Ninja Theory, the Cambridge-based developer will be remembered by most gamers as the studio behind the incredibly ambitious Playstation 3 hit, Heavenly Sword, back in 2007, a title which pioneered highly-cinematic video game development.
Their latest project, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, represents the amalgamation of lessons learned from Heavenly Sword whilst utilising the cream of British talent and pushing existing development platforms to their technological limit. Enslaved centres around three key areas of production, dramatic storytelling, cinematic action and character interaction and with the big names involved it’s easy to see why Ninja Theory are excited about their game.
Lending his talents to the narrative laid down by Ninja Theory is renowned writer and avid gamer, Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later), who believes that “If you’re going to have narrative in a game, you have to see it as being as valid as the gameplay”. As such, he critiqued every puzzle, obstacle and enemy encounter in the game to make sure it had relevance to the story and ultimately ensuring the game retained tension and fl ow throughout.
Another sterling performance from the master of mo-cap, Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) ensures that the subtlety of character expressions and body language say more about the growing relationship between Monkey and Trip than thousands of words of wasted dialogue ever could. It is through this clever use of real-life performance that Ninja Theory is able to create a powerful emotional attachment between the player and the characters.
To round off the cinematic brilliance of Enslaved is Mercury Music Prize nominated artist, Nitin Sawhney who has produced an original and atmospherically astounding soundtrack. He set himself a task of giving players a sense that they’re “constantly infused with energy” and he manages this in his much lauded alternative style with the help of a talented sound design team who punctuate his melodic journey with visceral and intrusive sound effects that involve the player in every struck blow.
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