Review: Mission Escape Games - Escape the Nemesis

RATING: 4 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 0:30

Join our crew of the world’s least qualified space ship mechanics while we either save the day, or, you know, die.

Story

The U.S.S. Nemesis is crashing to Earth and you’re the specialist team hired to divert it! Complete your mission in one hour, or go down with the ship…

Mission Escape Games takes us on an adventure that’s truly out of this world – literally – as we’re left stranded in the cold recesses of space. As unlucky passengers aboard the space ship Nemesis, it’s not exactly great news that all critical control systems are unresponsive. Although the ship is spiraling out of control, about to fall from the atmosphere and crash land on Earth, worry not! A highly trained team of spacecraft experts has been brought in to make repairs before it’s too late.

Wait, that’s us? Uh oh. This is one of those times where you apply for a job you’re not at all qualified for, yet somehow get hired, isn’t it? Oh man, I hope the kids don’t turn me into a meme!

Escape the Nemesis crafts a storyworld wherein we quickly become its main characters. The urgency is rich and organic, as not only will the ship crash, but so will we.

Scenic

Once on board the U.S.S. Nemesis, the environment is as one may come to expect from the many spaceships we’ve flown without training since launching this site. Sleek white finishes glow under futuristic-flavored blueish lighting. Gadgets, switches and technical do-dads are everywhere. (What? I think we made it clear that when it comes to space ship repairmen, we’re a bunch of frauds!)

Scenically, one weakness of Escape the Nemesis is its square, boxy layout. When one thinks of a futuristic space craft, they’d probably more likely envision curved services, unusual shaped rooms and tighter spaces. To that level, the U.S.S. Nemesis admittedly feels a bit more like a converted office space.

Walls not withstanding, it’s whats between them that makes Escape the Nemesis unique – including hidden chambers, crawl spaces and even some climbing to truly bring this adventure to life.

Puzzles

Remember all those gadgets and do-dads we mentioned? Well they’re not just scenic fluff; many of them become vital components in some of Escape the Nemesis’ clever, tech-driven puzzles. It’s exactly what you’d expect to find on a spaceship, and as such, it instantly draws players deeper into the storyworld.

Every step along our journey through space was logical and intuitive. Escape the Nemesis has the kind of satisfying flow that we really look for in an escape game – full of puzzles that are challenging yet fun – and interwoven in the central narrative in such a way that they each help to build towards a climatic finale.

Lighting and sound effects, automated props and yes, even voice recognition technology add not only a layer of authenticity to the U.S.S. Nemesis storyworld, but position this game as unique among many of its competitors in the NYC market.

Overall

Escape the Nemesis came to us being highly recommended, and it really did live up to that hype. Mission Escape Games continue to impress us with their cleverly thought-out gameplay, always flowing smoothly from start to finish in such a way that it allows the player to truly soak it all in without ever, even for a second, being pulled out of its world.

At the end of the day, perhaps the biggest factor that prevented Escape the Nemesis from achieving a full 5 Key score is its own internal competition. Mission Escape Games has grown, evolved and improved so very much in such a short period of time that it’s almost difficult to imagine their earlier games come from the same parent company.

Escape the Nemesis is one of Mission Escape Games’ original rooms, and as such, it wasn’t able to benefit from their new tour de force of scenic standards seen in the likes of Anaheim’s Escape the Darkest Hour: Torture Chamber. (We’re told that may change in the near future, as additional plussing could be on its way to up the ante for both scenic and technological implementation.)

This is definitely one space program we hope to see relaunched in the near future, because the sky is the limit (and well beyond) for the potential of what Mission Escape Games could do aboard the U.S.S. Nemesis today!