I always liked the word heist; it means so much more than robbery. When I think robbery I think taking someone’s wallet, breaking into someone’s home, etc. But a heist? That’s using night vision goggles to see laser alarm systems, rappelling from a museum ceiling to get an artifact, or maybe even pulling a vault out of a bank using a helicopter. Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine is more a game of heists than robberies.
Monaco starts off with you breaking out of prison. It’s the last night before you and a few other prisoners get shipped off, so now is the time to act. Once free you need to find a way to get out of Monaco, and since you’re all thieves you steal and hijack your way through the story. You start off with four thieves: The Locksmith, The Pickpocket, The Cleaner, and The Lookout, with each thief having a specific skill. The Locksmith can open locked doors quickly, the Pickpocket has a helper monkey that collects coins for you (including ones that are being held by people), the Cleaner can knock out unsuspecting guards, and the Lookout is able to see guards all over the map without having line of sight as long as she is sneaking.
As you progress through the story you will unlock additional characters with helpful abilities. An example would be The Mole who can knock down walls, or perhaps The Gentleman who is able to disguise himself as long as he is hidden. No one thief is required to complete specific levels, though I will say that some levels require a certain finesse that a specific thief may be able to provide. Levels with a lot of locked doors may benefit from The Locksmith’s abilities, while levels where you come across a lot of electronics may be best suited for The Hacker.
In Monaco the level is shrouded in darkness that will clear up as you traverse the map. Clearing up the map doesn’t mean you can “see” everything, as you can only see what is in your line of sight. Even on cleared areas of the map you will only see grey (unless you play The Lookout) and an outline of the pathways. This works both ways, as if you can see someone in your line of sight they can also see you.
Honestly, this took some getting used to for me. In the beginning I would hide behind something I thought was solid or tall, but with it being a top down perspective I found that many times the item wasn’t tall enough to conceal me, or perhaps what I thought was a solid wall was actually a window. There is no tutorial or hint that tells you what you can or cannot hide behind, or how to determine what is glass and what isn’t. Not that they need it, though, as you will quickly pick up how to determine such things if you pay attention, and you can plan your route accordingly.
Besides guards there are several other things you need to watch out for. Dogs can be a cause of concern because they can track your scent, and if a civilian sees you they will alert the guards. Also, there are obstacles such as doors or moving and stationary lasers that will trip alarms. One thing that I thought was out of place was the helicopter. If I’m at sea level inside of a boat, how can a helicopter find out where I am? Either way, it adds to the fun and makes not getting caught that much more challenging.
In most levels you will come across a combination of these obstacles, and most of them are all over the place. In many stealth games the game guides you in the direction of the path of least resistance; Monaco does not. If you take a glance at the map it is very easy to think that there is no way through many areas, but as you explore the map you will find vents, additional pathways, and catwalks you can useto get to your goal. Basically, you need to work the map as the best way to get to your goal may not be a straight line.
You are provided with some great tools to help you reach your goal. Most of the time, close to the beginning of the stage, you will find supply crates that will have the available tools for that level. You can only choose one and it will only work one time after picking it up; even after finding another supply crate with the same type of tool you will not be able to resupply. So, where does that leave you? How do you get more supplies? Coins. Coins are all around each level, and after you collect a certain amount you will get additional supply for whatever tool you are using.
Tools range from weapons (lethal and non-lethal), healing aids, and items that allow you to complete actions instantly (like opening a locked door or hacking a laser system). On top of the tools you can pick up, you can also hack computers to manipulate electronics around the level. Hacking can disable alarmed doors, lasers, and turn off lights. It makes things a lot easier, but it only lasts for a short period of time. Luckily there are multiple terminals in each stage.
Most levels have many options on what to choose, so it’s up to the player to decide how they want to play. Take the shotgun to get rid of guards that find you, or maybe use the sleep darts for a quieter solution. Maybe you just want to take smoke grenades so you can distract or pass through areas unnoticed. The choice is yours, as there isn’t a single right way to complete a stage.
Reaching your goal isn’t the only thing to do in each stage. There are leaderboards that track the fastest clear times, and there is even a daily ranking you see when you complete a stage. Also, as I mentioned there are coins to collect in each stage, and if you manage to collect them all you clear out the stage. This is important because it allows you to unlock other levels that we will talk about a little later on.
I started off playing solo. It started out ok working alone, but soon I started to get a little peeved at what I felt was an unfair difficulty if I wanted to clear out a stage. It’s not impossible, but the amount of guards you would run into or would have to purposefully alert seemed a bit counter-intuitive for a stealth game. On top of that, the time it would take to clear out a stage on your own is much higher than just completing the stage. It’s because of these issues that I just focused on completing the stage and getting out during solo play, and even that was a task once you get past the first few levels.
After I played online for the first time I realized that while I could play solo, the game really was balanced for co-op play. We would complete a stage and completely clear it out in a quarter of the time it would take for me to play solo in some stages. Having multiple thieves meant multiple abilities, soyou can unlock doors fast while still being able to see enemies that aren’t in your line of sight. You can share your vision if you want to see what your allies see, and also split up to collect coins much faster.
This opens up the stage for new strategies, too. That cash room in the bank filled with guards and civilians seems very daunting in solo play, but in team play you can have one person shut down the power while one or more thieves go into the room and clean the place out. If all else fails, now you’ll at least have more than one guy with a shotgun and you can shoot your way out of there. Co-op play feels like a must, but it isn’t one of those games where you need to play with your friends to make sure you have decent partners. I spent a good amount of time playing online and found that the community is really awesome. Everyone I ran into was very helpful and communicated well; a must for a game like this.
So besides the fact that you want to complete the game, why would you want to clean out the levels? Well, it turns out there is a second campaign to play (one that’s told from a different perspective), and you unlock those levels by cleaning out stages. The levels are the same as the main campaign, but the layouts and obstacles have been reworked to make them more challenging. Each one of the levels in the second campaign was definitely more chaotic.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing Monaco, and it got even better when I started playing with people online. I wouldn’t say it’s a must-play for stealth game fans, but the game is just so fun to play I think anyone will enjoy it. With a group of friends I can only imagine it would be that much better. I highly suggest you check out Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine which is available on both Steam and XBLA.
