Brevity
06-04-2002, 08:15 AM
June 03, 2002 - With heavy phrases like Counter-Strike and Team Fortress being thrown around to describe Enclave early in its speculation life cycle, we have to admit we were surprised how unique and unlike any FPS the game actually is when you have the controller in your hands. Starbreeze Studios tantalized many an Xbox owner with high resolution screenshots showing off extremely detailed textures and impressive lighting. Not only does the real thing look as good as the screens suggest, but Enclave has its own style of play that's worth an objective look.
You can play the entire game from a first person perspective, but the game is balanced and tuned and works best using the third person view. You can use the first person camera when you want some help lining up a target for a ranged attack, but other than that you'll need to be able to see all around your main character to do battle.
You hack and slash your way out of prison in the very first level of the game finding a basic sword and crummy shield along the way. After this early introduction you'll get to select your character and whatever equipment you can afford before the start of subsequent missions. You have slots where you'll assign weapons and ammunition, but you'll be limited by the gear your class of character can use. The Huntress for example is proficient with ranged weapons and is extremely accurate with them. Therefore she can carry a conventional bow and a crossbow, and multiple types of each weapon will be available to her. But her melee skills are fairly weak, so you won't be using too much more than a dagger when you select her. You then have specific ammo slots that are unique to each weapon. You can buy flaming arrows for your bow and exploding arrows for you crossbow for example, but the two weapons can't share ammo.
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/enclspecial1.jpg
This is as opposed to the Knight who will have a lot more melee weapons and shield types available to him (the Huntress has no shield options, but both can wear armor). When you actually take a character into a game, you will have melee and ranged attack options available but the strength of those attacks will be limited by the quality of the weapons your character has access too and the strengths and weaknesses of the class using them. The Knight can be carrying the same crossbow and arrows as the Huntress, but he'll be nowhere near as effective. Likewise, he can do a lot more damage with a dagger than she can.
Movement is very similar to the scheme set up in Max Payne for the Xbox. Left analog stick moves the character in every direction while the right analog stick controls the camera, which stays locked behind the character's head. So moving left and right on the left stick strafes while leaning left/right on the right stick turns the character and the camera. Right trigger is your attack, firing arrows and swinging weapons. The left trigger is for raising your shield to protect yourself and for interacting with the environment, aka the "use" button. The A button cycles through your weapons. If you pull out a melee weapon, you'll automatically pull out your shield if you have one. In some cases, you actually have more than two weapons sets like when the Huntress has her bow, crossbow and dagger.
The Y button is used to drink the potions you collect, including the all important health bottle.
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/enclspecial2.jpg
Enclave looks like a typical third person action-adventure, but it does end up playing and feeling like a FPS in some respects. The control is fluid and paced in a way that aiming for crossbow shots is nice and intuitive. It's almost as if the third person view was emphasized to facilitate the melee combat in the game. There's plenty of both types of gameplay in Enclave.
There was no multiplayer component in the version of Enclave that we've played, so those comparisons to Counter-Strike will have to wait. But we did get a chance to check out some of the pre-scripted events (walls exploding, bridges falling) that you can trigger in the same way you set stuff off in Halo.
Enclave is shaping up to be yet another impressive looking title on Xbox, even if it is heading in a different direction than we initially thought. With no disrespect intended to the development team or their efforts, it's not too far off the mark to describe Enclave as a Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance with a third person Max Payne-style of camera and control. Those names seem heavy enough to us.
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/encl4.jpg
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/encl3.jpg
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/encl2.jpg
BTW: I start summer school 2day ,,,,,,,,,SUCK good bye freedom
You can play the entire game from a first person perspective, but the game is balanced and tuned and works best using the third person view. You can use the first person camera when you want some help lining up a target for a ranged attack, but other than that you'll need to be able to see all around your main character to do battle.
You hack and slash your way out of prison in the very first level of the game finding a basic sword and crummy shield along the way. After this early introduction you'll get to select your character and whatever equipment you can afford before the start of subsequent missions. You have slots where you'll assign weapons and ammunition, but you'll be limited by the gear your class of character can use. The Huntress for example is proficient with ranged weapons and is extremely accurate with them. Therefore she can carry a conventional bow and a crossbow, and multiple types of each weapon will be available to her. But her melee skills are fairly weak, so you won't be using too much more than a dagger when you select her. You then have specific ammo slots that are unique to each weapon. You can buy flaming arrows for your bow and exploding arrows for you crossbow for example, but the two weapons can't share ammo.
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/enclspecial1.jpg
This is as opposed to the Knight who will have a lot more melee weapons and shield types available to him (the Huntress has no shield options, but both can wear armor). When you actually take a character into a game, you will have melee and ranged attack options available but the strength of those attacks will be limited by the quality of the weapons your character has access too and the strengths and weaknesses of the class using them. The Knight can be carrying the same crossbow and arrows as the Huntress, but he'll be nowhere near as effective. Likewise, he can do a lot more damage with a dagger than she can.
Movement is very similar to the scheme set up in Max Payne for the Xbox. Left analog stick moves the character in every direction while the right analog stick controls the camera, which stays locked behind the character's head. So moving left and right on the left stick strafes while leaning left/right on the right stick turns the character and the camera. Right trigger is your attack, firing arrows and swinging weapons. The left trigger is for raising your shield to protect yourself and for interacting with the environment, aka the "use" button. The A button cycles through your weapons. If you pull out a melee weapon, you'll automatically pull out your shield if you have one. In some cases, you actually have more than two weapons sets like when the Huntress has her bow, crossbow and dagger.
The Y button is used to drink the potions you collect, including the all important health bottle.
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/enclspecial2.jpg
Enclave looks like a typical third person action-adventure, but it does end up playing and feeling like a FPS in some respects. The control is fluid and paced in a way that aiming for crossbow shots is nice and intuitive. It's almost as if the third person view was emphasized to facilitate the melee combat in the game. There's plenty of both types of gameplay in Enclave.
There was no multiplayer component in the version of Enclave that we've played, so those comparisons to Counter-Strike will have to wait. But we did get a chance to check out some of the pre-scripted events (walls exploding, bridges falling) that you can trigger in the same way you set stuff off in Halo.
Enclave is shaping up to be yet another impressive looking title on Xbox, even if it is heading in a different direction than we initially thought. With no disrespect intended to the development team or their efforts, it's not too far off the mark to describe Enclave as a Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance with a third person Max Payne-style of camera and control. Those names seem heavy enough to us.
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/encl4.jpg
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/encl3.jpg
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/encl2.jpg
BTW: I start summer school 2day ,,,,,,,,,SUCK good bye freedom