In GamerNode’s visit with SouthPeak Games at PAX East, the last game shown was the upcoming stealth/action game Prison Break, based upon the popular FOX TV series. SouthPeak’s PR manager, Aubrey, took us through the third chapter of the game, where players assume the role of Tom Paxton, an agent of the series’ mysterious "Company" who is sent to find out more information about series lead Michael Schofield.
The demo began with Paxton finding out via his new roommate that Abruzzi, the leader of the Chicago mafia, will be able to get Paxton a meeting with Schofield. Right after the conversation, a guard informs Paxton that it’s his recreation time and escorts him outdoors.
Aubrey then took over as Paxton, where she headed straight to an area with a punching bag and weight bench. She proceeded to explain how in the game players will be able to increase Paxton’s strength for fighting by doing activities like hitting the punching bag.
After the punching bag sequence was over Paxton moved on to Abruzzi. A conversation scene ensued where Abruzzi informed Paxton that in order to get a brief audience with Schofield, he would have to obtain rat poison from the penitentiary and use it to poison the pills for Schofield’s roommate. It was here when the stealth sequences began.
Paxton climbed to the small roof of a nearby building, highlighted in yellow along with all platforming locations, and proceeded along the roof. Aubrey then activated the "Focus" ability with the right trigger, which showed Paxton where he needed to go to advance in his mission.
From there, Paxton dropped from the roof and leaned against cover to stay out of sight of prison guards and other workers. When the time was right, Aubrey hit the Y button to roll from cover to cover across the road until Paxton reached safety. Paxton then climbed a ladder and slowly and stealthily unscrewed a grating on the roof right behind a rooftop worker.
Once inside, Paxton sneaked around the guards, who have a line of sight determined on the radar by a line in their blip. Paxton then entered the room containing the rat poison by picking a lock, which involves a minigame of raising the pins in the lock just above a certain level and opening the door before being noticed by nearby guards.
The importance of care in these instances was soon shown as Paxton later tried to pick a lock with a guard sleeping nearby on a desk. Paxton had opened the lock too quickly, which awoke the guard and got him noticed, resulting in an instant game over. The game then restarted right back in the same room and proceeded to pick the lock successfully.
Paxton then headed to the medical area of the penitentiary, where the rat poison had to be placed into the pills for Schofield’s roommate. Here, we saw another aspect of gameplay in Prison Break, where Paxton can tip and change the angle of security cameras he is underneath to avoid detection.
Paxton then had to enter a room with a crazed inmate, which kicked off the action sequence of the demo. Paxton was able to bob back and forth to dodge attacks while punching and kicking opponents. A body shot floored the inmate, and Paxton proceeded to finish him off by kicking him while down until he gave up the fight. After a bit of evasion by hiding from a nurse checking the situation, the mission resumed.
The game then moved to the location of the pills, where Paxton avoided the detection of a cleaning janitor and placed the rat poison in the medicine. After dodging the janitor again, Paxton headed into wall chute to complete the mission.
A cutscene followed of a quick interaction between Paxton and Schofield, followed by Paxton attempting to spy on a conversation regarding Schofield’s planned breakout with Abruzzi before getting shooed away by a guard. The demo ended as the chapter finished.
Although we didn’t get any actual hands-on time with the title, Prison Break looks promising, and fans of the serieswill likely enjoy it when itis released on March 30.
