Escape, the third chapter in the Trapped series by Godlimations, inspires in me a confusing mixture of feelings. There's much to admire about the game—excellently animated cutscenes, a number of clever puzzles, an interesting story—but it also at times comes off as amateurish and cheesy. 
An obvious labor of love, Escape manages to be one of the most epic and expansive room escape games I've played while still providing more than a few wince-worthy moments. Kooky!
In Escape, you play as Dialla Reineheart, a spunky red-headed lady detective tasked with bringing down a sinister crime syndicate. Your partner, Mickey, has been tragically slain by the leader of the gang, the ruthless Dan McNeely; now, you must escape from his clutches. This won't be easy. Even after absconding from your jail cell, there's the matter of finding the evidence needed to bring down the syndicate once and for all...not to mention getting past Merik, Dan's violently brutish second-in-command. And, of course, there is the inevitable final showdown with McNeely himself. What sort of demons will Dialla have to confront when she comes face-to-face with her own past?
Escape is a significant achievement. It's one of the longest escape games I've ever played, spanning four rooms and half a dozen very nicely-animated cutscenes; it also contains a smooth, well-integrated combat section, which is not easy to pull of in the middle of a point-and-click adventure. I was struck most by the completeness of the package that Escape presents: multiple rooms to escape from, a fleshed-out backstory, animated cutscenes, voice acting... Godlimations really went over and beyond to create a game that transcends the room escape genre to become something more substantial and complex.
However, as much as I admired and enjoyed Escape's various cutscenes and story elements, at times I just could not get past the cheesiness. The characters are almost ridiculously two-dimensional (the spirited heroine, evil henchman, heartless criminal mastermind, etc), and approximately one-third of the dialogue consists of evil cackles and plaintive wails. The voice acting is mixed; while some was quite good (I especially enjoyed the campy maliciousness of the actor voicing McNeely), Dialla's voice practically made me grind my teeth. Finally, strangely enough, only certain cutscenes are skippable; considering the length of some of these sections and the fact that there is no save feature, it would have been nice to always have the option to move directly to the next interactive portion of the game. These may seem like petty criticisms, and certainly they don't relate directly to the gameplay; still, these components are a significant enough part of the overall experience to warrant examination and appraisal.
While I found that overall the game's puzzles were rational enough, there were moments that required leaps of questionable logic. The final room in particular contained one puzzle that completely baffled me; it was only after 10 minutes of random clicking around that I accidentally stumbled across the solution. That being said, the game's interface is clean and largely intuitive, and pixel-hunting is nil (woot!).
Even with these criticisms, I don't want to diminish how impressed I was with many aspects of the game. Godlimations is a very talented group, and the effort they put into Escape definitely shows; the game's aesthetic, most of the gameplay and the overall immersion of the experience are really excellent. I think that if the team had scaled down the size of the game just a bit (one less room, perhaps?) and focused their attention upon perfecting the rest, Escape could have been really marvelous. The potential is there... with time and experience Godlimations may very well create some masterpieces.
While you might enjoy playing the Trapped series' first and second parts, it's not necessary to do so in order to understand Escape. Also, while I certainly wouldn't call the game for mature audiences only, there is a fair amount of cartoony violence, so you may want to keep the little ones away.
It's time to end this once and for all:
Walkthrough Guide
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Complete Walkthrough
Showdown with Dan
1. After the long cutscene (unless you skip it), try to take the key to move on.
Prison Cell
1. "Why do I feel so... trapped?" is a tribute to the first game of the series, Trapped. Just a bit of trivia. :) After the cutscene (unless you skip it), turn on the light.
2. Go to Mickey's body. Open his jacket and take the BIBLE. Pull up his sleeve to take his WRISTWATCH.
3. Click the bible in your inventory at the top, click again to open it. Click the ID CARD and the bible again to exit. Click the ID card to find out that Mickey has been in cahoots with Dan all along. Click the ID card to exit, and then click "Cancel Item" in the far top right.
4. Exit to the upper right, and click on the bed. Take the COINS underneath the pillow, the NAIL on the wall next to the left side of the bed, and the TOWEL from the bottom of the bed. You should see the green towel from where you are.
5. Exit and face the shower. Take the BLUE BOTTLE (if you want; it's not actually needed to finish the game). Then click the toilet and unscrew the toilet seat with the gold coin. Take the TOILET SEAT.
6. Exit to the upper right and go to the sink. Notice the sink handle is missing, but make sure you click on where it's supposed to be or else you can't advance. Stop the sink up with the silver coin. Exit again and face the bars.
7. Examine the cell across from you. Talk to the guy standing there. His name is Jason. When you get a long list of pictures, click on the sink handle picture next to his head. Exit the conversation and click the watch in your inventory. Click his head with the watch to trade for the sink handle.
7. Put the sink handle on the sink and start the water running. Exit and look down to see the drain. When the water starts overflowing, put the blanket over the drain.
8. Turn to face the bars, but don't zoom in on Jason. Ring the bell on the right to have the guard slip and fall. Click on him to take his GUN, his KNIFE, and the KEY to your cell. Use the key on the door lock on the right to get out.
Hallway/Jason's Cell
1. Turn right and open up Jason's cell. Talk to him to have him pin you against the wall. Use the knife to bring him down.
2. Reenter Jason's cell and take the LAMP. Ewww, he kept some of Dialla's hair. Creepy! Anyway, run Mickey's ID card through the card renewal slot on the wall. Exit Jason's cell at the bottom left.
3. Open up the door to the storage room with the renewed keycard. Go in.
Storage Room
1. Turn right and take the PICTURE. Turn right twice and keep clicking on the discolored part of the wall until it breaks away.
2. Put the nail directly above the square hole in the wall, and use the toilet seat as a hammer. Put the lamp in the square hole and turn it on. Put the picture on top of that.
3. Turn left twice and click on the spot the lamp illuminates. Click the EVIDENCE to take it. Watch the next cutscene.
Shootout with Merik
Basics: Automatic reload. Move your cursor to the far right to hide from Merik's bullets. When you reload you are defenseless, so duck right when reloading.
At about halfway Merik should start throwing flash grenades. Hide to the right when this happens so he doesn't shoot you while you can't see him.
At the very end of his lifebar he will just crouch by the box. Keep shooting no matter what. If you run out of ammo, hide while you reload, but don't worry about your lifebar unless you lost a bunch of health early on.
You have unlimited retries, so don't sweat it. :)
When he's done for, go through to the office. Watch the cutscene (or skip it, doesn't matter).
Office/Showdown with Dan, Take Two
1. Turn left and examine the light. Take the KEY. Exit the scene and turn left. Click the floor next to the safe and take the RED MICROCHIP. Return to the view of the safe.
2. Click the clock, and then the minute hand. Take the YELLOW MICROCHIP. Exit.
3. Click the ceiling and take the BLUE MICROCHIP. Exit.
4. Click the wall next to the safe to reveal a lock in the wall. Change the chamber colors to green, blue, and purple respectively (the wall colors of the rooms you escaped from), and use the key to open it. Place all the microchips in their respective slots and exit.
5. Turn to the door and click on the vent. Open it to get a TURQUOISE KEY. Go back to the microchips and take the red one away. Exit again and open the vent to find the safe code. Go to the safe and open it with the code and the key. Take your ID CARD and watch the ending cutscene. Little scene with Dan after the credits. "Well now, this seems familiar" at the end - hinting at the first game of the series, Trapped.
Congrats, you win! :)
Posted by: Metanaito
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January 7, 2009 12:49 PM