14 DAY TRIAL // Morals have nothing to do with brains. The greatest villains of all times relied on more than dumb luck when going on a high-stakes robbery. It's just about wits and planning directed towards the dark side. "Stolen in 60 Seconds" is not the first game to place its player among the bad guys, but asks for his intelligence rather than his evil side.
Herocraft has targeted this game especially towards those brain challenge addicts and scored big time. "Stolen in 60 Seconds" has won gold in the Samsung Game Development Contest 2007 and they managed this without any stealing involved.
There is surely some high attraction coming from being a bad guy, one who lives outside the law's boundaries and enjoys a freedom periled at all times by the possibility of being caught doing the wrong thing. Behind a burglary there are months of planning and strategy development. In fact, some of the thieves that have managed to make a name for themselves were extremely smart people and strategists that only took a turn for the bad at a certain time.
"Stolen in 60 Seconds" is the kind of game that manages to combine strategy, puzzle and even simulation elements, all in order to make a highly addictive game. It's the huge challenge that manages to make this game so appealing. Planning all stages of a robbery is more soliciting than people might think and this game coming from Herocraft manages to encumber all stages that are seen in a real theft.
The gamer plays the part of a mysterious "boss" that stays in the shadow throughout the entire game. His face or identity are never revealed, as he is the dark mind behind the crime.
There are six training levels for the player to get accustomed with the game's commands and 20 more of actual gameplay. Each of these is made up of three stages. The "boss" must first choose the thieves he chooses to hire for the job. There are also some amusing dossiers on each of the crooks, which give the game more of a personal touch. The disadvantage is that no choice actually takes place, as naming the crook is more of a formality.
After the "boss" chooses who to hire for the crime, there are several other pre-planning stages to go through. He has to equip his thieves with objects that they will later use for breaking in, such as a crowbar, hammer, saw, drill, oscillator, pilers, computer, bombs and others. Each of them has a price tag and those that will exceed the budget will not be available for selection. One very useful thing is that each of them has an information sheet, showing where they can be used for breaking in.
In the same stage, the player can choose to receive information on the places where the alarms are displayed and where all the valuable possessions are hidden. These cost more than anything else and, once the money are spent for receiving them, there is no change of mind allowed, so they have to be spent with good reason.
Once all this is taken care of, the player can move on to the planning stage. This looks like a rough sketch on a piece of paper, the one you'd draw in order to have a clue on how objects will be placed in reality. The thieves start off from their car, parked in front of the building for a convenient quick get-away. The user draws the route that they will take during the robbery, having their position at every second marked by a colored arrow.
During the real thing, they will work against the clock, which also makes it important to follow their every move by using a timer. The player will draw using a line the exact path for each burglar at a time, when there is more than one involved. The great thing about this planning is that while he draws one road, the other thief's path is also enlightened, so that the player can make sure that the two of them don't block each other.
You will probably have to move between the pre-planning and the planning stage, at least until you get the hang of this game, in order to change the tools or make instructions crystal clear. One extra advantage is that the Boss can be part of the burglaries too and be the only one controlled during the action stage. This helps complete the jobs where the gamer might feel the need to take active control over matters.
The final stage is the action one, where the real building takes the place of the sketch and the thieves go along with the burglary exactly according to plans. The challenge is intense, as the timer starts going red and you have a feeling that you are not going to make it to the car with all the stolen goods. When this happens, the Police gets there just in time for handing the villains.
"Stolen in 60 Seconds" will surely prove hard to be digested by many people. The game asks, more than anything else, for patience from the player. This, combined with tactics and some strategic intelligence make the perfect player profile. Unfortunately, there are not very many people out there to have all these qualities, but some ambitious, stubborn ones could make just as good of an audience for this Herocraft game.
