Mapcar Exit, Coventry – The Mad Scientist
No I don’t know what a Mapcar is either. Yeah I Googled it too.
Our expectations were not exactly high going into this game, having just come out of The Secret Russian Tent, but as it turns out this game is actually quite fun. Let’s get some things out of the way: “The Mad Scientist” might lead you to expect some sort of lab-based game, but in fact this room might more accurately be described as “The Astronomer’s Bedroom” as that’s literally the plot: an astronomer thinks a meteor is going to hit the earth, but everyone ignored him so he left. Turns out he was right all along, so you need to go through his stuff to find out which country the meteor will hit. Say the name of the country and you win! (And yes, you could just start naming out countries from the start if you like…)
So you’re in what looks like a bedroom going through this guy’s stuff, and you’ll find nine strands of puzzles, each corresponding to a planet in the solar system (including Pluto, just to piss off pedants). Each of these strands of puzzles is pretty good if unremarkable. It’s a small space, no secret areas, but the space is used well, you have to make the correct links between objects you find, there are a few different types of puzzles, and while this certainly isn’t a room that uses “technology” it does use a couple of devices to make it a bit more than putting codes into locks.
It’s absolutely fine. Maybe I’m being too generous, maybe The Secret Russian Tent just lowered my expectations that much, but yeah, it’s fine. It feels like a pretty solid escape room from four years ago. It’s the sort of game that, had you never played something like this before, would excite you and leave you wanting to come back for more. But it’s also the sort of game that, if you have played something like this before, will leave you disappointed by the paucity of set design, lack of imagination and all-round pedestrian nature of it.
Result – we named the correct country in around 27 minutes (without guessing)
Date played: 27 August 2017
Team: Dean, Sera, Sharon
Website: http://mapcarexit.co.uk
Summary: A decent enough game, and worth playing if you're in the area.
3
Fine
About the Author
Dean Love Dean is a professional writer who has worked for The Mail On Sunday, The Digital Fix, MicroMart and others.
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