It's all about the gameplay
The game starts with a couple of tutorial levels with Mr. Esc (the main character's name), a professional rescuer. At first you'll be forgiven by thinking that this is nothing but a click-here, go-there, switch-that, kind of game. But spend time with it and you'll discover that it's a very challenging title.
You pretty much live up to Mr. Esc's job description of rescuing people like mature, kids, fat, and injured ones. Animals like dogs are part of the cast as well. A mature person can do most of Mr. Esc's moves, but a kid couldn't climb or drop as much. A kid however can crawl and reach tight places like dogs can. A fat person can push objects that a regular person couldn't but will need assistance climbing high places. All of the characters mentioned have pros and cons and can be used/controlled to help our hero find a way to reach the "exit" door. There are items/elements like fire extinguishers, smoke exhaust fans, keys, ladders and ropes, boxes, barrels, water, ice, etc.
The excellent and imaginative layout of levels made all the difference in this game wherein it forces the player to think smart and quick at the same time. The AI however is a bit hit and miss and sometimes couldn't find the correct route when asked to follow Mr. Esc unless you manually point out the directions.
The game doesn't have the best looking graphics, but looks great in an artistic way. The animation is also pretty convincing and smooth. The sounds however is a bit flat which is obviously the result of compression. Given that the game's graphics isn't top-notch, it could have made it up by providing us with better quality audio. Voice acting are often times acceptable but some female characters sounds like they were done by a male person. And it's kinda irritating to hear when she repeatedly yells "help me, help me" as you try and rescue her.
The controls are defaulted to the touchscreen but can be switched to buttons inside the options menu. None of the two in my opinion is better as long as you have mastered how to use them. And you can always go back to the tutorial levels to learn how to use the currently set control scheme.
I would have given this game a higher score if the graphics and VO's were a bit better/convincing. The gameplay on the other hand is still good enough reason to give this title a "Great" rating of 8. I recommend this to anyone who enjoyed playing N+. This game offers a much deeper strategic gameplay that is excellent in short bursts.
.:My reviews are only as good as everyone else's. Take every single one of them with a grain of salt:.