Enclave (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.7 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Andrew Park
• Reviewed on: 03/28/2003
• Updated on: 05/10/2003
• Released on: 03/10/2003
• Originally published on GameSpot: Enclave (PC) Review

High-fantasy fiction has been inspiring developers to create colorful fantasy games for years. Starbreeze's game Enclave was clearly influenced by fantasy fiction archetypes, and though it was originally released on Microsoft's Xbox last year, it still looks quite good, thanks to its detailed textures and occasionally inspired levels. Unfortunately, Enclave has a number of gameplay problems that its good graphics and sound can't hide.

Enclave is a third-person action game in which you can play as part of either the good or evil armies in an epic fantasy conflict. Though you'll begin on either side with a single playable character, you'll later rescue or unlock other character classes with various melee, ranged, or magic-based attacks that they can use to defeat their enemies.

But fighting isn't very precise, or very fun, in Enclave, since the game has unreliable hit detection; sometimes arrows and swords will pass right through your enemies, and your enemies' attacks will occasionally fly right through your shield (if you're carrying one) and damage you. In addition, your characters generally don't fight very quickly; most ranged weapons take a while to reload, and most melee attacks consist of a series of slow-moving, preset animations that take a while to conclude and leave you vulnerable to a counterattack. And most of Enclave's characters don't move very quickly either, so you can basically expect to take hits from your enemies no matter what, especially when multiple enemies swarm you (as they often do in later levels of the game). Your character can pick up and drink health potions, but you'll do this just as slowly as you fight, run, or change weapons, so this can be of limited use in small areas crowded by multiple enemies.

Enclave was an extremely difficult game on the Xbox, and its difficulty has been toned down in the PC version so that enemies don't kill you with a single blow, but you'll still suffer severe damage when hit by unseen traps for the first time, and you'll most likely find the game's limited save-game system to be frustrating. You can save only at predetermined safe areas, which, in certain levels, are few and far between. Make a wrong move or get mobbed by too many enemies, and you'll be sent all the way back to your previous save point. In addition, Enclave's levels, while not particularly huge, are still fairly big and will often require you to backtrack through them several times. It's safe to say that Enclave would have been a much less frustrating game to play if it had featured both a better save-game system and an in-game map. Enclave isn't a particularly lengthy game otherwise, and since it has no multiplayer options, you may not get much out of the game in the long run.

In many of the game's levels, you'll need to backtrack to find a particular item or enemy or to lead a computer-controlled companion to a specific goal area. Unfortunately, Enclave's AI for both allies and enemies is inconsistent and occasionally quite bad. Any allies you must lead or escort through a level will stop dead in their tracks if faced with even a small obstacle. There's no way to issue any commands to your allies, so you'll often have to leave them behind, even if they were supposed to help you fight your way through the level.

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Enclave (PC): $69.99

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