Games from the Crypt #6: The rules are simple; once you go in, you don’t come out – a review of Escape from New York

Normally, games based on movies and TV shows are usually not worth writing about ; however, Escape from New York delivers.  The first thing to notice is the art on the cover, which invokes a feeling of “I wonder if this game is going to be a piece of shit or not” – it looks like the artist was the inspiration for Leifeld and his signature of distorted body parts.  Substandard artwork (excluding the fairly cool drawing of the crazies by Erol Otis of D&D fame inside the rulebook) and components aside, this game hews fairly close to the themes of the movie.  It is a little odd that everyone plays as Snake Plissken (the game tries to explain it away as there is only one “true” Snake), but for the most part it works.

The goal is to search Manhattan and bring back the President or the secret tape, each of which can be located by finding clues (consisting of weapons, people, accidents, drunks, etc.) in areas of interest.   Movement is the standard movement by die roll found in most TSR games in the 80s; however, a slight strategic wrinkle is thrown into the mix by making areas of the city have varying movement costs.  Each turn, an encounter happens with the favorites of the movie: Romero, Cabbie, The Duke, Brain, Slag, etc.  For each of these encounters, you can either avoid, befriend, or fight with the results determined by the now standard die roll + modifiers skill check that we are all accustomed to.  Innovative for the time, life is determined by the cards in your hand.  Every time you lose a fight, you lose a card – all the way down to no cards remaining resulting in your elimination from the game. 

While simpler than many more “modern” games, Escape from New York surprisingly captures the fun and tension of the movie – definitely a fun first design.  The game is almost divided into two acts – the first being everyone searching for clues in order to find the President or the tape.  Once a player finds one of these, the game shifts from being one of exploration and encountering, to one player trying to escape the city while the others desperately try to ambush them.  In a nice forcing of decision making, the most direct path out of the city is the ones through the more dangerous areas, whereas the safer route is more circuitous.  In a very nice touch, if found, a player can go to his starting skyscraper and ride the Gulfire out that Snake flew in on. 

Overall, if you are a fan of the movie, then I would say this is a game worth tracking down – both for nostalgia’s sake and because it is an above average adventure game that works on a simple enough engine.