Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5 out of 10

Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones is a side scrolling stealth platform puzzle game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4, PS3 and PS Vita. This new game is a sequel to 2013’s PlayStation Vita and PS3 versions of Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark and just as the first game did; it throws players into a world in which a single false move will see the character suffer instant death, while mixing danger with the requirement of speed and strategy.

As was the case with the original, the lead character is one of many clones held against their own will in a deadly high-tech testing facility called PTi Industries. As instant death is a certainty if seen by any of the security cameras or various roaming enemies; the only positive thing in the character’s favour, is being equipped with a pair of stealth goggles that glow green when out of sight and safe, but also glow orange to indicate that you are partially in sight of any surrounding enemies and if they glow red, then retreat back into the shadows very quickly or death will imminently follow.

The level design really brings the game alive, with puzzles that will no doubt test the brain matter and some puzzles that will leave the player scratching their head and really having to take in the entire area to create a plan of action before proceeding after potentially multiple failed attempts. It must be said that it is a testament to the level design that the game never becomes boring and always keeps players on their toes and attempt to mentally keep one step ahead of the enemies and hazards that surround them, despite there being a total of 60 levels. While a major change in the level design in comparison to the first game is the inclusion of a core area in which all of the Test Chambers are found within by exploring the PTi Industries facility, rather than just being accessed upon the main menu. The introduction of briefcases known as PTi Terminals which allows players to log into PTi’s intranet to access a map of the surrounding area of the facility certainly helps matters by providing an aerial view indicating which areas have been explored, alongside important statistics such as percentage of unlocked Test Chambers, S ranked Test Chambers and the amount of clones saved. Each of the 60 levels feels fresh and they all have an organised structure with 6 chapters broken down into 8 levels with unlockable ninth and tenth levels for each chapter by achieving an S rank for all 8 of the levels. Perhaps the consistent freshness of the gameplay is due in part to the smaller scale of the levels with the approach that it may not necessarily be completed on the first few attempts, but that as the player replays the level their completion time for each will progressively improve as they learn and memorise more each go.

The enemy design is pretty good as they are always capable of springing a trap and causing a surprise, especially the security cameras that scan their surrounding environment as they search for any intruders. If the security cameras find the character in the light, then they will fire remote laser beams or shoot on sight from a fixed turret, while another interesting enemy is reminiscent of a mechanical dog with a megaphone as a face which patrols and barks out a frequency to alert any enemies within a nearby radius of the character’s presence.

After having defeated the boss in the eighth level of any given chapter; players will begin unlocking new equipment that will help them to achieve faster times for each of the levels within that particular chapter which allows everything from teleportation across entire levels to hacking patrolling robots and perfectly compliments the permanently available stealth goggles. This is a great design choice to encourage further replayability of previously completed levels by providing different approaches to how those levels can be completed.

The level editor allows players to create their own levels and test themselves with levels that are as easy or as challenging as players want them to be, while the level editor really adds a lot of further gameplay to the game and makes the creative possibilities limitless. The level editor is made even more feature rich and comprehensive in comparison to that of the PlayStation platform release of the original Stealth Inc is the ability to upload and share levels online with other players from around the world, which certainly takes the game in a user-created content direction that has only previously been ambitiously explored by games such as the Little Big Planet franchise.

There is no downloadable content for any of the versions of Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones, although there is a bundle called the Stealth Inc 1 & 2 Ultimate-est Edition which consists of both games including The Teleporter Chambers and The Lost Clones downloadable content from the first game comprising of a total of 180 levels with triple cross-buy providing all of the content on PS4, PS3 and Vita for just £13.99* which is perfect for anyone who has not played the first game.

Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones supports cross-buy between the PS4, PS3 and Vita, although it unfortunately does not support cross-save, so players will not be able to continue from their previous progression on the Vita version when playing the PS4 or PS3 version and vice versa, however as Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones is also remote play; players can technically continue on playing the PS4 version anywhere they want to with the same save file during remote play. Cross-buy presents a superb amount of value as it means that players will be purchasing the PS4, PS3 and Vita versions of the game with just a single purchase.

The control scheme is intuitive and easy to learn as they are well mapped to their respective buttons on the DualShock 4 controller. The control scheme consists of pressing X to jump; pressing O or down on the d-pad to crouch; pressing square or up on the d-pad to hack a terminal or activate a switch; pressing triangle to pick up, drop or throw a gadget; pressing R1 to use a gadget; changing the direction of the left analogue stick or pressing left or right on the d-pad to move the character left or right; holding the left analogue stick to the left or right towards a movable object while the character is positioned next to the movable object to push it in the appropriate direction; pressing the share button takes players to the share feature menu; and pressing the options button to display the pause menu. Unfortunately, there is no touch pad implementation during actual gameplay which could have been used as an alternative to pressing square or up on the d-pad to hack a terminal or activate a switch, despite being able to view the controls within the level editor by tapping the touch pad; the ability to move the cursor and objects by swiping across the touch pad during the creation of a level in the level editor which was in Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark – Ultimate Edition on PS4 is not included in Stealth Inc 2. There is no vibration from the DualShock 4 controller which could have came into play particularly when the character is killed or had a long and heavy fall from a high platform, although there is exceptional use of the light bar as the light bar changes colour to display what your current status of visibility is with green representing not being visible, orange representing partially visible and red representing being fully visible.

Graphically, the importance of light and shadow is highlighted in great detail and precision. The lead character; environments; enemies; objects and more besides are to the graphical quality that should be expected from a great side scrolling platformer.

The presentation of the game is solid with a great user interface across various menus such as the level selection menu, test chambers, community levels, level editor and options menu with support for navigation via the left analogue stick, directional pad and face buttons, although it does not include support for navigation via the right analogue stick or touch pad. The background of the menu screens consists of clones remaining in their incubators within the PTi Industries laboratories.

The sound effects are mainly based around the character’s movements such as running, jumping, pushing objects which even make humorous sounds of realisation when being pushed, activating switches and hacking terminals, alongside the movement of opening and closing doors and lifts, while there is also gun fire to be heard from turrets that are fixed to some of the security cameras and the firing of remote laser beams shortly after the sound of the security cameras has been heard when they have been alerted to the character’s position. Sci-fi techno styled music which certainly helps to set the scene of what is going on around as security cameras scan the surrounding area, while players have to stay in the dark to stay alive. There is no support for the DualShock 4’s speaker which could have been utilised to provide sound effects such as the sound that is made during the hacking of a terminal, turrets shooting when the security cameras have detected the character, incidental sound effects or perhaps even playing the music through the speaker.

The trophy list includes 12 trophies with 8 bronze, 3 silver and 1 gold trophy. The trophy list varies greatly with the easiest trophy being the Scarlett Pimperhell bronze trophy for rescuing a clone from a Test Chamber, while there are some harder trophies including trophies that may take varying lengths of time to complete depending upon how easily players adapt to the puzzles such as the Gone Walkabout silver trophy for visiting and uncovering every room on the map; The Thomas Riker Award silver trophy for rescuing all of the 91 clones; and the hardest trophy of all would have to be the Stealth Lord gold trophy for achieving an S rank on all of the 60 Test Chambers. It is estimated that depending upon skill and a good trophy guide to provide some helpful tips for some of the more difficult and challenging puzzles and levels that it would take between 10 to 20 hours to 100% the trophy list.

There are no difficulty levels, although there are increasingly difficult challenges as players attempt to not be caught by the security cameras, not to die and to complete the level as quickly as possible for the best ranking; therefore the difficulty is only as hard as players find the stealth elements to be as well as the puzzles and enemies.

 The online leaderboards focuses on the best times in the world with each one containing each player’s rank; name (PSN ID); and best time with the positioning of each player based upon how quick they have completed that particular level, alongside statistics such as how many deaths the chosen character has incurred, how many times they were spotted, rank for each statistic and the overall rank for every level.

There is no local or online co-operative multiplayer which is surprising given the fact that many of the Test Chambers in single player require co-operation between the clone and at least one other clone to work towards solving the puzzles by standing on the appropriate switches at the correct times and moving in accordance with a switch being activated by the other clone and vice versa; therefore local and online co-operative multiplayer for two or more players would have been a perfect addition in order to take this sequel up a further level of quality. A further local multiplayer mode with a competitive edge would be a pass the controller multiplayer mode in which both players attempt to complete each Test Chamber faster than the other player.

The replayability of Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones stems from how the game rewards the effort to improve performance across all of the 60 levels which really keeps players replaying the same level until players have successfully achieved an S rank. The online leaderboards provides another major reason to return to completed levels as they vie for a place amongst the world’s elite for the fastest times set in each and every level. The ranking system and online leaderboards all merge together to add to the depth of gameplay that will have players returning to this particular game long afterthe initial investment. Further additional layers of replayability are provided in the form of positive design choices such as having two unlockable levels in every chapter that requires players to achieve an S ranking for all of the 8 levels within that particular chapter in order to unlock them, alongside a level editor which allows players to create their own challenging levels to test not only themselves, but also players from across the world due to the introduction of the ability to share user generated content with limitless possibilities for how levels can be designed which effectively increases replayability infinitely for everyone.

Overall, Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones is a very enjoyable game throughout the 60 levels the game has to offer and an exceptional level editor which now even allows the sharing of user generated content via uploading from the level editor and competitive online leaderboards that will have players returning to the game for a significantly long time. If you are a fan of the original Stealth Inc or the platforming, action and stealth genres, then Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones is an absolute must purchase, while the wealth of content on offer makes the £11.99* price tag all the more unmissable, especially considering the excellent performance of the Vita and PS3 versions which are also included via the triple cross-buy package.

Jason Bonnar

Analysis

• Title: Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones
• Developer: Curve Studios
• Publisher: Curve Studios
• System: PS4, PS3 and PS Vita
• Format: PSN Download
• Cross-Buy: Yes (PS4, PS3 and PS Vita)
• Cross-Play: No
• Players: 1 (Shared User Generated Content/Online Leaderboards)
• Hard Drive Space Required: 387MB
• *Correct at time of publishing