My favorite moment in A Way Out is when you come across a small playground and, if both players interact with it at the same time, Leo and Vincent will sit down on the swing set together, stare into each others' eyes, and then blame the other for their own odd choice to sit down on a child's plaything. It combines the silly or absurd type of interactions that a video game allows with the game's strong characterization. Both Leo and Vincent are the sort of guy who might randomly sit down on a swing set for a moment but they'd never admit to it.
A Way Out is a game about moments like that. Strange interactions that are full of character depth that is conveyed in only a few seconds. They look at a plant and Vincent thinks it's nice while Leo wonders if it's edible. They see a chicken and Vincent tries to pet it while Leo tosses it in the air to make it "fly". Sure, they're on the run after breaking out of prison but of course they'll take the time to slow down and play darts or horseshoes together. If the entire game had managed to be moments like that interrupted by non-traditional action sequences like taking a boat down some rough rapids then I'd feel much better about this game overall. Unfortunately, the game is interested in playing around with a lot more than what it's actually good at.
The beginning of the game is simultaneously a boring slog with very little freedom to explore or play around and also a rushed series of events to get the characters out of prison. It leans heavily into the player's suspension of disbelief to connect one dot to the next. Don't ask too many questions about how they figured any of this plan out or why any of this works the way it does. Just nod your head and go along with it. Then, at the end of the game, it turns into, at best, and extremely mediocre cover shooter. The things the game is good at are completely stripped away in order to have climactic action to finish off the story.
But that middle part? When you've escaped prison and are working your way towards the climactic end? That's that good shit. Play a banjo. Pet a cow. Help a woman find her cheating husband. Watch the moon landing. Play an arcade game. The game fills an area with life and detail in a way not many other games do and does a great job of having these two knuckleheads poke and prod at the world in ways that are both the player doing video game nonsense but also believable for who these guys are.
But everything that's good has to come to an end. It's truly unfortunate that it comes to end via a bad shooting section followed by two chase sequences and then a second, worse, shooting section. What makes it even worse is how the game ends. One option is a pretty disappointing ending and the other is less disappointing and more satisfying but still not great. I'm not sure there was a really good or interesting way to finish off what this game was doing since it had been an extremely tropey and predictable 70's crime thriller up to this point but I wish it had gone for just about anything else than what it did.
The game desperately wants to be taken seriously but its schlocky pulp action that really should only be taken seriously enough to follow the story and laugh at the silliness of it all. Trying to be more serious than that is to the story's detriment and only leads to disappointment.
I did, however, have more fun with this game than I could ever possibly have watching the Oscars. So fair play to Josef Fares: fuck the Oscars.
A Way Out is a game about moments like that. Strange interactions that are full of character depth that is conveyed in only a few seconds. They look at a plant and Vincent thinks it's nice while Leo wonders if it's edible. They see a chicken and Vincent tries to pet it while Leo tosses it in the air to make it "fly". Sure, they're on the run after breaking out of prison but of course they'll take the time to slow down and play darts or horseshoes together. If the entire game had managed to be moments like that interrupted by non-traditional action sequences like taking a boat down some rough rapids then I'd feel much better about this game overall. Unfortunately, the game is interested in playing around with a lot more than what it's actually good at.
The beginning of the game is simultaneously a boring slog with very little freedom to explore or play around and also a rushed series of events to get the characters out of prison. It leans heavily into the player's suspension of disbelief to connect one dot to the next. Don't ask too many questions about how they figured any of this plan out or why any of this works the way it does. Just nod your head and go along with it. Then, at the end of the game, it turns into, at best, and extremely mediocre cover shooter. The things the game is good at are completely stripped away in order to have climactic action to finish off the story.
But that middle part? When you've escaped prison and are working your way towards the climactic end? That's that good shit. Play a banjo. Pet a cow. Help a woman find her cheating husband. Watch the moon landing. Play an arcade game. The game fills an area with life and detail in a way not many other games do and does a great job of having these two knuckleheads poke and prod at the world in ways that are both the player doing video game nonsense but also believable for who these guys are.
But everything that's good has to come to an end. It's truly unfortunate that it comes to end via a bad shooting section followed by two chase sequences and then a second, worse, shooting section. What makes it even worse is how the game ends. One option is a pretty disappointing ending and the other is less disappointing and more satisfying but still not great. I'm not sure there was a really good or interesting way to finish off what this game was doing since it had been an extremely tropey and predictable 70's crime thriller up to this point but I wish it had gone for just about anything else than what it did.
The game desperately wants to be taken seriously but its schlocky pulp action that really should only be taken seriously enough to follow the story and laugh at the silliness of it all. Trying to be more serious than that is to the story's detriment and only leads to disappointment.
I did, however, have more fun with this game than I could ever possibly have watching the Oscars. So fair play to Josef Fares: fuck the Oscars.