"As you awake from your suspended animation, you realize that something is not right. Warning alarms are sounding and there is no one else in the room to assist you out of your cryostasis chamber. The station's emergency systems must have unfrozen you automatically. You ponder this for a few minutes and conclude that life support systems must be malfunctioning. The possibility that you may have only minutes to reach an escape pod suddenly sinks in."
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“Escape from Station V” is about awakening from a cryogenic sleep on a space station. The station is having some sort of malfunction and the ship’s integrity is in danger. You need to get to the escape pod and take off before you are forced to go down with the ship. The start of “Escape from Station V” is very exciting. The setting puts you in an almost worried state that you need to get off the ship. The setting and detail are descriptive enough to keep the mood of the game going, but sometimes it feels like I there could be a little more detail.
The game play in general seemed pretty linear. You needed to talk to the computer for the code, then get the equipment, then open the other door. This was not a bad thing because it made sense for a game like this one. I thought that the creator did a good job with the story. The story was simple but it was also a very interesting story. The story gave me the feeling that I should continue to play and see what happens to my character. I actually did care what happened to my character and I did not want to see him die. The plot and story was simple, but you really don’t need anything more than that in simple adventure-puzzle game like this. The puzzles that were offered were not terribly difficult to figure out, but they were entertaining and even satisfying once I got through with them. There were a few annoyances throughout the game though. Many objects that the game mentioned turned out not to be objects. The game mentions foam beds, drawers, and other items that you cannot examine or interact with. This is a minor issue and it could be dealt with easily. I did not find any serious errors with the game and that made the play enjoyable. I really liked the idea of the barometer that monitors how much atmosphere is left in the game. This gave the player a limited amount of moves and it helps to simulate the situation. You have to think and act carefully because you don’t have much time to live. Plus, the idea of giving a barometer instead of some sort of timer and counter was very creative.
Overall, I did enjoy this game. I have no serious complaints on the technical side of the game, and I did enjoy the design of the game. I believe it was simple, but well written. The game does not have a huge replay value since it is so simple and linear, but that is to be expected with a game of this size and type. I would recommend this game to others for some quick entertainment. This game has potential to be a good, short and simple game with a little more work. I would rate this game 4 out of 5 stars.
Summary - "As you awake from your suspended animation, you realize that something is not right. Warning alarms are sounding and there is no one else in the room to assist you out of your cryostasis chamber. The station's emergency systems must have unfrozen you automatically. You ponder this for a few minutes and conclude that life support systems must be malfunctioning. The possibility that you may have only minutes to reach an escape pod suddenly sinks in."
-- Excerpted from Escape from Station V
Gameplay - As its title suggests, Escape from Station V is a strategy game. The player must act quickly (and carefully) to find a way off a badly damaged space station before their oxygen supply runs out. This involves solving a number of surprisingly tricky problems with little more than a basic understanding of the protagonist's current situation.
Be forewarned, it's very easy to get yourself killed if you're not cautious. The developer has taken care to lay enough hints to make it possible to beat the game on the first try, but (if you're anything like me) you can probably expect to die a few times before figuring everything out. Remember, outer space is a dangerous place! Pop stars need not apply. (sorry, Lance Bass)
Positives - The first thing that struck me about Escape from Station V was the fact that the game has a very polished feel. The descriptions and messages are well-written, the items all seem to behave as they should, and the level of quality is consistently high from start to finish. Given the time constraints placed on the game's development, I was pleasantly surprised in this regard.
Along the same lines, the level-of-difficulty (or "amount of hinting", if you will) seemed to be very carefully planned and implemented. At every point in the game, the player was given just enough knowledge to figure out what they should do next. I found this to be a welcome change of pace from the insultingly simple puzzles littering many games of this kind.
Lastly, and hopefully without giving away any secrets, I also liked the way the author worked the numeric keypad into the game. The method of implementation was very effective, as the end product was surprisingly intuitive to use.
Negatives - To be perfectly honest, I don't have much to complain about. The game was clean, adequately long, and overly enjoyable. Was it groundbreaking and awe-inspiring? No, but that probably wasn't the author's intention to begin with. A little more innovation would have been nice, but that's true for pretty much any game.
Rating - To reiterate, Escape from Station V is well-written and fun to play. Accordingly, the author deserves high marks for producing a high-quality product. The final result : 4.5 / 5 stars.
Last edited 4/28/03 by RZ
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