Escape From Paradise City - hands-on

Angel starts with the Flurry attack style, and we soon learned Calculated Hit. Flurry launches several quick attacks that hit all nearby opponents, and Calculated Hit has an additional two-second charge time and does 20% more damage. Pairing up knockdown with Flurry knocks down several brawlers at once, but Calculated hit increased the duration of the knockdown and does more damage to a single foe.

To compliment your characters abilities, controlling certain areas unlocks Powerskills. These skills range from hailing a cab in a pinch, calling a guy with a bat to help out, placing a long-range sniper, to performing a boost-nullifying exorcism (if you control a church) on your enemies. These skills all cost power that comes from the number and level of areas you control.

Yeah, all the combat details sound intimidating, but don't worry, the basics are easy to learn and - like real gang warfare - the small stuff usually takes care of itself. Our only concerns are that more than once we completed a quest for friendly civilians and were rewarded with equipment we couldn't use yet, and it was difficult to access our inventories in a pinch. We're still excited to see a game with a limited budget shaping up so well. It's not very often that a game from a smaller developer, like CDV, to even register on the radar against big budget giants. We're happy to see good things happening for Escape From Paradise City.