Mission: Breakout: Underground 2099

There was so much wrong with this room it's hard to put it in a review. TLDR. Don't play unless it's super cheap. 

I can count on one hand the number of supposed puzzles in this room, two of which were pretty much identical, one cool concept which felt clunky, one split puzzle and one laminate overlay. Everything else is not able to be classed as a puzzles, simply actions. 

(Stop reading as more spoilery from this point, without being true spoilers)

The gimmick of the room was battery charge backpacks, and it was mentioned in the briefing that you could pass energy between players. This was used once, required one person and that was it. The charge feature was used twice, despite this bag being clunky having a long wire which hindered easy movement. Much of a pain for a true fun gimmick. 

Lighting was incredibly poor, with it being an active hindrance for everyone (18-25 yr olds so not poor eyesight) and progress was only possible when the GM flicked a light on at a few points in the game. Darkness should never be a blocker. Atmospheric yes. Hindering, no. 

Almost all of the technical elements felt GM controlled (even if they may not have been), and the things that didn't felt unnecessarily clunky and not smooth at all. Not the experience you want - if this is your 2nd/3rd room, this might have put you off going to other companies. 

On the topic of GM - our GM, known only as 'big cheese', seemed attentive, however briefing was lackluster for the room, it felt like she was very new (or one would hope very new). Clues came through a walkie and on numerous occasions came through once we had done the thing/was irrelevant. We found ourselves needing to ask for help when certain pieces ended up in a portion of the room which was unreachable, with sections being closed off as we went (as is this conveyor belt business model). Ludicrously poor game design for this to be possible.