A Way Out

Ever since the flamboyant Josef Fares busted out onto the scene at E3 2017 and then put on a show for us at the following Game Awards, it became impossible not to feel a little bit of excitement for the game he was so passionate about directing. The game in question is A Way Out; a co-op adventure game that uses unique split screen mechanics to dish out a really interesting cinematic experience. As impressive as the game’s premises are, it does buckle under the weight of weak narrative elements and blatant influences to which it doesn’t quite reach the heights of.

The story follows Leo and Vincent, a duo possessing trite archetypes who meet in a prison and plan to escape so they can exact revenge on the mob boss who’s at fault for both of their life’s troubles. The story has very obvious calls to The Shawshank Redemption, there’s a chase sequence that mirrors the famous chase scene from Casino Royale, and even a scene that mimics the finale of Scarface. Despite these cool sources of inspiration the story falls flat due to a completely dry and awkward script as well as stale performances from the voice acting cast. The writing feels about as one dimensional as that of a children’s show but then they went and forcefully added in a ton of swearing to make it seem more mature, so it just comes across as goofy. There are some odd plot holes and dumb action clichés (like how all of the enemies conveniently have terrible aim with weapons even though you’re practically standing right in front of them). All that said; the game does pull out a surprising twist ending that truly impressed me and even pulled at my heart strings a little.

Gameplay wise this definitely feels a little like Uncharted 4, hell they’ve even got the vehicle chase sequences and everything. But this time around the split screen mechanics take centre stage. Basically they split the screens up into two; one following Vincent and the other follows Leo, and you need to use the screens to solve puzzles and undergo some pretty neat cinematic situations. What makes it cool is that one character might be engaged in a cut scene while the other player is doing something else. Even if the game’s puzzles are really easy, the well-handled co-op elements make for a handful of really cool moments for you and whatever friend you’re playing with. I liked how occasionally you’d come across an area in the game where there’d be some simple little mini games or challenges for you and your friend to screw around with for a little while like throwing darts or connect four.

I also liked how the game would sometimes give you and your friend the option to choose how to approach a situation; it would have been cool if these choices had more of a story impact though. There’s a tiny bit of stealth in the game (mostly relegated to the “breaking out of prison” portion of the game), and a tiny bit of gun play too towards the end, but these sections are so few that it almost seems silly to evaluate these mechanics in depth. Although I guess I could say that this game feels more along the lines of an action game “sampler” more than it is a fully fledged AAA experience (like Uncharted for example). Which isn’t exactly a complaint I mean this game is only 20 dollars.

A Way Out is honestly not a bad game, the split screen elements are really innovative and I think there is so much more potential for this kind of thing down the road, so I hope Josef continues to explore this further. I know I’d like this game so much more if I wasn’t just so disconnected with the story and characters, not to mention the plethora of silly action clichés. Re-playability is also a tricky thing since you need to have a friend who’s committed to replaying it as well, amazingly this game doesn’t support match making which is kind of crazy for a multiplayer only experience. Play this game at your own discretion I mean if you like linear cinematic action games then you’ll no doubt find things to like about A Way Out, I was just hoping for something a little more impactful.