Antrim Escape: An Old School ‘Escape The Room’ For The App Store

I’m sure that anyone who owns a PC and is remotely interested in gaming has played an online ‘Escape The Room’ game or two in their time. Well, since the launch of the iOS App Store back in 2008, developers have been trying to make a game that will match the brilliance of some of the web-based point-and-click/escape-the-room classics. Most have ended quite badly, but still I search!

Antrim Escape starts with a pleasant enough comic strip intro to set up the story, but quickly enough turns into that ever familiar four-walled-room-complete-with-giant-bookcase-and-desk-with-locked-draws scenario. Rather than feeling like a rip off of another game, this overused layout provides familiarity to the game, and let’s be honest, we’d be annoyed if there wasn’t any draws to unlock right?

The simple tap controls work very well, which is something that other games of this type have had trouble with. Because of the size of the screen working against the size of your finger; it can be hard to pick out small details and clues. Oftentimes you’ll find that you’ve clicked the area a hundred times and yet there was still something there to pick up! With a zooming in feature, Antrim Escape goes some way to overcome this problem.

Pros: Great detail has been put into the look of the room and the controls are probably one of the best I’ve seen for this type of game. There is also a hints section to help you out.

Cons: It most certainly isn’t an easy game to complete, rather than thinking ‘d’oh, how did I not notice that’ you may be left thinking ‘how the hell am I suppose to know that’ after you read the hints.

Whether you’re a point and click whizz or a pretty rubbish escapee who needs a bit of help (A.K.A me); Antrim Escape is a great example of how this genre of game can successfully be converted to the app store.