They likely introduced this as they could gather from the achievements that some people never got past the first escape sequence and just stopped playing the game because of it. (thisgengaming.com)
Particularly in the final escape sequence, when the whole base is after you, it felt new and exciting. (newgamenetwork.com)
This game, however, is very repetitive, and has, by far, the most annoying escape sequence I have ever played in a video game. (metacritic.com)