Escape From Terror City Review

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Fast Facts

Well, What Do We Have Here?

Escape from Terror City is a three-dimensional arena shooter like a game you would have found in an arcade. In it, I shot at different enemies with one stick and moved my character with the other stick. In a sense, it is like the platformer version of a twin-stick on-rails shooter. Was it any fun? Find out in this Rapid Review.

To begin my adventure, I was shown some of the current events occurring in the mining colony of Terroir and why I was headed into battle. This introduction component was very bare bones and read like a manuscript, but it was effective in introducing my character into a world with a cause that matters. The writing was certainly not a draw to the game, but I enjoyed understanding my purpose explicitly.

Instead, Escape from Terror City focuses on gameplay. To begin, my movement feels good to control. While I could only move around in specific areas at a time, as indicated by the bright purple boxes, moving from space to space in fights was enjoyable. Specifically, I always felt as though I had the tools needed to evade bullets. Though all I did was walk and jump, my movement techniques gave me an opportunity to thrive no matter where I was.

Another component of this comes from those boxes. As I mentioned previously, each combat engagement takes place within a box. This means that I could not go outside of it to shoot at enemies or recover my health. This was an excellent design decision as it forced me to engage with my enemies and consider my actions seriously.

Running it Back

While I thought that these close quarters would constitute a difficult experience, I found Escape from Terror City a very easy game. Most of the enemies shot bullets that were not difficult to dodge. I found this a bit disappointing, as while some patterns were tricky and the homing missiles were accurately balanced, enemies often did not threaten me much. Granted, Escape from Terror City features a more challenging mode, which inevitably ramps things up a bit. Still, the game, at face value, does not feature a lot of depth or intricacy. To be clear, this is not innately a bad thing. In fact, I found this game to be a decent bit of fun. However, considering that the game can be completed within an hour, I was hoping for some more mechanical depth.

Another issue I had in the game was with the enemy designs. To be fair, I enjoyed the enemies and thought they did an excellent job engaging me throughout the game. However, as I reached the end of the game, I recognized that I never was truly pushed to engage with much strategy. This is often because many of the enemies stand out in the open immediately and simply fire bullets at me. There were no enemies that boosted their allies or applied residual impacts on me. There were a few different enemies, which helped make the game feel interesting, but the enemies largely filled the same roles: simple projectile users.

Bringing it Home

While the enemy designs did not reinvent the wheel, I thought the boss fights were good. Each took up a huge portion of the screen, sent out waves of attacks, and required me to keep my focus. I also liked how each stage typically had multiple mini-bosses to give me challenges throughout. These fights were highlights of my journey and showcased the growth I experienced over time.

Additionally, I enjoyed how upon clearing a screen, I moved to a new area. Often, this made me feel as though I weaved through a labyrinth-like arena, taking out enemies as I went. However, I followed a largely straight path to the end. The constant weaving and angling of the camera, facilitated by the specific combat areas, made each moment in my journey seem unique and enjoyable, even if the enemies were largely the same.

While the camera work was a large facilitator of fun, I found that it also had some bad moments. Upon entering a room, I found it very easy to immediately fall into a hole in the ground, as the immediately shifting camera can disorient my movement a lot. Additionally, sometimes my camera would get stuck in the wall, or move closer to the enemies than I initially anticipated. Granted, largely, the camera worked well. However, even with Escape from Terror City’s short runtime, I experienced a few annoyances with the game’s camera.

Painting the Full Picture

To supplement this gameplay loop, the game features a stunning visual style. To begin, I truly enjoyed the colour palette that this game offers. I truly enjoyed the intense use of purple and the design of the world. While each stage was not necessarily as distinct as I would have liked, enemies were varied, and projectiles were very easy to see in each arena. The visuals worked great.

Similarly, I enjoyed the sound design. The effects behind my blaster were effective, making me feel strong for lasering enemies. Additionally, the background music was similarly lovely, reminding me of action-packed games I had played in the past.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Escape from Terror City. However, I do not think it was a perfect game. The enemies were largely similar; the runtime felt too short, and I was not encouraged to use many strategies during my playthrough. Still, the game has a lot of great moments. My character feels good to move and aim with, the boss fights kept me engaged, and the continued angling and navigating through stages helped keep my attention. Escape from Terror City could be a decent pickup for fans of the genre.

3 out of 5

3

You can purchase Escape From Terror City on the PlayStation Store here