PlayStation 2

Stolen

Although developer Blue 52 officially closed its doors last month, the studio's last project managed to sneak out onto store shelves. Published by Hip Interactive, Stolen is a stealth action title that borrows elements from a number of established franchises and spins them into a game that is derivative, yet enjoyable.

While these are good building blocks for a stealth title, the game falters where most do: level design, plot, and enemy AI. The enemies are painfully dull, and since you can't apply lethal chokeholds, you'll soon find it quicker to just run around them. The levels and missions are equally unremarkable, which makes for yet another promising stealth title that doesn't live up to its potential.

It isn’t easy to create a good stealth game. Only a select few titles have been able to correctly implement the distinctive elements that the genre requires, while still keeping a good amount of intensity to prevent things from getting tedious. The difficulty in pulling this off is evident in developer Blue 52’s first project, Stolen, which introduces new and interesting ideas but fails to capitalize on them. This makes for a disappointing game that, while not doing anything horribly wrong, had serious potential to be much better instead of bordering on the edge of mediocrity.

Overall, Stolen was mostly disappointing, although it had some redeeming factors to make it somewhat enjoyable. It borrows heavily from other titles, but it needed some more refinement before it could have been a smash hit. With the current price tag, I can't recommend this to other gamers due to the sluggish aspects of the game. If this were a value game, I would suggest giving it a try, but only if you were running low on games.

Stolen a malheureusement toutes les chances de passer complètement inaperçu auprès des amateurs d'infiltration à l'heure où l'on accueille justement les nouvelles aventures de Snake et de Sam Fisher. Cela dit, Stolen n'a de toute façon pas beaucoup d'arguments à mettre en avant, sinon des idées déjà vues maintes fois et utilisées de façon limitée ici. Voilà un titre qui méritait d'être distribué à un prix beaucoup plus attractif.

Stolen has a couple of different essential elements with its acrobatics and its general stealthy action. The acrobatics are simple areas in which the buxom thief, Anya Romanov, can run, jump, swing, and climb her way through different obstacle courses that are placed throughout the game. There is no goal tall or far away enough to hold Anya back from her target. But really, this game is all about the stealth and the stealing.

With goldfish AI, a misguided focus on the sexy side of stealth, and the most hollow action this side of Walker Texas Ranger, Stolen triggers nothing but pity and embarrassment.

Overall, Stolen just doesn't have much to offer to even the most diehard stealth fans. Once you complete the game there's no reason to ever play it again. There are no difficulty settings or interesting unlockables; there are only a few concept stills you can access by performing well in each level. In the end, Stolen feels like a budget title being sold at full price, and with so many good stealth games already available, there's simply no reason to play this one.

Stolen is a tale of wasted potential. That's not what it's really about; it tries to be a smart thriller with political intrigue at the wheel, but the story isn't very well written or implemented, so you won't even notice all that. It's a stealth title featuring a sexy female thief, and in a world dominated by ultra-cool and macho Solid Snake types, the black leather clad Anya Romanov (think Underworld) is a welcome as well as delicious sight.

Stolen is a tale of wasted potential. That's not what it's really about; it tries to be a smart thriller with political intrigue at the wheel, but the story isn't very well written or implemented, so you won't even notice all that. It's a stealth title featuring a sexy female thief, and in a world dominated by ultra-cool and macho Solid Snake types, the black leather clad Anya Romanov (think Underworld) is a welcome as well as delicious sight.