The latest game from Sirius Games has certainly aimed to take itself over and above many other games in its genre.  The game itself is an RPG but with a large twist which shifts you from facing off against creepy creatures in a fantasy setting to a more rural and gangster setting which makes for a special outing and a welcomed change from the severely over-used stereotype people seem to associate with RPG’s.  But, if that wasn’t enough to tantalize the RPG gamers, there’s also a full-on Strategy segment which will surely remind people of games like Command & Conquer or StarCraft.

Escape from Paradise City follows the adventures of three protagonists whom throughout their lives have caused a number of issues in their Societies, therefore having them either locked up or on death row for heinous crimes.  In comes a top secret Government Agency that would like to enlist their help with the destruction of Gang-Lords and other illegal activities which are happening in Paradise City, for doing such a duty for them, the protagonists shall be offered a clean slate and immunity from all future actions taken against them.  Now, you’re probably wondering why the Government don’t deal with it themselves; well, due to the issue of the City being run by the Gangs, the Government has no real pull within Paradise City and therefore cannot go on and clean house.  At the end of the day, the Government are looking to uncover a disease that takes the regular people of Paradise City and turns them into undead zombies.  So, with your arsenal of weapons, skills and fortitude, you embark upon Paradise City to take out the trash.

Each protagonist has their own story that will slowly unwind as you make your way through the story; however, to play the game you’ll need to be ready to adapt your playing style to each one as they are all individually set with different statistics and skills that you will need to utilise.  The three protagonists are Nicholas Porter; a low-life thug who pulled off a heist for $10 million but got caught as he planned to leave the City for somewhere with a warmer climate.  Angel Vargas is a street fighter who killed a woman while in prison (out of self-defence) but was placed on death row for her actions.  Boris Chekov is probably the most interesting character as he is actually an FBI agent who specialised in organised crime, but due to his ties in crime he became totally corrupt.  He would often take bribes to feed on his illegal activities but was caught when the Agency found about his little racketeering gig.  Each character brings a different dimension to the gameplay offered throughout the game and the contrast helps to keep the game fresh and exciting.

So, what’s the aim of the game overall, well it’s for you to build up a considerable force in and around Paradise City to gain control over the respected regions.  Through doing so, you’ll be helping yourself and the Government’s agenda’s whilst you gain control of the Cities income, protection and growth, neighbourhood gang lords and other hired arms which will give you power to take on the harder parts of town.  Escape from Paradise City gives you full command over the Cities turfs and through them you’ll acquire money and new items to help you progress throughout the game.  You’ll face off against neighbourhood gangs until you get to their leader where you will try to make them surrender to your whim and thus setting you as their new boss when it comes to the business undertaken in the area.  It’s not all that simple though as over turfs will aim to take out your neighbourhood boss so that they will declare someone else in charge of the business.  As soon as your neighbourhood boss is beaten, you will no longer run that area until you take out the new boss again.


So far the game sounds like a straight-forward gangster game, but that’s far from what is truly offered in Escape from Paradise City.  The game wants you to find ways of advancing your armed help, so in order to do so you’ll need to go to seedy bars to hire people to do your bidding, you’ll need to acquire a vehicle so that you can travel long distances without all of the hassle and you’ll need to find a way of keeping your guys alive while you go around dealing with all of the important business.  Each part offers a challenge that is truly significant to your survival whilst in-game and the game is ready to throw everything it has at you in order to stop your advances.

Escape from Paradise City offers a full-on protagonist development system with which you can teach your characters specific skills you feel will be needed to tackle the tasks ahead.  With over 50 skills at your disposal to choose from, there’s certainly no shortage on how you can manipulate the game to your liking.  This system also allows you to handle your protagonist’s defences so that they become not only a better fighter, but a better blocker so that you can take more hits at a low cost.  Everything in this game comes at a price though and to use specific skills, items or weapons you will need to unlock certain skills or advance to a specific level depending on the traits learning curve.  The system reminds you of RPG skills systems where you must unlock skills by collecting a certain number of points through battling your way through each enemy you can find.  It’s an in-depth system that actually beats many RPG’s to the punch by offering some really impressive customisation only seen in big-budget titles.

The fighting mechanics reminded me of GuildWars for a good few reasons, but the biggest tip-off was the shortcut keys used to attack with.  Using the number keys (normal or num-pad) you can choose from the array of attacks shown in the protagonists HUD.  If you’re a mouse user during RPG’s, then it’s also possible just to click on the attacks icon for the desired effect to take place.  Hovering over an attack gives a reasonable description of the attack and what it takes to pull it off.  Special moves give off more information so that you can understand when they’re best used.  There are no real limits when attacking, so you’ll eventually find an attack that you like and stick with it as it requires no re-load time, this sometimes makes guns feel a little fake, but the game does give off a nice, rewarding feel after finishing off a gang of thugs.

The games camera system is indeed interesting.  You can zoom in whilst in 3rd person camera mode or switch to a 1st person camera view which feels like your playing a Grand Theft Auto game.  The change in camera is a nice change that would have been welcomed in other titles out on the market, but as a first for the industry, this game has pushed for some really interesting play-styles and camera angles that will undoubtedly help whilst playing through the Campaign.

Graphically, Escape from Paradise City isn’t astounding, but it’s not pushing itself to be a new industry standard.  Actually, I was shocked to notice that the Specification is rather friendly to PC’s which are quite old although to play it in full fidelity you’ll need as high-end as you can go.  The game ran well for the most part with only a few minor issues with shading going black over certain areas.  The buildings, cars, people and of course general layout looked crisp for the specification mentioned and it certainly seemed to work with the hardware instead of pushing it to its limit.

The game didn’t offer much on the sound front.  Actually, I didn’t notice anything catchy in the games soundtrack at all, but it’s not a big deal considering the game will keep you busy with everything else going on around you.  The voice acting was rather impressive and I was pleasantly surprised at just how walking past someone could trigger a small sound byte that beat games like Grand Theft Auto to the vocal punch.  The game certainly pushes to make an immersive experience and it certainly doesn’t fail.

Although the copy I’m playing on wasn’t the complete game (reviewers copy), I still got a fantastic few hours out of it and I for one was pleased with the game overall.  For me, a game that can run on lower hardware is fantastic as not everyone can afford to upgrade their machines every 6 months to be the behemoth of gaming.

Having never played a game of this sort before, I sat and dwelled on the sheer detail offered by Sirius Games and I must admit that even I was pleasantly surprised at how good this game was.  I’m not much of a PC gamer, but this title has certainly opened my eyes up to the possibilities of PC gaming.

If you enjoy games which are slightly off-tangent from the usual RPG and Strategy based title, then you’ll instantly enjoy Escape from Paradise City.  The game offers so much complexity and enjoyment that I’m sure that even the most casual of gamers could enjoy this title to its fullest.