Hello, you may or may not know me from DSiHub as a mod or DSiPlaza as a frequent regular. I am not very active here, but I will strive to change that.

Due to the current downtime of Hub, I am finding places to post my reviews, and this seems all good and well.

My reviews (in terms of writing quality) range from mediocre to excessively bad. If it's the latter, then it means I wrote it a long time ago.

My first review on this website will be Escapee Go! available for 200 points on the DSiWare shop. All feedback is welcome, but constructive feedback is preferred.

Escapee Go! Is a stealth-based game for DSiWare. Created by Gevo Entertainment and retailing at 200 points, it is a budget title, yet probably one of the more elaborate 200 point games compared to the relatively simple approach large companies like Nintendo went with for their games being sold at the same price. It’s certainly not as sophisticated as Metal Gear Solid or any disc-based stealth game, but that should not be expected. The game is designed to be retro-looking, which shows quickly from the Art Style and Soundtrack. In this game, you play as a woman named Claire who has been locked in a mental hospital and is being guided out with a mysterious voice, who continues to mock, yet lead her along the way. With no explanation even at the end, this ends un-climatic, but that certainly gives a feeling of thought.
As for gameplay, there are three modes, story, multiplayer and survival. In story mode, you are frequently finding your way through mazes. You will likely end up walking to a slightly open spot, but it’s basically a dead-end if an enemy shows up. You have a large group of people trying to capture you along the way, some with weapons or special powers, most notably the Huntress, the only enemy with actual powers. If they spot you, they will start following you. It’s your job to walk (or dash) to the exit, which often requires some sort of key. Done in a top-down form, it may seem simple at first glance, but soon becomes far more sophisticated.
Survival mode appears once at the final level of story mode. Basically, you choose a level and run endlessly in it. You have to collect blue orbs to gain time and survive while avoiding other enemies. Beating your scores can be fun, but this gets repetitive very quickly. Multiplayer is for 2-4 players and local with each player having a copy only. One person gets to be the Huntress while the other three are Escapees. Everybody can use power-ups to their advantage, and the match ends when all Escapees are captured or time runs out. After each match, the Huntress is switched to another player. By far, this is the better extra mode. The difficulty of all one-player modes is varied. While the game does a very good job with scaling the difficulty, some levels will feel cheap. A good amount of the mazes do feel like a genuine challenge, but others feel plain out tedious.
As said earlier, the graphic and music styles were meant to look retro, and it shows. The sprites are heavily pixilated yet simple, while the backgrounds and obstacles are far more carefully-crafted, although still pixilated. The animation in the game is very simple and limited, with minimal frame rate at some points, such as when Claire runs or is captured. The whole game feels right in between NES and Super NES other then the color palette, and perfectly captures the same feel as seeing a huge graphical improvement. The music is highly based off chiptunes, which adds to the exact same feel. The amount of tracks, however, makes it feel repetitive at times.[br]The lasting appeal ultimately depends on how much you enjoy high-scores. Sadly, online scores have been omitted which really kills a huge portion or replay value. The entire story mode will generally last 1-2 hours first try, another 1-2 hours to complete the other difficulties. The survival mode will ultimately depend on your skill, but won’t last long unless you are very interested. The game is cheap, but still leaves you feeling like you want more.
Overall, Escapee Go! is a fresh game compared to the simpler puzzle games we are all used to in the 200 points section. It seems to be trying to find it’s way at times, but that certainly is not a bad thing.

SCORE BREAKDOWN

Graphics: 9/10 It really captures the same essence of seeing upgraded graphics for the first time. However, the color palette is too large for the style.

Sound: 7/10 Very limited, and not quite memorable, but fits the game nicely

Gameplay: 8/10 Not as great as it could be, but a very fresh concept for DSiWare

Difficulty: 6/10 At some points a legitimate challenge, others just plain tedious

Lasting Appeal: 7/10 You shouldn’t expect much, but it’s longer then your average 200-point game.

Escapee Go! Gets a 7.5/10!