Stolen [PS2]

Although developer Blue 52 officially closed its doors last month, the studio's last project managed to sneak out onto store shelves. Published by Hip Interactive, Stolen is a stealth action title that borrows elements from a number of established franchises and spins them into a game that is derivative, yet enjoyable.

You'll play the game as super-thief Anya Romanov, a cat-suit clad burglar whose only mission in life is to pad her bank account and look good doing it. During a recent break-in, Anya stumbles upon a grand conspiracy and has a full arsenal of high tech gadgets and acrobatic skills to get to the bottom of things. It may be lacking in originality, but the game certainly makes up for it in style.

Unlike many games, Stolen forgoes the traditional training level in favor of dropping you right into the action. As new situations arise, information boxes pop up on the screen explaining Anya's abilities and help you through the situation.

Navigating your environment is extremely easy thanks to Stolen's smooth control scheme. Movement is fluid and Anya glides around her environment with the precision of a gymnast. Though many of the more complex flips are scripted -- you only press the jump button a single time -- Stolen maintains the illusion that you are responsible for every last detail.

As a gadget supa-freak, Anya enters each level armed with the latest in GPS gear, so getting lost is never an option. That said, just because you have a map doesn't mean you know where the guards are located. Rather than have them appear by default, Stolen requires that you "tag" each one with a locator dart. Once tagged, the guards will always show up on your map, along with a display showing their field of vision. Electronic surveillance equipment, such as cameras, can also be tagged.

Knowing exactly where the guards are located is essential to Anya's survival in the game due to the fact that she does not kill. It's possible to knock a guard out, however, that only lasts for a short while -- and when the guard recovers, he'll probably call for backup. As a result, Stolen has a heavy emphasis on stealth and hiding in the shadows.

Visually, Stolen looks good, and makes excellent use of lighting effects. Although the game has a "visibility meter," knowing when you're visible is almost instinctual thanks to the excellent separation between light and dark. If things happen to be a bit too bright, Anya can knock out a light in order to increase the shadow-covered area.

Keeping out of the roving guards' way is simple enough early on, but once you progress past the first area, random patrol patterns make things tougher. This requires players to think on their feet, rather than simply waiting for the next patrol cycle to being.

No matter how stealthy you are, eventually Anya will run into a guard and have to fight it out hand-to-hand. Unfortunately, this is the weakest aspect of the game. Rather than switching to a full combat engine, Stolen forces you to fight with a single button. All you can do is close in and tap triangle like mad, hoping that your overpowered opponent doesn't level you first.

Another issue with Stolen is the camera. For the most part it works, but in close quarters it can present more than a few odd angles, hampering your view and making movement more difficult than it should be. Thankfully, it's little more than an annoyance most of the time.

In addition to the stealth aspect of play, Stolen also features four integrated mini-games. Each of the four comes into play whenever you attempt a particular task: lock-picking, hacking, safe-cracking and steel-cutting. Because each game occurs in real time, you have to time your attempts well. For example, if a guard walks by while you are in the middle of a hacking attempt, things will get messy very quickly.

Stolen isn't going to dethrone the mighty Splinter Cell franchise, but Anya is certainly a worthy contender within the genre. The developers have pulled inspiration from a number of sources and the result is a game that plays well even if it doesn't do anything incredibly innovative.