It also doesn?t hurt that the game looks gorgeous, and has a stellar score. Even with those bigger stars, however, the game is carried by Vendetti?s voice, Michael Johnston, who perfectly captures the insecurity of a young artist trying to find his own identity.

While this may sound pretty standard on paper, the characters are brought to life by an outstanding cast that includes the likes of Jason Schwartzman, Carl Weathers, and Lena Headey. Vendetti feels pressure to follow in his late uncle?s footsteps, even as he yearns to do something entirely different, musically speaking. The Artful Escape is about a young artist, Francis Vendetti, struggling in the shadow of his famous uncle, a Bob Dylan-type folk singer who created a much-revered album. To some extent, this is because the game has a solid plot, and it?s voiced by some excellent voice actors. If you were to tell me that this music was recorded for Bill & Ted?s Excellent Adventure (itself, now more than 30-years-old!), I would 100% believe it.Īnd yet, combine these different elements, and you have a game that?s a remarkable achievement. While it sounds great, it?s also a sound that could?ve been created at any time in the last 55 years or so. It?s all about a kid who dreams of breaking free from his folkie heritage (more on that in a moment) and unleashing his inner Hendrix. There are occasionally sequences where you need to press a few more buttons, but they?re more like a game of memory than what you?d associate with most music games.įor that matter, as a game about music, The Artful Escape doesn?t do anything groundbreaking. For the most part, you just run across the landscape, holding down the Y button, while your character coaxes all kinds of crazy sounds out of his guitar. Likewise, as a music game, it?s nothing noteworthy. You occasionally bounce or slide, which is neat, but if you judged The Artful Escape by any kind of platformer standards, it wouldn?t be very impressive. Take, for example, the fact that it?s kind of a platformer ? except you really only ever move forward, and the jumps aren?t very difficult. If you were to look at any of its component pieces individually, they wouldn?t seem like much, but somehow, when you add them all together, the end result is magic. The Artful Escape is a perfect example of a whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

Also on: PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X

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