Enclave

"A great game that's too hard to enjoy!"

Enclave is a 3rd person (with a first person option) hack/slash/shooter that is praised by some and derided by others. Numerous factors, all being appropriate, influence people one way or another with this game, derived mostly by the brilliance in graphics. On the opposite site of things, it has an insane difficulty level. This game does have issues which hamper it. However, for all of its issues, it has a lot going for it too.

Graphics
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Enclave is easily in the top 10 of graphical masterpieces on the Xbox. This game looks great. The textures are fantastic and the character models and ambient lighting are top notch. Graphic junkies would do well to pick up this game as it provides a great deal of eye candy to the user. Character animations are also excellent.

Sound
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The audio in this game is very well implemented. The soundtrack is perfectly fitting to the mood that the game is trying to set. The music is varied by level and the sound effects riddled throughout the game are enjoyable. Everything from weapon effects to character voicing and ambient noise is done extremely well. This is another strong suit of the game.

Story
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Initially, you are introduced to the world of Enclave. This world has been divided into a light and dark side (as befits most fantasy stories, it seems). You are initially tasked to go on a quest to defeat the dark side and destroy some high ranking wizard and a demon. You do this by assuming the roles of various heroes/heroines. The story is enjoyable and while not incredibly impressive, certainly keeps the gamers attention. As you complete the story, you are rewarded with the ability to complete the dark side quest, thereby unlocking a bunch of new characters to play.

Gameplay
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As is standard fare with fantasy games, you are given a variety of characters and weapons to select from. The gameplay ranges from close and long range fights to the occasional platforming sequence. The action is frenzied and quite varied. Sometimes, the collision detection is glitchy, but for the most part, your weapons act the way they should.

Difficulty
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This is a major sore point. Very quickly, the gamer will notice that this game isn't just a bit hard, it's awfully hard. When I say that, I mean that it is so hard that for many people, it could be a game killer. The difficulty borders on repressive, making it even more frustrating that an adequate save game structure wasn't implemented. There are no checkpoints, so if one dies near the end of the level, they had best be prepared to do it all over again. Additionally, enemies have a strange fetish for one-hit ranged kills, which will catch the gamer completely off guard on many occasions. It also doesn't help that you need to select your character blindly before going into battle. This has the undesired effect of choosing the wrong character strength for specific levels.

Overall
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If this games difficulty level was made more forgiving, it would receive a fantastic rating. The elements of this game on their own are for the most part top-notch. However, there is no doubt in my mind that the combination of a lack of a decent save structure and a difficulty that will have the most hardened of gamers screaming for their mommy, makes this game fall short of expectations.

The average gamer is encouraged to play this game with cheat codes activated, only because the elements and experience of Enclave are worth playing through anyway. There's a lot to see and enjoy about this game, but I would be hard pressed to believe that more than 2 out of 10 people would be able to complete this game on their own power. Kudos to those that did...I wasn't one of them.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/01/07