[PlayStation 4] Exitman Deluxe Review

Exitman Deluxe from Rainy Frog, Sanuk Games, and BlueCreator is a fast-paced dash to stay alive. Learn more in our Exitman Deluxe review!

We’ve all seen those exit signs with the green man running in the direction of the exit. Have you ever wondered where he is in such a hurry to go? What was the driving force behind his ineffable haste? No? Neither have I, to be honest, but Rainy Frog, Sanuk Games, and BlueCreator feel that this is a story worth telling. And here we are with Exitman Deluxe on PlayStation 4. Is it a game worth playing? Short answer? Yeah, why not?

What is Exitman Deluxe? Well, at some point in the late 2000s, there was a TV show called “Hole in the Wall.” The basic premise was that players stand at one end of a runway and a wall with a shape carved into the wall moving towards them, and the players have to assume the shape to avoid getting hit by the wall. That is essentially what Exitman Deluxe is. The sky is falling, and you have about 2 seconds to run to the only safe spot left on the field. As waves progress, the time to react becomes shorter.

At first glance, a game about being in the right place at the right time cannot really be stretched to a full-blown experience, but the folks at Rainy Frog should be lauded for making a fair go of it. For this Deluxe edition, you have access to a couple of modes. There is the basic game where you just need to make it to the exit as many times as you can before you get squashed by the sky. AI versus where you play head-to-head against the AI to see if you can survive the longest. If you find that too unsociable, you can play local multiplayer between 2-4 players. But the most intriguing mode is the frantic 100-1 mode, where you play against a ton of AI-controlled opponents in a Battle Royale to see who can be the last man standing as everyone is whittled down until you get to the last one. Credit to Rainy Frog, they took a simple premise with little room for maneuver and tried to roll with it. There are even over 100 challenges to sink your teeth into if you somehow manage to have your fill of the main game.

With all of this “variety,” it is very easy to get an understanding of what Exitman is all about in one sitting. If you are skilled enough, it is possible to complete the Platinum trophy in about 2 hours or even less, and that is because, for $4.99, you don’t have much to do. But then again, for $4.99, you get way more than you normally do from mobile games making their way up to consoles. There are only so many times you can avoid a falling sky before it becomes tedious. This is more apparent when playing against the AI.

Against other players or the AI, the game is just a sudden death bout to see who can survive the longest before the other gets crushed but should play against the AI. On harder difficulties, it starts to feel as if the AI has an element of pre-cognition and is able to pre-empt the safe space and land in it before it even appears on the screen. By that point, you, as the player, are just waiting until you make a mistake before you lose the match. A simple altering of the rules – i.e., whoever lands in the sweet yellow spot the most in a given timeframe wins.

Have I not mentioned the “sweet spot?” Okay, in each safe space, there is an additional smaller area that if your character can land in, they get a coin. Coins are used to buy cosmetics…and that is the jist of their purpose. Yes, you can dress up your little Exitman in an abundance of wares, but ultimately it just feels as if the “sweet spot” (not actually called that) is a little underutilized. Yes, in the Challenge Mode, you get missions that ask you to get a set amount in a run or to avoid a set amount, but it feels like more could have been done. For example, in 100-1 or multiplayer, adding power-ups people can use after getting a fixed amount of exits, power-ups such as a banana peel to trip up opponents to make the overshoot the mark, momentarily swapping their left and right inputs…

Let’s be honest, this is probably asking too much from a game about a falling sky, but the glaring potential missed is just too hard to ignore. Instead, the game just ends up running its course all too quickly. Now that I think about it, the controls seem to be a little imprecise… and you only really have two. You move left or right to run back and forth to avoid being crushed. Whilst, for the most part, the controls work as intended, sometimes they feel a little floaty, and you sometimes find yourself running a little too far beyond your desired stopping point. In this game about microseconds, such feelings are not helpful. This is likely a bug of some sort or a hangover from its mobile days, but I found myself needing to turn off the vibration for the controller in the game. Though the game gave me the option to do so, nothing actually worked. The controller just continued vibrating with impunity, with no explanation for why this was.

In fairness to Exitman Deluxe, it is not all bad here. This is a game that understands its design brief and excels. The visuals are pretty neat, and the color scheme and animations of the little exit folks are adorable, but for me, the best thing about the presentation is the music. This is normally not my style of game, but with such charm and style coming from this game, you cannot help but acknowledge its earnestness, making it an easy one to give it a go at its $4.99 asking price.

Disclaimer
This Exitman Deluxe review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by RainyFrog.