Stick It To The Man is a beautifully crafted 2D platformer that resembles a pop-up book made of cardboard, stickers and push-pins. Paper-thin protagonist Ray must foil the plans of an enigmatic villain known simply as The Man, with the help of his mysterious new power of telepathy. Stages are a combination of navigating platforms and appeasing paper doll residents and their unique requests in order to progress. The quirky sense of humor continually builds as the roster of bizarre characters grows with each new chapter. Ray has no choice but to lend a helping hand to those in need if he wants to get back home in one piece.
The worst day of Ray’s life begins when he is knocked unconscious after a top secret specimen falls out of a passing cargo plane. Following a brief hospital stint Ray uncovers beneath the bandage on his noggin is a giant pink “spaghetti arm” protruding from his forehead. With this new appendage, Ray can grab on to the brains of those around him and listen to their thoughts. Entering the mind reading state causes the screen and light bar on your controller to glow with a pink hue, completely immersing you in a supernatural aura. The inner voices of characters within a given radius are heard through the speaker on the PS4’s controller. I was genuinely surprised by the sounds at first, because early on in the game you realize an unsettling lack of interaction as a majority of the characters won’t talk with you by just simply walking up to them. Selecting an individual’s brain with your whip-like arm will allow you to hear that person’s thoughts specifically, often hinting at what you need to do next. Certain conversations will trigger an icon to appear in a thought bubble called an Action Sticker. These are useful objects that Ray can pull off and hang on to for later. These stickers can be applied to other characters or on certain marked locations.
Giant push-pins scattered across the world help Ray to access areas that would be otherwise out of reach. The right analog stick can be used to direct your cursor to a selectable object and pressing R1 allows you to latch on. It is also possible to use the controller’s touchpad to move the cursor to select an object. Sailing from one pushpin to the next with practice feels almost Tarzan-like as you coordinate your moves to avoid evil henchmen. The map offers markers about people or intelligent life forms that need your help along with darling sketches of important key characters. I really liked having all the clues you need in order to figure out where to go or what to do next without having to consult an outside source.
The New Orleans inspired jazz tracks give Ray’s world a lively feel despite the backdrop of the city resembling a rather bleak dystopia. Distant background images and close-up foreground objects trade-off going in and out of focus, adding rich layers to the purposely flat 2D environment. The graphics have a handmade feel that is fun and whimsical; I couldn’t help but laugh as the disconnected heads of the characters bobble around as they talk. This style is similar to the puppet inspired characters of the early Star Fox installments. Other Nintendo references include a fan of the notoriously difficult Silver Surfer game for the original Nintendo and a pair of brothers with a strong sibling rivalry who happen to be named Mario and Luigi. Developer Zoink! have created an incredibly fun game where the playful atmosphere and tongue-in-cheek gags contribute to the appeal.
Unlimited continues and strategically placed level checkpoints make it easy to sacrifice Ray as you figure out the best way to outmaneuver squads of goons sent by The Man. I found this game hard to walk away from, you can’t even get mad at the one-hit deaths because you’re spit out of printer not too far from where you met your end. The level difficultly gradually increases in a way that eases you into the more complex areas. In total the game took me about six hours to complete. Sometimes I fear that short games will feel too rushed but Stick It To The Man is a well-rounded title that offers enough level variety and amusing tasks that make it thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. The game lasts just long enough that it doesn’t feel repetitive, leaving you parting on good terms until the next time you return to the paper covered world.
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