Platform: Xbox

Genre: Third Person Action Adventure

Publisher: Hip Interactive

Developer: Blue 52

ESRB: T (Teen)

Released: April 22, 2005

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Pros:

- Decent voice acting

- Some cool moves

- Lock picking & computer hacking are done well

Cons:

- Lacks originality

- Lack luster visuals

- Boring enemies and stupid enemies

- Competition is too strong

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Review: Splinter Cell (XB)

Review: Splinter Cell - Pandora Tomorrow (XB)

Review: Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory (PS2)

"...if there is one place where Stolen has the edge over Splinter Cell it’s probably the minor gameplay mechanics like lock picking and computer hacking..."

The Splinter Cell series has set the bar for stealth action adventure game available on the Xbox. Stolen is a new game from Hip Interactive, which is truly inspired by Splinter Cell, but the sad fact is that it plays like a cheap rip off. (Which, I suppose it is at $20US.)

Instead of playing a government agent like in Splinter Cell, you play a female thief named Anya. And rather than saving the world you’re tasked with stealing high-priced items. That’s probably where the differences end between Stolen and Splinter Cell.

One of the first things you’ll probably notice about Stolen is the lack of enemy variation. Most of the guards are overweight and lack simple intelligence. Like Splinter Cell, staying stealthy is the key to success, or at least is supposed to be. Whenever you’re spotted by an enemy or camera it’s rather easy to hide in one spot and the guards stop looking for you rather quickly. In the shadows you can easily walk by guards and create a lot of noise and the enemies don’t react properly at all.

In terms of combat, Stolen stays on the simple side of things – it’s basically controlled by one button. You can run up to an enemy and keep doing one button presses. Unfortunately engaging an enemy through hand to hand combat is also useless since it doesn’t kill the enemy, instead it knocks them out and they shortly regain consciousness. After the enemies regain consciousness they usually walk away as if nothing happened to them. The hand to hand combat also grows stale rather quickly.

Your character, Anya, has some cool abilities like lock picking, computer hacking and acrobatic skills. In fact if there is one place where Stolen has the edge over Splinter Cell it’s probably the minor gameplay mechanics like lock picking and computer hacking which are done rather well. In terms of being acrobatic, Anya can run up walls and swing off poles.

Stolen doesn’t impress visually at all. The color palette is all black and grey, some animations are awkward, and the frame rate also fails to run smoothly. To make matters worse you’ll run into a lot of load times.

There really is no reason to bother with Stolen. Stolen lacks the originality that games like Splinter Cell have brought to the genre.  Instead, Stolen feels like a cheap knock off. You’re better off with any of the three Splinter Cell games.

- Siddharth Masand

(June 1, 2005)

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