More often than not, I find that my fond memories of classic games are all but shattered when I actually go back and play them for old time’s sake. And thanks to my recent upgrade to PlayStation Plus Premium, this has become the disappointing reality for me these past few months.
As a rabid fan of the Syphon Filter back in the day, I was ecstatic to have pretty much the entire Syphon Filter library at my disposal – needless to say that was the first series I downloaded. As I waited the few minutes it took to download the relatively small download of the first title, the anticipation of meeting back up with my old friend Logan and helping him blast his way through Washington, DC and Kazakhstan had me on the edge of my seat. I mean c’mon – back in the day Syphon Filter was far more accessible than Metal Gear Solid, it pretty much paved the way for Splinter Cell, and if that weren’t enough it was developed by the very same folks who recently released the horribly underappreciated Days Gone.
As the game booted, I was transported back to those days sitting on the floor in front of my then-huge 27” tube TV running an original SCPH-1001 PlayStation Console (which I still have) – for a moment it was utter bliss. Until I actually started playing the game, and I immediately had a WTF moment. How do I turn? How do I look around? Face buttons? OMG – this was before analog sticks, wasn’t it? And why is everything so jittery? I feel like I’m going to have a seizure. Needless to say, my Syphon Filter session lasted about 10 minutes, and the game was deleted.
The same goes for Ape Escape, Ridge Racer 4, Medievil, Twisted Metal and dozens of more classic games I was so looking forward to playing again. Some memories should remain just that – memories. And that leads me to the subject of this review: Enclave HD on the PS5.
Enclave HD is essentially a re-release of the original 2002 Xbox classic originally developed by Swedish Studio Starbreeze (developers of the critically acclaimed Chronicles of Riddick, The Darkness, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons) with Sickhead Games providing scant audiovisual upgrades for the PS5. And when I say scant, I mean it. The game may fill up a widescreen HDTV and the characters may look sharper and more detailed than my experience with most of the PlayStation Plus Premium classics – the textures are still heavily pixelated, the AI is outright dumb, and the controls are clumsy and unintuitive. But once you get over all that, Enclave HD proves to be as addictive and enjoyable as it was back in 2002.
Enclave was a well fleshed out action-RPG for its time – allowing gamers to play in either Light or Dark campaign modes as one of eight character classes in each of the modes. Each class has requisite strengths and weaknesses, as well as a unique selection of weapons from which to choose (melee and ranged). The storyline levels are linear, with the only side missions consisting of exploring the levels to collect gold which is used not only for monetary upgrade purchases between levels but also for revival after in-game deaths. Many missions require the gamer to escort somebody across the level, but thankfully the NPIs take relatively low damage making it more of a walk ahead, clear, and double back when you hear “Help!”.
The storyline is overly complicated, but essentially centers around the basic battle of the forces of Light vs. Dark. The game starts with our hero who has been imprisoned by the government of Celenheim for supporting the rebellion against their unfair tax collections. Unfair taxing or not, Celenheim is considered the force of Light, and the people of Celenheim have enjoyed years of peace protected by a rift that has kept the Dark ruler Vartar and his minions at bay. But the rift is closing, Vartar and his minions attack, and our hero wakes to find his jail cell crumbling before his eyes. He fights for his survival only to be recaptured by the leaders of Celenheim, who are impressed with his skills in battle. They make him an offer – support Celenheim from Vartar’s attack in exchange for freedom, which he naturally accepts.
From that moment on, the scripted story takes a backseat to the action – with the Celenheim leaders simply passing along linear missions for our hero to complete. Upon completion of each mission, the game doles out new weapons, armor, and characters for the gamer to utilize in subsequent missions. In addition, gamers can purchase and/or upgrade weapons, armor, and abilities using the gold that was collected during each mission and customize loadouts based on the description of the upcoming tasks.
The controls are rough by today’s standards – with everything feeling very abrupt and stilted. This is made all the more difficult by the inconsistent reactions and movement of the AI enemies – which sometimes seem smart and aggressive, but other time simply stand in place until a certain triggering action makes them suddenly hop around the screen making it all but impossible to lock on for a melee attack, much less a ranged attack. But that also makes it all the more rewarding when you finally clear an area after multiple failed attempts.
There are a fair amount of puzzles in the game – most are relatively simple to figure out, but a few are real brain twisters. And while online play was only a dream back in 2002 – Starbreeze does surprise games by flipping the script and offering an entire second gameplay experience from the perspective of Vartar’s army, emphasizing the concept that neither of the factions are essentially good people.
Enclave is a dated game and Enclave HD simply put some shine on the very same experience that gamers enjoyed in 2002. The visuals have been minimally upgraded and the soundtrack has been remastered – but the gameplay is otherwise untouched. And while I was initially a bit bummed that the gameplay didn’t live up to what I was hoping to find given the trailers and screenshots we were provided – I ended up having a pretty good time with Enclave HD once I decided to press on and see it through.
Now I’m thinking I might need to go back to Syphon Filter and give it another go. Maybe if I give it another chance, I can rekindle the enjoyment I had all those year ago, just like I did with Enclave HD.
