Review: Stick It To The Man Steam Edition

Stick It To The Man will have you exploring a world made of paper and stickers; helping Ray who has just woken up from a bizarre accident with a giant pink spaghetti arm sticking out of his brain. This gives him extraordinary mind-reading powers, as well as being able to transform the world around him by tearing it, folding it and using the crazy stickers he finds to solve mind-boggling puzzles. Sadly, Ray doesn’t have much time to get to grips with his new psychic abilities as he’s on the run from ‘The Man’ for a crime he didn’t commit! Can you change the world with stickers and help Ray out of this sticky situation?

Pros:

• Absolutely brilliant art style in the game. Opting for a very cardboard cut out in a cut out 3D world, Characters look fresh and new while yet retaining the allure of games past. It has a dark tone to the game with its colours and palette used. The animations kind of remind me of cartoons past like Rocko’s modern life or Ren and Stimpy.
• Full 360 pad support but to be honest, The mouse and keyboard work just as well. WASD controls with space for jump, The mouse actually makes the grabbing of pins and objects a lot easier. The back button on both inputs will skip the cutscene.
• Music that accompanies the game is of an equally high standard. Again with dark undertones the music changes upon location and dialogue. Hearing bands play music or whether it be just ambient noise of the circus, Every note sounds excellent.
• The game centers around Ray who happens to get a hand stuck to his head that only he can see. With this hand he is able to read the minds of any character in game, even down to the animals. I dont want to say much about the story as it will spoil it for you. The fun is in the not knowing.
• Controls are simple with the left triggers used for controlling your mind reading spaghetti on steroids magic hand.
• Video options are more than adequate with, resolution, depth of  field on/off and shadows being your only options.
• The game is a platformer with point and click properties. Use your hand to collect stickers which act as items in the game world. Puzzles are littered throughout and require in any cases, You finding a certain sticker to give to someone to then trigger another sticker.
• The true star of the show is actually the script. Its superbly written and equally well delivered by the voice actors. Every character has its own persona and tone to the game. The script is both informative and humorous, At many points in the game you will have a good laugh.
• The puzzle system is a classic used in most old school point and click adventure games. Kind of like the same methods used in say Discworld.
• You have a map which is helpful, Showing you where you need to go, have been and who you haven’t spoken too.
• Levels are broken down into chapters and the overall game length is a good few hours.
• Helpful hints pop up as and when you need them and o nothing but help keep you immersed.
• The game world is just brilliant.
• Steam additions such as cloud saving, Trading cards and achievements.

Cons:

• Once the game is over, There is very little to bring you back.
• You can be completely lost at points as you forget what is going on, Very very rare I might add.
• You may not like the puzzle mechanics.
• The map can be quite small and confusing at times, Not really helping you when/if you get stuck.
• Had a few issues where the game would flash on and off when loading cut scenes. Could be my end but still worth mentioning.

In Summary, The game is still just as good as the PlayStation versions, And baring any desire to replay the game or earn Steam stuff, The game is the same in every way and not really aimed at previous players. For new players, You are in for a treat both visually and the fact that the game has nothing but high praise. Praise we hope will result in a sequel. So bottom line is, If you have played the game before, Don’t rush to buy it but if you are new, Well get your ass in gear and go buy it!