When a genuinely innovative title pops up out of nowhere, it never gets the credit that it deserves initially. Later on though, the game ends up being heralded as real groundbreaker, and swarms upon swarms of players descend upon bargain bins and eBay to find that elusive copy. Exit is genuinely innovative, and just a little bit special.
The game sees you playing as ‘Mr. ESC.’ ‘ a shadowy and strangely dressed figure who, it seems, is an escapologist. You must use all of the qualities listed in Exit’s subtitle (‘Speed. Strategy. Survival.’) to guide Mr. ESC and his hapless companions to safety from all manner of dangerous situations. At the beginning of each of the one hundred stages on offer, you’re plunked down in the middle of a desperate situation (initially, a burning building) and are tasked with providing a safe escape plan for the endangered folks. These people aren’t as able to make desperate leaps and climb up steep walls as you are, so you must help them out as much as they need. If a child needs to scale a large wall, you can lift them up. If a poor injured companion needs to get to a stretcher, you can put them there and wheel them out. Think of it as Lemmings, but without so many characters on screen at once, and you’ll be just about there.
However, there is much to consider. Will that bridge break if you ‘ as an adult ‘ try to walk across it’ If the bridge does break, will the other characters still have some way of getting to the exit’ Should you think about ordering the child you just saved to run across the bridge since they’re lighter than you, which means the bridge is less likely to break’ Once they get across the bridge, will they be able to get to the fire extinguisher that you need them to bring back for you’ Many questions indeed ‘ and remember, you’re against the clock.
Mr. ESC. sometimes feels like the Prince from the original Prince of Persia game, given the way that he leaps further than normal if running, grabs ledges if he falls near them and generally does everything the Prince could do, as well as having his own range of extra moves. Essential to the completion of any level are the items that are scattered around the area. Be warned, you only get exactly what you’ll need to complete the mission ‘ so if you put out the wrong fire, or attach the rope to the wrong wall bracket, you’ll be in the land of the restart. The control system takes a bit of getting used to in general, although the way it has been implemented is very clever. Direct control of Mr. ESC. is carried out using the d-pad and face buttons, but a quick tweak of the analogue stick reveals a cursor. This cursor can be used to check out the entire stage layout, or to indirectly control the people that you’ve saved. The left shoulder button also comes in handy, since it commands the other guys to stop where they are, or to follow you. In some cases, this leads you to feel like they are the ones doing the rescuing ‘ but it all comes down to teamwork in these situations. The AI player gets the extinguisher, Mr ESC. takes it and slides down a rope to put out a fire, whilst the AI guy heads to grab a ladder and assist the third character to the exit. It works wonderfully.
Occassionally, Exit does frustrate. For instance, when a child that you’ve saved has a fire extinguisher and is standing on a platform that isn’t very tall at all (less than the height of the child character), that looks down onto a small fire. Whatever you do, the child won’t put out the fire unless standing on the same level as it. You ‘double click’ on the extinguisher icon residing above the child’s head, and they just reply with ‘No, I can’t!’ and that’s your lot. This happens rarely but as I say, is ultimately incredibly frustrating as it hinders your progress through the game. I can understand the need for limitations in this puzzler, but some obstacles are beyond a joke.
Back to the positive points once more, and you’ll find that Exit’s cartoony and highly stylised look is pleasing on the eye. It doesn’t try to do too much in the visuals department, but what it does do, it does very well. The animations for example are incredibly smooth ‘ again, a call back to Prince of Persia’s groundbreaking rotoscoping techniques. In addition to this, if you complete the initial set of stages that the game has to offer, a further hundred are available to download for free, directly to your PSP. You can’t say fairer than that, really, can you’
