Terminator 2 Escape

Before I begin this review, for full transparency I must confess that through no fault of our own the night before our arrival in Phoenix was a sleepless night. Therefore we were not playing at full escapeologist brain capacity (which is a small capacity to begin with). After deboarding the plane we loaded our wagon (rental car) for our westward trek across the desert. (I don’t know why this review just took on a Wild West theme. Maybe it’s the cactuses. Just go with it.) We rambled alone down the road past the cacti and tumbleweeds until we reached that far west outpost known as Westgate Mall. Hitching our wagon near the Cinnabon store, we mosied on over to Westgate Escape. Upon entering the establishment we quickly discarded the western theme for our trek into the future (and the 1980s past) as we were prepped for playing Terminator. Images of Sarah Connor flashed before us on the screen beckoning us to come hither and play. After the briefing we entered the room where Skynet was already wreaking havoc. The set design was nothing short of EPIC with sound effects and visual elements that immediately set us in high alert for the unfolding drama that lay ahead. Full immersion into the story was disrupted only slightly by the screams and nervous giggling of three preteen girls we had been assigned to play with. We were soon back in the game and set to work trying to prevent the imminent doom that awaited us. Each puzzle led us to the next challenge with some struggle as we attempted to prevent the destruction of the human race. Much to our dismay, we need much more assistance from Sarah and John Connor than we had anticipated as several of the puzzles seemed to be less than comprehensible to mere humans like us. The Connors however proved masterful at pacing with timely hints and workarounds to keep us moving forward. Our game ended with a display of terminator strength that had us shaking with shock and awe (and more than a little uncertainty over whether we won or lost). Regardless, the game was over and this little representative sample of the human race had survived to live (shop) another day at Westgate Mall. We bid farewell to the future and mosied on to our wagon and the desert highway. Pros: Set design makes for an awesome immersive display with lots of surprises along the way. Fun and unique puzzles. Cons: Some puzzles may need a bit of reworking to help make them more intuitive and improve game flow. The set design alone makes Westgate Escape a must visit escape room in the Phoenix area!