If you have ever felt a jealous rush looking at fire trucks racing to an emergency, Taito's stylish 2005 puzzler, originally available on Sony PSP, has arrived on Xbox Live Arcade to feed your curiosity.
No, you are not a firefighter. Instead, you are a hero named Mr. Esc; a stick figure in a yellow hat and red scarf that races to get to fires that the fire trucks stuck in traffic cannot. Your job is to rescue people trapped in flaming buildings by navigating through the treacherous rooms to the exit door. Levels generally take up a few rooms on each floor, with several floors to each level. Gamers must navigate Mr. Esc and those he rescues over holes in the floor, fires, locked doors, and tall obstacles to climb.
You can easily deal with the fires, holes, and locked doors with the use of items scattered throughout the level. Mr. Esc can hold one item at a time, with items signified by large colorful squares on the floor throughout the levels. The game starts harmless enough, by providing a decent ten-level tutorial on the typical issues Mr. Esc will run into. You can clear most early levels without much thought, other than tracking down the key to the locked door or second fire extinguisher to douse a particularly large flame. The game quickly ramps up into an extremely clever brainteaser, as levels and the number of persons to rescue begin to grow. If the hazards on the level fail to get your blood pumping, the ever-ticking timer in the corner of the screen might.
The people you rescue come in one of four shapes and sizes: adult, young, kid, and injured. The easiest to work with in the game are the 'young', as they most closely resemble Mr. Esc and can do all the same tasks if asked. This comes in handy, as only a few levels into the game it becomes necessary to ask the people you are rescuing to assist in the escape. The 'adult' and 'kid' size each have their own positives and drawbacks.
The 'adult' class is not nearly as nimble as the 'young', and need assistance clearing high obstacles. They, however, can push heavy items that Mr. Esc cannot on his own. The 'kid' group also cannot clear high obstacles on their own, needing a cute boost from Mr. Esc, and definitely cannot push heavy items. They can get into narrow spaces that 'adults' cannot, thanks to their small size. The most frustrating class is 'injured', which cannot assist you on your escape plan and need to be pushed throughout the level.
The further you get into the game, the more involved the puzzles become. About halfway through the second stage of levels the game becomes rather unforgiving, forcing you to solve a puzzle in a particular order. The game allows you to make your mistakes, and often leaves you and your rescued persons trapped as punishment. Some levels will take a little trial and error to determine the right way to get through, but most levels are not so difficult that a little brainpower and planning cannot solve.
Much like Lemmings, your rescued folks are only marginally smart. Players will generally follow you, if you ask them to (with 'stay' and 'follow' switched with the left bumper), but stairs will become your worst enemy. Too often, if you get just a few steps ahead, they will stand at the top of the stairs you just ran down and claim they cannot follow. They also know enough not to fall through holes in the floor, but will frustratingly walk right into fires and die. Thanks to some of the most annoying voice-work you are likely to find in a game, you may just let them. Between the blipping electro soundtrack and dated, incessant "Help me!" whining voices, Exit serves as a great reminder as to why it is so cool that you can stream music through your 360.
