Review for A Way Out. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 23/03/2018
Over the last few years we have witnessed a leveling of the videogame market on predefined standards, which have led to the birth of titles that in a certain sense have never introduced anything new. During E3 2017, however, something moved, thanks to the presentation of A Way Out, the work of Josef fares, author of the well-known Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, which immediately intrigued us for its sometimes innovative mechanics that perhaps it is more correct to say "unusual".
Two is better than one
One of the main features of A Way Out is definitely the fact that the story is usable exclusively in a cooperative, thus forcing us to play with a friend locally or online. This might seem annoying for those who are a lover of single player experiences and for this reason Electronic Arts has seen fit to give the possibility to those who own the game to allow anyone on their friends list to download a "Trial" version that allows him to complete the game with the person who bought the game without spending any money, as long as he has a PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold subscription for the console versions.
The two protagonists, Leo and Vincent, they share the same agonizing destiny, or imprisonment, each for his own reasons. Some fights and problems in prison put the two protagonists in contact, who for one reason and another immediately get in tune, finding a common enemy to defeat, which will push them to try to escape from prison as soon as possible. Communication between the two players will be fundamental, in fact you will often be asked to distract the guards to allow your partner to sneak into a warehouse, or for example even collaborate to overcome some obstacles that block a certain path.
The basic storyline of A Way Out felt good and well done even if the part of the prison seemed too short and not very detailed. The escape will in fact be limited to a couple of hours of work, while we will have expected a more studied and perhaps more varied design so as to allow the player to make choices, just as happens in the following chapters where in some situations we will be able to choose whether to undertake a action rather than another.
Varied gameplay but ...
In A Way Out, in addition to the many "Quick Time Events" that will accompany us during the cut-scenes, there are also many other game approaches which include: stealth, shooter, driving sessions (with cars, motorcycles and boats) and small puzzles to solve together with our partner to continue the story. These are well implemented in the game, especially thanks to the particular cinematic style of many game scenes, even if they often seemed superficial to us, given their realization to the limits of sufficiency. In fact, we encountered particular problems with the cover system which, although intuitive, did not seem very functional to us, often compromising some stealth or assault actions.
As for the shooting sessions, which intensify in the second half of the adventure, we have found problems in aiming and in the efficiency of the shots as well as ridiculous animations during the kills, which are even more evident in the stealth melee kills where with a simple blow the enemies fall to the ground in a dubious and not at all credible way. Even the guide did not seem perfect to us even if, net of all the problems, it is fun and is a component that helps to vary and make the various scenes more spectacular, which are often accompanied by footage worthy of the best action movies.
They also think about making the gameplay more varied and less monotonous various mini games designed specifically to put the two players in competition. In fact, you can challenge yourself at darts, play baseball, challenge yourself to arm wrestling, compete in an arcade video game, play an instrument as well as solve particular secondary missions present in some chapters. These small additions, albeit futile in terms of gameplay, proved to be interesting to take a break between the various missions, especially because you will hardly always find the same mini-games, but in fact in each chapter you will be pushed to explore to find other secondary things to do .
Artistically excellent
From a purely technical point of view we are quite satisfied, in fact, although not excellent the graphics sector of A Way Out is however pleasant to see. In fact, in most cases there are several aliasing problems and dirty textures, which are however compensated by the exceptional artistic rendering of the landscapes and buildings, which most of the time will push us to waste several minutes in their contemplation.
On the standard Xbox One the final result is good, in fact the fluidity is optimal by limiting the loss of details, also thanks to the fact that in most cases the screen is divided into at least two halves. In the version for Xbox One X there are settings that allow us to opt for one 4K resolution or for a more stable frame rate, and according to various tests that we have carried out we feel we should consider the second choice more, even if obviously the decision will vary from person to person.
As for the audio sector instead, we have found exceptional music that accompanies our adventures inside and outside the prison. The environmental effects, on the other hand, although not perfect, have convinced us and are certainly an integral part of the excellent artistic quality of this product.
A Way Out is definitely a great title that could act as a trailblazer for future games based on player cooperation. The varied and well-studied gameplay helps to make the game enjoyable and never boring, even if some gameplay choices are quite questionable, just think of the use of the covers, of the shooting and driving phases that turn out to be made in a way that is anything but optimal. From a technical point of view, the title defends itself well, above all for the exceptional artistic rendering of the landscapes and for the pleasant and well-chosen music.
► A Way Out is an Adventure type game developed by and published by Electronic Arts for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 23/03/2018
