"A fun puzzle game but its flaws bring it down."

Exit is one of those Japanese titles that just never make it to US soil. However it did and it's obvious why its sells weren't good. The game is unique, think Lemmings but not. It's very Japanese with this style and presentation. Is the game worth picking up? Yes and no....

Exit really doesn't have a story. Mr. ESC isn't your every day superhero. Frankly, he is just a normal guy who calls himself Mr. ESC. At the beginning of each world (there are 10 "worlds" and they each world has 10 stages), the game tells you a little bit of story. Nothing overly complex. It's kind of funny at times, in a cheesy sort of way. It's all told through little comic panels. Yes, this game does pile on the cheese. Let's just say the game even has an alien theme...

The graphics in Exit are very simple. But it is one of the charms of the game. The levels are bright and colorful. It's easy to make out what objects are. It does have a very comic book feel. Each theme is nice as well. For those who have played the old Genesis title "Comix Zone" or whatever it was called (if you played it, you know what game I'm talking about), it reminds me of that minus the whole panel thing. Character models are nice and it's easy to tell a fat person from a normal person, a kid from an adult ect.

The sound in the game is hit or miss. There isn't much voice acting. Just the text is spoken by Mr. ESC during the opening scenes. Nothing beyond that. The music fits the hectic theme of the rescues. It did feel a bit grating near the end because the later levels require a lot of retries because of the way the game is set up. The true problem in the sound area is the sound bits of the people who need to rescue. Each type of character repeats the same annoying thing over and over. They all seem to have 3 total lines to say. Very annoying when you have to keep repeating stage after stage.

Control... It's the downfall of the game. It truly ruins everything the game has going for it. Mr. ESC moves very slowly. Almost like a stick in the mud. Is that a bad thing? Well, no. The game requires a lot of exact moves and our hero can be kind of bad when it comes to jumping. Actually, when Mr. ESC needs to jump you better jump a good ways before the hole because if you wait too long he won't jump... And there lies the problem. For a game that requires specific things the control comes off as stiff and unresponsive 75% of the time. Sure, by the end of the 2nd world you should be use to it but if you happen to stop playing for a while and then come back to the title (it does have 100 levels plus 100 more to download....) you may forget the little "quirks" of the title.

Like I said before Exit kind of plays like Lemmings (which reminds me, I wanted to rent that....). The game is broken up into 100 levels. You can only access for the first 10. Once you beat those first 10 you get the next 60 all at once. You will then need to beat 7-10 to unlock all of world 8, 8-10 to unlock all of world 9, 9-10 to unlock the last 10 levels. Then you can hop onto wifi and download 100 more levels. Yes boys and girls the game has a whole freaking lot of stages. Most take 5 minutes or so to beat but I doubt if you will beat most on your first try.

Exit is a game of trial and error. You need to survey the level and see what you need to do and in what order. The amount of people to save depends on the level itself. Sometimes there is one and sometimes there are 5. It also varies from that but you get the idea. The whole idea of the game is to get the people to the exit. You will need to put up rope ladders, unlock doors, set off sprinklers, put out fires, and put injured people on gurneys. It does get kind of complicated but the first 10 levels are set up as training stages and really prepare you for the main basics. It does fail to show you how to use the light saber and there are little things that do escape your mind. One stage took me forever to beat because I didn't remember that when you're in an elevator you need to hit up on the D-pad.

Let me explain control a little better here in the game play bit of this review because it's important here. This game seriously uses all of the PSP's buttons. The L button gives commands to the people who are with you. It's either stay here or follow me. I prefer for the stay here command because they tend to run into that giant flaming ball of death or make you mess of one of the games many tricks. A lot of the time one mistake (IE go down a rope ladder before doing something, as you can only go down them, not up) can really cause you to restart a level. The R button is used for running. Combine that with jump (X) and you can make some of those slightly longer jumps. You control Mr. ESC with the D-Pad. With you hit the analog nub a tiny arrow appears and you can move it around. Hit triangle while in that mode and it will let you give commands to a character. Click them and then a spot and they will move there. give them items to use ect. It really boils down to a lot of micro management in the later levels. Oh and did I mention that each stage has a time limit. I never actually ran out of time during my game but the better your time, the better your score. Scores don't matter though but most of the time I got 85% or more. I think this was due to so many trial and errors.

No matter what a person does have to admit Exit has a lot to offer when there is 200 stages. No other replay value here but you can replay any stages and good luck to anyone who can beat all of the 100 extra stages because they are rather hard.

Is Exit worth picking up? It depends on what kind of gamer you are. I know I've been saying that a lot lately but a lot of the recent games coming out aren't for everyone. This is one of those quirky Japanese titles. Yes, it does have flaws but after a while you look past those and get on with the game. It isn't the best game around but as far as length goes this is one of the longer non-rpg games for the PSP. Puzzle fans will dig it the most but if you're into these types of games it's worth the low price tag that it's currently at (can be found for 9.99-14.99). The control reall hinders the game for the casual gamers out there.

Story - 6/10
Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 4/10
Game Play - 8/10
Replay Value - 8/10

Final Score - 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/06