Thanks to Zoink Games for the review code
Title: Stick it to The Man
System: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Price: $11.99
Release Date: 11/23/2017
Prelude
Normally when I write a prelude, I do so to skip over describing a game’s story, usually to make it into something I can sum up in a sentence during a prelude like this, or just outright ignore to avoid spoilers/the title not having much of a plot at all.
Well, this prelude is here because I really messed up. Eagle eyed SFG readers might see the release date, and yep… I got Stick it to the Man’s Switch port right around then, and through a series of distractions, taking on more than I could handle, and the rollercoaster of the 2019/2020 period, I pushed this game to the back of the queue, over, and over, and over again.
This was despite the fact that honestly, the game is rather simple and fun and didn’t take me that long to complete my notes on it when I finally got to dedicate time for it.
I feared if I wrote it too quickly after all that time, it would come off as insincere and not being able to dive into the game’s mechanics. As of now, Stick it to the Man is the second-oldest game on the queue, with the longest lasting game only being there due to me thinking it required extra material I didn’t actually need and failing to acquire it for so long. (and will likewise, finally be reviewing this year)
So, before we get into the review, now that I have dived in and enjoyed myself with this game and taken my usual notes, I will offer a sincere apology to all the folks involved with Zoink’s PR for this game, since this sort of delay is precisely why I slimmed down my queue and backed off big time on review games as of late, and how I plan to essentially return with a laser focus on a title-by-title basis once the queue is all caught up. Now, let us enter this wacky tale, nearly six years later…
Story
In this comedic adventure, you take control of Ray, a construction worker who suffers from a freak accident; causing a strange spaghetti arm to be fixed to his brain, and giving him the power to read minds! The game is not at all ashamed to goof around, and that leads to some pretty clever and funny writing. The game has a lot of voice acting, and while the plot can get outright absurd at times, I found that to be a charming positive in the game’s favor due to the funny writing.
Presentation
Zoink delivers a great identity here with a lovely pop-up book presentation, one that manages to even shine on Switch, looking pretty darn clean in both handheld and docked modes. The game ran relatively smooth on my Switch Lite, and I didn’t really have any troubles spotting key aspects of the chapter stages, since the game does a fairly good job of outlining elements you need to be paying attention to.
Audio wise, the game has a soundtrack which I felt was fine when going through the levels, but nothing that I’d listen to outside of the game. The real charm and humor comes from the voice performances, as wow, there are a lot of voices, and a bunch of them are pretty darn funny! The VA cast in Stick it to the Man does a great job of demonstrating the humor, and even the game lets you have fun with these performances by being able to adjust the pitch of their voices on the fly during conversations; the whole thing doesn’t really take itself seriously, but manages to be pretty proud with how it goofs off, and I appreciated that, along with just how much voiced dialog was in this game and how the whole ordeal really started to feel like an interactive cartoon.
Gameplay
Stick it To the Man is a chapter-based puzzle platformer, with light aspects from point and click games. You move Ray around with the left stick, use a button to jump, use the right stick to aim the spaghetti mind-reader hand, and then use the shoulder buttons to stick or grab what you need for the situation.
Starting off, the chapters are rather basic, usually focusing on a singular task with not much to get in your way, even with the frequent checkpoints around the map. The game eventually introduces these secret agents that want Ray’s special brain hand, and that is where the minimal frustration and tricky platforming sections can come into play, as if you get caught by one of these guys or suffer some other fate that’ll harm Ray, you’ll die and be printed back out at the last checkpoint.
The game isn’t brutal in that regard though, and the same goes for the puzzles, for later you’ll have to use the spaghetti hand to not only read people’s minds to know what they need help with, but to outright grab and pocket any stickers that lie around; these are basically your items and where the Point & Click aspect comes into play, as often a character or location in the chapter will have a problem that’ll need a certain sticker to fill in and solve, such as helium to help someone with a risky experiment, or a magic hat that’ll turn a NPC into a psychic that can bring back spirits from the dead.
Each chapter has their own stickers to hunt and use properly, and while it isn’t that tough at all to get the tasks done, they do tend to have a pretty funny payoff, and Ray’s commentary whenever he acquires certain stickers did give me a few laughs during my time with the game. You can also use the spaghetti hand to grab onto ledges or parts of the stage itself and peel them away, and some chapters get pretty clever with that, even if the game manages to move along at a fairly good pace. All in all, a funny, simple, yet charming puzzle platformer with more focus put on the funny adventure than any sort of frustrating challenges to bother with.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Stick it to The Man is a fun puzzle platformer with a goofy mechanic that while basic, does a pretty good job at enhancing the funny plot. From the variety of wacky characters, funny sub-plots that each chapter adds to the mix, to great “aha!” moments that avoid the usual frustrations of games like this (mainly thanks to being able to keep throwing yourself at the puzzle until you figure it out), I am happy to say that Stick it to The Man managed to be a fun narrative ride that’s well worth playing once and goofing around with, and I’m still nearing the end of my playthrough and enjoying what each subsequent chapter has to offer, with the humor remaining to be of pretty good quality.
Really, the only sort of negative I had with the game was how a couple of chapters felt a little bit padded with slower moments that ignored the ongoing plot or lacked as much interaction as I’d like, but even that was minimized by having funny character interactions to deal with instead.
Better late than never, and it luckily runs pretty good on Switch, while often being on sale if the already good price somehow makes you uneasy. Definitely worth a play if you need some laughs, and want a game that you’ll feel good progressing in without any frustrations.
I give Stick it to the Man a 7 out of 10.