Разработчик: GATO STUDIO
Описание
Episode 3 in the AR-K universe!
Help Alicia Van Volish to flee from District 8 and discover the source of the mysterious Golden Sphere in an adventure full of mystery, acid humor, hilarious characters and sci-fi. Immerse yourself in a classic point and click style, with great history written by award-winning comic writer Greg Rucka.
- Script written by Greg Rucka: enjoy a story of mystery, humor and romance created by the winner of four Eisner Awards and renowned comic writer Greg Rucka.
- Enhanced gameplay: new inventory systems and dialogues, thanks to the players' feedback in the first two episodes.
- New locations: more varied backgrounds, sci-fi designs and more dynamic world than in AR-K 1 and 2. Much more quality to give life to District 8 places.
- New charismatic characters ... and some already known in AR-K universe: a crazy scientist, a gambler and a lot of cardesians will join Alicia and Franky on his adventure through this adventure.
Поддерживаемые языки: english, spanish - spain
Системные требования
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7/8/8.1
- Processor: Intel/AMD Dual Core or similar
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1GB
- Storage: 4 GB available space
Mac
- OS: Mac OS X
- Processor: Intel Dual Core
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1GB
- Storage: 4 GB available space
Linux
- Processor: Intell/AMD Dual Core or similar
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1GB
- Storage: 4 MB available space
Отзывы пользователей
After playing AR-K 1 and 2 back to back I found the change in art style for this game hard to adjust to and the overall story wasn't engaging enough.
Much tighter than episode 1 and 2 in terms of intuitiveness and functionality! The story is great too, and all the characters are likeable. This was a great point and click adventure, exactly what I wanted.
don't spend you'r money on this shit of a game. i haven't gotten past the first room yet, but i dont feel like i have have too. the Cutscenes are really show, and it does not need to be there for every damn action you do.
i will never play another game from this game studio. wasted money and 20min of my life. DONT BUY!
It was OK, overall I enjoyed it, its still a bit clunky but certainty a lot better than the previous two episodes.
Pros
- the voice acting is great
- Fast travel works really well, very quick, no loading
- Graphics were pleasant enough.
- Story is quite interesting even though its a bit silly. They can build a gigantic space station but can't manage some basic automation. What about just putting the controls for the power plant on the surface and manage it remotely. If there is maintenance work required then how about robots or even guys with hazmat suits. Why not vents any fumes into space so the power plant area could be non toxic in the first place. There was absolutely no need for a huge population to be trapped below the ship and being exposed to toxic gases.
- Saving/loading works really well, nice and quick and there are multiple slots.
- Click to skip dialogue.
Cons
- Although the fast travel is really good there is no run or teleport so it can take some time to walk across the scene.
- There is no show all hot-spots tool as far as I know.
- Some of the puzzle design is kind of odd and I did have to resort to try everything with everything on a number of occasions. There is a part where you need to open a safe and the guidance for the combination is too vague in my opinion i.e. there could be many different possible answers so you have to try several different combinations and hope that you land on the right combo. After several failures I thought I must be missing something and lost several hours. Another part that I got stuck on was getting past the block to the canal. There really was no clue that using the remote would lift that block i.e. there was no signs of anything mechanical or electrical in relation to the block itself. Now maybe if it had let you interact with the forklift instead that would have been different but the hot-spot was on the block itself. There is a puzzle involving a murder mystery and again the information is too vague and ambiguous. Luckily its extremely easy to brute force this one. Finally the item that finally allowed to me to get into the watchtower seemed to just spontaneously appear in my inventory. So maybe this is puzzle is kind of a timed thing, that the game doesn't let you complete until a certain part of the game.
- Some voice over and subtitles seemed to be mismatched.
- Subtitles can't be disabled.
- The conversation system fades out topics that have been used but the effect is too subtle i.e. its very hard to distinguish between active and exhausted lines of questioning. Also sometimes the topics become active again but there is no new information.
Is The Great Escape better than the chapters preceding it? Yes. Unlike the garbled mess that was the first two chapters, it has much better direction, a good throughline in its plot, and puzzles create a cohesive whole. It even has a detective puzzle that I genuinely enjoyed. It is passable, as P&C adventure games go.
Thing is, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's worth playing. There are many adventure games out there that are genuinely good, making The Great Escape pale in comparison, and while there is a recap of previous chapters in The Great Escape, it is woefully inadequate. Meaning that to understand what is happening in this chapter, you have to play the previous two, and they're some of the worst gaming I've ever suffered through. There is nothing in this third chapter that makes the journey there worth it.
Not to mention that the game isn't finished. The fourth chapter is several years late at the point of writing, perhaps never coming out. With no conclusion in sight, there is even less of a reason to play this game.
AR-K isn't worth your time. Skip it.
Short and cute. Nice riddles. Wonder how the story continues.
Update: Since there won't be any sequel as the Devs abandoned this game, this leaves an ungly open ending. Hence I cannot give a recommendation.
I LOVED this game. You can speed up chat if you've already discussed something, too. I do wish we could walk quicker sometimes. You can also skip the video aspect if you've already been through that. I love everything about it for the most part but there is one thing that really, really gets under my skin and it's just one achievement. I had hoped I'd be able to get them all but that one is REAL hours.. 8 real hours of pretty much leaving your pc on bc you can't leave the screen or minimize (though I read Linux may have some luck with it) This is overuse of my laptop for no reason and no guarantee it won't drop to desktop or mess up. I'm not into unnecessary wear and tear so I won't be getting this one.
Everything else is fantastic in my opinion. I Loved playing this game and am wanting more.
NOTE: This game can be ported over to an iOS device :) Just as long as Steam is running on your pc and you have wifi connection. Sometimes I port it over so I can lay in a more comfortable position. I still use my mouse so I can mouse over objects but you can play without one with the right settings in your Steam Link app.
This game still is fond in my memories of playing it and I'm hoping to play it again. Just for fun.. No achievement goals. I, myself, LOVE these types of games!!
For more info, please read recent reviews by others! Gather your knowledge before purchase but if you like similar games as I, you'll really enjoy this.
Screenshots:
ARK: The Great Escape
(She waves *Hi*)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2497220827
Many Adventures
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2497222144
My Favorite screenshot so far of mine: She Points Demandingly (and on my profile page she is pointing at Horses which is why her caption is as it is. :)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2497223199
Love the game. The sassyness of the characters is awesome. I have clocked this game about 3 times and i continue to go back and play it again. Great graphics and story line and characters. Highly recommend this game for anyone that loves click and collect games with a twist.
The Great Escape is a huge step forward for the AR-K series and improves the game in all aspects : graphics (you can see that from the screenshots and trailer), story-telling (the story shapes up nicely and I can't wait to see what happens in the final episode), puzzles (much more logical and fun), gameplay (the user interface is a lot more intuitive).
Short version: 60%
Great Escape is a poster child of being “good enough”. It sacrificed most of its spunkiness to bring us more conventional point ‘n’ click gameplay and a better graphical style, but it also relies too much on the previous episodes to consider this a standalone game.
Long version:
AR-K: Great Escape is actually the third segment of what originally was supposed to be a four-chapter adventure game, now released as an individual product. Therefore, it is almost completely unsuited for new players—there is a recap video at the start, but the editing is too terrible to provide any information.
Beyond the improved graphical style, the most obvious change in Great Escape is how less bold it is. For example, our protagonist, Alicia—who finally got more reasonable body proportions—lost so much of her sass that she feels more like a generic late 90s adventure game heroine instead. Still, she is the only real character, because each member of the otherwise decent-sized supporting cast has too small roles and screen presence to make any impact.
Not just Alicia feels like part of a traditional point ‘n’ click but the rest of the game as well. We spend most of the playtime chasing typical adventure game puzzles throughout a new area, the AR-K space station’s sub-basement, where the shantytowns and gigantic industrial complexes serve as an intentional stark contrast to the last two episode’s posh futuristic city-state. The plot itself tells Alicia’s attempt to escape this place, and while it is incredibly predictable down to the last story twist, it is a cute and harmless enough tale to pass the time with, and hope that we can eventually see the conclusion of this saga.
After playing the first 2 episodes I can safely say that this is the best episode so far!!! The developers certainly improved the game quality in both ways: technically and direction-wise. The following points sums up the following:
Pros:
- Gameplay quality much improved from first 2 episodes
- Puzzles more interesting
- Protagonist given more depth in character
- Story development much more natural
- Render quality improved
- This episode is much more bug free than previous 2 episodes
Cons:
- A couple of minor bugs but nothing game breaking
[*] Another cliffhanger ending (At least a con for me)
I got this game in sale too along with first game so but still I'm glad that I purchased this game. To sum up if you like point & click genre and somehow played the first 2 episodes but got confused whether to continue with the series or not then I would like to tell you that this episode really makes up for the previous mediocre epsiodes. Do play this episode!!!
P.S. I got so much time logged in this game due to some crazy achievement which required me to spend some 8 realtime hours in one particular area.
Five Word Review: Short, decent, ultimately incomplete game.
Favorite Thing: Aside for the stiff animations, everything else was enjoyable.
Least Favorite Thing: The recap didn't help at all. It barely even made sense.
Playtime: ~ 3h
Enjoyment: 6/10
Recommendation: No. The story is incomplete and from a brief look on the forums the next chapter isn't even in development.
Story : good
voice acting : not bad
animation : did not like it
Puzzles : not in this game
Graphics : strange but in a good way
overall : I liked it 3/5
The first part of this adventure needs some love because it has some minor flaws but nothing to serious. The good part is, it only gets better and better! I had a lot of fun playing this game and I am surely looking out for the fourth part.
I can recommend this game to everyone who loves adventures, especially the 3rd part as about as good as an adventure can get :)
Highly recommended (and bare with the first part, its fun as well!)
SHORT REVIEW:
- Score: 80/100
- Great Story, loved the setting and the characters.
- Centered around investigations and murder mysteries (instead of purely puzzles)
- Duration: about 3-4 hours for the first two chapters (using walkthrough) and 4 hours for the third chapter.
- I highly recommend playing chapter 1 and 2 using a walkthrough. Item combinations are sometimes hard to guess.
- Important Tip for Chapter 1 and 2: to use stuff from the inventory on the scene, you have to drag it to the lower left corner in order to get back to the screen (the inventory will close itself). At that point, the item can be dropped on the scene target to complete the action. This wasn't obvious to me and got stuck. I learned it thanks to a walkthrough.
- Chapter 3 is the best and most mature part of the game. Has the best game design and mechanics. Can be played without a walkthrough. Very enjoyable.
- I still recommend playing first two chapters first! However, it is possible to skip those and watch a story summary provided in the Chapter 3 game menu.
LONG REVIEW:
The Great Escape is the third chapter in this story. At the time of this writing, chapter 4 has not yet been released, but seems to be in the works as there is a reference to a fourth chapter in the story itself.
I've played the first three chapters consecutively so I'm going to review them all in one shot to give a better idea of the whole. Note: Chapter 1 and 2 are sold in a single package called "AR-K".
Summary:
The story is set in the AR-K, a giant autonomous space station on which a utopic society lives.
In Chapter 1, we meet journalism student Alicia and her dog Ambar and follow her in an investigation surrounding odd deliveries around the university campus. We learn that she originally intended to become a cop like her father, but had to resign due to unfair charges regarding a mysterious ball. It is during this investigation that she will cross path again with people that have a serious interest in possessing that ball. The chapter ends when the investigation article is submitted to the teacher.
In Chapter 2, we learn that the teacher has published the article under his own name. Although this is clearly unethical from the teacher's part, this comes as an advantage since he becomes the victim of uncomfortable attention from those seeking the ball. Alicia will use this opportunity to continue her investigation and track down who's behind this. During this investigation, she will uncover the existence of a society unknown to her called District 8 and she will eventually fall prey to a trap.
In Chapter 3, "the great escape", we uncover the harsh reality of District 8: it is a hidden part of the station where people live essentially as slaves so that the rest of the AR-K can live in utopia. As Alicia is forced into labor herself, she meets people that have been trapped there for a very long time. She will help them in order to gain their trust and will eventually escape District 8 with the intention of revealing its existence to the public living on the rest of the AR-K.
Chapter 4 has yet to be published, but I would expect a climax ending where Alicia finally reveals the truth to the world despite mass media manipulation by key members of the ruling class.
Game review
The story itself is great! I think the summary I wrote above pretty much shows how it is neatly broken down and is building up some momentum. This is, for me, the most important part of a game.
I think what I liked the most about the game storytelling mechanics was the cutscenes. The game stands apart from many point-and-click titles that i've played by using cutscenes whenever something important happens rather than relying solely on textual dialogue. We get a much better feeling of our characters that way.
Across the chapters, I also found that the game has evolved in terms of user friendliness. For example, in Chapter 2, a fast travel terminal system was added as well as a narrator designed to help the player by providing some clues. In Chapter 3, the inventory system has been reworked, dialogues can be skipped, a fast-travel map system has been added and the narrator has been replaced with a PDA. I think those were great improvements that were much needed. Chapter 3 has the best game design in my opinion.
Also in terms of design, I don't think I could have done Chapter 1 & 2 without using a walkthrough. I highly recommend playing those with a walkthrough. Chapter 3 was a lot easier to follow in my opinion. I still used a walkthrough but I didn't read it as much. I had fun walking on my own and trying the puzzles without peeking at the solution. My favourite part was the murder mystery we need to solve in order to get the trust of a District 8 policeman.
All in all, I think this was a great game and recommend it to everyone :)
This is one of my favorite games of all time. I just love the characters and their humor. The music is beautiful, I think i've spent more than two hours at Grigor's house just listening to the music. I got to say that I'm really in to the story and I love every aspect of it. I just can't wait for episode 4.
This game is rather special... in a confusing & erratic, but catchy way nonetheless.
Story:
The AR-K is a futuristic, super-clean & high-tech environment (like a city) that runs on a mysterious power source (in this chapter of the game it is revealed what kind of power source & how this is achieved...).
The main character (Alicia) is back... with a broken leg - ouch! She somehow got herself stuck in some dump (which really happens to be an underground hidden sector of the AR-K universe - gasp!).
Her trustworthy & dependable friend "Franky" also happens to be in the neighbourhood, and helps her along the way (through use of a PDA).
Characters:
Alicia (the protagonist - a framed ex-cop & student of journalism - who finds herself stuck some place underground in this chapter)
Franky (a walking & talking "swagger" bull - originally belonging to what is referred to as the "Valerian race" - used to run a burger joint, until he ended up underground along with Alicia)
Grigor (lives underground, and ends up helping Alicia & Franky escape)
UI/mechanics:
Pretty simple, point & click style navigation. Simplified inventory (click, drag, combine items), but runs awfully slow when actually clicked... and dragged. Feels like a total drag (unintentional pun right there...).
The game progression consists mostly of some intuitive play & trial & error, with some help from Franky (by clicking his portret first, and then point-clicking any interactable surface).
This game is most suited for players of a curious nature who like embarking on a journey without having to follow strict guidelines (the objectives are pretty blurry - there's no journal to keep track of progress or anything of the like).
I often times had a vague idea of what needed to be done (due to hints dropped by the subcharacters), but wasn't quite sure how to reach a specific goal.
So players who prefer methodical, linear gameplay could potentially feel stressed by this, as you're dumped somewhere and expected to find out things on your own (with a weee bit of help from the sidekick, but that's about it!).
Though there is a map button that helps you get where you need to be without having to run around (though, IMO - it's preferable if you do walk, because you might tend to overlook certain details otherwise).
Character design & game graphics:
Alicia's physical design is... annoying. Her body is okay, but the way they styled her is flat out irritating, because 99% of the time she appears to have her generously shaped bosom up in the air, right in your face, whenever she walks. And whatever she wears apparently HAS to be ultra thin, super clingy 100% spandex, juuust so every line & curve of her body is visible and up in your face!
Because there's no other type of fabric in the world, right? And Alicia is obviously very fond of super skinny size, which really has her looking cheap.
It's anything but flattering and simply annoying - BUT, definitely an improvement from what she looked like in chapter 1.
Regardless of this, I do like her witty & acrid sense of humour (it is refreshing!).
She's quite headstrong & feisty and loves to explore. If she's told she can't do something, she'll go ahead and do it anyway.
She may appear obnoxious at first (especially in the first chapter), but overall, she's mostly an independent-natured girl who likes her freedom and is not afraid to enjoy herself. She's not exactly conservative ;).
It is heavily suggested that Alicia is very bright & smart, but her potential isn't really displayed in-game.
There were often 3D cinematic cutscenes after completion of puzzles, which unfortunately got the game to freeze up almost every single time (without crashing though). The cutscenes were mostly unnecessary, yet enticing at times. In the end I think it didn't really add that much value.
The game could have done without!
Dialogue:
Oh gee. Where do I start? Well, it's rather awkward & repetitive - almost always with a witty twist though. You just get a typical list of things to ask, and ask away till you're out of questions.
There are some spelling & grammatical mistakes though (it does help to know the developers are hispanic, and assuming their mother-tongue is different from English, this could explain the oddities - to a certain degree - in this regard).
Unfortunately, dialogues sometimes felt erratic due to faulty scripting (I always play with subtitles, and at times the subtitles didn't match what was being said by the characters, or what was said didn't make sense at all).
Conclusion:
I dropped 1, skipped 2, but finished 3, because the game mechanics were simplified in this chapter (though still aggravating due to sluggishness, but playable nonetheless).
Thanks to the inclusion of a visual synopsis, I was able to catch up on what had formerly taken place in chapter 1 & 2 without having to play them.
If you're planning on playing the first 2 chapters, you'll want to keep a guide at hand though, just to avoid any unnecessary frustrations in regard to game progression and gameplay.
Finally, I think AR-K does have a special endearing feel to it (story-wise), so in the end I liked it :).
AR-K The Great Escape is the third installment in the AR-K series of point and click adventure games. It's a bit disappointing that the dev felt the need to switch to individual installments purchased separately rather than the episodic format of the first two games, but this game is an improvement in almost every aspect over the other two. To be honest, you could probably skip the first two episodes without much trouble and drop right in at The Great Escape and still have a great experience.
The story overall was interesting and had much more of a sense of direction to it. The story that the game is telling is nothing new in the sci-fi genre, but it's told well. Most of the characters are interesting and fun, and Alicia (the protagonist) is fleshing out to become a more likable character.
Voice acting is mostly great, all actors deliver their lines with believable emotion. However, the actors could have used a bit more direction in terms of pronouncing names and made-up terms correctly (the name of Franky's species comes to mind) so that the world feels a little more real. Additionally, the humour sometimes gets a little too self-referential (the conversation with the little girl about "female characters", the guy who tells you to "wait for Chapter Four") and there was one kind of unnecessary joke where the punch line is a male character disguising himself as a woman that might bother some people.
I enjoyed most of the puzzles a lot, particularly a great logic puzzle near the end (however the text in this puzzle could use a little native speaker proofreading). Most of the time I felt like I knew what I was doing and why, which is really all I ask.
Really excellent game! I liked the first parts, too, but this really was excellent.
The graphics, dialogues and voice acting are all really first class. The gameplay mechanics have been greatly improved since the first game, as have the graphics (though I thought they were fine in the first game, too).
The biggest stand-out feature of the game is the humour - there are some lines that really made me laugh out loud. One of those lines is in the second scene - completely unexpected and hilarious.
The story gets really engaging and interesting now, and the supporting characters are a lot more involved in the story.
There are great twists and turns, and it's very well-structured.
I highly recommend this game and am looking forward to the next parts!
This game is part 3 of the series, and it has better overall polish than parts 1 and 2. In the first two installments, they established the setting and characters, though the game mechanics were not polished. The puzzles were troublesome more on account of a clumsy user interface, though this was in addition to the puzzles being somewhat obscure (i.e., just keep rubbing items together until something works).
Part 3 is a more satisfying, polished experience, in terms of plot structure, character motivations, puzzle logic, artwork, and user interface. If you want to skip parts 1 and 2, then all you need to understand for part 3 is the following:
-- SPOILERS --
The lead character (Alicia) was framed for having stolen a golden sphere, about the size of a softball. The sphere is a piece of high technology that can hold an electric charge. The origins of the sphere are unknown, though more is revealed in part 3.
Alicia has a love interest (Blaine) that works for a corporation that has an interest in the golden sphere.
Blaine has an ex-love interest whom also works for the corporation.
Alicia has a friend, Franky, who is essentially an alien minotaur. Though Franky was a minor supporting character in parts 1 and 2, he takes on a more important role in part 3.
It's great when you come to a game and it's a lot better than you thought it would be. While I enjoyed ar-k 1 and 2 and I do recommend those games to play first, this for me is a lot better - story, graphics, setting. The writing was very good and if you didn't want to read everything, you didn't need to click on that character's bit of conversation but could come back to it if you wanted. I liked the humour, and it was witty in parts. It is the perfect balance of not just a good story which is vital in an adventure game but also good interactive gameplay.
You continue to play as Alicia and thankfully she is more likable. In the first episode the OTT "I am a sexy vixen" coupled with a not nice attitude a lot of the times frankly put me off her and I didn't care what happened to her, but by the end of E1 this was mostly gone and here I actually cared and liked her.
The story continues from 1 & 2 and I loved how at the end of episodes there is just enough surprise or hook to keep you invested for the next epsiode, it is literally a cliffhanger ending (not resolved or tied up with bow) with all of them and this episode is the same.
I love the setting in this game (all new) and I got to solve a murder as well which was cool. There is also a transporter map so you aren't wasting time walking everywhere.
While you could play this on it's own I do think there would be too many unanswered questions (what is the sphere, why am I here etc) and I do think you need to play the first game (which has episodes 1& 2 in it) to know what is going on. There is a video intro at the beginning which is supposed to recap what has happened but I don't know why but the clips seemed out of sequence, and they could have done a lot better job of a recap, seemed very disjointed.
I loved the achievements in the first game, very imaginative and different but here it was mostly straightforward and some more unusual ones would have been fun. There is one though which I didn't see the point of and will be a bit annoying to do (worker one,) - so don't go by my final time re gameplay!
Thoroughly enjoyed it and I really look forward to the fourth and final episode. Thanks DEVS for a very good, fun point n click adventure game.
Дополнительная информация
| Разработчик | GATO STUDIO |
| Платформы | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Ограничение возраста | Нет |
| Дата релиза | 21.01.2025 |
| Metacritic | 78 |
| Отзывы пользователей | 79% положительных (62) |