793rd played so far
Genre: Puzzle/Action
Platform: PSP
Year of Release: 2006
Developer: Taito Corporation
Publisher: Taito Corporation
There’s an interesting subgenre of puzzle games which are escape rooms – a room you’re locked in, that requires puzzles to be solved to get out. It’s something I want to play around more with, as they’re nicely contained adventures. And I’ve played a few in real life now, which works really well.
I say that mostly because that’s what I thought Exit 2 would be close to, but this seems to be more focused on action elements – not fully so, there’s puzzles, but you have to do more than that.
Our Thoughts
I feel like Exit 2 actually sounds pretty boring when I try to describe it. You solve puzzles, a lot of them involving boxes and switches, to open an exit and get out of the level. Pretty much every level also has you work with companions that you first have to rescue, but who will help you after that. Most have a subset of your abilities, sometimes with some additional special ones, but you’ll normally need to use all of them to complete your level. At the most basic level, for example, some levels have boxes you can’t move on your own, but others can help you. Then you get things like kids being able to get through smaller areas but can’t jump as far.
The puzzles are of that right level where there aren’t a lot of actions you can take, but there are enough combinations that it’s still challenging to figure out. The action elements help with this, but in general I find that the timing, and death associated with it, inhibits the planning you sometimes need to execute your plans. It’s not really making it impossible, adding another dimension instead, but I’m not sure how worthwhile it is.
Graphically, the game follows a cartoony comics style – not humorous, but with thick lines, speech bubbles and something stylized that works quite well here to set a semi-serious tone.
Final Thoughts
Exit 2 was an XBLA game and that feels right – it doesn’t feel big or epic, but as an indie game it does the right thing – it sets up a concept, works through it well and doesn’t overdo it. The action elements, in the end, are at the right level, not the focus but adding enough of an edge, while the AI followers really create a puzzle game that goes beyond pushing boxes.