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In a city plagued by crime and corruption, heroes are found
on the wrong side of the law. Anya Romanov is a sexy, high-tech
thief; Louie Palmer is the voice in her ear - her advisor,
confident and friend. When an everyday job turns sour, they
find themselves drawn into a web of conspiracy that will shake
the whole city to its foundations...
As
the opening sequence to Stolen starts playing, all
impressions are of a well polished game. The graphics look
the business and the music is fantastic - almost filmic in
its deliverance. Then you start one of the most annoying tutorial
levels we've every played - more of that later.
The
best way of describing Stolen is like a less polished
version of a Splinter Cell game
with some of the elements of the Prince of Persia series
thrown in to the mix. But, before you dash out to buy Stolen,
a word of warning... It's not actually very good. And that's
the surprise. All of the elements that should have made this
a hit are all there, it's just that somewhere along the way
someone forgot to add any solid game play.
What
we are presented with is a rushed game that is a total nightmare
to play. As I mentioned previously, the tutorial - which by
its very nature should be there to help guide you through
the controls and feel of the game - is just confusing. You
get to learn the basic controls, but no introduction to your
weapons or different views. This means that when you start
the first level you really are thrown in at the deep end.
And
that's another point worth raising. Level one - traditionally
an easy level to help you get used to everything you've just
discovered in the tutorial - plays like a hard level for any
other game. And, because you have had no weapons training,
everything is done on the fly. This means that security guards
will see you and I'd like to meet the person who can fire
the sonic dart and make the guard move from his position.
No, I got bored of having no luck with that and just knocked
him out and moved on.
The
later levels are no better and in short everything just becomes
one big mess. In fact I would have stopped playing this game
before I got to the end of the first level if it wasn't for
the fact I had a reviews editor standing over me.
The
AI is laughable (trip an alarm and hide behind a desk - the
guards never think of looking for you there); the graphics
just don't cut it; and the whole experience will leave you
feeling cheated.
If
you want to see how it's done properly, buy yourself an Xbox
and get hold of Splinter
Cell: Chaos Theory. Now that's a game.
Pete
Boomer
Buy
this item online
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£24.99
(Amazon.co.uk)
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£27.99
(Gameseek.co.uk) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
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