OXCGN’s Stacking Review

A Unique Experience That Can’t Be Missed

by exterminat

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

Every now and again, a title comes along that isn’t very large, but packs a punch of creativity that will leave you breathless.

The wonderfully strange Tim Schafer and his fantastic team at Double Fine Productions have produced yet another signature “What?” title, in the form of Stacking which hit the PSN and XBLA last week. We take a look at the XBLA version.

This time, though, it was not another monstrosity from Schafer’s mind; he only supervised. But that’s not to say Double Fine Productions created any sort of “normal” game in any way, shape or form. Far from it in fact.

At one point in our lives, we’ve all encountered those peculiar little Russian stacking dolls. They’re strange, made of wood, and look like something that belongs on your grandmother’s shelf.

Upon picking up the creepy little things, there was a sense of curiosity about them. What do they do?

You give the top a little tug, and bam: it comes off, revealing a smaller sized doll inside of it.

The entire purpose was to stack them inside of each other. Nothing more.

The Russian people must have been easily entertained, and stop their hands from getting frostbite in the harsh Russian winters – perhaps?

Now, let’s take that concept, add some early 1900′s silent movie theme, mix it with a little Double Fine Productions writing skills, and you have what they call, Stacking.

Ain’t no mess we can’t address

The story of Stacking revolves around the Blackmore family. It’s set in the industrial age and the father of the family goes missing one day.

Not long after, the family unfortunately goes into debt which of course forces every family member, except Charlie, into labor.

The evil industrialist behind it all is your typical evil capitalist called The Baron, and his goal naturally is to ruin your life in whatever way he possibly can, while still making huge amounts of money, which of course he won’t share with his workers – naturally, otherwise he wouldn’t be the hardened capitalist we’d expect him to be..

Charlie, although the smallest of them all, refuses to stand by and watch this happen. He follows after them and makes his way into the city, which serves as the main hub of the game.

• ‘Stacking’ Screenshots slideshow

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As you enter the city, you run into a ‘hobo’ by the name of Levi, (hope his last name isn’t Strauss). He quickly becomes your friend, and manages your safe house.

After the encounter with Mr. Levi, the gameplay of Stacking begins. Once in the city you learn that you can stack into other dolls to accomplish your goals. Sounds odd, but it gets better and more entertaining, trust me.

Every doll has their own unique “ability” which ranges from whistling and running, right through to such outlandish things as flatulating and uppercutting your way through things.

Each goal is typically a puzzle, with multiple ways of addressing the situation (usually at least three that I found).

If you get stuck, there’s a handy-dandy little hint system that will drop three hints as to what the heck you’re supposed to do; it’s very welcome, as some puzzles are mind-bogglingly difficult at times, and can certainly test your patience..

The entire experience is most certainly unique to say the least, and leads you into having an extremely interesting time during the course of the game.

Stacking is certainly a rare gem

The most staggering aspect of Stacking of course is its sheer simplicity.

The Matryoshka Dolls are something that everyone knows the second they are spotted; blending that with a simplistic yet deep gameplay experience allows the game to be open to almost every audience.

It’s a basic concept that goes to infinity and beyond with such a bare topic. What I personally loved the most about it was the sharp, witty writing style that unfolded as the game progressed.

No joke was missed, and every cinematic will evoke an extraordinary amount of chuckles from just about everyone that plays it.

Not to mention that the accompanying musical score is a fantastic mix of early 20th century piano that fits the silent film mentality just perfectly.

Tie that all together with a unique take on something that downloadable games haven’t exactly been known for, visuals, and Stacking will most certainly stand the test of time.

It will run you around for about five hours or so, that is of course if you ignore the multiple routes and collectibles that exist within the gameworld, which in and of itself is good for a mere (US$) ten dollar downloadable title.

If you do choose to do everything possible within the gameworld, then you will get approximately ten hours out of it, which is plenty more than many major AAA full price titles available on the shelves these days. (cough cough every shooter in the past two years).

Stacking is most certainly one of those rare gems that comes along and nobody knows about it, which is a crying shame really, as if games like this are seen and played more, then the developers are encouraged to get into more titles for the masses.

While not exactly being the essence of perfection, (what game is these days), it is most certainly a unique experience that can’t be missed and should at least be sampled by all.

(Seriously though folks, we want more of Tim Schafer things. So buy it at least for that fact alone!)

OXCGN’s Silver Award

“8/10

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

xxxxxx

• ‘Stacking’ screenshot gallery

Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, XBLA News-Reviews, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | Adventure game, Costume Quest, Double Fine Productions, Double FIne Studios, Doublefine productions, games, Matryoshka doll, Matryoshka Dolls, PlayStation Network, Stacking, Stacking Dolls, THQ, Tim Schafer, Video game, Xbox Live Arcade