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Trapped! Escape Room presents...
"OPERATION X-13 ONLINE"
(REMOTE VERSION)
► VENUE AND GAME INFORMATION ◄
🏢 COMPANY: Trapped! Escape Room
🏘️ ADDRESS: 4760 Polaris Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89103 | Google Map
🗾 COUNTRY: United States
🕹️ GAME: Operation X-13 (Online) (Remote Version)
💻 WEBSITE: Game Info | To Book This Game
⏲️ TIME LIMIT: 60 Minutes 💬 DIFFICULTY: N/A (Official) | Medium to High-ish (Mattster)
👨👩👧👦 CAPACITY: 2 Connections to 6 Participants (Recommended Max)
🔐 GAME TYPE: Private
💰 PRICING: $59 For 2 Connections, $15 For Each Additional Connection
► PREMISE AND OBJECTIVES ◄
Official Premise (from Trapped!): You have discovered the president of the evil Cybortek corporation has secret formula X-13 hidden in his office. Can you guide the Resistance’s newest recruit to sneak into the high security headquarters, to steal the formula while there is still time?
► ROOM ESSENCE AT A GLANCE ◄
📚 NARRATIVE: Enticing heist quest in the "Sector 13" universe
👀 VISUAL: Clean, slick, practical/realistic type for Cybortek corp
🧩 PUZZLE: Gen 1 logic but presented beautifully with tech based input
🧠 IMMERSION: Very engaging; screamed-out-loud excitements!
🎮 REMOTE INTERFACE: Professionally designed, intuitive
🏪 VENUE: N/A
💁♂️ STAFF: I'm a fan of the company, warm and welcoming
💭 OVERALL: Excellent with good pricing, not simply a remote port!
🎟️ BEST FIT FOR: At least medium experience, theatrics/humor lovers
🎫 IDEAL TEAM SIZE: 3-4 experts, up to 6 beginners
actually LOL'd IRL in X-13 for many, many times.
"Operation X-13 (Online)" officially joins the "MUST DO!!!" rank!
► HELP NEEDED: BUMBLING RECRUIT AWAITS ◄
I am a big fan of the Trapped! Escape Room brand. Early on, in my initial exploration of this hobby, I discovered a Disney-esque, family friendly gem of an escape game called "Down The Rabbit Hole".
The quality of "Rabbit Hole" hooked me, and I've played every single game located in Southern California from Trapped! in person since. (If interested, you can find the older reviews for these games at the bottom of this page.)
I was quite curious when Trapped! announced its release of "Operation X-13" (remote version). Having already played the physical one, I am now in this unique position of reviewing something that I've already seen.
Or so I thought.
Operation: X-13 | Trapped! Escape Room (Las Vegas)
X-13 tells the story of Cybortek's evil plan of creating a synthetic substance that can turn anyone ordinary into a ruthless, mindless killing machine.
We gotta sneak in HQ, steal the recipe, titled "Formula 13", and get out. So, of course, for a mission with such significance and wager on the table, we send in the new guy on his first day.
But luckily, you're far from being a novice at stopping villainous plans. You, at the central command, will guide this bumbling, fumbling, clumsy agent through visual and audio feeds, along with an inventory and supplementary info screen, all via the courtesy of the latest spy gadgets.
In my second attempt at "Operation: X-13", though the pre-game premise was exactly the same, the story played out much differently than I expected. For one, I wasn't the inadequate trainee that tripped the security sensor.
Damn it, recruit, now we only have 1 hour before everything goes to itsh.
Perspective of our avatar, a first-time recruit | Trapped! Escape Room (Las Vegas)
Having to rely on someone so green at his job seemed frustrating at first, but as time passed by, I couldn't help falling in love with this wonderful character that Trapped! had newly implemented!
Not every protagonist needs to be a Kim Possible, all right? Sometimes, we love ourselves a Ron Stoppable. Much like your little brother who's trying his best but just not yet quite there, the constant exchange from command to agent was nothing short of humorous delight.
And here lies the main charm of X-13 online--giving the avatar a real persona that your players can actually enjoy talking to, relate to, and invest emotions for. He made silly remarks, displayed physical/action comedy, and expressed an array of emotions through voice acting.
Never once did I feel like he's going off a script, though he was probably given one, something that I much appreciated. I lol'd on many occasions!
This avatar not only exists for the logistics for remote escape room-ing, he is very much part of the plot, and he draws you into his world. Even if my entire team was physically behind computer screens, I felt immersed!
Operation: X-13 | Trapped! Escape Room (Las Vegas)
But of course, his brilliant acting wasn't the only thing that made this game come together.
Besides our live feed, we were also given a command central interface. On this screen, we had access to a 3-D 360° panoramic view of the location, an inventory of all key items we found, and other useful options.
(Information is unlocked via password given by the recruit, in the guise of "intel transmission".)
The interface control was one of the most professional looking and easiest to learn so far. Key items collected were added via passwords, but automatically removed when used. I dunno what's going on behind the scene, but on the consumers' front, everything ran as smooth as butter.
Interface (Recommended for Chrome, not Safari or Internet Explorer) | Trapped! Escape Room (Las Vegas)
When combining the two aspects mentioned, I pretty much felt like this was up to 90% of actually being there. Bravo.
Puzzles were more or less identical to what I've experienced in person, though now with a second run-through, I no longer felt like I missed out on things that I didn't get to participate during the in-person game.
An added benefit of using the inventory screen was that, everyone teammate had equal reach to every piece of information. Thus, we could solve multiple puzzles at the same time, or we could all look at the same riddle together without obscuring each other's view with our big heads.
Enthusiasts, you know that happens.
Sample of the panoramic view and sneak peek of inventory | Trapped! Escape Room (Las Vegas)
And to say I could beat the game because I already knew all the solutions would be inaccurate also. Per owner Richard, multiple changes had been made since the last time I visited, and truly, there were noticeable missing components and additional new puzzles in my virtual experience.
Treat this online version a much more refined edit of the original game, if you will. Any flaws that I could once criticize are now gone.
Note: certain parts of the original game were modified to better fit an online setting, Some physical actions that are otherwise fun to execute on site, would not quite make sense through Zoom. This compacted the experience and made the game play more fluid.
Furthermore, there were a couple brand new, online exclusive elements that caught me by surprise. It was at these moments that the players got to really, and I mean really, interact right in the heart of the action.
Obviously, spoiling any of this would be a huge disservice to both my readers and Trapped!'s potential customers, but I will tell you, it was these moments that rallied up my team to the greatest magnitude!
Emotions ran high, and as a result, this conclusively made me decide my online adventure was actually superb--yes, you read that right--to my past irl game. Say whattt?!
And that's really saying something.
Operation: X-13 | Trapped! Escape Room (Las Vegas)
To quickly touch on every topic, surely, I have to discuss the puzzles.
The game was set up in an overall linear narrative, but if you were to divide the story up, to an intro, a middle body, and a conclusion, each subsection had puzzles that could be tackled simultaneously.
Difficulty varied across the board, but prior experience is recommended for the harder brainteasers.
Much like most other remote escape rooms, these challenges involve brain work, some more intensely than others. These was also a little bit of "follow directions" and a little bit of easy searching.
The hardest puzzles are somewhat "gen 1 logic" based, but the process of solving and solution input are often tech based.
Overall, this is the perfect marriage of actual puzzles and "tasking", something even more impressive now that I see it achieved remotely.
In the current market of remote escape rooms that often rely on solving gen 1 puzzles then opening combo padlocks--because that's perhaps the easiest route to go within the confines of Zoom--I am happy to witness, and also to highly recommend, something that stands out from the crowd.
Operation: X-13 Online | Trapped! Escape Room (Las Vegas)
"Operation X-13" (Online) ranks very high on my list of remote games, and though I haven't done many to date, I predict X-13 would remain on good standing for a good while.
To those who have never done X-13, do it now! And to those who have played X-13 in person before, it's still fair to say it's a different enough experience to revisit, though ideally, grab some new teammates.
Signing off,
ESCAPE MATTSTER
Instagram @EscapeMattster ▪ Facebook.com/EscapeMattster
Full disclosure: complimentary game access was generously provided for review or testing purposes. All media are sourced from and credited to rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended. In certain cases, media materials are made available under fair use doctrine of copyright law. TERX13Online.