Developer: Hitcents
Publisher: Hitcents
Rrp: £3.99
Released: 3rd December 2013
Available on Steam
In draw a Stickman you play as a stickman…. That you’ve drawn… So, yeah the title is kind of self explanatory. The basic premise is that your friend G has been kidnapped and you have to save him using your magic pencil.
The game is split into twelve levels, a bonus level and one that unlocks once the story is complete. Each of the levels is quite short, and if you know what your doing each one can be completed in a few minutes.
Within every level are three collectibles, those being a page, a puzzle piece and a colour buddy. Getting the colour buddy will allow you to use more colours when creating your stickman (which you can choose to redraw between each level). The puzzle piece gets added to the jigsaw puzzle that you can access via the level select and finally the page adds another page (shocking, I know) to the story that is also accessible through the level select screen.
Essentially this is a point and click puzzle game. Although I suppose it’s more accurate to call it a point and draw puzzle game. On each level you are given the ability to draw some items (I’m going to use the term ‘items’ even though you can draw fire and storms). It’s quite clever in its own way, allowing the user to work out the best solution with the limited tools they have. You can use fire to set off dynamite or a storm, the explosion will clear a path or have some other effect to the environment. Of course just because you drew the fire doesn’t mean you can’t be harmed by it, if you aren’t careful you can very easily be killed by the storm or fire you drew.
If I have to give a single flaw that irritated me with this game I would say it’s the ‘in-game universe’ rules. There are certain things that the game just doesn’t tell you and you can only find out from experience. Often this experience will kill you and send you right back to the beginning of the level, which can be quite frustrating.
I’m not sure if this game is for everyone, it’s a low graphic adventure that only lasts a small amount of time, and it hasn’t exactly got a lot of replay value. That being said if you find yourself in the mood for something unique, fun and quick I say give this a try.
