Conspiracy fails to provide an experience that survives longer than a weekend rental for even the most hardcore of fans.
Although Conspiracy is based on Prison Break Season 1, it does take quite a few liberties in presenting the original story as multiple elements are changed to incorporate Paxton into the equation. Most of the dialogue, and events that occurred in the show are present here, but often times they have been tweaked just enough for the fans of the show to notice that something has been done wrong. This is a rather frustrating experience as characters, despite being played by the original cast of the show, take on new personalities at every twist and turn. Nonetheless, the biggest fault of the game is that it assumes that both you and Tom Paxton have watched the first season in full and thus know about everything that is going on. It is baffling how Tom Paxton draws conclusions about the most peculiar things, and yet is always right. For example he, after seeing part of Michael Scofield's coded tattoo in the first chapter of the game, declares that it must be the blueprints of the penitentiary. This conclusion, which fans of the show know is true, would confuse and frustrate any non-Prison Break fan to the point where they are entirely alienated from the story, and thus makes it nearly impossible for them to enjoyably play the game. Nevertheless it is, for Prison Break fans, an engaging experience that does quite well in presenting a new take on the original story. The delivery of climatic moments is generally spot on, and you, as a prisoner in the most dangerous penitentiary in the country, are almost always on your toes for the duration of this eight to ten hour game.
Over the course of your sentence you will encounter various styles of gameplay as there is a combination of fighting, stealth and rhythm based tasks for the user to complete. These three types of gameplay are woven together in an almost free-roam setting where you, while being guided by the linear story, may take any action or path that you see fit. This is an interesting experience, and helps immensely in syncing your mentality with that of Tom Paxton.
The fighting sequences in the game are simple, but occasionally are quite enjoyable. This is especially true for the underground arena fights where prisoners fight each other, and prison guards for money. Even picking a fight in the yard can be an exhilarating experience, but sadly almost all fights end on a disappointing note as the finishers are, for the most part, laughable. They include a monkey flip move, punching your opponent in the face, and even just dropping him to the floor with minimal force exerted. These finishers never provide the satisfying feeling of surviving a prison fight. To make matters worse the combat is sometimes frustrating as it is all too easy for multiple AI opponents to gang up and beat you to a pulp without you being able to do anything about it.
Luckily the stealth elements, rather than the combat, are the highlight of the game. Throughout the nine chapter story you will be forced to lock-pick doors, unscrew air vents and dodge security on your way to achieving your various goals. The stealth gameplay, in many cases, takes on a trial and error feel as each element of security has its own manner of surveillance that you must get used too. Many times you will make too much noise by lock-picking incorrectly, or will find yourself trapped in an area that has no safe way out. Fortunately, the checkpoints are very close to each other so you'll never be forced to beat the same area over and over again in order to retry one that you haven't quite figured out. Beyond that it is important to note that when you beat a difficult section you are not greeted with a sense of relief, but rather with the feeling of accomplishment as it takes problem solving and patience to traverse through Fox River.
The third element is the rhythm based tasks that are split up into strength training and quick time events. The strength training allows you to use either a punching bag or a set of weights to improve the strength, and thus fighting ability of Tom Paxton. The gameplay is bland, but fortunately it takes less than ten minutes of training to obtain the top level physique. On the other hand, the quick time events are an engaging and suspenseful part of the game as you must react to the actions of other inmates who will attempt to push, strangle, and shank you multiple times throughout the game. These events require a combination of button mashing and precision timing to keep yourself alive.
This game isn't a graphical masterpiece, but it does a fine job of presenting various environments within the prison setting. Occasionally you will travel through the same area more than once and it, due to the varied level design, is always easy to determine where exactly in the prison you are. This infrequent repetition is a helpful feature as you are likely to remember how to dodge the technological security, but still are challenged by the ever-changing prison staff monitoring the area. However, the character models that populate these areas are rather disappointing as hair, clothing, and other key features are poorly constructed.
The sound further ruins the prison atmosphere as it is catastrophic in almost every way. All characters, with the exception of Tom Paxton, feature horrendous voice acting. No one sounds realistic and multiple characters sport a horrible and inexplicable Irish accent. Furthermore the soundtrack is never attune to what is going on in the game as upbeat tracks often appear when you are surrounded by security, and when all is well the suspenseful music begins blasting through your speakers. What's even worse is that the security alarm, a key element in trial and error stealth gameplay, often doesn't sound when you are caught in a restricted area. This unfortunately takes a lot of the pressure and thus enjoyment out of the stealth gameplay as it erodes the otherwise suspenseful atmosphere that the game has created.
Prison Break Conspiracy is, as mentioned earlier, a rather short game. It holds some replay value, but ultimately doesn't entice the player to complete any of the story missions more than once. Thus the only replayable element included is a disastrous versus mode. This mode is the two-player version of the underground fighting arena found in story mode, but is expanded to allow the user to fight as any of the main characters in any of four different locations. The primary problem with this mode is that it is overly restrictive as it, despite it being the only place where users can play as anyone other than Tom Paxton, is a two-player only mode. Beyond that, there is no way to tweak the options, and thus no way to have anything other than a bland one vs. one two-player match. This problem is further compounded by the fact that the characters only differentiate from each other in terms of their physical appearance and seemingly inconsequential fighting attributes. Essentially all fighters utilize the same finishers, movements, and style of combat within the underground arena which quickly diminishes any and all replay value that this mode appeared to have.
In short, Prison Break expands on the show's story in a somewhat engaging fashion for fans of the series, but assumes a lot about its gamers rendering it an unenjoyable experience for those new to the Prison Break Universe. Consequently it, even for the most rabid of Prison Break fans, provides little value past that of a weekend rental.