Exit

"Like Lemmings, Abe's Oddyssey, and a Root Canal All in One"

Alright, you just bought yourself a shiny new PSP, and are probably looking for some games for it. What kind of games do you like, you ask yourself? Well, if you're like me, you like a wealth of games, but puzzle games hold a special place. Puzzle games with incredible, unique graphics. Puzzle games with many, many levels and exponentially increasing difficulty. Puzzle games with....unfathomably frustrating gameplay?

If you agree, then Exit is the game to get for your PSP. A quirky puzzle game that could've been one of the defining titles of the PSP falls short of its greatness due to what can only be called a control nightmare. Let me start from the beginning, though.

[Graphics- 10/10]

This title truly shows off the power of the PSP. Crisp graphics that borderline cel-shading but don't quite go all the way run at silky smooth framerates that show no sign of chopping. Just watching the hero, Mr. ESC, walking along while smugly grasping his hat as if saving lives of innocent people were a fashion statement is a kind of entertainment in it's own right. Add trippy fire and smoke effects (when dissipated, both explode in a confetti-like burst) and interesting CPU design, and Exit makes for one of the best looking titles of the handheld generation in general. Load times are also very brief (save for the initial load), a big plus for those who hate spending more time waiting for a game to load rather than playing it.

[Story- 10/10]

Now, this score is based on several factors. The story, to be put frankly, is almost non-existent. Exit is divided into 10 levels, with each level having 10 stages of increasing difficulty (1 being easiest, 10 being hardest, obviously). When starting a new level or playing a previous one for the first time after turning on the game, you'll be treated to a short story scene that plays out like a panel-by-panel comic. These scenes exist to set the stage for why our hero (Mr. Escape, or Mr. ESC) is saving people in the locales he visits, which are varied and range from apartment buildings to sewers to hospitals during earthquakes. The scenes are witty and well written, but if desired can be skipped with a simple press of the START button. Also, because these scenes are so short and non-convoluted, they do not deter from the charm of the game, but rather enhance it.

[Sound- 8/10]

Here's where the game starts to go downhill a little. In actuality, this game deserves a 10 in sound as well. The voice acting is funny and spot on, and the music is upbeat and always seems to perfectly fit the situation. I had to knock two points off for a very valid reason, however; the CPUs talk too...frickin...much. Every five seconds, one of the companions you're escorting will feel compelled to tell you how cold or tired they are, or how they have to take a shower, or that their feet hurt, or everything else under the sun that you don't care about hearing because you're just trying to get them the !@$# out of there! I had to, on more than one occasion, turn the sound on my PSP almost all the way down to keep from going insane from all the inane chatter. Had the amount of mindless drivel been cut back to, say, once every few minutes, it would have been so much more bearable, but alas, tis not the way it is.

[Gameplay- 4/10]

And here's the killer, the one thing that made what could've been the puzzle game that defined a genre instead a piece of mediocrity.

On paper, the idea sounds good. As a suave pseudo-hero and professional escape artist, you must guide poor fools who've been trapped in various situations to the exit within a given time limit using any means necessary, even if it means using their individual skills in the process. And indeed, in practice the game seems to work this idea extremely well. Mr. ESC can use strong adults to move massive objects, have small children crawl through tiny gaps to press switches or retrieve items, and regular adults can do many of the same things Mr. ESC himself can do, all in the name of finding a way to guide the hapless companions to the Exit. As the title of this review suggests, it plays out much like Lemmings and Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssey at the same time. The controls are even very well designed- every button on the PSP (including the d-pad and analog nub) serve different functions, so that the companions and Mr. ESC can be controlled independently at the same time.

What makes the game fail at this level is the sheer horror that is controlling your characters.

Running, an often necessary time-saving device, is dampened by the fact that your character must always slide to a halt, which can cause fatal falls on more than a few occasions. Add to the fact that run jumping is a near impossibility with the incomprehensible timing, and you'll soon realize it's almost a waste of a button to include running at all. Then there's the AI. When the clock's ticking and you're trying to solve a tricky puzzle, it's quite annoying to give a simple instruction to your companion to have the idiot walk two steps and cry out "I can't do that!" because you clicked one too many spaces from its limited thought process. I'm sure this was designed so computers wouldn't absentmindedly kill themselves, but having to give instructions four inches at a time grows frustrating. Also, any slight mishap in controlling can cause for an entire restart of the level. Things like accidentally climbing down that long ladder you just spent 20 precious seconds climbing up will make you pull your hair out in frustration, mere moments before you take one step too many and run into that fire by accident, forcing you to restart those 5 minutes of work you just spent to get as far as you did.

Now, I'm not saying the game is unplayable. However, if you're looking for a puzzle game with tight controls and adaptable AI, you best look elsewhere. You'll just end up breaking your PSP in anger with this game.

[Final Opinion]

In all honesty, this is still one of my favorite PSP titles. If you can work around the horridly unresponsive controls, Exit provides hours of fun. In addition, level packs are available for download via WiFi, adding an incredible amount of replay value. If you have the patience to figure out how to work the game, then I highly suggest you pick up Exit. At $30, you can't go much better for bargain PSP games.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/06