Enslaved: Odyssey To The West

NAMCO BANDAI Games recently released the post-apocalyptic action-adventure game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Developed by Ninja Theory and powered by the Unreal Engine 3, Enslaved is set 150 years in the future and takes place in an unrecognizable America, where war and destruction have ravaged the population.

Buildings are there, but in a state of ruin, covered with heavy foliage. Mysterious slave ships roam the land to capture the few remaining human survivors. These ships take their captives out west, never to return.

You go through the game as “Monkey,” a strong, brutish type controlled by the technologically savvy “Trip.” Both characters have been imprisoned by one of these slave ships but managed to escape. Trip is able to control Monkey with a slave headband that she hacked into that links them together – if she dies, he dies. Their journey to find the hidden village must be completed together.

Enslaved’s gameplay revolves around combat, strategy and environmental traversal. Monkey attacks and defends using his trusty staff, and delivers powerful melee attacks/combos, stun/plasma blasts and intense finishing takedowns. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to take full advantage of these great combat moves until about halfway through the game. Additionally, there are puzzles all over the game that offer you opportunities to stop and think to break up the fast pace.

The artistic design of Enslaved is nice eye candy to keep you occupied. The characters are incredibly lifelike with subtle facial expressions and believable voice acting that add to the realism. Watching Monkey and Trip’s relationship grow throughout the game is an interesting dynamic and kind of makes you feel attached. It’s a nice adventure that keeps you engaged with its memorable story.

Enslaved is rated “T” for Teen, is available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and retails for $59.99. Find it at your nearest GameStop (gamestop.com), Best Buy (bestbuy.com) or Walmart (walmart.com). Visit enslaved-thegame.com for more information.

Click Chick’s Mobile App of the Week: MyFitnessPal Calorie Counter

You may remember the Adidas miCoach fitness app I wrote about last month. Well, these past few weeks I’ve been playing with the free MyFitnessPal Calorie Counter to complement it. This app came out recently for Android, and has been out awhile for the iPhone.

MyFitnessPal.com is a leading social network with more than 1 million users interested in diet and fitness, and this is a mobile version to its already popular online calorie counter. When you first launch the MyFitnessPal app, you establish a personalized diet profile based on your individual weight-loss goals. Its myriad calculators allow you to track your progress throughout the day as you enter in exactly what you eat and drink, and the type and length of exercise you do.

The app lets you keep a diet/exercise diary using MyFitnessPal’s extensive databases – all your calories are calculated for you!