Stick It To The Man
Score: 90% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Ripstone Developer: Zoink! Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Platformer/ Puzzle/ Adventure
Graphics & Sound: I was grinning like an idiot during my entire playthrough of Stick It To The Man. This is one of the funniest, most bizarre games of recent memory, and since I'm able to say that in the same year of South Park: The Stick of Truth, that's indicative of the fact that this platform/ puzzle/ adventure hybrid is really something special. Its gameplay mechanics are as inspired as its striking art style, and as of this writing, it's free to all PSN+ members. So really, there's no excuse for any self-respecting PlayStation 4 owners not to pick this one up right away. Stick It To The Man borrows a page (no pun intended) from last year's PSP masterpiece Tearaway. This world is entirely built out of paper. Everything exists solely on a two-dimensional plane, and since the mechanics of the game have a lot to do with papercraft, it goes a long way in establishing the cohesiveness of the entire package. Apart from the paper aesthetic, Stick It To The Man could very easily be mistaken as another quirky, off-beat product of Tim Schafer's Double Fine Productions. Sure, these characters are human, but each and every one has some sort of outlandish physical eccentricity. And no, I won't spoil a single one of them. Every time you die, your body is reconstructed out of what looks like a stencil machine. And through it all is the purple, spaghetti-like psychic arm protruding from your head, which looks like one of those gooey, elastic hands we all used to play with as children. Rounding out its confident visual presentation is a just about perfect soundtrack and voice acting of Saturday morning cartoon quality. Let's put it this way: how do you expect a seemingly well-learned pyromaniac to sound? Or an emphysematic clown who had his oxygen tank replaced by a helium tank? Not to mention the fact that in several cases, you can actually adjust the speed at which they speak. Even without the goofiness, the voice cast is absolutely perfect at selling their lines, which are more often than not utterly ludicrous.
Gameplay: You are Ray Doewood, an ordinary man with an ordinary job. Well, that is, if the act of standing around all day getting hit on the head by falling objects constitutes a normal job. (There's a reason behind this, but again, not saying a word.) One day, Ray's noggin suddenly becomes the landing target for a mysterious canister that contains an alien brain slug named Ted, who quickly burrows into his mind. Lucky for Ray, that grants him the ability to read minds and project a large, purple, telekinetic hand from his head. Unluckily for Ray, this draws the attention of the eponymous Man, whose very physical fabric is permanently cloaked in shadow. Stick It To The Man is a platformer game with puzzle and stealth elements. As Ray, you navigate a series of closed environments, investigating the strange (and I do mean strange) goings-on and helping people with their problems -- just so he can get to where he needs to get. But how can he help these people? Well, with the help of Ted, of course.
Difficulty: With a game as random as Stick It To The Man, there's bound to be some trial and error. But the levels aren't so huge that you'll spend all your time stumped and wondering where to go. The objects Ray needs to solve puzzles tend to fall in his lap, and though the solutions to the puzzles are often as strange as everything else, there aren't too many possible solutions to get confused. Stealth sections are iffy at times, however. If an enemy catches you, you're immediately sent back the the beginning of the encounter. Unfortunately, the controls can sometimes get in the way of these sequences. For example, the mechanic that lets you distract enemies or put them to sleep is mapped to the same button as the mechanic that allows Ray to grab onto push pins for speedy traversal. If an enemy you're targeting is standing by one of these pins, the chances are high that you'll grab the pin and hurl yourself right into his waiting arms. Not good.
Game Mechanics: Ted's presence in Ray's mind opens up a world of possibilities, as well as the driving force behind a cavalcade of bizarre situations and jokes that may have you laughing until tears are pouring down your face. The purple spaghetti hand that represents Ted's powers is controlled separately from Ray, but the mechanics rarely get in the way of each other. Perhaps the most interesting power at Ray's disposal is Ted's ability to literally rip objects out of people's thought bubbles. These objects become stickers, which can then be slapped into place in the appropriate situation. For example, if you're trying to sneak past an enemy and you read one's mind, he might admit to needing a nap. A "Zzz" sticker appears in the thought bubble above his head, which you can grab and slap on someone to make him immediately fall asleep. I won't go into how these are used to solve puzzles for two reasons: the first being that it would be criminal to spoil any of them, and the second being that I'm not sure I can describe any of them without sounding completely insane. Fans of quirky writing and innovative ideas, rejoice! Stick It To The Man is a brilliantly twisted game that absolutely fits the bill for anyone wanting something a little different. If, like me, you've longed for Psychonauts 2 since 2005, you should absolutely play this game. It may not be the exact same thing, but it's a reminder that there are still people out there who probably feel the same way.
-FenixDown, GameVortex Communications AKA Jon Carlos
Related Links: Official Website of Stick It To The Man
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