A video game that goes for fun instead of trying to be groundbreaking in everything it does, I must be living in some sort of crazy dream world. After having to suffer through the abysmal Sonic Boom and having my fill of generic looking, 32 shades of brown having, first-person shooters of late, I was really surprised when Sneaky Sneaky came across my desk.
It’s hard to find time to play, let alone review, a lot of games over the holiday season. While I do tend to display amazing abilities (I once fit my whole hand in my mouth while listening to Trevor Dawson talk about his hatred for Doctor Who), there are only so many hours in the day. I almost completely passed over Sneaky Sneaky on more than one occasion, but I’m glad I finally sat down and gave it a fair shake.
Sneaky Sneaky is a hybrid adventure, stealth, puzzle game that puts you into the shoes of a thief that could just as easily charm the pants right off of you as he could steal them. Graphically the game is awash in a wonderful display of colors. Even when dealing with and traveling through caves and underground ruins, Sneaky Sneaky never drops its charm. It’s and art style that I really appreciate and one that is sadly forgotten with many big budget games. The entire adventure is done in 2D and played from a top down perspective.
Gameplay consists of guiding your little thief through a number of boards, all of which are set up on an invisible grid. You can move freely within each board (it resembles the classic Zelda style dungeons for those wanting a reference) by clicking on any open space. If you can point and click a mouse then you’ll be able to handle anything Sneaky Sneaky throws at you. Simplicity is key here as the game will quickly draw you in with how easy it is to get into before you find yourself faced off with harder puzzles and enemies.
There are three main goals for each of the games levels. The most basic will have you finding the exit and getting your rear to the next stage. The other two will ramp up the difficulty as you will be tasked with collecting three red gems (you lost them all during the games opening) in each stage and also dispatching all the enemies. But why would you want to do any of these extra and albeit more difficult tasks? Well, Sneak Sneaky will reward you with money and XP upgrades! It’s not a robust leveling system, but it offers just enough to make you think twice about going back for the hard to reach gem, or facing off against that last monster for some gold. If you do decide to engage enemies in battle you will be presented with a more traditional grid style, turn-based style fight. This is where a lot of the fun and challenge comes into play, because you can use your tools and the environment around you as leverage to better dispatch enemies, setting them up on traps or sneaking around for a one hit kill.
The game also makes it a lot of fun to go back and get a better score completing tasks in levels you have already finished. Between stages you will also have access to a store where you can purchase items that will aid you in your quest. Buy some health potions (you’re going to need them), grab some mutton to lure enemies into position for easier dispatching, buy tools that will make progressing and backtracking to blocked off areas easier. For such a small and simple game, Sneaky Sneaky offers a lot for the player to do and doesn’t have any pay to win features; I’m looking at you Assassins Creed Unity.
The game is just plain, unadulterated fun and for that it is to be commended. While the game isn’t going to wow the pants off of any harder gamers looking for their next bug filled frag fest, Sneaky Sneaky will appeal to those of you looking for a fun and relaxing sleuth puzzle game. At $4.99 you really are getting your moneys worth and if you spend a little more ($9.99) you can grab yourself a copy of the soundtrack and an extra copy for a friend. That’s not a bad deal and makes for a great Christmas gift!
The game isn’t without its faults, but thankfully those are few and far between and may not even be an issue for many players. Sneaky Sneaky isn’t that long of a game and it would have been nice to see some Steam Workshop integration of some sort, or even a built-in level editor. I would love to be able to create my own challenge maps for others to try out. Another thing to not is that while the point and click work, there were times when I felt my moments/attacks either didn’t register, or registered with a delay.
Some will call Sneaky Sneaky a glorified mobile game come to Steam, but I will counter by saying that the game stands on its own as a charming and challenging puzzle stealth adventure that will bring a smile to your face. It’s chock full of style and was released without any major bugs or glitches, something that can’t be said very often these days.
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