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Ninja Theory's Enslaved detailed

Alex Garland, Andy Serkis on board.

Ninja Theory will work with Hollywood rubber-face Andy Serkis on new PS3 and Xbox 360 game Enslaved, as the Gollum actor fills the central role of Monkey, a man whose life is spent running from robots.

That's according to the first details of the project, which tumble from a Game Informer preview read by Destructoid.

The story, written by The Beach author Alex Garland no less, takes heavy inspiration from legendary Chinese novel Journey to the West, or Monkey as it's sometimes called. This follows a monk on a divine quest; he's helped by disciples and a dragon prince which joins the journey as a white horse for the hero to ride.

Enslaved, on the other hand, takes place far in the future - decades and decades after World Wars three and four made a mess. Eventually, Monkey is captured, by robots still pursuing objectives issued years ago for a war long finished.

He awakes on an airship in the company of Trip, a young lady who needs his help to return home. Knowing his penchant for a solitary life, she's popped a skull-crushing headband on him that she will use should he object. Thus begins a fragile relationship.

Action-adventure, then, and apparently with combat similar to Heavenly Sword, only more focused on tactics. Monkey can scout areas with a reconnaissance drone-type machine to see how best to approach, and tear weapons from robots to use for himself.

Enslaved sounds to be safely on the path of cinematic storytelling that Ninja Theory displayed a knack for with Heavenly Sword. Let's hope that this time, the game mechanics match up.

Our Heavenly Sword review explains.