Prison Break: The Conspiracy is a video game based on the popular TV series that recently concluded on Fox. I am a big fan of the TV series and it was a joy ride watching all four seasons. The suspense, drama, and the thrill are just a few of the things that I loved so much about Prison Break. It has been a year already since the series ended and it’s a surprise to see that an accompanying game is released now.
I’m going to admit, when I first heard that there was going to be a Prison Break video game, I was weary of its outcome. For the most part, every video game that is based on a licensed product are usually bad. I’ve seen how 24: the Game was ruined, and how weird Lost Via Domus was. Now that Prison Break: The Conspiracy is here, I have a feeling that it’s as bad as any other video games out there that are based on TV series.
Let’s take a look on the HOTs and NOTs of Prison Break.
HOT
True to the Series
As a fan, seeing the characters in Prison Break appear in a video game is a good feeling. The voices, the environments and even the character models are almost identical to the series. Mostly all of the actors that played a role in the TV series lend their voices in the game to give the characters the life it deserves. The characters in the first season will all be making an appearance in this game; T-Bag, Lincoln Burrows, Sucre, C-Note, Abrucci, Sarah, Bellick, and a lot more.
Prison Break: The Conspiracy is based on the first season of the series. You don’t get to play as Michael Scofield but instead, you are Tom Paxton, an undercover from the Company who wants to make sure the wrongly accused Lincoln Burrows dies electrocuted in the electric chair. Paxton will have to watch every move of Michael Scofield and Burrows as they are planning to do a jailbreak. If you have watched the first season of Prison Break, you will exactly know how will this game will end. Since Paxton wasn’t really in the TV series, you will notice some slight changes in the story but it is nothing major that it will change the whole storyline. With the title of Prison Break, yes, Michael Scofield and Burrows will be escaping the Prison.
NOT
Dull Stealth Gameplay
Throughout Paxton’s life inside the Fox River State Prison, he will be asked to do a lot of fetch job-quests from his fellow in-mates. This is where it gets boring; since Paxton is a prisoner, he will have to sneak his way into different parts of the prison to get the job done. For the most part, Paxton will be adopting the style of Sam Fisher where he will be climbing poles, going inside the vents, and trying to lay low so that he won’t get caught. Once a Police Officer, a Nurse, Kitchen Worker, or any of the NPC on the screen catches Paxton, you will have to start all over again from where your last checkpoint was. There is no way to fight back or anything; it’s basically once you’re caught its game over. Hold up, I thought this type of gameplay died out ages ago. Its not funny anymore I tell you. It would be good if Paxton could at least beat up or kill some of the people inside the Prison but no, you start over again until you master the skills of sneaking without getting caught.
Mindless Combat
Aside from the dull stealth gameplay, another thing that ruins the game is the combat. Think of this game as a beat-em-up type of game where Paxton has to do hand-to-hand combat. Cool eh? Not really because when fighting a fellow in-mate, you will just have to keep pressing the punch or heavy punch button mindlessly. No, there are no combos or anything. You will just have to keep hammering these punches to the prisoners until they’re done. Once their life is almost drained up, you will have to do press a certain button to do a finishing move, fail to press it and their health regains back to half.
As you progress through the game, you can enhance Paxton’s strength by working out. While you’re not doing any missions in the game, you can find a punching bag or a bench-press station where you can work out and raise your strength. After a couple of tries, you get to upgrade your strength. Honestly, I don’t see how this would help since no matter how strong I am, it still takes quite a bit of time to down an enemy.
Versus Mode
If you grow fond of the beat-em-up combat system of the game, you might want to ask a friend to join you and participate in the Versus mode of the game. That’s right, Prison Break: The Conspiracy offers an offline multiplayer where you can use characters that are unlocked from the story mode and pit them up with other characters. It is a 2-on-2 fight and it plays exactly like when you’re punching prisoners in the story-mode; same old boring beat-em-up gameplay.
VERDICT
I am utterly disappointed that Prison Break: the Conspiracy is another game that is based on a TV series that totlally sucks. Its attempt to make the game live up to the great series has failed. If this was released on the PlayStation 2 back when season one just ended, I will be more forgiving to this game. Honestly, I would rather watch Season One again than playing a horrible iteration of a TV series gone bad due to the game. Just buy the DVD, and skip this game.
[Editor’s Note: Prison Break: The Conspiracy was reviewed on a Xbox 360 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher]
