I don’t know if anybody noticed, but most of the games I’ve
been playing lately have been long-form RPGs, strategy games and platformers
which I’m taking a fairly decent amount of time to complete 100%. One of the problems
I run in to when I’m doing this blog is trying to find something new and interesting
to say about the games I’ve been playing in that time. However, this week, two
opportunities presented themselves, with Warhammer Quest and, er, Escape game 50
rooms 1.
Warhammer first, then. I’ve described the game in previous blogs
so have a look at those if you want to know what it’s like. But I discovered a
cheat. Well, that’s not true, I doubt I’ve “discovered” anything; I won’t have
been the first to have found this. And it’s not even a cheat, really, it’s…
not a bug either, more an exploit in the game’s programming. Here’s what it is:
 |
| "I saw a rat! Where?" |
At some point during the game your party goes to Altdorf,
the capital city of the Empire. Here you are given three missions against the
Skaven.
On the second of those three missions, you’re given half of your pay at the
beginning – 750 gold. You then play through the mission, where you have to drop
a gas bomb in the Skaven tunnels – a thrilling battle in itself, as you only have
a limited time to escape once the bomb has been set, and when I played it, it
literally came down to the last available move! Immediately after completing
the mission, you’re taken to a cutscene (which in this game rarely amounts to
more than a text scroll, from what I’ve seen so far) where you’re paid the rest
of your fee; another 750 gold. If you exit the game at that point and come back
to it, the scene triggers once more and you get the 750 gold again – and you
can repeat this process as many times as you like for what I assume is a
potentially unlimited amount of gold! I did it twice: the first was quite by
accident, as I had to leave my computer pretty quickly after finishing the
mission, and the second was to check what was happening. I didn’t exploit it
any more than that – I prefer not to cheat through a game – but it’s there if
you need it!
The other game I played this week was Escape game 50 rooms 1,
which I downloaded onto my Android phone last week and I’d beaten by the
following Friday. It’s an escape room game, where you must solve puzzles in
order to proceed. You find various keys for various doors, items to solve other
puzzles, and the occasional number and symbol puzzle. If you find the way to open
the door, you move on to the next room.
 |
What's the connection between the
TV and the fish on the opposite wall? |
Some people might think games like this are trashy timewasters,
and those people aren’t necessarily wrong; it’s hardly A-Grade material. The
number puzzles rarely look like the thing they’re representing. A key code
panel, for example, will rarely have their numerical display in an Arial font!
And some of the solutions to the puzzles are horribly obtuse. Even without
that, fifty levels of essentially the same thing can get dull after a while,
not that a mobile game is intended for extended play. But when it goes for it,
really goes for it, Escape game works well. With most of the puzzles being
confined to one room, there’s little wandering around becoming hopelessly lost
and confused. The rooms you’re trying to escape from range from hotel rooms, to
late 90s offices, to eerily decorated children’s rooms, to some quite frankly bizarre
one-shots like ancient Egypt, a cave, and a grisly morgue. The creepy soundtrack,
the abstract art, and the level design that looks ever-so-slightly off, creates
the unnerving impression that you – the player character – are trying to escape
from a place you don’t belong.
I’ve mentioned it here rather than giving it a full review;
it’s a free download and it’s not a game I would consider I had to beat, but Escape
game is a good experience that I’m pleased I’ve had.
No comments:
Post a Comment