A Way Out (PS4) Review

Flawed Passion.

 Josef Fares-- the goofy yet charismatic filmmaker-turned game-developer-- was responsible for 2013's stellar indie hit, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and now his latest game, A Way Out. Developed by Hazelight Studios and published by EA under their "EA Originals" lineup, which funds small indie games, A Way Out is a strictly two-player adventure that has you and another player playing as  convicts Vincent and Leo who must take revenge on the mob boss who set them up. It's a game that's been under my radar for a while-- especially after Fares' memorable speech at last year's game awards-- and after having finished it with a friend I can definitely say that it's among the year's memorable experiences.

 A Way Out follows two convicts, Vincent and Leo, who share the same motive of taking revenge on the mobster, Harvey, who wronged them. They reluctantly team up with the intention of escaping prison and locating the whereabouts of Harvey, all while avoiding the police and crime mafia. Leo is the stubborn and the hot-headed of the two while Vincent is the revered and composed one. Over the course of the story, the pair will be running from the police, shooting through waves of mobsters, and helping out each other both in their private lives. We also get some backstory, adding a layer of depth to the main leads, however, I found that supporting cast were a bit on the two-dimensional side and kind of hard-to-like. Still, the various interaction sand clashes between Leo and Vincent were pretty fun and entertaining at times and I found them to be the best bits of the narrative. 

The unlikely pair team-up to find a way out of jail.

 A Way Out is played from the third person and can only be played with another player. If you buy a copy of the game, you can send an invite online to one of your friends to play without them buying another copy or have them come over and play the game locally. While playing, the screen is divided in two showing both Vincent and Leo. While the whole two-player thing may sound like a gimmick, a few hours in and you'll find that it's the best way to experience the game as you'll be seeing it from different perspectives simultaneously. The game relies on you and your partner communicating and cooperating as evident by an early part of the game where one player tries to detach a prison toilet to get out while the other watches for oncoming guards. There are many sequences in the adventure like this in which both of you must work together to cause distarctions, trying to fix a beat-up car, carrying a simple gas station robbery, and escaping from a hired hitman. Occasionally, there will be button promps which has both of you busting through a door at the same time, climbing up a wall, and so on. 

Much of the game's segments has the pair working

together to bring down enemies.

 At times, you and your partner must choose to go with either Leo's more violent choices or go with Vincent's less confrontational ones. Aside of some extra lines and scenarios, these choice are mostly linear as they'll lead you to the same outcome regardless. There are also action sequences where you have to shoot enemies during chases or while riding bikes but the aiming is on the slow and heavy side, which shows as it makes the game's near-final out against hordes of enemies a pretty tedious. That being said, the co-operative aspect of the game shines the most in the hospital act where the camera seamlessly transitions in all sorts of ways between Vincent and Leo as they try to out run the police. The whole act was brilliantly executed-- mainly due to Fares' directorial experience-- and there was one little segments where the game plays like a 2D brawler akin to the early NES games. Additionally, A Way Out has a lot of competitive mini-games the duo can take on such as a game of Connect Four, a Pong-styled arcade game, baseball, arm wrestling and the list continues. Aside from talking to NPCs and they serve fun little distractions when exploring the game's rather small environments. 

There's lots of mini-games that give out a competitive

vibe between you and your partner.

 The game also packs some clever and well-hidden Easter eggs and references to Fares' previous works such as Brothers and films such as Shawshank and Scarface. There's little-replay value aside from going for the game's second ending and exploring some of aforementioned alternate paths. If you beat it once, then you've seen most of what the game offers as well. A Way Out does well with its 70's-inspired setting. There's a lot of detail in the game's small environments and everything look like its well put for the most part. It could have used a little bit 
extra polish with some its car models though. Voicework is good, with lots of commendable performances and Fares interestingly providing the voice and likeliness for Leo. The soundtrack is also good though nothing noteworthy.

A Way Out has some good performances 

accompanied by a decent presentation.

 While not without its missteps, A Way Out is a well-put passion project and is one of the year's most unique experiences. It didn't shatter my expectations as I thought it would and the characters weren't memorable by any means, but towards the end I found it to be an overall solid ride. Should you find a competent partner, A Way Out is an engaging adventure with some memorable moments and solid gameplay set-pieces that will hook you from the start all the way to the grand finale.