Prison Break: The Conspiracy

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $39.99
Sale Price: $37.36
Today's Bonus: 7% Off

This video game was originally in production under the company Brash Entertainment, who brought us classics such as Jumper and Alvin & the Chipmunks. You didn't buy these games? Well, that's probably why Brash Entertainment went out of business...nobody else did, either. A company called Deep Silver picked up the title, and now it's ours to own.

After my experience with the Lost video game, I figured I'd never buy another game based off a TV show. But this game had a few things going for it most of the cast came back to provide their voices for the game characters, and I found out the game was selling for a lower price than new PS3 games. So, I decided to take the chance.

PLOT:

We play a Company agent named Tom Paxton. He's been sent undercover as a convict to observe and report on Michael Scofield, a structural engineer who got himself thrown into Fox River. Anyone who watched the TV show knows how this played out Michael plans to break his brother out of prison, and the map of the prison was hidden in Michael's tattoo. In this game, we see Michael's tattoo a whopping total of ONE TIME and no, the loading screen and the title screen don't count.

Fans of the TV show will catch all the subtle references to events that occurred in the first season of Prison Break. For example, at one point Sucre had a falling out with Michael and requested a new cellmate, in the game he temporarily rooms with our character. Over the course of the game, Tom realizes that he may be getting set up.

Tom carries around a voice recorder that's about the size of an iPod nano and periodically talks to it...IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. Do I even want to know where he hid this to smuggle it inside Fox River? Not really.

GRAPHICS & MUSIC:

On the positive side, Deep Silver clearly did their homework and worked hard to make the Fox River prison look like it did in the TV show. They successfully recreated places like the genpop section, the yard, and the infirmary. I give them high marks for that.

On the negative, the characters look like wax sculptures. These are the kind of graphics you would see in a Playstation 2 game, not a Playstation 3 game. Some of the character models are really accurate, and others are way off. There's something unsettling about watching Michael Scofield talk when his speech and lip movements don't match.

I will say that the music was TOP NOTCH. Ramin Djawadi composed the music for the TV show and most of it was used in the game. I was surprised the episode coda theme wasn't used at the end of each chapter, and the "commercial" noise would have been great whenever you get caught by the guards, but those are minor gripes.

This game is rated T (Teen), most likely to open up sales to the "under 17" demographic of gamers. What's the trade off? There's no blood.

No blood...in a Prison Break game? "Do they tell Picasso 'no brush'?"

GAMEPLAY:

So what does Tom do for most of his time in Fox River? Here's a typical plotline:

[C-Note]: I need you to bring me some PUGNAc.

[Tom]: I can't get to it, the door is locked.

[C-Note]: Talk to Abruzzi, he has a lockpick.

[Tom]: I need a lockpick.

[Abruzzi]: I need a shank. Bring me a shank and I'll give you a lockpick.

Yep, that's pretty much it. For most of the chapters in this game, you're told to go...somewhere and get...something. To avoid being seen, you have to hide from guards or dodge security cameras by tipping them up to the ceiling.

Sometimes there are Quicktime Events better known as "QUICK, PRESS THE RIGHT BUTTON OR YOU DIE!" moments. This is designed to break up the monotony of the game for the low, low price of making the game more irritating.

I noticed a glitch in the game that occasionally happens when you crouch near some objects. Sometimes Tom will get stuck in a wall, or a shelving unit, or something else. It's very, VERY annoying to have this happen near the end of a level, because there's no option except going back to the last checkpoint.

FIGHTING:

There's a tutorial that pops up before you have your first fight with T-Bag, and it's pretty simple. There are two fight modes: 2-player VS mode, and single player (story) mode. There's an important distinction between the two.

2-player VS is separate from the main game. You choose from a list of characters and each fighter has a life bar, there are clear distances between them, and you can change the camera angle with the right stick.

But when you fight during the single-player story mode, there are no life bars! The only way you know if you're doing any damage is when you hit the other guy a circle with a fist shows up and it disappears real quick.

Next, you have no depth perception! You can't tell how far away someone is until their fist is hitting your face. Unlike the VS. mode, you can't change the camera angle, so you'll get whooped a few times until you learn the patterns of each fighter then it's wash, rinse, repeat time. Some of the fighters are stronger than you, but never fear, there's tutorials to build up your strength and speed!

When you win a fight, you can earn money to buy tattoos for your chest, back, shoulders and forearms. This is a tacked-on gameplay element to make Tom Paxton "look like a real convict". As I understand it, getting a tattoo in prison isn't exactly sanitary, so why is this part of the game? Oh, that's right, because we hardly ever see Michael's tattoo.

TROPHIES:

You can earn 46 trophies in this game. A lot of them are hidden, and many of them can be earned just by playing the game from beginning to end. At one point you earn a trophy for arriving at Fox River. Umm...the game rewarded me for arriving there? The game TAKES PLACE there!!!

There are some trophies that require patience, such as trying to earn $5,000.00 in prison fights, beating up 100 people on Shark mode, or trying to complete the game without being seen during all the stealth missions.

But in all honesty, do you really want to play this game over and over just to memorize the guard's walking patterns and sneak around Fox River like Solid Snake to earn the Platinum trophy? Yeah, me neither.

FINAL VERDICT:

I thought the character of Tom Paxton was scripted well into the events of Prison Break's first season, and the locations were rendered accurately.

However, the game is brought down by repetitive stealth missions, a substandard fight engine, a "stuck-in-the-wall" glitch, and low replay value.

It was a smart decision of the creators to not charge the standard price for a new Playstation 3 game. If there were extra features like a making-of video or bloopers or something, I might have rated this a little higher, but I can't give it more than 3 out of 5 stars.

If you're a PS3 Trophy addict, there's plenty of easy ones to earn here. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend this for anything more than a rental.

Click Here to Read More Reviews >>

If you have never seen the show or are a hardcore fan, stay away from this. I love Prison Break, have seen it several times with the first season being my favorite. However, this game can be passed on even if you like the show. There are some parts I love about it that remind me of cool things that happened at Fox River, and other parts I hate because they contradict how it really happened.

Pros:

* The overall plot of being an undercover agent who is in Prison to spy on the brotherss is interesting.

*Getting to see new scenes from the show, such as Tom Paxton being the new cellmate of Sucre and more about the company and why they framed Linc.

*Very easy trophies. I got one about every 5-10 minutes playing and if you complete the game it's impossible to not end up with over 50% of the trophies done. However, there are some trophies I wouldn't bother with to play again and go for platinum.

Cons:

* The characters who were not brought on to do their voices is so annoying if your a fan. Charles Westmoreland looks nothing like he did in the show and his voice is completely off.

* That doesn't compare to how terrible they made Sara look and sound. I wish she did her own voice and wasn't replaced by a blond doctor who is still names Sara.

* Repetitive missions. It's either a stealth where you walk around guards slowly or a 20 second fight where you will never be in danger of losing.

* Weird things people say that don't make sense if you watched the show. I don't want to spoil it but an example is the game starts by a guard yelling "7 inmates over the wall" when clearly it was 8.

Overall:

This game was fun, I beat it in just 2 nights and have no desire to replay it. However, it does make me want to watch season 1 again and pretend Tom Paxton was in all those scenes just off camera. If you want an easy 25-30 trophies to add to your collection, loved prison break, and have no game to play for the next few days, I would pick this one up.

Buy Prison Break: The Conspiracy Now

I bought this game because i am a huge fan of the tv show so i couldnt pass it up. This game isnt perfect but if you are a fan of the show you will love this game. Its not the most advanced game but i really enjoyed playing it. I love how they tied it in with season 1 of the show. If you are not a fan of the show i would not recommend this game to you, but if you are a fan then you need to buy it.

Read Best Reviews of Prison Break: The Conspiracy Here

I m recommand ya buy good price for deal. It's great running very good longest span than a short games.

Want Prison Break: The Conspiracy Discount?

the package arrived in good conditions and the game is good, it's the kind of game I like, adventure with missions an puzzles, I'm really enjoing it..