5. Monkey & Tripitaka - Enslaved: Odyssey To The West
Always playing second fiddle to the bigger narrative heavyweights in the industry like Rockstar or Naughty Dog thanks to not quite nailing their games for mass appeal, the otherwise brilliant Ninja Theory's second foray into motion-captured action-prowess after Heavenly Sword gave you underrated gem Enslaved. Starring Andy Serkis and Lindsey Shaw, it was sort of like what you'd now refer to as if The Last of Us met an apocalyptic Ratchet and Clank art aesthetic, pairing up two fantastic characters by way of making Serkis' Monkey something of a 'slave' to Shaw's Trip thanks to a headband that will kill them if they get too far away. The overarching story does go a little off the deep end near the end, but it's the performances of both Shaw and Serkis that drive this one home, a high point being a really sweet scene whereby Monkey requests Trip put the headband back on, even after realising he could finally go free. It's these subtle character moments that are only ever executed by a select few developers - luckily Enslaved's cinematography crew are top notch.
