Escape 2042: The Truth Defenders - Genesis (Initial Thoughts)

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Received my copy from Orion in the mail yesterday. I will see about doing one of my video reviews of it, but a few things I want people to be aware of and my initial impressions:

First the cart itself is using one of the generic genesis like snap together shells similar to what Piko uses. Additionally it uses the new flash boards that Krikzz designed so the PCB connector edge is a bit on the thick side since they aren't tapered. Be careful inserting them into your console as I've heard reports of these PCBs putting too much pressure on some pins and bending them down into the console. Game came in a universal game case with insert and small typed out manual that explains the basics of the story and game play in several languages. Unfortunately due to the snap together design of these carts, mine arrived mostly intact but soon came separated when I pulled it out of my genesis after my first play session. Found out later one of the snap tabs apparently had broken off internally but I didn't find any loose plastic anywhere so not sure when it happened. I took care of this by finding some small slightly larger diameter machine screws and tapping the posts on the inside to match. Then drilled out new holes through the back case through the centers of the molded mock up security screw heads on the case.

That is the bad out of the way... thankfully the game itself...is honestly? Excellent, and I was very pleasantly surprised by that!

The videos shown of the game pretty much display the game play in full. But the game plays out similar to the game Flashback in that you control a character and have inventory of items collected and move platform style from screen to screen. However, the actual mechanics of the game play out more like N+ released a few years back on several platforms. No wall jumping, but the character control is very tight and impressive for such a little sprite! Also, all the music is PCM recorded! It does suffer from some static in music that I notice especially on the title screen and during the in game music, but it could be my modded va2 model 1 Genesis to blame for some of that. But the music itself is really well done and I found to be very catchy! I don't know exactly how many different tracks there are, but so far I've heard two different in game tracks between levels 1 - 6 that I've managed to get through so far. Title screen and Credits. And I'm going to guess that the in-game music changes after each third level? At least that is what happened on my playing of the game last night.

The graphics are exactly as you've seen in the videos. That is, it is very much pixel art that I would call refined 8-bit style with 16-bit accents. It is hard to explain, but again if you seen the videos you've seen the graphics. I personally really like this art style and find that is suits this game excellently. It is also cool to see how much animation was actually applied to the main character sprite when he is pretty much the least detailed thing on the screen. And I honestly don't mean that in a bad way at all. It is impressive I think.

The game provides a very fair challenge in that it is tough in places, but if you're patient, you can eventually figure out the pattern needed to get past a certain enemy. Because of this and the other game play mechanic of hacking the terminals, the game is also similar to that wonderful classic game...Impossible Mission. So yeah...game play style similar to Flashback and Impossible Mission with enemy patterns, with the game character movements similar to N+. I've found the game to be quite addicting so far with that "Just one more time and I know I can get a bit further..." hook to it.

I have seen at least one graphic glitch and another small bug when I picked up the 3rd pass key on the first area of the game. But nothing game breaking. Additionally, only the 3rd pass key bit has been reproducible each time.

But yeah! I'm really digging this game and very glad I decided to pull the trigger on it. I do think that for the asking price of basically $60 USD including the shipping, that the cart should be in an actual Genesis/Megadrive shell and I wish these new PCBs has tapered edges on them. Luckily my 32x doesn't seem to have any issues with this cart edge, but yeah..just keep it in mind. I also hope that future versions of the game come with a more detailed manual with screen shots and illustrated cover. And while I'm not a huge fan of the universal game cases, I do think it would be cool to have the insert include additional graphics and art on the backside so it can be seen through the case since the uni cases are semi transparent.

So that is my initial thoughts on the game and again I'm glad to have picked it up!

 

If you haven't read up or heard about the game...here is Orion's video here advertising the game. The music you hear in the video is the same you hear on the Genesis but again at lower quality, mono, and at least on mine a bit staticcy.

 

 

For more information or to purchase a copy for yourself, visit Orion's website below:

 

http://orionsoft.free.fr/

[Orion_]

Thanks for this review, I'm glad you like the game

I hope you will get soon to the second part with the mini games and other worlds.

 

About the cart and case, I'm trying to gather the parts I can

I don't have enough funds or knowledge to go to china and ask for new plastic mold, etc...

I'm just a single guy trying to create games for his beloved retro console.

If I were to design specific parts and case to make it like a real cart from 90's that would cost me way much more, and I don't sell as much as Watermelon .. (about 60 carts sold for now, when watermelon sells thousands ..)

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Thanks for this review, I'm glad you like the game

I hope you will get soon to the second part with the mini games and other worlds.

 

About the cart and case, I'm trying to gather the parts I can

I don't have enough funds or knowledge to go to china and ask for new plastic mold, etc...

I'm just a single guy trying to create games for his beloved retro console.

If I were to design specific parts and case to make it like a real cart from 90's that would cost me way much more, and I don't sell as much as Watermelon .. (about 60 carts sold for now, when watermelon sells thousands ..)

 

And I understand that regarding the cartridge shells. I really don't like having negative things to say unless warranted and with reports from others that these PCBs from Krikzz are too thick and can damage the cart slots on the Genesis, I though it should be told. I would think that if one is careful when inserting the games that this is really a null issue. Additionally, don't leave the cart plugged into the genesis and let it sit there for weeks either as that would surely bend the contacts back too far. I did get to level 6 so I did get through the first mini game and cutscene which, was quite cool. Took me a bit to figure out that on the reverse shooter mini-game, the idea is to lure the enemy ships into the passing asteroids! At first I just figured you keep dodging their shots until you get through it, but then figured out the real trick.

 

The Desert levels are proving to be more difficult for me in regards to timing things between the cameras and enemy tank guys. Additionally, I didn't mention this in the post above, but using the grenades is very tricky. You have to literally toss it and it has to hit the enemies directly to take them out. In my mind, a grenade should have some splash damage so anything close to it should be affected by it. Meaning, I shouldn't have to bullseye the top of an enemy for the grenade to do anything.

 

Also, what is the difference between the blue and red grenades? I didn't see anything mentioning that in the manual?

[Orion_]

yep, the red grenades are for killing the enemies, the blue one are for de-activating cameras (during a limited time), like in Metal Gear Solid

I understand that grenades for ennemies are tricky to use, but at least you can use the one for cameras anywhere and that can be useful/easier for some part of the game.

Edited April 27, 2017 by Orion_

[SirNyan]

If your interesting in getting a copy of this game, but your not in Europe, The Bit Station has all three versions available for sale. They're an official US dealer for OrionSoft too, so the games are sold at retail. Here 's a link to their website: http://thebitstationgames.com/.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

If your interesting in getting a copy of this game, but your not in Europe, The Bit Station has all three versions available for sale. They're an official US dealer for OrionSoft too, so the games are sold at retail. Here 's a link to their website: http://thebitstationgames.com/.

 

Interestingly the price from Bitstation comes out to be exactly the same as I paid for it directly from Orion. Or at least I ended up paying around $63 USD at the time. But yes, Bitstation is excellent and ship really quickly. Only took like 4 days from the time I ordered to my copy of Sturmwind arriving in the mail.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Just a heads up about something I found out regarding Escape 2042 on my Genesis setup...

 

First I've already notified Orion about this but thought I should mention it here as well in hopes that someone else who has purchased this game for their Genesis can confirm it.

 

I downloaded the music OST from Orion's website to use as enhanced music while playing the game since I also have a Sega CD connected up to my Genesis. However, I have a va2 Model 1 HDG Genesis and a model 1 sega CD. The game detects the Sega CD properly when starting up, but when I press the start button to begin CD audio...I just a get a blank screen with the green monitor border. Nothing else seems to happen at all. I then tested with my copy of Pier Solar and the CD for that game, and it does fire up. So I then tested Escape 2042 on my CDX and that worked properly.

 

So long story short, it wold seem that for now, the enhanced CD audio is only working if you have a model 2 or rather model 2 bios Sega CD system. Not sure about the x'eye since I misplaced my x'eye in my last move.. :-(

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I wanted to update this yet again as I just completed the game this evening. Again, this is really a fun and addictive game. The deaths aren't cheap and tricky and you always know how and why you died.

 

The game is short with really only the 3 main locations in the game. They are broken down so that the entire game is laid out to essentially 8 levels. But the two mini games are counted as levels in and of themselves as well. I have a few questions regarding some things about the game, but will ask Orion in a PM personally about that. With him essentially retiring from homebrew development...do NOT miss this chance to pick up this fun little platformer!

[SirNyan]

On 5/4/2017 at 10:21 PM, -^Cro§Bow^- said:

 

Interestingly the price from Bitstation comes out to be exactly the same as I paid for it directly from Orion. Or at least I ended up paying around $63 USD at the time. But yes, Bitstation is excellent and ship really quickly. Only took like 4 days from the time I ordered to my copy of Sturmwind arriving in the mail.

Thanks for the kind words. We try our best to give every customer a positive experience. I do apologize it has taken me so long to reply (25 months isn't that bad ?). Also, thanks for letting us know about the weird CD music glitch. I'll make a note of that. 

[PikoInteractive]

On 4/27/2017 at 10:41 AM, -^Cro§Bow^- said:

Received my copy from Orion in the mail yesterday. I will see about doing one of my video reviews of it, but a few things I want people to be aware of and my initial impressions:

First the cart itself is using one of the generic genesis like snap together shells similar to what Piko uses. Additionally it uses the new flash boards that Krikzz designed so the PCB connector edge is a bit on the thick side since they aren't tapered. Be careful inserting them into your console as I've heard reports of these PCBs putting too much pressure on some pins and bending them down into the console. Game came in a universal game case with insert and small typed out manual that explains the basics of the story and game play in several languages. Unfortunately due to the snap together design of these carts, mine arrived mostly intact but soon came separated when I pulled it out of my genesis after my first play session. Found out later one of the snap tabs apparently had broken off internally but I didn't find any loose plastic anywhere so not sure when it happened. I took care of this by finding some small slightly larger diameter machine screws and tapping the posts on the inside to match. Then drilled out new holes through the back case through the centers of the molded mock up security screw heads on the case.

That is the bad out of the way... thankfully the game itself...is honestly? Excellent, and I was very pleasantly surprised by that!

The videos shown of the game pretty much display the game play in full. But the game plays out similar to the game Flashback in that you control a character and have inventory of items collected and move platform style from screen to screen. However, the actual mechanics of the game play out more like N+ released a few years back on several platforms. No wall jumping, but the character control is very tight and impressive for such a little sprite! Also, all the music is PCM recorded! It does suffer from some static in music that I notice especially on the title screen and during the in game music, but it could be my modded va2 model 1 Genesis to blame for some of that. But the music itself is really well done and I found to be very catchy! I don't know exactly how many different tracks there are, but so far I've heard two different in game tracks between levels 1 - 6 that I've managed to get through so far. Title screen and Credits. And I'm going to guess that the in-game music changes after each third level? At least that is what happened on my playing of the game last night.

The graphics are exactly as you've seen in the videos. That is, it is very much pixel art that I would call refined 8-bit style with 16-bit accents. It is hard to explain, but again if you seen the videos you've seen the graphics. I personally really like this art style and find that is suits this game excellently. It is also cool to see how much animation was actually applied to the main character sprite when he is pretty much the least detailed thing on the screen. And I honestly don't mean that in a bad way at all. It is impressive I think.

The game provides a very fair challenge in that it is tough in places, but if you're patient, you can eventually figure out the pattern needed to get past a certain enemy. Because of this and the other game play mechanic of hacking the terminals, the game is also similar to that wonderful classic game...Impossible Mission. So yeah...game play style similar to Flashback and Impossible Mission with enemy patterns, with the game character movements similar to N+. I've found the game to be quite addicting so far with that "Just one more time and I know I can get a bit further..." hook to it.

I have seen at least one graphic glitch and another small bug when I picked up the 3rd pass key on the first area of the game. But nothing game breaking. Additionally, only the 3rd pass key bit has been reproducible each time.

But yeah! I'm really digging this game and very glad I decided to pull the trigger on it. I do think that for the asking price of basically $60 USD including the shipping, that the cart should be in an actual Genesis/Megadrive shell and I wish these new PCBs has tapered edges on them. Luckily my 32x doesn't seem to have any issues with this cart edge, but yeah..just keep it in mind. I also hope that future versions of the game come with a more detailed manual with screen shots and illustrated cover. And while I'm not a huge fan of the universal game cases, I do think it would be cool to have the insert include additional graphics and art on the backside so it can be seen through the case since the uni cases are semi transparent.

So that is my initial thoughts on the game and again I'm glad to have picked it up!

 

If you haven't read up or heard about the game...here is Orion's video here advertising the game. The music you hear in the video is the same you hear on the Genesis but again at lower quality, mono, and at least on mine a bit staticcy.

 

 

 

For more information or to purchase a copy for yourself, visit Orion's website below:

 

http://orionsoft.free.fr/

We haven't used snap ons since 2016.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

6 minutes ago, PikoInteractive said:

We haven't used snap ons since 2016.

I made that statement based on my copy of Water Margin I had received from you about a month or so prior to receiving this game. Both games used the same snap together shells. So if you weren't using them when I made this comment, then I have to guess that I received an old stock? I've not ordered anything else from Piko for Genesis since I received Water Margin.

 

Excellent that you aren't using them any longer as while the snap together shells work well enough, they just aren't that durable from what I've experienced.

[PikoInteractive]

On 7/30/2019 at 3:33 PM, -^Cro§Bow^- said:

I made that statement based on my copy of Water Margin I had received from you about a month or so prior to receiving this game. Both games used the same snap together shells. So if you weren't using them when I made this comment, then I have to guess that I received an old stock? I've not ordered anything else from Piko for Genesis since I received Water Margin.

 

Excellent that you aren't using them any longer as while the snap together shells work well enough, they just aren't that durable from what I've experienced.

Yes definitely old stock from the first run. That is all gone though.

[derFunkenstein]

Glad that Piko decided to quote a two-year-old post to necro this thread, because I somehow missed it earlier. Just bought the game based on the review from 2017.