Exit
February 20,2006 -

Throughout gaming history there has been a special place reserved for puzzle games.  Often they are considered the most challenging, frustrating, and rewarding games ever made.  Tetris and Lemmings are just two of the most referenced games of all time.  They make you think to the point of brain freeze while forcing you to use your reflexes to achieve victory.  Rarely, however, do they do it with as much style and panache as Ubisoft's newest puzzler, Exit.  While you can very easily compare Exit to puzzle games of yesteryear such as Lemmings and Abe's Oddysey, it does it in such a way as to put a new and welcoming finish on those games that came before it.  The same game mechanics we have all gotten used to have been yanked from the greatness of yesterday's video games and spit-shined to provide a surprisingly fresh and very puzzling experience.

The main character in the game is Mr. ESC, a professional escapologist.  As Mr. ESC it is your job to use your mental acumen to save people from buildings.  Often these buildings have been the victim of some kind of disaster.  An earthquake that tumbles a hospital, a hotel hit by an avalanche, and a fire-engulfed building are just three examples of the kind of situations you will be thrust in to.  You are paid to rescue any survivors from the building as quickly as possible.

The difficulty in the game arrives once you have found the survivors.  As with many of the puzzle games of this ilk, the people are stupid and often limited.  One thing to appreciate in Exit is that the people aren't lemmings; they will not walk in to a certain death situation unless you specifically direct them to.  However, that's as much help as you're ever going to get from the A.I.  Don't expect your survivors to be able to climb a flight of stairs without your help. 

Each of the survivors you rescue can be one of four types: a child, a young adult, an adult, and an injured person.  The injured are pretty much useless to you in your escape attempts, however the others all have qualities that can be advantageous in getting the group free.  The children, because of their diminutive stature, can go places no one else can while adults are stronger than Mr. ESC and can often move things that you can't.  Meanwhile, young adults have a lot of the same qualities as Mr. ESC and only fall off in their jumping ability.  As you can imagine, you often have to use all of the capabilities inherent in each of your survivors in order to free everyone in time.  There is a time limit on each level.  While it is often pretty liberal, you do receive more points the faster you complete a level.

The puzzles brought on by each new level are definitely enveloping.  Much of this can be attributed to the highly stylized graphical presentation.  The wire-frame characters combined with the high contrast colors present an effect that make it very easy to lose yourself in the gameplay.  The movement of the people in Exit are so smooth as to bely the stick-figure characteristics imbued by the character models.  The backgrounds are rich with detail and yet they greatly enhance the need to hurry through their almost sketch-like quality.  In all, the graphics in Exit are the main distinguishing factor of this puzzle game as they are what give this game the unique flare it contains.

The soundtrack in the game is one to be admired as it employs elements of jazz fusion that do nothing but add to the atmosphere already built by the graphics.  If anything, the soundtrack plays a little bit too much of a supportive role as it would certainly be nice if the music stood out more during certain moments than others.  With such excellent music, though, it's unfortunate that the voice acting is as unnecessary and abysmal as it is.  The main issue with the voice acting is the repetitive nature.  It would have been better if the voice clips were cut out entirely and the user was simply given the visual cues already present in the game in the form of thought and speech bubbles.  While it can be understood that the constant complaints coming from the survivors is simply there to add a little realism to the game's atmosphere, this is not a game based on realism and as such the voice clips are often unnecessary and annoying.

With all of that said Exit is a unique and original game.  Ubisoft has found yet another excellent puzzle game to add to their already stellar PSP offering of Lumines.  The replayability of this kind of game is paramount and Ubisoft does not disappoint.  In addition to the 100 separate levels included in the packaged game, you can go online to download 11 additional bonus stages each containing 10 levels.  That's a full 110 new experiences to be had after you've completed the game.  For those of you that have worn out Lumines and have been craving a truly innovative puzzle game for the PSP, look no further.  Exit will carry you off before you even realize you're playing it.

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