Yes, the Running Man + Treasure Hunt + Escape Game combo has made its way to KL! We have previously played the Penang version of Ghost Bomber, and it was an exciting experience which is impossible to reproduce in a closed room setting most of the other escape games are. Read our review here of the Ghost Bomber game in the Gurney Plaza’s outlet of Break The Code +.
This time, we also decided to do something special. After hosting our Facebook group, Escape Gamers Malaysia, for over a year, we decided to organize a small meet up. Our aim was to bring together escape game enthusiasts, at least from the Klang Valley, to come out and get to know each other. We have also noticed that there are plenty of escape gamers who didn’t have enough numbers to form an effective team. So, we thought a meetup like this would be great to pull folks together, form teams and play a few games~
In the end, we managed to form a team of 6 this time, which is a good number for a game like Ghost Bomber. First of all, if you do plan to take on this game, remember to come in comfy walking/running shoes. There will be ALOT of walking back and forth between the new and old wing of One U mall. We had to run between Gurney Plaza and Gurney Paragon in the rain last time, and I naively assumed that One U will be easier as it will be all under one roof. And how wrong was I! Even with 6 of us, sometimes being split up to look for separate clues, we still did A LOT of fast walking around. But don’t worry, there will be some food as part of the game to keep you fueled up.
The premise of the game is still the same. There was a bomb planted somewhere, we had to find the clues to diffuse the bomb, and also identify the suspect terrorist who planted the bomb. Unlike the Penang game, we weren’t shown the bomb upfront, so kinda lost the wow factor a little. There were less puzzles here compared to the Penang game, but we ran around a lot as one of the puzzle took forever to solve due to some ambiguity in the presentation of the clues (real world objects, not clues set by the designer). Still, the game felt a little short due to the smaller number of puzzles. Also, the puzzles are different between the two outlets, so it’s ok to play both.
My favourite part is how the separate clues become important in the end to assist in identifying the suspect. Although the puzzles and clues are not entirely sophisticated, the attempt of pulling everything together in the end itself is a good effort.
If you do plan to try this game, we would advice you to avoid peak hours. Certain activities within the game may require some waiting or queing time during busy periods, so this may eat into your previous 90 mins game time. However, the game operator kindly extended our time slightly to cater for such unforeseen circumstances.
In all, we had a good time, and a good game for our first meet up of having different gamers playing together for the first time. We made it tops the chart for the month, clocking in at ~72 mins. Post-game, we went for our nom, and continued for another game of Avatar. We had a little hiccup on the customer service sides of things, but this will be a separate story on its own.
So, do watch out for our next meet up and join our group at Escape Gamers Malaysia ~ (yes, shameless self-advertising).
Go check out the game from Break The Code +
Ghost Bomber
Pros
- Running round the mall
- Deactivating a bomb
Cons
- Small number of puzzles
- Ambiguity in some clues
- Time needed to queue for certain task