As a nerd, I am pretty much required to play video games. However, my nerd status can easily come into question since I’m not overly fond of first person shooter games nor do I have the time or money to invest in massive multiplayer online role-playing games. What I do have is a love for sneaking around. I suppose it’s good that others do as well, otherwise I might have to go slinking around in the dark on my own.
To satisfy my desire to dawn a black outfit and traipse around the darkened streets, I rented the game Stolen and found it to be quite an interesting approach to an old genre. In recent years, there has been no shortage of stealth-based games; the Metal Gear series, the Hitman series, and the Splinter Cell series, to name a few.
I’ve only played the game for a day now, so my review may seem a bit skewed. The levels are huge, the graphics aren't tragic, and the controls are flawless. The voice acting is above the norm, but it’s still not perfect (what game is?). I haven’t seen enough of the story-line to determine if it’s any good, so all I can say is that there is one there. The games hasn't received the highest of praise from the "experts", but I prefer to make my own judgements, thank you (which leads me to wonder why you're even reading this).
The premise behind Stolen is that you play a cat burglar with a plethora of high-tech equipment. As such, your job is to infiltrate, snatch, and get out without raising hell in the process. To make things more interesting, your in-game avatar refuses to inflict more pain beyond the temporary incapacitation of an individual. As a result, you have no guns or ammo (this certainly doesn’t prevent the “enemies” from shooting at you).
To make up for this lack of the big boom boom, you do have a large array of high-tech gadgets. You’ve got devices that let you track targets (which you cannot do until you tag the target with a tracer), noise makers to distract guards so that you can go about your burgaling in peace, and a variety of other toys at your disposal. One of my favorite toys is the sonar. In Hitman, if you wanted to see what was on the other side of a door, you peeked through the keyhole. In Stolen, you dawn your sonar glasses and look through the door. If someone is making noise on the other side, it will register as an eerie x-ray looking image. You can even whistle to send sound through the door giving you an image.
Now, I won’t go into the fact that the cat burglar is a woman with a penchant for low-cut clothing. Just know that occasionally you will find the camera in an angle that will have you looking straight down her shirt in a way that would get you slapped out here in the real world (and I assume this was the intention of the developers). Frankly, if you’re trying to hide in the shadows, you’d think you might not want that much flesh showing. But I digress.
What separates Stolen from the common stealth-based game (besides the abundance of cleavage) was the addition of mini-games that encompass major functions in the game. For example, to open a lock you have to match the shapes of tumblers to the shapes of your lock-picks and apply the proper pressure in order to pick the lock (usually while a guard is looking the other way). There’s also computer hacking which involves a kind of memory game and steel cutting which involves thumb to eye coordination. Let’s not forget you can pick the pocket of guards (and you have to in order to achieve a perfect score).
The levels (so far) are very linear. You typically will only have one way to go or accomplish a task. I would’ve preferred a more verbose environment like in Hitman, where there were literally hundreds of ways you could accomplish your mission. The enemies are also quite stupid, often walking past you simply because you're in a shadow even through the area behind you it fully lit. Shadows also seem to occur exactly where they need to be, and the guards are obviously color blind because they can't see the protagonist's glowing glasses or armband.
The abundance of checkpoints is awesome for people without several hours to spare, since you can save the game whenever you reach a checkpoint (though when the game is restored, you’re not always in the most convenient of locations). That way you only need to play for a few minutes at a time. Sure, it might take days to get through one level, but it’s not like you’re in a hurry.
If you like sneaking around, you may like this game. If you like stealing things, I guess you need help, but this game will be right up your alley as well. If you prefer to hop out of the shadows with gun-a-blazin’, you might need to take a pass on this one. From what I've seen so far, I'd say wait till it hits the discount shevles or rent it. The concept is quite interesting, but it's definitely not a game you can't live without.