Day 111: Exit (DS)

A stylised DS puzzler is today's title from my 532 game backlog - I'm playing one every day while furloughed from work...

Exit for the DS
Previous days' entries can be read HERE.

If you seen the film 'Drive' you'll know that, regardless of whether you liked it not, it's inarguably a very 'cinematic' experience. Long silences where nothing remarkable happens but, emotions are still conveyed, wouldn't really work in any other media. And yet, as I found out to my considerable surprise, it was based on a book.

Similarly, I was hugely surprised, after playing a fair bit of Exit, to discover that, not only was it not exclusive to the DS, but, furthermore, the DS was the second platform the game was ported to after originating on the PSP and then appearing on XBLA a year later.

The version I played; full title: Exit DS, feels very much like a game built ground up for this hardware.

This is a hyper-stylised 2D puzzler in which you control 'Mr Escape' as he navigates buildings to rescue trapped NPCs, who can then be manipulated to solve more complex puzzles required to reach each level's exit.

On DS, you control the characters by tapping on the screen to direct them around the stage. What at first seems like a clunky and counter-intuitive set-up comes into it's own later on when you can use a few 'banked' directions to enable the control of two or three characters at the same time. You can send one to fetch a key, for example, while another makes their way to the door, and still another goes in a different direction to collect a fire extinguisher.

You will surmise, from that, that doors and fires are the kind of puzzle you'll be facing, and there's no doubt that, individually, they lack a little imagination. But it's the way the basic key+door, or extinguisher+fire, brain-teasers are combined with 4 types of 'companion' character that means the game will quickly require your full concentration to navigate.

There are 100 levels in total and this makes up the entirety of the game. There are no alternate modes but, with each level timed and scored, this does add somewhat to the longevity and replayability.

The game does a brilliant job if introducing ideas slowly and building upon them, and the style and control scheme, although occasionally clunky, lend the game a pretty unique air. The levels may sometimes have the appearance of something put together in the level builder of a more complex game, but this keeps the 'rules' of the puzzles front and centre - key when thing start to get very complicated.

Exit - A unique puzzler that slowly builds complexity until the graphics are the only simple thing left.