Review: Maine Escape Games

RATING: 4 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 4:27

A typical day at the office suddenly has a lot more spaceship. And radiation poisoning. (Depending on the job, though, maybe that’s not so out of the ordinary.)

Story

A UFO has crashed into Maine Escape Games, and now it’s leaking deadly radiation. You and your team have one hour to find a way into the spaceship, figure out how to restore its power, and stop the leak before you succumb to the lethal emission.

Upon arriving to work for the day, it is discovered that an alien spacecraft has crashed into the building. Mondays, am I right? Fortunately, HR’s annual (and mandatory) compliance training has a module for this exact situation, with all the details needed to get inside that shuttle! Soon-to-be employees of the month must infiltrate the wreckage and explore the command room… only to discover the ship is leaking radiation and needs to be fixed. (This can’t POSSIBLY by in the employee handbook; HR doesn’t seem too concerned.) Through ingenuity, dexterity and a little bit of good ole’ fashion brains, even everyday paper pushers can power through the poison to save the day.

With a unique blend of terrestrial and extraterrestrial atmosphere, this Alien Invasion is an exciting adventure for the whole family. With an engaging storyworld that lends itself to a clean, easy to understand conclusion, it is not the run-of-the mill office job simulator!

Scenic

At first glance, this may appear to be a bland office space; at least while focus is on the three walls that don’t have a spaceship crashed through them. With a simple desk and filing cabinet, clearly someone was just ready for a normal day at a regular job. It presents as a sharp contrast to what is seen when workers step into the alien world.

The inside of the ship is a beautiful mix of metallic construction, colorful flashing lights and projections. The sound proofing around the structure is quite clear as it really does evoke the silence of space outside of the whirring and buzzing of the technology. Attention to detail is everywhere on the out-of-this-world devices that need to be deciphered to put an end to the leaking radiation.

That being said, a visible presentation of the aforementioned radiation would add an appreciated sense of both clarity and urgency to the storyworld. It’s clear what item must be deactivated, but some sort of physical representation of how dangerous this lethal gas is, be it fog, mist, or even projection, could give that extra sensation of “uh oh, this is serious!”

Puzzles

Perhaps the cleverest detail to Alien Invasion is the clear delineation between Earth and the world of the invaders. Outside the chaos of the UFO, the puzzles are all very human-style key and code locks. But once aboard, those vanish and what is left is only electrical and physical puzzles that make the brain think in an almost alien way.

There are a few puzzles that require a bit of dexterity to get right; nothing TOO challenging, but one in particular could prove to be frustrating for folks with diminished hand functions. If that is the case, fear not! There are enough screen-based puzzles and other physical tasks that do not require the same range of motion.

Overall

Alien Invasion does a lot of things exceptionally well: from the detail of switching from human to alien style locking mechanisms upon entering the ship, to the clear thought and attention put into the design of the interior of the spacecraft itself. The sense of isolation once inside is great, and the story flows naturally.

Its storyworld opening could benefit from some polish; why on Earth (pun only partially intended) would a regular Joe Schmoe office worker suddenly have all the details to open alien technology right in his desk other than because escape game? This melts away once inside, as the immersion is quite strong on the interior of the alien craft, but there is a disconnect between the beginning and the rest of the game.

The confines of the small starting office and the, at times, narrow spaces between puzzles on the ship does limit the spacing on this game to only six guests. Alien Invasion has job options for everyone, regardless of positioning on the corporate ladder or planetary origins!