Heist

SPAG

Those of you who don't feel like
spending the next period of time (quite an extended one -- the
walkthrough for Heist includes over 1000(!) moves) hearing about logical
problems can stop reading right now -- the rest of this review is
dedicated entirely to puzzles. Of course, the game has a story, and a
setting, but it really isn't what it is about.
See the full review

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5 star: (1) 4 star: (2) 3 star: (5) 2 star: (2) 1 star: (0)

Average Rating: Number of Reviews: 2 Write a review

This game is everything that I look for in a long and involving game--the kind that I always seek, I guess because I am an old-style IF veteran. It makes use of all of my IF habits--map-making, object list, puzzle list--and it's full of puzzles. And I just had to find those last few points!
It's impossible for me to give a detailed review of this game, because it's just so sprawling and there is a number of self-contained chapters. Yes, there are many puzzles. Yes, the puzzles are real stumpers. But you see, I take that as par for the course--for me, a game is satisfying if it is challenging, and I can make it through on my own steam.
If you are looking only for a good story, that you can complete in a weekend, I'd say look elsewhere. But if you are looking for both a good story AND a challenging game, that will keep you occupied for days, maybe weeks, 'Heist' may be your choice.
I gave this game 4 stars, if only because I could not give it 4 1/2, and I wanted to somehow communicate that the writing needs some serious editing in terms of punctuation, grammar, and spelling. Obviously, the author is British, and his phraseology reflects it. Though overall, I thought his language and story-telling was very atmospheric and carried a lot of the ambience that I think he was trying to convey.
I think the best thing that I can say here is that I came away from this game wanting to play another Andy Phillips game.

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Like all of his other games, this Andy Phillips game is extremely long. Typing in and reading the output of the walkthrough took me several days of playing.

You have an beginning area that is longer than most games, and then you can teleport to 6 different sub-areas. Each sub-area is fairly long, about as long as an IFComp game but with high difficulty.

The idea is that in the first area, you become a thief, and then in each subarea, you pull off a heist. Every kind of theft is represented: (Spoiler - click to show) housebreaking, military espionage, a booby-trapped pirate cave, a ritzy ocean liner, a museum, and the crown jewels. Each area has its own inventory separate from the others.

As always, the writing is evocative and beautiful, and the puzzles are vastly and deeply unfair. If you don't do exactly the right thing, you will die. Unusually for these games, however, is a large randomized element, so that even those using the walkthrough will have to experiment for some time. This was fun.

Overall, you really have to have a taste for this type of game to enjoy it. Without a walkthrough, don't expect to see more than 10% of the game.

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