Enclave

The game is really old. So we need to keep that in mind. It seems most users that write reviews always forget this. The game in its time was a total jewel. Even in par with the other jewel "Blade: the edge of darkness". Not only the joy factor was really high, it was probably the most beautiful game technically speaking of those years. No doubt it was a great game, but of course if you play it now, you will probably be dissapointed. As almost any single title that is more than 10 years old. Personally i will never ever buy such an old title for more than 1€, but a lot of people will, and if it is for collectible purposes, its a good game.

Enclave is everything that a third-person action game should be - they avoid everything wrong with third person games, manage to do all the right things, and provide variety while they're doing it. It is fun, legitimately challenging, flexible, and able to be played however you like. The joy factor of this game is so high that whenever it crashed, I was surprised to find that I wasn't particularly annoyed, just eager to play the level again and maybe switch up my tactics. It's that good (and I'm not affected by nostalgia; I had never played before 2011). VISUALS: This is a pretty game. Character models have good polygon counts, good texturing, and good mapping - everything looks smooth, and character animations are good. You can tell what weapons and armor an enemy is using from a distance (helpfully, enemies use the same equipment that the equivalent PC classes use) and plan accordingly. Some parts of environments can be a bit low-poly, but that's usually just rock faces and the like; architecture is good and plenty varied, with everything from crumbling ruins, machinery-laden mines, and dark castles to classical palaces, beautiful elven forest retreats, and an underwater sanctuary. Draw distance is as long as it needs to be - you can always see all the way to the next obstacle except for a few areas that are intentionally foggy. Environments vary from wide open sniper playgrounds to cramped mines, and they all look good (although we're not talking Half-Life 2 here). When equipping a missile weapon, you have an aiming dot that is sized to show range, and aiming in third person works very well (you aim where you're looking, so aim is constant between first- and third-person view). You have 3 small HUD components, indicating your current weapon and ammo, your potions, any keys or objects you are carrying, and the identity and health of the enemy at which you are aiming; damage is show via floating numbers color coded for you or the enemy. AUDIO: The music is good, doesn't get old even if you repeat a level many times, and is well-balanced: it never interferes with hearing in combat. Weapons and armor clink, enemies yell insults, and you can hear bowstrings, crossbows loading, and extra arrows being nocked. Combined with the good animations, this is very helpful when facing archers, particularly those who like firing heavy spreads of arrows. Ambient sound is also good, with squealing machinery, hinges in a variety of conditions, creaky boards, distant combat, and wind all helping to set the mood or alert you to incoming hostiles. You'll notice when you're listening, but it is otherwise natural enough that it just blends in - things sound like you expect them to. CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: This is the only third-person game I have ever played with a flawless camera. In third person, the camera is free and stays pointed where you pointed it. There is no drift, no wiggling or snapping in corners, no aiming mode or lock-on, nothing. If you're against a wall, the camera pushes forward, potentially all the way into the first-person view perspective, and as it gets close to you, you become increasingly transparent so your view is never obstructed. In first person, your weapon is partly transparent for the same reason. Archers using sniper or magic arrows get two levels of zoom, which is stable, clear, and identifies body parts and their armor. You move exactly the same way in first and third person views, and can switch between them near-instantly and smoothly, which is sometimes tremendously helpful in combat. You have standard move buttons, jump, and crouch (no context-sensitive movements except climbing out of water, so combat movement is completely natural). Movement speed is controlled enough to navigate narrow ledges, although you may want to crouch with faster characters. Two next/previous controls swap between weapons and ammo for bows. You have a fire/swing button and a secondary action, which will raise your shield or do something weapon-specific like reloading or zooming. This key is also used for the rare context actions, such as using keys or levers; a big flashing indicator makes it clear when this will occur. Unlocked doors are opened by bumping them, keeping movement simple. The only complaint I have is that ladders are hard to get on going down, but you get used to running toward them across a gap, or backing slowly off and then pushing into them. You generally won't need to worry - either the fall is short enough not to hurt, or you'll have ample time to grab the ladder, it's just a bit awkward. As you progress through each campaign, you gain access to new classes - you can choose any one for each mission, and can go back at any time to replay an earlier level with new classes and better gear (which may be wise if you didn't collect all the gold!). Your gold is never spent - you can change your loadout to anything your total earnings will cover. This gives you a lot of flexibility to play as you want, rewards you for collecting, and provides serious replay value. Completing each storyline unlocks a further character, and collecting all the gold in a campaign unlocks a beastly special character whose only purpose is to take firey, explosive vengeance on any level that gave you guff the first time through. As I've mentioned, this game crashes occasionally on my machine (Windows 7 64-bit); this is not a universal problem and it is not game-breaking, as I can generally get several levels completed before a crash. Still, be warned. STORY/ACTING: The story is surprisingly interesting, and it's rather fun to re-visit certain battles from the other side in the dark campaign, as well as getting sweet revenge on a particular whiny character. Every mission has a clear role in the ongoing story, and usually centers on a clearly relevant strategic task. Facial animation isn't great, so the in-engine cutscenes aren't perfect, but they're fine and the voice acting is decent all around. A few narrated movie cutscenes fill you in on the history and current events, which is enough to tie everything together and at one point, give you an important hint. DIFFICULTY: At first I thought this was a bit too easy but I spoke way too soon - you are introduced gently but it doesn't baby you for long, and a few of the levels are seriously challenging (on Hard; there are three difficulty levels). There is of course some variation in the level of challenge depending on what class you use in a particular level, and how much gold you've collected for gear (as well as what gear is available to you at each point in the game, and how well you balance it). There are a few secret, optional arenas that each have three stages, one of which (Hagastrom) is incredibly hard when you first get access; if you relish a challenge, try to beat it right away rather than coming back later with better gear. I spent many hours trying with all the classes and a variety of gear loadouts, finally beating it with an engineer (after many near-successes with that loadout). It was during that process that I realized just how much I loved the game - repeatedly dying to one of the last few enemies was certainly frustrating, but it only motivated me more. I even put up with a few crashes during the process (and came back at the end of the game to finally get other classes through it). There are no checkpoints on Hard, and no quicksave - you have to survive the whole level, which can make a game very fun if it is balanced correctly, and this one is. (On lower levels there are checkpoints but death loses gold, so you may wish to restart anyway - perfect completion still rewards *consistent* skill.) You can buy healing potions in your initial load-out, and you will find them amply sprinkled throughout most levels, particularly in the vicinity of harder sections. Still, you may find yourself down to a sliver of health and without potions at the end of a level, and the tension really adds to the experience (not to mention the feeling of accomplishment if you pull it off!). Most levels with very hard sections are otherwise fairly short, or front-load the trap or other high-probability-of-death segment . . . but there are a few long levels that end in a seriously hard fight (and at least one very nasty trick for those not paying attention to the story). I usually rant about these, but in this case I was not angered by it, probably because every level is fun throughout, filled with combat that is appropriate for at least one class (and usually several); this provides enjoyment and potential variation that a long platform sequence or puzzle does not. Furthermore, you'll often find that if you're having too much trouble with one section, you can change class and shift the difficulty to a different area (levels with wizards definitely have this tradeoff until you can buy an enchanted shield). LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: Levels are quite varied not only in appearance, but also in gameplay. Different level designs favor different classes, and particularly in the light campaign, you'll probably need to use a melee fighter, archer, and caster each several times. Replaying a level with a new class will offer a very different experience, and most levels have at least one section particularly tough for each class you might use, allowing you to choose your challenge. There are a couple of "boss fight" levels, but these are varied and don't feel excessively gimmicky (with two exceptions, environment-provided heavy weapons can be passed up in favor of your own, and one of those exceptions has a fun surprise). Several levels have traps or major environmental hazards, but remember that this is not a platformer. If you're repeatedly dying to one, slow down and try a different approach (possibly just waiting to see what happens if you don't act) - nothing requires fancy trick jumps, and every one I remember can be solved by one correctly timed run or simply taking it slow. A few traps can be sprung on your enemies or just triggered for fun if you avoid them yourself. Most hazardous areas have clear warning signs or obvious hints as well. There are a couple missions where a companion must survive, but they aren't really escort missions, because said companions are quite sturdy even on Hard. You can't ignore them, of course, but you won't spend much time baby-sitting either. You will often meet the characters that will become available to you in the next mission, but they can generally die with no penalty (only two need to be protected, and only briefly, as they open doors for you). Thorough exploration is encouraged and rewarded with hidden caches of gold and potions, as well as maps to the secret levels. There are six secret levels, with two three-stage arenas and one artillery defense per campaign. These are optional and can be completed at any time; sooner earns you gold to help you with campaign missions, while the harder arenas may be too much to handle until you can afford better gear. The light and dark campaigns have 14 and 13 missions respectively, and switching campaigns brings you back to square one with no gold. The dark campaign plays a bit differently thanks to your better knowledge of the game as well as minor differences between the dark classes and their light counterparts. There are a few places where scene geometry behaves badly, with only two serious ones: First, at the start of The Great Wall, the crossbow archer can fire through the near crest of the bridge while remaining hidden, so I advise you not to back up after triggering his approach. Second, in the outer corners of Hagastrom, engineer's bombs tend to fall through the ground (but grease bombs do not). These and occasional difficulties registering arrow hits when running (which may be intentional inaccuracy, but should in that case show offset arrow trails) are the only significant complaints I have, and they can all be avoided. THE VERDICT: I'll say it again: Enclave is everything a third-person action game should be, and better than I thought possible. It is balanced well for a variety of play styles and every class has a meaningful role to play, the camera combines all of the potential advantages of third-person view with none of the flaws, it has ample variation in gear, balancing your purchases matters, and the weapons are fun. The freedom to switch classes, completely re-balance your gear, and selectively play past missions adds to the already high replay value, and it's a solid length even on one pass. Finally, Hard level is implemented really well, offers some serious challenges, and is so fun that defeat never devolves into frustration. A very solid 5. I really hope that Starbreeze eventually finishes Enclave II, which will be a rare release-day buy for me.

Ive beat this game probably 3-4 times over the years. Its exceptionally fun and unique! Amazing level design, fun customization, lots of replayablity.

Get Enclave and install "Play On Linux" which will download the game for you and install the necessary files to run on Wine. I have played FPS games since the 80s and though the game graphics and models are dated, they still work well and some maps have a pretty cool atmosphere to them (fog, particles, weather, etc). The game ran perfectly for me on Linux. Sound issues were resolved by using the ALSA audio server rather than the default PULSE audio server. The easiest way to change this is install and run "gstreamer-properties" and set your output to ALSA. Gameplay is hack-and-slash and find a few items. No puzzles to speak of. Character availability change as you progress through the levels, For me playing the "Dark" campaign was easier than playing the "Light" campaign, but each had some challenging levels. If you get stuck on a level, try a different character and/or weapon combination. The value for me was the ability to play a different campaign, which, in effect, doubles the game's play-ability. Downside: Final Boss level in the DARK campaign was too easy compared to the final boss level playing in the LIGHT campaign.

I bought Enclave today - and I'm having a blast. It's a fast-paced Hack'n'Slay with decent graphics, neat effects and a good score. The combat system seems akward at the start, but you get used to it very quickly. Being able to repeat missions for perfect scores or to experience them with different characters adds a lot of replayability (does that word exist?) too.