During their opening Gamescom 2011 press event, Sony revealed a new IP in development for the PS Vita handheld gaming device – Escape Plan. The title has been in development by Fun Bits Interactive for just over a year, the team who brought us Fat Princess. We caught up with Fun Bits CEO Chris Millar to learn a bit more about the title.
Escape Plan falls into the room escape puzzler genre, and it is presented as a 2.5D sidescroller. While Millar was demonstrating a pre-release Gamescom build with only a few of the mechanics on display, the final will feature over 50 levels and ever more challenging gameplay and puzzles. Levels will consist of a number of linked rooms.
The main characters are two test subjects named Lil and Laarg, monikers quite obviously inherited from their physical appearance. The titbits of story we have been privy to so far reveal that they are captive test subjects for the evil scientist Bakuki, and are at his evil whim, executed by his minions.
Having had enough of being subjected to all manner of tests, the pair hatch a plan to escape. Their adventure will take them through five main settings: the test subject prison; the factory; the dump; the sewer, and Bakuki’s workshop.
Immediately the art styling strikes the player, being comprised of shades of black, white and grey. While influences from many areas may be apparent to those with an eye for such things, Escape Plan maintains its own unique visual style. The greyscale visuals complement the dark and twisted humour evident throughout, such as the plights of other unfortunate test subjects, and the amusingly grisly deaths of Lil and Laarg.
The gameplay is fairly straightforward puzzle game fare, with timing and problem solving challenges. Lil and Laarg each bring their own attributes to the gameplay mix. From what we have seen, Lil can inflate and float up to hard to reach areas, and expel air to shoot in a particular direction. Laarg can bulldoze through weak walls and floors, and generally use his weight and size to overcome obstacles.
The real beauty of the title lies with its usage of the unique control options provided with the PS Vita. The game interface is largely driven by the touchscreens, with a few camera and character selection controls additionally mapped to physical buttons. Pinch to zoom and drag camera controls are used. The Six-Axis tilt sensors are used to navigate the test subjects in certain segments.
Players will swipe a finger across their selected character to order them to move. A tap will result in a context sensitive reaction, such as stopping movement, flipping a switch or busting through an obstacle.
The environment is interactive, and utilises a physics engine for objects. Players will need to knock down environment objects and clutter in their search for an escape route, often uncovering one of the many hidden collectibles. The rear touch pad is also used for this, and will apply a force from the ‘rear’ of the level, knocking objects towards the camera, or creating a diversionary tapping noise.
Practically everything on the game levels will be interactive to an extent, likely meaning it can be broken – lights, signs, and machinery can all be tapped to pieces. Players are invited to explore the levels in this manner, but one must also be careful to avoid inadvertently causing death to the test subjects, as every level contains many deadly pitfalls.
The large numbers written on the chests of the test subject represent the number of times they have died in their escape attempts. This lends to the game’s replayability; players can challenge themselves to complete levels with no deaths, and with ever more efficiency in terms of commands given and time taken. All of these factors are tracked by the game. With the PS Vita’s focus on generating social interaction among gamers and across titles, one can imagine how these statistics could be used in future to issue challenges to Escape Plan playing friends. Trophies are a matter of course.
We were only shown a few of the gameplay mechanics in the Prison area, but Millar assured there would be ever more intriguing mechanisms added to the game, which is still in development for launch alongside the PS Vita. He hinted at a few of the ideas they are working with, such as coffee which will make the test subjects move faster, dangerous molten cheese which must be cooled by fans spun by the player using the touch screen, and the use of physics based puzzles.
At this stage, Escape Plan looks to be a promising launch puzzler for the PS Vita.
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