WeView: Stacking

Usually, when Kris picks a game for WeView, he chooses something that he thinks was experienced by a lot of people. It’s usually something that was a good seller or got plenty of publicity. He looks for something with a TSA review to act as a reference point. But Kris is away and I’m not so considered in my approach to picking WeView titles. I picked the one that got the most enthusiastic plea for its selection.

[drop2]Stacking was a reasonably big deal, at least in the marketplace it resides. Few downloadable titles got as much publicity around their launch from so many different places. It’s odd that we didn’t review it at the time and I’ll be perfectly honest and own up to not knowing why we skipped it. Sometimes we just don’t have time.

I know a number of TheSixthAxis staff members played it though, and it was very much enjoyed by most people I’ve seen talk about it. Personally, I found it a little too heavy on tutorials and a little too slow to get going. I didn’t press on and uncover the delights that many talked about and to my limited knowledge, it looked like a quirky, repetitive puzzle game with too much walking around and not enough focus on that stacking mechanic.

The idea was to stack matryoshka dolls inside each other to assimilate and utilise special abilities and it led to puzzles which had multiple approaches. It was a smart idea and, by most accounts, it was implemented well by Double Fine. Coming from that studio, of course, you can expect a sense of humour to be present and Stacking didn’t disappoint on this front. It was written well, as you’d expect, with some amusing dialogue popping up throughout.

So, with no TSA review to quote, and limited personal knowledge of the game, it’s all the more important that I throw the floor open to you guys and get your assessment of Double Fine’s quirky puzzler – Stacking.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to leave a rating of Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It or Avoid It. We’ll collect the choice quotes for next Monday’s verdict.

35 Comments

  1. I don’t own it yet :(

    Verdict; Buy it. (for me<3)

  2. I got this through my plus account, had a go and really didn’t like it. I felt the cut scenes were too long and it bored me very quickly.
    Avoid it.

  3. One of the best games of last year, great puzzling action & a charming character to it that is rarely seen in the days where the big franchises rule.

    Quite simple for kids to play & even complete, but quite challenging for completionists, perfectly balanced.

    A must buy!

  4. if you’ve played Shafer’s other games and loved the humour in them, i think you’ll like this.
    and i did, i can still remember the first time playing Full Throttle, the bit with the motorbike at the beginning had me in actual pain from laughing.

    it’s not perfect, some of the puzzles seemed a little obscure to me, at least to me anyway, i wasn’t sure what i had to do in some of the puzzles.
    but the concept is so unique, and for the most part works so well, leading to some clever puzzles.
    and Shafer’s humour shows throughout the game.

    i really should give it a another go and try and finally finish it.

    my vote goes for buy it, which i probably would have done if i hadn’t got it as part of my plus sub.

    if you’re looking for suggestions for a future weview, i’d like to suggest Xenoblade Chronicles.

    i’d love to see what others who have played it thought of it.

    • Trouble with Xenoblade Chronicles is that it is a wii game & not too widespread so therefore it might be difficult to find a userbase to give a weview on it.

      I think you might get a lot of “i have heard of this & want to play it”, but not so sure what sort of percentage of the readership would actually fall into the “I have played it & think…” demographic.

  5. Inventive, funny and charming, Stacking is a delight to play : dolls often let you do all sorts of quirky actions, and some solutions are downright hilarious. The game is utterly respectful of the player, most of the content and the challenge staying optional. Thus, the game is never bugging you with an inscrutable puzzle. It’s already a bargain, so no excuse not to Buy It.

  6. A delightful game,lots of charm. I got it a while back when it was on offer.buy it!

  7. Got this with PS+. Similar thoughts to Spikey Mickey. I agree its unique and has a wonderful concept and art style. But I became bored quickly with it and didn’t reach the end of the game and overall thought it was below par. Certainly not one of the strongest PSN games I have played or worse for that fact. But AVOID IT is my final verdict.

  8. Got it free on Plus, enjoyed the concept but it never got interesting for me. I only got to the boat (second level) and never came back to it. Being fair, I only played it because it was free, so I can’t really form an opinion on it. I wouldn’t buy it, but I don’t think “avoid it” is fair…

  9. First time I played it I rapidly lost interest. I finally convinced myself to pick up again and thoroughly enjoyed it, and was inspired to 100% it. I really liked the inventiveness and the typical quirkiness of a schafer game. If it was possible I’d say Rent It as there is zero replay-ability. (I also picked up the DLC which I was ultimately disappointed with – so I’d say Avoid the DLC).

  10. I got it through ps+ but had I not I would definatly had got it if it was on offer or something. It is a lovely, quirky little game, with fascinating characters. Its very charming that you can take at your own pace. Ironically I gave up and I can’t quite remember why. I think it was one of the puzzles I couldn’t do.
    It is a love it or hate it game though. Bargin Bin It.

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