Escape Plan
Overview -
Designed by the producers and creative team that were behind the comic medieval adventure game Fat Princess on the PlayStation 3, Escape Plan puts the player into control of two unlikely heroes named Lil and Larg looking to escape from a depressing, industrial factory. Aptly named, Lil is a little wisp of person and incredibly skinny while Larg is extremely obese, but can throw weight around when needed. The duo team up to get away from an evil genius named Bakuki that’s designed tons of deathly traps throughout the entire factory. While the game is generally light on the narrative and doesn’t dive into the motivation behind Bakuki’s madness, the story is lighthearted and provides entertainment between different portions of the factory.
Video Review
The black and white visuals are absolutely stunning in motion and reminded me of the visual style of a game created by Tim Schafer or perhaps a movie directed by Tim Burton. Levels are filled with background scenery and the factory seems to always be alive with moving platforms, steam shooting from pipes and spinning fans. I loved the cute detail of the number on Lil and Larg’s shirt increasing by one every time the character dies. Character animations are extremely fluid and the world always reacts in interesting ways when the user touches the rear or the front screen. Often times, I found myself tapping objects all over the two screens just to bat them around the level. Levels load extremely quickly and there are no framerate issues that I noticed.
Audio Review
The music within Escape Plans is mainly comprised of popular classical tunes, light jazz melodies and European accordion tracks, all very satisfying and adding a fair amount of lighthearted fun to the levels. The music often softens the blow of continually getting killed over and over by the intentionally maniacal design of the levels. The sound effects will also make you chuckle and work effectively to bring life to the inner workings of the dismal factory.
While the game can be frustrating due to the order and precision of tasks required to safely navigate the two protagonists through levels, Escape Plan is definitely an entertaining puzzler and easily qualifies as one of the best looking launch games on the Vita. The somewhat short three to five hour length of the game is forgivable due to the low $15 price tag when compared to other Vita games currently available. If you are a fan of puzzle games, touchscreen games or simply a whimsical tale, check out Escape Plan on the PlayStation Store.
