Review: Escape Cocoa Beach

RATING: 2 Keys RESULT: Win REMAINING: 30:55

The romantic vision of space travel makes us dream of being among the stars, yet we’re destined to spend our time locked in an office.

Story

You and your family are touring an aerospace facility. You wander off and find yourselves in the office of a scientist who mysteriously vanished in the 1960’s. He was studying extraterrestrial life, supernovas and intergalactic travel. His office remains untouched. You have one hour to uncover the secret of his disappearance…

There are several things that confuse me about this narrative. For one – just how many high tech aerospace facilities do you know of that are so insecure that families can just wind up in the office of a high ranking scientist? But ok, I guess all it takes is one.

It remains unclear to me if we are the good guy or the bad guy in this tale. I mean I assume we are good, as we’re trying to find out what happened to this guy so many decades ago – but on the other hand, we did just break into his office. And if we’re the hero of this tale, where is the cause for our urgency? This is a cold case some sixty years old; what difference does it make if we solve it within an hour or, say, seventy-five minutes, for example? Would we not still be heroes for doing what no other investigator could?

Therein lies the art of crafting an immersive narrative that a game can organically exist within. The trope of “you have just sixty minutes” is a crutch at best – and one that does very little to draw in the audience beyond just making them watch the clock.

Scenic

Rocket Science exists in a single, extra large space furnished to be the scientists office exactly as it was left when he disappeared back in the ’60s. As such, the space is full of dated furniture and equally dated decor. On that level, Rocket Science works.

That being said, for me personally, when I seek out a game to play, I want to be immersed into a world I cannot otherwise encounter. Something fantastical and extraordinary. As such, it’s difficult for me to get excited by something as commonplace in every day life as an office, even if it is from a (slightly) bygone era.

Puzzles

Rocket Science is full of logical and intuitive puzzles that make its gameplay flow smoothly and quickly from start to finish. The truth is the puzzles in this one are somewhat standard, lacking a true “wow” moment to be uncovered.

This is without a doubt Escape Cocoa Beach’s easiest game, and that is not at all a bad thing. We often stress the importance of a venue having a slate of games that range in difficulty level to appeal to their broader audiences.

Overall

Our very experienced team of two played this game for just shy of a half hour, but feel the challenge will be greater for newer players, making this a good place to start upon arriving at the venue. Its theme is a logical extension of its location on Florida’s Space Coast, but in truth we feel this one was a bit more “office” than “rocket” flavored.

Escape Cocoa Beach is uniquely positioned barely a stone’s throw away from Port Canaveral, the renowned cruise ship terminal – making them a great way to pass the time before setting sail. With four games to chose from in varying degrees of difficulty, this is a venue that can have a wide appeal for more casual players.