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Hospital Escape

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Author Comments

This is the 4th installment in the Hotel Escape series, and has now moved on to Hospital Escape. All you need is a mouse and a keyboard to solve the puzzles in this game. One piece of advice: don't rush into things until you're sure about them!

Let me know what you think

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meh

not really the best game in the world, but not the worst. Could use some music. Not a bad escape game. It did get old fast though.

Simple and Cruel

First off, the environment design was great. The atmosphere was clinical from both the area, the puzzle pieces, and the color scheme, so that they all fit together. It is easy to see that you were working to break the sloppy standard of the genre. The medium was also above standard, as the 3D elements set this game apart even further. Some light music would have made it wonderful.

However, when it got down to the mechanics, the game suffered a bit. There was little connection between objects, so the main proponent for collecting things was the gamer's instinct to poke and prod and pick up everything that isn't nailed down. This leads to a case of playing the simulation instead of playing the game.
While only telling which frame certain objects were in helped to solve the problem of walkthroughs being too easy, it didn't focus on the root cause; finding objects is not a logical process which could be solved by certain players, but actually a matter of luck or spastic perseverance. Escape games are puzzle games, so the question shouldn't have been "Where?" but "How?"

This bled through into your main puzzle, mixing drugs according to note pieces.
The biggest flaw was that the pieces did not actually connect to form a paper. While this could be effectively spun to force the reader to logically fill in the gaps, the tear lines didn't match at all, making it seem almost like they were from different papers.
I called this game "cruel" for a following reason which I suppose you have come to expect. You left out the last piece of the paper. I'm trying very hard to avoid spoilers here, but the effect was rather aggravating. It led the player to false expectations, and the walkthrough reinforced them. While I can sympathize with your complaint of walkthroughs making games too easy, I have to wonder if a misleading walkthrough actually serves its purpose.
After "supplying" the missing ingredient, the puzzle was much easier and par for the course. In the meantime, the lack of clear instruction was absurd. The confusion would either lead to a goose chase for the missing piece that didn't exist, or to fatal experiments with the pieces one has. It's almost as bad as just having a door with a four-digit lock and having to guess the PIN. Even the failure message mocks the error that you provoked! Of course we died while mixing substances we knew nothing about! You practically told us to do so! Never mind that neither the puzzle nor the result had any actual motivation to explain their existence. "Drugs = key" just goes to epitomize the lack of logical progression to this "puzzle" game.

While your game was visually appealing, the question that you need to ask yourself to improve is, "Is the game challenging, or just difficult?" The nuance between the two is what it takes to make a successful game.

MerlinEntertainment responds:

Hey norat,
Thanks a lot for the detailed review, very helpful! You have a good point about challenging Vs just plain difficult, though I tried to give clues that there was a last note by making the corner obviously empty, though you're right i should have joined the pieces together. When you die it does tell you, "have i collected all the notes?" or something to that effect. I'll keep in mind your comments for my next game though. Thanks again!

Simply Magnificent

I am a sucker for good escape games, i've played hundreds of them, none of them can compete with this one.

Kepp up the good work :)

MerlinEntertainment responds:

Thanks! :)

Nice

this has got to be the most original espace game ive played yet overall.
(perhaps i havent played that many.. but nvm
I liked the plot, graphics.. well everything.

A question about sound..
did you leave it out on purpose or some other reason? (either that or my headphones just broke themselves :P)

MerlinEntertainment responds:

I left it out on purpose :)

Pretty good

Pretty good. I don't like the pixel hunt aspect, but this was relatively short and the items were hidden in fairly typical places, so it wasn't very bad. I noticed that sometimes items I had already picked up would flash for about one frame before disappearing if I went back to the place they were originally, i.e. opening the cabinet on the right with the bottles would cause them to flash then disappear.

Credits & Info

Views
9,249
Faves:
6
Votes
18
Score
3.79 / 5.00

Uploaded
Aug 24, 2009
3:57 AM EDT