Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a 2010 action-adventure video game developed by Ninja Theory and published by Namco Bandai Games. It was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with a PC port released later.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It's set in a post-apocalyptic United States where Humans have been enslaved and having cities filled with programmed Mechs.
 * 2) *The game as a whole is inspired by the Chinese novel "Journey to the West."
 * 3) Likable characters like Monkey, Trip and Pigsy. They're the only main characters in the entire game so it gives gives players a reason to be invested into their character development.
 * 4) Great and emotional story. It helps to reinforce the bond between Monkey and Trip who threatens her frequently at first but eventually sees her as a daughter.
 * 5) Lots of funny moments between them, especially from Pigsy who would often make witty remarks about himself.
 * 6) Awesome platforming gameplay, making it one of the few modern games to still support this genre. It's very precise and makes good use of the environment.
 * 7) Various collectibles to find like the Tech orbs and Masks.
 * 8) *Tech Orbs and the main collectibles that are scattered all over the levels of the game which allows Monkey to upgrade his skills.
 * 9) *The Masks (or glitches as Monkey call it) allow Monkey to view flashbacks at how the world was before the post-apocalypse happened.
 * 10) Addicting and swift combat that flows really well. It's also an improvement over Heavenly Sword.
 * 11) Awesome and fun boss fights, with the final boss being the main highlight.
 * 12) Even though you have to escort Trip, it really isn't as bad as other games make it out to be as she has useful skills in combat such as setting up distractions or stunning the mechs.
 * 13) As mentioned in WIR #7, Trip can open up a shop to Monkey's headband that allows him to upgrade his skills to have more health, regenerate health faster, improve combat or increase his staff's Plasma and Stun blasts.
 * 14) Amazing soundtrack that perfectly blends well with the game's worldbuilding and settings.
 * 15) Colorful and vivid graphics, making it one of the best looking games of the 7th generation.
 * 16) The Pigsy's Perfect 10 DLC, where you get to play as Pigsy himself, is just as fun as the main game.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The combat, while fun, can be clunky at times due to not having a lock on mechanic.
 * 2) Some technical issues such as stuttering framerates and screen tearing.
 * 3) Pretty short clocking in about 9 hours (10 if you count the DLC). Thankfully, you can replay missions to find collectibles you've missed or play on a higher difficulty.
 * 4) The game ends on an unsatisfying cliffhanger, leaving certain plot points unresolved.

Reception
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West received generally positive reviews from critics and gamers alike for its great story, likable characters, breathtaking graphics and swift combat while criticizing its technical issues and cliffhanger ending.

Despite the positive reception, the game ended up selling poorly at around 730,000 copies sold. Ninja Theory had plans to make a sequel but due to the game's lackluster sales, the planned sequel was scrapped, further leaving the cliffhanger ending unresolved.