Game Review – Monaco

The devs were nice enough to let me take Monaco for a spin early, and here are my thoughts.  If you aren’t familiar with the game, here’s a brief rundown:

Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine is a single player or co-op heist game. Assemble a crack team of thieves, case the joint, and pull off the perfect heist.

Sounds simple, but oh, it’s not.  The game is delightfully old-school, with blocky sprites ruling the day, but don’t let that fool you – this has the guts of a serious action-stealth game.  Disguise yourself, hack computers to shut off security, tranq the dog that’s chasing you, all while stealing money and finishing the mission.  There are different characters that lend themselves to different play styles, so if you’d rather beat up the guards than sneak past them, you can do that.  There are arcade elements, with your time to complete each mission as your score, modified by how much cash you fail to pick up.  Daily and All-Time leaderboards show you how you did.

I didn’t delve into multiplayer too much, though it looks like a riot.  Where the single player game can either be a careful heist or a crazed speed run, MP seems to lean toward crazed, period.  Like the difference between Serious Sam and Metal Gear Solid.  I was surprised at how much fun I was having.  I will definitely be playing this game more.

Monaco hits that indie game sweet spot for me – just plain, simple fun.  Something you can jump into and play for a few minutes and actually enjoy, or kill an entire night on.  Highly recommended.