| Author | Review |
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GremUK
127,374
TA Score for this game: 996
Posted on 06 April 10 at 11:43, Edited on 06 April 10 at 11:49 |
This review has 56 positive votes and 1 negative vote. Please log in to vote. |
I will start off by saying this review is purely based on my opinion of the game. I have read a couple of reviews on other websites and they rated this game VERY badly. I, on the other hand, would rate this game differently...
Story
The game is set around the events of the first series of Prison Break (the first series is the best imo). However, instead of taking the role of Michael Schofield (which is what I expected), you take the role of Tom Paxton, an agent who works for "The Company" who has to go undercover in Fox River State Penitentiary as he has orders to make sure Lincoln Burrows is executed. That is pretty much the premise of the story, go undercover - make sure Burrows is executed.
However, as you progress through the story, there a few twists encountered, albeit they are very predictable but still fit in well with the Prison Break series.
Gameplay
The majority of the gameplay will see you moving in 'stealth mode', doing tasks such as retrieving medication from restricted areas, to hiding in the CO's lockers to listen in on conversations. When in stealth mode, you have to climb to certain areas using certain pipes and wall hangings but they are easy to identify as each pipe/item you can use to climb is yellow (stands out from the rest of the grey items  ). I will say this now though, stealth mode is terrible! The worst thing about the stealth mode is that if you are spotted that's it. Game Over. You have to restart at your nearest checkpoint (which are thankfully found at regular intervals). However, it is very easy to play through the majority of the game without being detected (bar one or two areas which can be tricky).
Despite stealth mode taking up the majority of your playing time, it is broken up with about 20 or so enemies that you have to fight that you encounter throughout the game (that's right, throughout the whole game you have to fight a maximum of about 20 times and thats it - the rest is all about the stealth). The fighting system feels very dated and would probably be more at home on a PS2 or even PS1. You press A for a normal punch, X for a heavy punch, and RB to block. That's it. One good thing about the fighting though, if you time your block perfectly when they are swinging their punch, you can do a reversal against them. However, this makes to fighting system VERY easy!! (1 fight can be ended by doing about 3 reversals)
On the back of the in-game fighting is the underground fighting, that you can access by speaking to King in the main yard. The purpose if the underground fighting is solely to obtain money. You can choose to fight a number of different people, each with different ratings - the weaker the opponent the less money you earn (Easiest netting you $50 and the hardest $200). You can then use the money to buy tattoos for your body. That is the only purpose of the money. I personally only used to the underground fighting arena to obtain the achievements. Once I had the achievements there was no need to go back to it
Also worth a mention is the quick time events. There are numerous instances where you have to press a button sequence that appear on the screen. However these are very easy. Plus, if you ever have any difficulty with them just memorise the order because there is a checkpoint before every event, and the button sequence never changes
Graphics
The graphics aren't actually too bad. Yeah there are alot of other games out at the minute with better graphics but the graphics were sound in my opinion. The characters from the series actually looked very similar to the in-game characters so well done Zootfly on that front. However, two big gripes I have about the graphics are
1) The in game cut-scenes are very poorly done. When the characters move during a cutscene, they can only turn at 90 degree angles at a time. So if someone is turning around they turn to their right 90 degrees, stop for a second, then turn to their right 90 degrees again
2) Although I mentioned the in game characters resembled their series counterparts to a tee, I must say I am disappointed that the character for Sara Tencredi is nothing like here. I just don't understand why they gave her blonde hair in the game, when she has black hair in the series?! This may be to do with the fact that she doesn't provide her voice for the game
Sound
The sound is probably on par with the graphics. Although the majority of the characters are 'reportedly' voiced by the original actors (except Sara Tencredi as mentioned above), you don't speak to them enough to be able to tell. The two people you speak to the most are C-Note and Abruzzi and I must admit, I don't believe for a second that Abruzzi is voiced by the original actor - it sounds nothing like him!
Another disappointment about the sound is that the game is based upon you following Michael Schofield to find out what he is up to, and to make sure Lincoln Burrows is killed but you only speak to both these characters on a couple of occasions (I can only remember speaking to Linc once at the very end of the game).
Controls
The controls are pretty standard with only a few of the buttons being used. The controls actually do their purpose, because as the game is relatively basic, so too are the controls. You have button prompts flash up on the screen when you can interact with an object and apart from pressing the RB button to run on the odd occasion, you will mostly just be moving around with the 2 thumbsticks
Multiplayer
There is no online multiplayer, which I am relieved about. There is however local multiplayer in the form of the underground fights. Basically just a 1 on 1 fight using any of your favourite characters from the series. Fun for maybe 1 minute but then thats it.
Achievements
The achievements in this game are handed out very generously! For just completing the main game (on easy) you will net around 35 of the available 45 achievements. However, this will only give you a GS of around 600. The big point achievements are for completing the game on hard difficulty and completing the game without being spotted once. A very easy list imo, with only 1 achievement that will probably cause me slight trouble but still doable. I would say for the full 1k, your looking at around 10 hours if you plan ahead
Overall
Overall, despite all the negative issues mentioned above, I enjoyed the game on a whole. Although the game is very outdated, it was still relatively fun to play imo. I enjoyed the storyline, and even more so when it linked in with events that happened in the series. I can say though, if this was not related to the series in anyway, I would not have enjoyed it
I would recommend renting this game to give it a try and see what you think but I would not pay for it brand new (which is £30 in shops now). However, if you are not a fan of the series this game is definitely not for you! If you want a good stealth game just wait for Splinter Cell to arrive 
Overall I would give this game a 3/5, purely just because I liked the story. Without the story, I would have probably given this a 1/5
(P.S - This is my first ever review so be gentle . I am willing to improve it, just tell me how before negative voting please)
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Sashamorning
458,861
TA Score for this game: 1,127
Posted on 12 January 11 at 07:48, Edited on 13 March 11 at 10:53 |
This review has 23 positive votes and 10 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Prison Break: The Conspiracy is a parallel game to the first season of the series. If you like the show, you'll probably like the game. If you don't like the show, you probably won't. If you haven't seen the show, then you'll still probably find it entertaining.
The story revolves around a Company agent send into the Fox River penitentiary to kill one of the main characters. Of course things are more complicated than that, resulting in lots of stealth-filled errand-boy runs. The story is decently solid, and can be a lot of fun, but the stealth missions can be fairly frustrating at times.
The game, as a whole, is very easy, even on the Shark difficulty (which I'd recommend starting with to unlock several achievements). The hardest part comes in areas with lots of guards. You can't fight them, you can only hide. The graphics are lacking, but the story carries it through.
There are portions in which you need to fight inmates, but there are some tutorials on how to do so, and honestly it really comes down to button mashing.
As a whole, the game is worth a rental, and will give you 910 easy gamerscore. The last achievement, worth 90, is much more difficult, and involves you doing a runthrough (strongly recommended on the Guppy difficulty) without being spotted all game. If you do get spotted, that's it. Start over... or quit to dashboard and try again. This can get rather frustrating.
Bottom line, mostly easy achievements, decent story, fairly fun. If you like the show, it's definitely worth the rental.
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the psychopa7h
208
Posted on 12 October 12 at 19:34
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This review has 7 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Based on Fox Television’s drama series, Prison Break follows the story of the lead character Schofield who finds himself incarcerated at Fox River State Penitentiary where he attempts to free his brother who faces the death sentence for a crime he didn’t commit.
You play a brand new character called Tom Paxton hired by the “company” and tasked with investigating Schofield and finding out what he’s up to. Gameplay typically involves partaking in fetch quests for other prisoners and avoiding guards along the way as you infiltrate forbidden sections of the prison. You’ll also get involved in plenty of scraps and have the opportunity to improve the power and speed of your character by enhancing your reputation in organised tournaments and through training hard in the yard.
Let's start off with some good news. The storyline focuses on the best season of Prison Break, Season One. Through well produced cut-scenes and superb voice acting, some of which is carried out by characters from the show, it’s entertaining to see the excellent storyline unfold as it did in the TV series. A lot of effort has obviously gone into creating the character models too, and the likes of Schofield, T-Bag and C-Note look suitably impressive. There’s also a fair amount of freedom to explore the prison which has designed in a way that encourages you to explore with plenty of areas to infiltrate and quest-giving NPCs to visit. It’s also particularly interesting to see the storyline unfold through a new set of eyes, something that fans of the show may appreciate.
As far as the gameplay goes though, it's very bland, repetitive and lacks the sort of dramatic action and tense atmosphere that the TV series produced. Fights lack any intensity due to the combat system being so basic. Just having a block move, along with a quick and slow punch at your disposal makes for some dreary fight scenes that are only ever made that little bit more exciting by a QTE that occasionally kicks in allowing you disarm a knife-weilding opponent or slam someone’s head against the wall. Your character feels slow and clumsy to control and there’s no incentive for you to want to fight any more than you have to. There should be more moves to unlock, or character skills to build upon. Training in the yard using a punch bag and weights to improve your power and skill is all you get, but these mini-games are so bland thatl the incentive of powering up won't be enough for you to want to play them more than once.
And that’s the real problem with Prison Break: The Conspiracy. The gameplay just feels so dated, and that stands out even more because the game looks pretty good. The side tasks you carry out for inmates, such as collecting drugs from the infirmary, or searching the boiler room for a hidden stash, start off being quite entertaining until you realise that – aside from the uninspiring combat sequences – that’s basically what you do throughout the whole game. You’ll inevitably find yourself moving from A to B around the prison fetching items, sneaking through ventilation shafts and sneaking past the gaze of guards and the security cameras. It's a tried and tested stealth formula that goes back a long way, but it's been handled far better in other stealth-based games.
You simply watch the movement of the guards and the cameras and then time it right to sneak past them on the way to your next objective. If you get seen you have to start over again at one of the poorly placed checkpoints. There’s no drama or excitement. There's just a huge lack of variety. You carry out the same type of missions throughout and find yourself jumping in and out lockers as you watch patiently waiting for your chance to move.
You’ll probably enjoy the opening sequence of Prison Break: The Conspiracy and have fun partaking in your first couple of missions. But you’ll be being lured into a false sense of security, thinking that the game is going somewhere when it doesn’t. Aside from a few cinematic QTEs during fight sequences and some great cut scenes, Prison Break: The Conspiracy shows its entire hand within the first half an hour or so of gameplay and never gets any better.
Pros
Focuses on Season One of the TV, the best Season!
Character models, acting and the design of the prison are impressive.
Cons
Combat is clumsy, slow and too basic.
The missions lack variety.
Unexciting stealth play.
IMHO |
V Rage
166,141
TA Score for this game: 1,308
Posted on 27 January 11 at 16:32 |
This review has 8 positive votes and 11 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Prison Break (Potential Spoilers)
As usual I have no real interest in comments or criticism – I write this to pass time and little else.
Again I will only be bias in my opinion are anything thought comes from the dark depths of my mind and thus is obviously highly subjective.
For this review I wish to take you back to a time when all was not well in the world - late 2009….. What brought me to this point was a series of events that shook my core belief system.
It started in 2008 remembered by many as a year when… well I don’t really know what happened in the real world tbh. But my world was rocked over the next year or so.
MGS4 was released – a game I had been anticipating since...... well….. Metal gear solid 3 and its slightly R rated sub title “Snake Eater”
I played MGS4 around the same time Prison Break was in its third series and forth series.
Then it happened – 3 Disasters that rocked my world
1 – Snake Died!!SNAKE…SNAKE….SNAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!
2 – Michael Schofield Died (Prison Break Series 4 – Thus ending Prison Break)
3 – Jack Bauer got ill at the end of season 7 and it looked like 24 would end
.
It was like the world had decided to take away all that was good in this world and what did I get instead…..Glee – Satanic People Singing Songs that loosely relate to the events in a high school.
Even documentaries like Flash forward could not fill this void.
Then a shimmer of light on the horizon – I read that a prison Break Game would be released (although I was skeptical how the magic of “doing bird” could be captured in a game without an R rating)
So onto the main review…..
Difficulty – Cheevos 4/10
Easily done with little time and if you played vampire rain the patience learned there in for the no detection play through. So its a big Go-Go for Achievement Whores!!!
Difficulty – Game 4/10
I played the game through and it was pretty easy for the most part – in fact for all of it except the no detection play through.
** Hollywood Rumour** Prison Break actor Wentworth Millar is to be executive producer on a movie version of Prisoner Cell Block H – This will feature Angelina Jolie as Joan “The Freak” Ferguson and Charlize Theron as Beatrice or B “TopDog”Smith.
Story - 7/10
Tied in very well with the original and best series of the program, the first!
And for the observant amongst you there is a clue in the name – Prison Break – yes the story very much focuses around an upcoming prison break. In which Michael Schofield and the baddie vampire from Blade 3 try to escape a prison. You dont play either but a company agent placed in the prison to watch them.
Story in short – Break out your cell – Sneak around the prison – Have some scraps – Spy on schofield – Steal stuff – Riot – Run on Roofs – Prison Break – Fly over the cuckoos nest to freedom
Musical Score – 4/10
Atmospheric / Dramatic music borrowed (stolen) from the TV show of the same name.
Graphics – Decent 6/10
When I met T-Bag I did know it was him and the experience was somewhat different to what the American kids on CODMW2 call T-Bagging. So not bad for a budget title.
Gameplay – 9/10
A big highlight was the layout of the prison – from the showers to the stores – everything was where it should be.
Not many fights which is a big plus for us stealth play cowards. Lots of sneaking but all the way it should be – study then move – no silly time related stealth.
Quick time pops up occasionally – easy press Y type quick time.
Very enjoyable
Overall Verdict – 8/10
If you liked (or loved) the series you will greatly enjoy this. It wont make up for heartbreak suffered by the loss of Solid Snake or the PB TV series but it will help
If you like stealth games you cant go far wrong
Rage on the Run
Note:- Red Said
"In 2011 V Rage escaped from Shawshank prison. All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and an old rock hammer, damn near worn down to the nub."
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