Can You Solve The Riddles And Puzzles Of Antrim Escape 3?
Antrim Escape 3 ($1.99) by Game Hive Corp. is the third Antrim Escape game for iOS. If you've played the previous two Antrim Escape games, you'll find this room escape game to be familiar, but with all new puzzles and games. If you haven't ever played an Antrim game, I would suggest checking them out (after all, they're on sale right now). These escape games provide hours of entertainment and truly challenge your mind.
In Antrim Escape 3, the story continues in North Ireland as Emma and Ryan try to escape the castle, but this time, there is a third person involved.
You begin the game as Ethel. I won't give away who she is exactly, but you'll find out as you progress through the game, uncovering the story piece by piece. Although you begin alone, you'll eventually be able to cooperatively play with Emma and Ryan. That's one of the best aspects of the game: the combined puzzle solving gameplay.
You'll be able to tap around the screen to find keys, pieces of paper, and other such curious objects to aid you in your escape. You'll be tested by many puzzles, and mini games, in which you must use all of your gray matter to figure out the solutions. As you move from room to room, you can take some objects with you, and pass them back and forth between the different characters.
The game is not easy — not by a long shot — but that is the point of such games. Luckily, if you get stuck, you have the option of getting hints — just tap the question mark in the upper right corner.
You start the game with three free hints and will get a new one for every 15 minutes you play. The hints are very detailed. Each hint has a few pages of walkthrough for a particular puzzle; you can challenge yourself more by just viewing the first page of a hint, or read the whole walkthrough to aid you in completing the game more quickly.
If you find yourself in a jam too often, and are sick of waiting 15 minutes for a new hint, you can always pay a one time fee of $0.99 to unlock the entire walkthrough in game. But where's the fun in that, right? I found that the hints every once in a while were more than enough to get me by.
I find these room escape games to be just what I need sometimes. They really test your problem-solving skills and give your brain quite a challenge. Unfortunately, I don't want to say too much, as figuring out the puzzles and learning the story as you go is the main appeal of the game. But, in my opinion, it's incredibly engaging and will surely entertain you for hours; you won't want to put it down — unless, of course, you get frustrated with the mind-bending tasks and curious riddles.
Antrim Escape 3 is available for the iPhone only. It is currently on sale in the App Store for only $1.99. Although there is not currently an iPad version of this third installment, I hope they will add one soon or make it universal. I also hope that they will add more achievements in Game Center as there are not many at all. Adding these things would make it that much better.
Right now, the other Antrim Escape games are on sale, too, until October 31. So, if you're new to Antrim, I would definitely grab the first and second games. Although not necessary to play this game, it would be nice to start at the beginning, and get more acquainted with the story.
So, can you escape the rooms and, eventually, the castle? Prepare to be puzzled over and over again. I'm still trying to find my way out.
