1954: Alcatraz Critic Reviews

An innovative approach the adds a degree of non-linearity to the game play combined with a compelling story line and great visuals make Daedalic's Alcatraz 1954 a game that is hard to walk away from.

It is strange to find an adventure game that you actually want to play through a second time right after completing it just to see what you could have done differently.

The dialogue is a tad dry.

Taking place in the mid fifties, we are going to the famous Alcatraz prison where Joe plans to escape and save his wife Christine from mob gangster Mickey. In the meantime Christine has her own plans to save her neck from Mickey. By the way, where is the loot?

Whilst 1954 Alcatraz does certain things very well, it too often lets itself down.

This adventure shows some conceptually interesting ideas, but the lack of detail and atmosphere saps the motivation right out of you.

As cold as the waters around Alcatraz are, according to the game, such was my personal chill after completing 1954: Alcatraz. While I was waiting for another hit from the German studio, what I finally faced was the weakest and most problematic adventure game they have given us so far. Unfortunately one adventure game that we had many hopes for, turns out to be a disappointment.

Quotation forthcoming.

The puzzles, story and characters all were much stronger in concept than in execution.

You'll want to escape from Alcatraz all right, but not in the way that's intended.

There are choices, which is not common in these games, but then the consequences are too light, the game never gives us a “punch in the stomach” so to speak, despite the its promise to do so.

The plot and the script are surely interesting, but the adventure is short and the puzzles aren't that interesting.

Despite doing a number of things right, 1954: Alcatraz doesn't feel special.

The story of two separated characters is nicely interwoven but that’s about it. Gene Mocsy failed to dazzle us.

Solid in every aspect but outstanding in none.

The attempt to propose some more adult issues than usual and to offer from the beginning two playable characters and two different game environments are good choices, but the rest of the game (plot, storytelling, puzzles and visuals) isn't convincing at all.

This game shows a lot of ideas and potential, but uses nearly none of it. Although the story is about breaking out of the famous high-security prison Alcatraz the game lacks not only good puzzles, graphics or animations, but even a proper atmosphere of that. So the sound and speech is nearly the highlight of the game. Not the best recommandation for an adventure.

1954: Alcatraz has a great premise, but the execution falls flat.

A few great ideas are drowned in a torrent of design flaws and technical problems. I wish there were something interesting to say about this game’s failures, but they just amount to plain, old-fashioned bad craftsmanship.

An average narrative ride that's unpleasantly superficial in contrast to its true potential. Unfortunately, the creators have blocked that potential with lame graphics and average gaming mechanics. A system of choices, and replayability should have been the things that save the game. However, it did not happen.