The most impressive thing about the game is the sense of scale. What follows is a precarious attempt to make your way throught the destroyed city to find a place of safety. Playing as a new reporter arriving on the huge island city, you begin the game stranded on a long bridge as the first tremor strikes the island.

'SOS The Final Escape' is a variant of the survival horror genre, but in this case, you are trying to escape from a natural disaster rather than zombies or monsters. For games that can both now be picked up for a couple of quid, much more (similar) fun for your money. I really don't know why) & both suprisingly addictive. My advice? Give this one a miss & either get 'Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon' or 'The Da Vinci Code' instead (much more challenging despite poor reviews for TDVC. I really don't expect too much of this type of game. I never got stuck, but eventually just gave up due to complete boredom & lack of interest in either the proceedings or plot. Probably too easy, by far, and although there is the odd ingenious & pleasing puzzle, most are far too simple (and many are downright unobvious, unrealistic & annoying). Really naff (unlikeable & clunky) characters, very poor mechanics & graphics left me cold (to say the least). My findings were that this is basically a very poor runner-up to the 'Broken Sword' series. Jonathan WinterĪ good review generally on Gamespot & other games sites prompted me to try this so called puzzle game. Overall, SOS is a flawed work, but it contains some fresh, inspirational ideas that make it worth experiencing. Trademark Japanese oddness comes in the form of some wonderful yet irrelevant set pieces, collectables and multiple endings. The ability to shout, in the attempt to attract survivors, highlights the eerie silence and the varied locales keeps it engaging. The feeling that you never quite know what's going to happen next is a welcome and increasingly rare commodity. What the game does have is a bountiful amount of atmosphere.

The characters come across as robotic, the dialogue and voice acting are stilted. SOS 's graphics are functional and feature bland textures. The pace and gameplay varies later as armed mercenaries hunt you down to ensure your silence. As you progress, shopping malls, skyscrapers and baseball stadiums come crashing down around you resulting in either careful exploration or mad dashes for safety. Periodically, tremors endeavour to knock you off your feet (combated by use of the brace button) and cause buildings to collapse, conveniently forming platforms to be used to traverse the shattered landscape.

Jumping and climbing your way off leads to the dubious safety of the city. The bridge leading to the island collapses leaving you precariously balanced on top of a twisted pile of concrete and steel. Predictably enough, things go wrong early on in this RPG platformer: earthquakes are destroying the city and the island is slowly sinking. SOS: The Final Escape puts you in control of a journalist on his first day working on a newly built man-made island.

Sos survival escape simulator