Stolen
Posted May 17, 2005
Developing a stealth game appears to be a tricky thing to do. There are so many elements that have to click in order for the game to be a success that a rare few have achieved such status. Splinter Cell, Metal Gear and Tenchu are franchises that have excelled above the rest of the class and have set the standard for the genre. Stolen is a perfect example of how a miss-developed stealth game can be.
What we have here is a failure on almost all attempts to make an exciting game out of an interesting concept. Instead of being a super secret government agent, you play as busty thief Anya Romanov who yields nearly as much cleavage as thieving gizmos. You just know a game is going to be of questionable quality when its lead character is a lady with her womanhood falling out.
Stolen isn't a completely horrible game and it's not like there aren't some enjoyable moments, it's just way behind the times. If this game had been released on the PlayStation One back in the day things may have turned out differently, but seeing as we are about to leap into the next generation of consoles some of these issues can't be overlooked.
Gameplay:
Stolen features a combination of different gameplay mechanics and for the most part they work well together. You'll be sneaking around, picking locks and hacking security systems in no time. It sounds good on paper, but it's the execution of every aspect put together that really drags this game down.
The game uses elements of light and sound for Anya to utilize to achieve her goal. With stark contrast between light and darkness, it's fairly blatant where you need to be in order to not be seen. As long as you are completely shrouded in shadow, guards will not see you even if they are breathing down on top of you. Which is kind of funny considering Anya is wearing glasses and an arm band that glow in the dark, but who am I to nitpick?
Making too much noise will call notice to yourself if someone is within earshot, but there are times that you will want to get a guard's attention. By whistling or using a sound emitter you can lead them away from their patrol pattern and open up a path for yourself. Walking through a door or sneaking around a corner can be frustrating because until you tag a security guard with a tracker they don't appear on your radar. So the point here is to be slow and cautious no matter where you are walking.
One neat feature the gameplay has is a sonar system that allows to you view what's on the other side of the door by the sound of footsteps. If a sentry is walking by on watch you'll ping in to their location and be able to tell what direction they are facing before you go in. It's a nifty tool that comes in handy occasionally, but for the most part it feels like a gimmick than an integral part of gameplay.
Anya is a pretty flexible chick and has the ability to shimmy along ledges, back flip off walls and roll under laser beams. It's inevitable that you are going to screw up at some point and get caught though. Now normally in a stealth game the main character can stand their own in a fight and can dish out some manner of lethality of another. However Anya is not like other characters and she is limited to rendering guards unconscious by choking or hitting them.
The combat is rather limiting (your only attack is a punch, punch, kick combo) and the level of damage your opponents can dish out is pretty daunting. To make matters worse is that because you can't kill a guard; they will get up a few seconds after you knock them down and raise the alarm. Once things turn ugly it becomes a real pain in the butt to accomplish what you set out to do, so if that means you have to sit in the shadows for an extra two minutes to avoid contact you better do it.
While the guards do whip out flashlights when the alarm has been raised, they don't use them when they are just patrolling. The AI is pretty bad and you'll notice that they are not very good at flushing you out since they stay on strict patrol patterns. If you do get some unwanted attention all you really have to do is duck into an empty nearby room until things quiet down and you'll be all set.
When you enter the hacking and lock picking mini games, be aware of your surroundings since you can be interrupted if you get spotted. Hacking into a security system involves following a pattern and repeating it with the left analog stick. Picking locks is a little different and instead of playing Simon Says you'll have to match your tool to the appropriate object. These are a nifty diversion, but do little to elevate the gameplay.
Stolen also suffers from some extremely sluggish and unresponsive controls that do nothing to help things out. There were several times that the game seemed to ignore my control commands or react to them slower than molasses. After trying a second controller just incase my first one wasn't working one thing was clear, it was Stolen that wasn't working not my controller.
Graphics:
Visually things are not looking up for Anya either, despite her womanly features. While the light and dark system have direct affect on the gameplay, graphically they are unrealistic and unbelievable. The textures are bland and choppy, the environments are repetitive, enemies all look the same and even our lead character doesn't have many visual attributes other than her bosom.
Even on the Xbox the framerate isn't the best and the amount of load screens are maddening. Nearly everything you do requires loading; from walking through a door, switching to first person view or even changing your visor setting. Stolen looks about as old as it feels and as I mentioned previously, should have come out on the last generation of systems.
Audio:
This may come as a surprise to you, but audibly Stolen is no masterpiece. With a passable soundtrack that tries to aid in creating tension at key moments, it somewhat succeeds. The real kicker is that there are a bare minimum of sound effects used throughout the game. I was slightly surprised by the voice-overs though and felt that it was probably the best part of the audio, which isn't saying much. A couple lines here and there will put a smile on your face, but for the most part the scripting and acting is bland.
Conclusion:
Overall Stolen is a fairly embarrassing new member of the stealth family. While the premise may be appealing at first, the execution of the theme leaves a heck of a lot to be desired. There are a lot of good ideas here, it's just that other franchises have done them before and done them better. You're probably better off avoiding this one unless you absolutely must play a stealth game and have nothing else better to do. Skip It
What we have here is a failure on almost all attempts to make an exciting game out of an interesting concept. Instead of being a super secret government agent, you play as busty thief Anya Romanov who yields nearly as much cleavage as thieving gizmos. You just know a game is going to be of questionable quality when its lead character is a lady with her womanhood falling out.
Stolen isn't a completely horrible game and it's not like there aren't some enjoyable moments, it's just way behind the times. If this game had been released on the PlayStation One back in the day things may have turned out differently, but seeing as we are about to leap into the next generation of consoles some of these issues can't be overlooked.
Gameplay:
Stolen features a combination of different gameplay mechanics and for the most part they work well together. You'll be sneaking around, picking locks and hacking security systems in no time. It sounds good on paper, but it's the execution of every aspect put together that really drags this game down.
The game uses elements of light and sound for Anya to utilize to achieve her goal. With stark contrast between light and darkness, it's fairly blatant where you need to be in order to not be seen. As long as you are completely shrouded in shadow, guards will not see you even if they are breathing down on top of you. Which is kind of funny considering Anya is wearing glasses and an arm band that glow in the dark, but who am I to nitpick?
Making too much noise will call notice to yourself if someone is within earshot, but there are times that you will want to get a guard's attention. By whistling or using a sound emitter you can lead them away from their patrol pattern and open up a path for yourself. Walking through a door or sneaking around a corner can be frustrating because until you tag a security guard with a tracker they don't appear on your radar. So the point here is to be slow and cautious no matter where you are walking.
One neat feature the gameplay has is a sonar system that allows to you view what's on the other side of the door by the sound of footsteps. If a sentry is walking by on watch you'll ping in to their location and be able to tell what direction they are facing before you go in. It's a nifty tool that comes in handy occasionally, but for the most part it feels like a gimmick than an integral part of gameplay.
Anya is a pretty flexible chick and has the ability to shimmy along ledges, back flip off walls and roll under laser beams. It's inevitable that you are going to screw up at some point and get caught though. Now normally in a stealth game the main character can stand their own in a fight and can dish out some manner of lethality of another. However Anya is not like other characters and she is limited to rendering guards unconscious by choking or hitting them.
The combat is rather limiting (your only attack is a punch, punch, kick combo) and the level of damage your opponents can dish out is pretty daunting. To make matters worse is that because you can't kill a guard; they will get up a few seconds after you knock them down and raise the alarm. Once things turn ugly it becomes a real pain in the butt to accomplish what you set out to do, so if that means you have to sit in the shadows for an extra two minutes to avoid contact you better do it.
While the guards do whip out flashlights when the alarm has been raised, they don't use them when they are just patrolling. The AI is pretty bad and you'll notice that they are not very good at flushing you out since they stay on strict patrol patterns. If you do get some unwanted attention all you really have to do is duck into an empty nearby room until things quiet down and you'll be all set.
When you enter the hacking and lock picking mini games, be aware of your surroundings since you can be interrupted if you get spotted. Hacking into a security system involves following a pattern and repeating it with the left analog stick. Picking locks is a little different and instead of playing Simon Says you'll have to match your tool to the appropriate object. These are a nifty diversion, but do little to elevate the gameplay.
Stolen also suffers from some extremely sluggish and unresponsive controls that do nothing to help things out. There were several times that the game seemed to ignore my control commands or react to them slower than molasses. After trying a second controller just incase my first one wasn't working one thing was clear, it was Stolen that wasn't working not my controller.
Graphics:
Visually things are not looking up for Anya either, despite her womanly features. While the light and dark system have direct affect on the gameplay, graphically they are unrealistic and unbelievable. The textures are bland and choppy, the environments are repetitive, enemies all look the same and even our lead character doesn't have many visual attributes other than her bosom.
Even on the Xbox the framerate isn't the best and the amount of load screens are maddening. Nearly everything you do requires loading; from walking through a door, switching to first person view or even changing your visor setting. Stolen looks about as old as it feels and as I mentioned previously, should have come out on the last generation of systems.
Audio:
This may come as a surprise to you, but audibly Stolen is no masterpiece. With a passable soundtrack that tries to aid in creating tension at key moments, it somewhat succeeds. The real kicker is that there are a bare minimum of sound effects used throughout the game. I was slightly surprised by the voice-overs though and felt that it was probably the best part of the audio, which isn't saying much. A couple lines here and there will put a smile on your face, but for the most part the scripting and acting is bland.
Conclusion:
Overall Stolen is a fairly embarrassing new member of the stealth family. While the premise may be appealing at first, the execution of the theme leaves a heck of a lot to be desired. There are a lot of good ideas here, it's just that other franchises have done them before and done them better. You're probably better off avoiding this one unless you absolutely must play a stealth game and have nothing else better to do. Skip It