The Great Escape

Copyright : Ocean Software | Reviewed by : Patrick Furlong

When you see the title on this, you may be forgiven for thinking it is a licence based on the 1963 Steve McQueen film or even the Paul Brickhill book that the film was based on. However, it?s based along the lines of The Great Escape and Patrick Reid?s The Coldtiz Story trilogy of books. It is 1942 - you have been captured by the Germans and have been put into a POW camp. As a British officer, it is your sworn duty to try to escape. And in this game, that is what you must do. You must find the best times to try your escape attempt, find the objects which will help you on your way to freedom and avoid the German guards.

Graphics

A Speccy port with few colours is used here. Normally I would complain, but the colours are well used here - white on black for daytime, blue on black for night time, yellow for spotlights, red for lit tunnels. The prisoners all look alike so it?s tricky to know who you?re controlling. Likewise with the German guards - the only one you can tell apart is the camp Commandant.

Sound

A bell rings for events like Roll Call, bed time, wake up time and simular events. A bell keeps ringing when you are caught in a forbidden area or trying to escape.

Gameplay

You want to keep trying to escape until you suceede. Every time you try, you get caught. But like Number 6 played by Patrick McGoogan in The Prisoner, you just keep trying again and again until you finally escape and regain your freedom. Finding the right objects is a nice challenge and an even better challenge getting them to safety before the Germans capture you and confiscate them.