28-Dec-2004 She's a slinky one, y'know. With a thirst for all things sparkly and too much time playing MGS and Splinter Cell on her Xbox, our pilfering heroine, Anya, has set her eyes on a career as a cat burglar. Sure, it looks and plays like the vast majority of stealth games out there, but Sam Fisher was never this undulous. Is that a word? It is now...
The thing with Anya, though, is her compassion for humanity. Not afraid to break into secure warehouses and museums for the odd Star Of India, she's a thief at heart and not a killer, and it's this that makes Stolen so different from other stealth 'em ups. Throughout the entire game, you'll never kill a soul, and that adds an entirely new dynamic to the game, one that will require the most painstaking pre-planning and stealth.
But far from being a catsuit-wearing saint, Anya has skills up her sleeve that even Fisher would envy. During those moments where a wrung neck would be so tempting, Anya can fluidly dart into recesses and zip up to overhanging pipes to avoid detection. She can also pre-empt detection with a skill that's a virtual carbon copy of Daredevil's sonic radar. By equipping her sonic-visor then making a noise, a sonic wave flows out from around her, penetrating and highlighting everything in the vicinity. It's a cool trick, but not her only one. Mini-games will require Anya to pick locks, hack computers and crack safes - the skills she'll need to carry out her objectives as well as avoid being seen.
One thing we did notice, and perhaps this is because the game is still in development, was the distinct lack of variety with enemies. If we weren't being pursued by portly security guards we were avoiding special ops guys and hitmen and that was about the range of the threat. Let's just hope that as Anya strives for bigger and better trophies for the mantle in her Croydon semi, she'll stumble across more complex puzzles, harder levels, and a bevy of enemies. With Fisher and Solid Snake back for more in the new year, she's going to need them.
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