The Sting! Review

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The Sting!

Review by Old RoosterMarch 2002

JoWood Productions is one of my favorite smallish distributors. Headquartered in Germany, they often make or remake titles we’ve seen in some other form before, typically with their own peculiar twists. Nations, a fine little game, is much like the famous Settlers series; WWII Black Gold uses the Earth 2150 strategy engine; while Jack Orlando is the “Director’s Cut,” updating an earlier adventurer favorite. Another distinction of JoWood is that their games usually start out in the U.S. at about $29.99, soon drop to $19.99, and finally can often be had for $9.99, or even a measly $2.99! Today we look at one of those $3 games, one for which I would pay $30, and one that is not only not a clone, but distinctive, perhaps unique, certainly greatly underappreciated—The Sting!

“There’s a Small Hotel …”

Matt Tucker is out of prison, with $15, a crowbar, map of Fortune City, and his unique VCR-type “burglary desk planner.”  His room at the hotel is small, but the city is huge, NPCs are many, cars to use are plentiful, and it’s time to get back to what he knows best—the science and art of thievery!

JoWood Productions has delivered one of the most interesting and intriguing games I’ve seen in some time. It’s almost impossible to categorize—try “simulation/strategy/puzzle/adventure.”  The Sting! is really for a certain kind of gamer—one who enjoys meticulous planning and has a high level of patience, as well as high frustration tolerance. It’s a hard and huge game—both in terms of the virtual world and number of missions—that is also tremendous fun, can be approached in pieces for a half-hour or so at a time, and can be a real midnight-oil burner for a player with a particular (peculiar?) mindset.

“… By a Wishing Well”

Mild-manner adventurers, please note—our hero, Matt, is an intellectual, cautious kind of thief—eschewing the use of any kind of weapons or personal violence (this is a distinctly nonviolent, bloodless game, especially given the subject matter). Rather, to get back in the good graces of his underworld society, Matt must prove himself, as well as build up money and inventory, through the planning and successful execution of initially quite straightforward burglaries. Beginning with a gas station, he moves up to a movie theater, museum, greenhouse, hotel, and ever more demanding and intricate assignments. These open gradually during the game, being dependent on successful completion of easier tasks. Indeed, Matt himself gains reputation upgrades as well as more money to use.

JoWood claims the “biggest virtual town” ever. And it is large, sometimes too much so, even bigger than the worlds of Outcast or Omikron, particularly in its detail. There are 20 places to burgle, 70 other buildings that can be visited, 60 NPCs with whom to interact, 50 different getaway vehicles—all of these in a 1950s setting, bringing back some fond memories (“memories of what”, says Helga, “your criminal past?”).

We mentioned Matt’s personal planner recorder. Use of this tool forms the unique heart of the game. After selecting a target, scouting it out (points of entrance, possible alarms and patrolmen), Matt will look to his needs—tools, possible accomplices, getaway car. Adding to his repertoire likely will involve exploring, meeting guys at the bar, conversations, more money. Back at the desk, Matt then selects what he believes necessary for “the job,” starts his recorder, and literally proceeds to carry out the burglary.  The genius of this approach is that this is still a planning phase.  It’s as if you’re sending a virtual or ghost Matt and his team to the robbery site, finding where alarms are, how doors open, whether police are patrolling. You can’t be arrested or caught. You’re there, but not really. This is where the detailed planning comes in—e.g., “Uh oh, that crowbar was a bit too noisy on that door, attracted a security guard; better use a quiet lock pick.” In the safety of your little room, you back the recorder up to substitute that lock pick, or make any other needed modification. Or you can scrap the whole plan and start fresh.

“The Best Laid Plans …”

Your plan is sure to be foolproof! You’ve wandered the streets, recruiting the best helpers, have appropriate tools, found a good-sized and fast getaway car, and have walked through the target site in detail. Then what? Well, turn the recorder on, for real, and let it play out—a bit as it might in Majesty, for example.  Unfortunately, you’ll typically find you missed something—perhaps a tool made more noise than anticipated and was heard by a watchman, or the actual peripheral vision of a policeman (remember Commandos?) was larger than you had hoped. The solution? Why, redo your plan accordingly, and try again!

How Does The Sting! Control, Look, and Sound?

We’ve looked at what the game’s about and, generally, how it plays—the most important attributes for most games. As to interface and control, The Sting! is played from a three-quarters overhead viewpoint, with Matt as the central character. The camera rotates and has about a three-to-one zoom. Much of Matt’s movement and object/character interaction resembles an adventure title—all controlled by the mouse, with “examine, use, converse” choices made available by illuminated “hot spots.”

The manual is 90 pages long and nicely done. The included online tutorial is excellent, covering all needed gameplay mechanics, and it can be revisited in whole or part (a necessity, if you take a break for a couple of days). Auto and regular saves anywhere are present, with the in-game interface (money, map, inventory) being effective.

Camera control, which can be automatic or manual, is sometimes awkward, but Matt is not under time pressure in foraging or planning, so you can put up with some occasional annoyances. During 30 hours of play, I only experienced two minor crashes. Finally, the game will install with only 100 MB of HD free space, a nice feature for those of us with hard drive and other mental limitations.

Graphics are colorful, vibrant, cartoony—supposedly a 1950s style. Resolution settings range from 300×200 to 1600×1200. Graphics do seem a bit dated and less than one may expect given the minimum and recommended requirements for the game. However, they’re certainly at least serviceable and don’t present an offense to this reviewer.

Speech is essentially absent, with NPC conversations taking place with captions. Sound effects are sparse but nicely done, and they become critical (much as with Thief) in most missions. Music is a very nice piano/jazz mix, presumably in fifties style.

Is The Sting! Fun and Recommended?

The Sting! has bite! It’s a hit. There may be some rough edges (blocky graphics, clunky camera, spastic movement), but the overall play and fun far outweigh such picky faultfinding. This is a different (very different), inventive, large game that gives great value for the ridiculously low price. With its small HD footprint of 100 MB, it will stay with me a long time, while I retry some missions for more loot and better results. The game is very much a matter of taste and does require a love of detailed planning and the patient willingness to try, try again. But if you enjoy the preparation phase of Rainbow 6, the sneaky/burglary emphasis of Thief, the puzzle/strategy aspect of Commandos, and the joy of watching the results of selections in Majesty, I can’t help but conclude you will share my surprise and delight with The Sting!

What I Liked the Most

The gameplay is very different, even unique; the setting is large, with many missions; the VCR approach to play is quite novel.

What I Liked the Least

The Sting! requires considerable patience; you have no control during a mission play-out; camera angles can be awkward. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Neo Publisher: JoWood Productions Release Date: September 2001

Available for: Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

PII 300 (PIII 600 recommended) 64 MB RAM (128 MB recommended) 3D video card

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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