Game Revolution writes: "Exit DS is a port of a game that originally came out on the PSP (some two years or so ago) to limited success yet critical praise for its inventiveness and interesting art style... well, more for the art style. However, the puzzle-solving aspects of the game are still fairly unique. The player takes control of the escape artist Mr. Esc (how many meetings did it take to settle on that name?) to save the helpless victims trapped in various locales: flooding cruise ships, burning buildings, the works. And how do you save them? With your wits, of course!"
+ Some slick art stylings
+ Easy to grasp controls
- Repetitive levels
- Annoying screams from victims
- Main character has no personality at all
Carl Williams writes, "When you think minimalist gaming you probably think of the Atari 2600. That era of consoles had to rely on good gameplay with great controls to keep the player interested. They didn’t have awesome HD graphics and 7.1 surround sound to work with. Those crutches would come a couple of decades later. That is what attracts me to independent and homebrew developers, often they are saddled with similar restraints. Take Exit by nukeSpoon for example. This is one of those minimalist style games that is using modern technology quite well. It is in the style of the original Nintendo Game Boy but it is a first person atmospheric adventure. Find out if it is better than you think after the jump."
Take control of Mr. ESC (Escape) in this "escape" action game. In each level, your goal is to search the stage for people and lead them to the exit under constraint of time. When you have another character under your supervision, you'll need to issue commands, ordering them to wait and use items. EXIT is one of the first Japanese PSP titles to support infrastructure mode, allowing for over 100 new stages to be downloaded for free.
Taito are renowned for their classic arcade series, even releasing many compilations for multiple systems. However, my favorite product of the developing giant takes the form of the ultimate rescue-puzzle, Exit.
