London, 1849. Making a living as a master burglar could not be any easier. Those days might soon be over, however – Scotland Yard has developed a breakthrough artificial intelligence technology codenamed “The Devil’s Basilisk”. Reliable sources have confirmed that you still have 100 days before the Basilisk is activated and its total surveillance capabilities bring your career to a screeching halt. Naturally, there’s only one thing for you to do – steal it before it ever gets off the ground.
I’m afraid there’s not much more to the plot of The Swindle, from Size Five Games and Curve Digital, available now for the Wii U and several other platforms. The premise is awesome, but I just wish the game wasn’t so light on story!
An Airship Instead of a Thieves’ Den You start off on your airship, the base where you plan all your burglary operations. It’s also where you can purchase useful upgrades, of which there are many: bombs, double-jump, triple-jump, bombs, more powerful punches, and have I mentioned bombs yet? You’ve got to pay for all these things, of course, which is why you need to ply your trade on each of the 100 days you have before the big heist.
The first thing you do is head down to the slums, where you break into a few places and scrounge up a little bit of cash before you take an escape pod back to your airship. After a few break-ins you should have enough money to purchase the tools you need to hack into the steampunk computers of Victorian England, which are an excellent source of additional funds. Just don’t get caught by security.
Enemies Galore
Speaking of security – there’s no shortage of enemies in The Swindle. The first ones you run into will be some flying drones, and then lots more show up as the game progresses. From speedy robots that kind of look like Gizmoduck from DuckTales, to huge mechanical attack dogs, to other curiosities like a transparent ball that shoots lightning. The developers must have really let their creativity run wild here, and it shows. There’s always something new, which really mixes things up and keeps the gameplay from getting stale.But back to the whole burglary thing. There are six different difficulty levels in all. When the game starts, the only area you can access is the Slums, but once you’ve saved up enough you can unlock the next-most-difficult area, where new enemies, dangers, and sources of income await you.
All About Dat Stealth Most of your opponents will have a cone of vision you’ll have to avoid; other enemies are sensitive to sound, and you’ll have to sneak past them. If you do end up getting detected, you’d better hightail it the nearest escape pod, provided you’re not currently hacking a terminal. As the difficulty level goes up, they beef up security measures to keep you out: electric fields, drop-down walls that block your path, and much more. And after a little while, the police show up, and you don’t want to mess with them!
Sometimes you do end up getting nabbed by the cops, miscalculating the distance from a roof to the ground, or misjudging the trajectory of a bullet flying in your direction. The gig’s up if any of these things happen, but don’t worry – if you lose one thief, there’s always another one to fill his place!
Rewards Ideally, though, you’ll have cleaned the place out, hacked all the terminals, and made it safely back to your escape pod. At this point, the job is done, and you get the money! You’ll also get bonuses, depending on how fast you get through the level or how few alarms you manage to tip off. And there’s another incentive – the more jobs you complete (i.e. steal more than 75%), the higher the the modifier on your ill-gotten gains.
Oh, I almost forgot the most important thing of all: randomly-generated levels! That means that no job is ever the same. This is just one more awesome feature that rounds out the gameplay. Of course, it can also result in dead-ends that you won’t be able to get out of, but they warn you, so it’s no problem.
Steampunk Meets Sketchbook
The Swindle’s visual style is really something to look at. It’s a steampunk theme, of course, done in a cool-looking style that looks hand-sketched. It really manages to capture the feel of the game, and leaves you with the impression that you’re really there on the job with your burglar. The background scenery is also really interesting, the character animations are excellent, and the lighting is just right – and it all fits together so well that there’s really not much room for improvement. That’s what I like to see!Arresting Background Music I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the sound, either. Just like with the graphics, everything just goes together really well, from the background music that starts off kind of cutesy, then gets really suspenseful – changing more and getting faster with each level; to the spark of the generators, the rattling of mechanical enemies, and of course, the explosions. Just listening to the sounds is a lot of fun, and once again, there’s not much room for improvement.
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Ja volim sarmu!