The International House of Mojo

Played it a bit yesterday, and the presentation and graphics are both really impressive. Great dialogue too.

My main issue so far was the incredibly slow opening. Took forever to actually start playing the damn thing.

Will see how the game pans out when I actually get into it. So far I think I prefer CQ, gameplay wise.

I've only completed half the game, but I'm in awe.
Totally in awe.

The game is beautiful! Excellent graphics, effects and atmosphere. The amount of polish takes me back to old timey adventure games...

I haven't had the chance to finish the game yet, but so far it's been really enjoyable. I, for one, am enjoying Stacking pretty much as much as I thought I would be. I didn't hype myself up too much, though, since these smaller games aren't really my thing that much. They can be really fantastic snacks between meals.

Ugh....I ordered 3 months of playstation plus thinking I'd get this for "free," turns out you need to continue subscribing to keep playing their full game unlocks >.>

What elTee said, actually, as much as it pains me to say it. I'll try to elaborate on the "not enjoying it as much as I thought I would" further starting with the good:

1. It's more polished than Costume Quest in some regards - the opening screen, for example, starts off with dark shapes of Matryoshkas and fills in as you unlock more and more of them. There's a lot to experiment with when it comes to characters, and if you went around CQ both talking and hitting everyone - this one is insane, as many dolls treat Charlie differently from others, and there is at least one type of doll whose ability unlocks a bonus, unique dialog.
2. If you're worried about the "four areas" thing as not being "enough game" you may be rest assured - the levels are huge and exhibit excellent variety.
3. There are some great puzzles in the game that feel rewarding to complete.

Now for the bad stuff:
1. Camera issues occur frequently, although I'm not certain if the issue arises from shortcomings in character controls or camera ones. It's a rather unfortunate development as the art direction is overwhelmingly great.
2. There are some minor bugs on the PS3 version (it came out first, and with Double Fine titles it's not like I'm going to wait 24 hours). For example, every once in a while there are speech bubbles that pop up when you approach a wall, without characters being present (and no, you can't talk to these ghosts).
3. As you may or may not know, all challenges have multiple solutions. With the exception of the first two or three challenges, at least one solution seems to operate on the Sierra's "create a fake moustache to impersonate a man without facial hair" approach, in that it seems tacked on without an excellent fit. However, see the third point above - at least one of the solutions will make you feel quite good about yourself, PARTICULARLY if you don't utilize the hint system...

I'll write up a review later, because there's tons of potential spoilers for people who might want to play it later, in 2022, when 360/PS3 emulators get good enough to run on their PCs....

The game looks great, but I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. Hard to say what it is exactly, but it feels like a strange mix of an adult game in a kid's body. There's fun to be had in exploring the world and the people, but it also gets tedious traversing back and forth across it collecting the different characters you need. The actual stacking mechanic is a great idea though, and it's well handled - it's almost reminiscent of the Dizzy games, with your finite list of abilities to carry, and having to swap them out as required. I'll be able to understand how I feel about it better when I play a bit more, I guess.

+1

Gamerakings is less agnostic ;)

http://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html?search=stacking&numrev=3&site=

6 reviews and an average of 85% at the moment.

Metacritic is unaware of the existence of Stacking. I think what they're trying to say is that Stacking is beyond criticism.

Nice! Looks like an excellent game, I hope it's a massive hit for DF. [insert obligatory desperation-induced PC version comment here]

Can I start the pouting for PC & Wii owners?

// pouts //