Escape from Paradise City Preview

They are calling a dystopian world. Ok, wait a moment. Where’s that dictionary? …

There it is … dystopia (noun): a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding. Well, that certain fits. Paradise City is overrun with crime, and the police are not certain what to do about it. That is where you come into play – all three of you.

Escape from Paradise City is a CDV title that is part action and part strategy. The idea is simple – there are several neighborhoods in the city that you have to work through, by taking out the bad guys or getting the bad guys to work for you, en route to the hub neighborhood where the big boss is lurking.

(No spoilers here, but it is safe to say the ultimate bad guy has some connections to the supernatural side of human mythology.)

The game itself plays out in chapters, much like a book, and to add to that flavor, the game goes for a look that has a cel-shaded flavoring, giving the game character. The game is also billed as part RPG (role-playing game) and part RTS (real-time strategy). You will take your characters and work through the zones. At first, you are told which character you can use – all three have different play styles – but as you progress, you will be able to select which character you can take into the scenario.

The three playable characters are as different as night and day. First up is Nicholas Porter, a retired thief who specializes in distance attacks. Yep, this is the ranged characters and Nick will be pulling out weapons and working up his attack skills using rifles and sub-machine guns. Subtly is not his middle name. Angel Vargas is female, street smart and a melee combatant. For her the fight is personal – she has family in the corrupted city. Boris Chekov is bald, slightly overweight and adept at manipulation. He is so good, in fact, that he brings minions to the fight and does not get his hands personally dirty.

Spanning 16 chapters, players will be asked to work through zones. You can just go in and clear it but there is much more to be gained by taking over the zone. Essentially, you find the neighborhood boss, beat him to within an inch of his life and then he swears loyalty to you. Why is that preferable? Well, controlling some neighborhoods will result in gaining skills and the coin they put into your pocket helps you buy the equipment needed.

The sound of the game is solid and fits well, while the three-dimensional city plays out with a sense of grittiness one would expect. The camera is, by default, set in an isometric viewpoint but you can go over the shoulder. If you would rather take the easy route through a neighborhood, use the map inset, click on a location and your character will run there. The control scheme will allow for either point-and-click play or using the WASD movement keys on the keyboard in conjunction with the mouse.

Escape from Paradise City is a deceptive title in that the game does not seem to follow what the title would have you believe it to be. You are actually not escaping anything, but rather trying to take over the city, neighborhood by neighborhood. This is a game that does have a fair amount of challenge as well as a solid amount of entertainment value.

Look for this title to release in mid October.