No Escape Preview

As we walked home from our visit at Funcom's offices this summer, we couldn't stop thinking about Anarchy Online. At the same time, we were really amazed by the cute little game No Escape we got demonstrated. Featuring cool characters, great humour, nice graphics and apparently, fun gameplay, we were looking forward to testing the game myself. Read on to find out what Anders think of the recently released demo.

Tested and written by Anders "Twilight" Steinlein, published 21st November 2000

Simply put, No Escape is a third person action game. You are a participant in a reality-TV show, which takes place on tiny artificial planets inside a huge TV-studio aboard an orbiting space station. On these tiny planets, you pick up big, funky weapons in which you fire at the other contestants. The simple goal being to kick their ass (suprise!), in order to steal their cash and coming out as the richest contestant.

The demo consisted of three levels and three characters. I chose the cool dude with the cool hair, and fired up the single player game. As we saw in Funcom's offices - the game looked great. Textures were detailed and character animations were definitely up to par. Weapon effects were nice looking as well, though not the most groundbreaking I've seen. The level design impressed me as well. The biggest level in the demo was of "medium" size, so I can't wait to try out a "large" one.

I did, however, find it a bit difficult targeting my opponents. First of all, it was somewhat difficult getting used to the slow "gun reaction". With most of the weapons, the shots weren't actually fired until about a second after I pressed the button. Also, the fact that many of the weapons "locked onto" your target confused me at first. The controls did work out very well though, once I got used to it. Different crosshairs between the weapons provided a nice change to the "standard" crosshair as well, as well...

Minor control "difficulties" aside, I really enjoyed the game. It was actually very fun indeed! Even though just firing your weapons at the opponents were fun, it was the characters that really made the game. In addition to great characters - the game featured some really cool weapons. Ranging from the zapper to plasma cannon, they were all very much fun to use. I especially enjoyed the bouncy bombs. Once you know how to use them, they can pack some pretty punch! :)

As you've probably understood from this preview, I can't wait to get my hands on the full version of No Escape. Some might find it a bit hard getting into, but I promise you, it looks as though your time will be worth it. Look out for a full review in a couple of weeks!

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