I was skeptical to say the least, going into A Way Out. Electronic Arts have gone through controversy in the past year and some titles have failed to meet the standard of quality expected of AAA publisher. However, when I finally managed to find a friend with enough free time to play A Way Out, I was rather impressed.

The story follows two convicts, bank manager Vincent and armed robber Leo teaming up to escape prison and get revenge on the man responsible for their incarceration and the murder of Vincent’s brother. The villain is a bit disappointing in terms of characterization, especially when compared to the development of Vincent and Leo’s characters over the course of the story. It hasn’t done much new but it’s an entertaining tale for a good night in with a friend. There are also some nice nods to other prison dramas like The Shawshank Redemption.

The main characters are both likeable and the dynamic between the two is entertaining. The one set back is that the voice acting isn’t fantastic. It’s incredibly obvious that the voice actors are continental Europeans acting in American accents and it often slips especially during more tense scenes where they shout at each other. That being said, the performances themselves aren’t bad and the comedic and lighthearted moments are balanced well with the tense and dramatic.

In my twenty-three years, I’ve played through many a Co-operative game with my earliest being the very first Halo. I’ve never seen a game handle co-operative play as well as A Way Out. It’s not without flaws, but it is genuinely fun and challenging. Perhaps its biggest strength is the opportunity for couch based, split screen play. It’s somewhat of a lost art these days and A Way Out shows just how much value couch-co-op still presents. Watching your partner’s screen, as well as your own is encouraged in order to see everything in the environment. The levels themselves are very well designed, however, my co-op partner and I often found that we’d finish a section without actually knowing what the other had done. We were each very much engrossed in our own actions.

What’s nice about A Way Out’s gameplay, is that it keeps finding new ways to spice things up. No two fights are ever the same and the pacing of the prison escape is well done. It conveys the planning of the escape over a number of weeks without having to repeat every section you’ve already gone through as you progress further through the sewer’s vents and roof of the complex.

The game evokes the feeling of Telltale point and click games and Quantic Dream’s action thrillers. The combat is driven by quick time events but the tension suddenly took a turn when we realized that there was no margin for error in our first tutorial fight. When my co-op partner missed a timed button press (due to a lapse in concentration), poor Leo was hammered into the dirt.

Finally, the game is reasonably impressive graphically.  Don’t expect visual fidelity on par with Uncharted 4, but the graphics serve the game well and at times, there’s some very nice imagery. My co-op partner noticed some texture pop in and noted that the motion blur effects cheapen the overall visual impression. However, the Frame Rate never seemed to drop in a noticeable way and it had a nice, clear resolution throughout.

A Way Out is probably the best title to come from EA for a long time. Free of micro-transactions, useless pre-order bonuses or DLC. Only buy it if you have a good friend with whom you can play. The gameplay requires constant communication to get the best experience. A nice feature is being able to play with a friend online with only one of you needing to own a copy. I do hope that the game does well enough to see the development team and its writer/director Josef Fares being awarded a bigger budget for their next outing.  

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A review copy was provided by the publisher.