Game Reviews

Sneaky Sneaky

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iOS
| Sneaky Sneaky
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Sneaky Sneaky
|
iOS
| Sneaky Sneaky

Sneaky Sneaky isn't just a mobile stealth action game done well, it's a brilliant example of the genre as a whole. From its gorgeous cartoon stylings to its clever, single-screen puzzles, everything about it screams quality.

But there's ingenuity here too, and it's all held together by simple touch controls that never feel inadequate for the task at hand.

There are shades of Zelda here as well, with an arsenal of equipment at your disposal and the obligatory heart meter hovering above your character to show you how close to death you are.

In short, this is a bright, challenging stealth puzzler that leaves you to your own devices, letting you fathom out which of your bag of tricks to use in any given situation.

Knife to see you

The game starts with a brief cutscene about a thief having his rubies taken from him. From there you're dropped into the game, shown the ropes, and then left to play around.

Each chunk of a level is made up of a single screen. There's an entrance, an exit, and some bad guys. You need to work out how to get to the next screen, killing the guards and monsters along the way.

There are also rubies to collect – three on each level. Some of these are pretty simple to find. Others require you to deviate from your path or even double back once you've unlocked the next bit of gear.

To start with you've just got your bare hands and your wits. Soon you'll get a sword, a bow and arrow, an axe, and a rock hammer. Each has its own role to play in your adventure.

Bush-whacked

The bow can be used for ranged attacks, but it can also blow up explosives, and smash pots to shock skeletons out of their sandy lairs. The axe cuts down trees and turns them into arrows. The rock hammer, well, that's for hammering rocks.

You use your sword for sneak attacks. Here you hide in a bush or some long grass, popping out when an enemy is adjacent to slice them up for massive damage.

If you get things wrong, and wander into the red area that marks a foe's line of sight, you'll trigger an encounter. These are turn based-affairs, and highlight how squishy your rogue is when facing down an enemy one-on-one.

They make you focus harder on not being spotted, and add to the satisfaction of a cleverly figured out one hit kill.

You can set traps for unwary soldiers by laying down some meat next to a bush. When they spot it they'll wander over for a meal, at which point you tap them and stab them in the throat.

Rogue like

There's a simple joy to pretty much everything you do in Sneaky Sneaky. From paddling out into heavy sand to alert a snake before peppering it with arrows, to luring in a pulsating blob for a coup-de-grace, everything feels fun.

The controls are slick enough that they'll rarely let you down, and the cleverly designed levels offer plenty of room for experimentation with your newly acquired assassin-y skill set.

This is mobile gaming at its finest, full of innovation, wry humour, and nostalgia. Do yourself a favour and download it as quickly as you can.

Sneaky Sneaky

A wonderfully put together stealth action title, Sneaky Sneaky has enough stabby fun to keep you going for hours
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.