Monaco: What's Yours is Mine

It is one of my favorite games. I just want to start with that. I got this game a couple months ago and I'm hooked. Yeah, it's a little frustrating at times, but only in that sort of "Aargh I'm not quite good enough for this level!" way.

Monaco is kind of a fun time-waster single player, but where it really shines is multiplayer. It is FANTASTIC, and not just for the sake of completion. It's so much fun to run through the levels, causing chaos, or try to not get spotted at all. Make sure you discuss your plans with other players, but don't be surprised when things fall apart because of an unlucky corner with five guards behind it.

The way powers help your friends makes the teamwork element of this game happen so naturally you might not even realize you're doing it at first. The hacker runs through a hallway trailing viruses, and the laser grid in your way just dies. The Mole digs a tunnel, and you escape through it to a nearby shrub. And everyone loves a Lookout. If there's one character who doesn't play well with teams, it's the Pickpocket, whose power is purely self-focused and who tends to hoard all the coins. If everyone's okay with that, by all means, play him. But if you're just browsing for random games online, it's polite to not use the pickpocket.

The difficulty wobbles a bit around the start of the second act, but it pretty much goes steadily up from there. And keeps going up. This works to the game's advantage. The difficulty curve gives you enough time to get used to the system, and then slowly works in new elements and characters, and by the time you're dealing with the really hard stuff, you've got at least an idea of what to do. You may not be able to do it on your first try, or even your first ten, but you should be able to understand at least the theory of how the pieces fit together.

Replay value?

he game has incredible replay value. Not only are there eight characters to play through with, but there's an entire community of fan-made maps to play, and once you've done all the main story, there's even a zombie mode for more violent fun! I've already beaten the main story, and I'm working my way through the stunningly difficult final campaign, "Fin". I am curious how they might expand the story that I thought was over, but it seems to be a well-written wrap-up.

The story is simple, but has a few twists to make it more satisfying. Without spoiling too much, I will say that I would have been satisfied with the game if it had concluded with "Identity". The two (much shorter) extra acts were icing on the cake. It's a pretty standard heist plot, with a little bit of "how we got here" thrown in, betrayals, and other standard tropes of the genre, but it managed to surprise me in places, which made me very happy. It's not often you get to play a mystery from the villain's perspective and still be surprised.

The Art Style:

If I'm ambivalent about only one aspect, it would be the art style. The sprites are charming, but it's really quite difficult to tell who's who at times, and for colorblind players, this would be completely incomprehensible. Everyone looks like squares, including the enemies. The top-down angle limits the perspective, but the backgrounds do not suffer from the same confusion as the characters. They are gorgeous, elaborate, and the way lighting is used is something I've never seen in another stealth game. In some of the levels, I can even look down through the floor to see bits of the lower areas. The music is amazing, but since the levels can be a bit long, it loops a lot. It's by no means grating, and it spreads the clips out with slow, quiet periods, so it doesn't get stuck in your head too often, but it could have used a little variety. I loved the musical cues for when someone got spotted or an objective was completed, though.

Graphics:

It is confusing distinguishing what the icons on the map symbolize and the lighting looks like a complete mess. It takes quite awhile (at least 2-3 hours) just getting fully accustomed to the visuals of the game.

Difficulty:

The game has a very gentle learning curve that only gets hard toward the end of the second campaign. This can be a problem for some players as there are a lot of hidden mechanics which isn't taught anywhere and you have to figure these things out on your own.

For other players, the first half game is extremely easy just brute forcing your way through. Don't be too hasty in shrugging off the game as the difficulty ramps up towards the latter half. There are countless challenging workshop maps too.

MODS:

There are over a hundred good custom maps available in the workshop (if you know where to look), this is the reason the game has a tonne of content for hours of fun. While the editor is great and easy to pick up, the lack of players will mean anything you make is left for dead.

The Trailer:

Final Verdict:

80/10

This game is unique. Strategy and cooperation at its best. Play alone to hone your ninja skills (without the need of flashy graphics or a third dimension) or play with friends where each one of you selects a different, often crucial, role in a heist. The game play is simple but adequate while the 8 playable characters offer completely different approaches to the same goal. You can run around take the objective and escape or you can take your time and clear out anything of value.

The game's random factors allow replaying, which is always a pro in a game and in-game/steam achievements force you to try new things. The screenshots cannot convey the fact that while playing this game you have no need for more detailed graphics. Like chess what matters are the values of the players and their positions so don't judge it too fast.

If you find this gem on sale, pick it up immediately!

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