Review: An Hour To Kill | Exit Game (Los Angeles)

Can't do proper spying without all-black get-ups ▪ Exit Game (Los Angeles)

GAME INFO

LOCATION: Exit Game (Los Angeles)

ADDRESS: 111 N Atlantic Blvd Ste 148, Monterey Park, CA 91754

GAME: An Hour To Kill

PREMISE: Come and be a part of James Bond's last adventure. James is on his last mission before retirement when he went missing. You, England's best agents must figure out a way to get through all the security systems in Military Intelligence (section 6) and the vaunted training facilities and danger room. Your mission, should you choose to accept it agents, is to find out what happened to Bond on his final mission?

GAME REVIEW

Here is a carbon copy of my Yelp review, posted originally on 01/07/2018:

I booked my game weeks ago, and lately, Yelp reviews had been negative for Exit Game. Understandably, I was a little bit apprehensive about trying out this new venue.

Also related to my nerves was that this place only offers private games at an additional fee. Since my friends and I are not made of money, we chose to gamble in hopes that we won't get grouped with strangers... We lucked out. The 6 of us got a "private" game! Yay! :D

Anyhow, as it turned out, while some patrons unfortunately had negative things occur during their visits, and while some reviews were just angry rants, Exit Game was a GREAT VENUE to play escape games. I am very appreciative that my game went smoothly, and my group had an absolute blast. Customer service was fine, nothing out of the ordinary to address, so let's move on!

The lobby was spacious and accommodated many tables and chairs, and there were plenty of board/brain games for you to play while you wait for your game to start. (One chair, however, was kinda broken. I almost fell down from it, so please replace that chair!) Overall, it's a nice lobby.

Of note, I did get to see "spoiler" relating to how groups might exit their rooms when they beat the game, because the exits were all right there, plainly visible, in the lobby... so... Well, that wasn't ideal. It wasn't such a big deal to me because I tend to read reviews prior to visits anyway, and some reviews already revealed that particular feature. Nonetheless, even so, your escape game experience would NOT be affected by this, and you shall see why!

My group chose the 007 themed room called "An Hour To Kill", and what an hour it was! From start to finish, there was not any dull moment! It was, by far, hands down, my favorite escape room to date. In the past, I tend to sign up for horror based rooms, thinking the chills and thrills that these rooms offered would be what I crave the most. Well, turned out an action packed room basing on one of the most well-known action spy flicks of all times would achieve just the same, if not better.

The designs/decors of the room (or rooms, since you would get to advance from room to room in this game, which was a huge +) were on point. Without spoiling much to you, (since these could be found on the official website), you would go from being captured and confined, moving on to your typical spy office or weaponry collection, & finally arriving at a grand showdown finale in a laser field room--everything was top-notched. I could tell the company takes much time and effort to keep everything clean, neat, and well-maintained. Not only did these props look good, many of them were embedded with the most advanced technology I had encountered so far, so the entire experience really made us feel like we were actual spy agents.

And the tech, oh such impressive tech! I really loved all the puzzles "Hour" had in store due to the tech! Given, there were still some classic combo and lock types of contraptions, but they were interspersed with other automated gadgets/puzzles, so you would get a good mix of variety. The puzzles themselves were not particularly challenging, sans maybe 2 or 3 that really stumped me for a good 5 minutes, but other than that, your seasoned escape room artists would do just fine. (Some puzzles were physical as well! I sweated during the game!)

The room was mostly linear, & it helped to narrate the story line better, so it made good sense to design the room this way. I recommend having a group of 6 or so, so no one will get bored, & everyone could work as a group to solve puzzles linearly. Too many people may result in people standing around, doing nothing, and not having a grand time!

Also, having a group of 6's ideal, because everyone's brains could fill in the blind spots or gaps that other players may have. Together, you as a whole, could conquer these challenges with super great performance. Again, some of those puzzles were so novel, so creative that I'd never seen them before, I felt really rewarded when my group cracked them, especially if it's a tech based lock, since the unlocking process was fun to watch, too!

I read from other reviews that the hint system used by Exit Game involves an actual employee's walking into your room & physically talking to you while NOT being in character, so we opted not to ask for any hint at all to avoid breaking the 4th wall. And we escaped just fine with 10:44 to spare on the clock. (We *did* have very strong players within the group.) So I highly recommend you to do the same to preserve the best gaming experience possible. Besides, if you use more than 1 hint, you won't qualify to be on the leader board! (We made it on there, of course!)

One side note: the ultimate escape for "An Hour To Kill" was out of this world. If you love escape room, you must do this one. Not an option; it's an order from M ;P

Signing off,

ESCAPE MATTSTER

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