Enslaved">Enslaved</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-debut-enslaved/100015" title="Exclusive Debut Trailer">Exclusive Debut Trailer</a></div><div style="padding-top: 3px;"><a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://xbox360.gametrailers.com/" title="XBox 360">XBox 360</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://ps3.gametrailers.com/" title="PS3">Playstation 3</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://wii.gametrailers.com/" title="Wii">Nintendo Wii</a></div></div></div>

[Admiral50]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

Was really hyped till I saw the trailer. Looks pretty average really. The animation needs a lot of work, the fighting and platforming has been done before and better and for a title taking storytelling serious, the trailer seemed pretty corny.

[DickDalewood]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

Not gonna lie, I wad pretty underwhelmed by the graphics and animations in that trailer. I sense delays and/or bad reviews in the not too distant future.

[Admiral50]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

It's got it's back against the wall that's for sure:

- platforming elements have been done amazingly in games like Prince of Persia, Uncharted
- fighting has been mastered in Batman AA and God of War
- an AI partner has almost NEVER been a good thing

I really like Heavenly Sword (even more than the reviews) but this looks a couple years too late.

[DickDalewood]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

It's got it's back against the wall that's for sure:

- platforming elements have been done amazingly in games like Prince of Persia, Uncharted
- fighting has been mastered in Batman AA and God of War
- an AI partner has almost NEVER been a good thing

I really like Heavenly Sword (even more than the reviews) but this looks a couple years too late.

Agreed. The problem is it looks and moves like Heavenly Sword, which was awesome at the release of the PS3, but is clearly dated now. It's like their engine hasn't evolved at all.

Lame.

[Flawless]

Re: Enslaved (Ninja Theory) PS3/360

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