Almost feeling like a throwback to the days of classic
Lucasarts, Stick It To The Man! is a
strange and rarely seen breed of video game. Combining together elements of
platforming and point-and-click adventure, it’s driven primarily by its art
gags and visual style as much as its mechanics. While not the most perfect
balance of all these elements, it none the less proves to be an interesting
ride from beginning to end.
You play as Ray, whose boring if relatively happy life with
his girlfriend Arlene is rudely interrupted when an object falls from the sky. Awaking
in hospital, he’s revealed to have a giant florescent pink object sticking out
of his head no one else can see. While giving him the beneficial powers of
telepathy and mind manipulation, it’s unfortunately soon proven to have a few
catches…
Every mechanic surrounds his hand from grasping onto the
various tacks which hold together Ray’s papercraft world and fling him around
to picking the brains of others. This assists with the platforming, which is
unfortunately often basic if serviceable, but it’s with its other abilities the
fun begins.
The title’s name refers, at least in part, to Ray’s ability
to use stickers to outwit his foes and misdirect them. Doing everything from
planting his face on an enemy agent to putting people to sleep, you have to
often stop and think about what you are doing rather than just rushing ahead.
This introduces many stealth elements and tactical planning, which come across
fairly well. Not to mention the stories behind the puzzles themselves are as
nuts as you’d expect. Just wait until you get to the one with the crocodile.
Unfortunately, there are two failings. The first is that the
tutorials do a bad job of explaining what is what. Most of the time you’d do a
better to just guess and go from there, as many prove to be surprisingly
unhelpful. This goes double for the PC port which has more than a few notable
issues in this regard. The other is the reliance upon cut-scenes. On the one
hand this is where the game shines with great writing and voice acting. On the
other the game is sometimes so full of these it makes Beyond: Two Souls look reserved, often slowing down the plot.
They’re fun to be sure, but you can probably watch a compiled video of them on
Youtube and have as much fun. It just lacks feelings of interactivity.
If you’re after something surreal and different from the
usual brand of titles, give this one a look. It’s far from perfect and don’t
expect to play though it more than once though.
No comments:
Post a Comment