Third Eye Crime: Act 1 Review
PROS
- Great controls
- Fun stealth puzzles
- Additional goals on each stage will tempt you back
CONS
- Telepathy doesn’t solve all the stealth problems
- Neither the story nor gameplay make us need an Act 2
VERDICT
Third Eye Crime: Act 1 brings an arcade slant to its stealth gameplay that is fun for a while, but we suspect one act will be enough.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
Stealth games always run the risk of leaving you inactive. By necessity, they demand you pay attention to the world around you, learning patterns and waiting for your moment to skulk unseen through the shadows. Unfortunately, this means that rather than playing, much of your time is spent simply watching. Developer Moonshot Games clearly understood this problem, and has tried to address it with Third Eye Crime: Act 1.
You take control of Rothko, a master thief. Set in noir ‘50s America to wonderfully smoky saxaphone solos, the story begins when a dame employs to bail out her no good husband. Soon, Rothko has been roped into stealing paintings and other priceless artifacts from museums, tasks which he must perform without getting caught.
Despite all of the story’s intrigue, your only concern yourself is to make your way past security to the exit, swiping items along the way. Intuitive controls help ensure you have complete control of the thief as he tiptoes around the top-down 2D levels. Unlike similar stealth games, however, you don't have to navigate through the maze-like museums unseen. In fact, you often have to walk right under the noses of museum employees, triggering a low-speed pursuit. This adds an unexpected arcade element to the game, forcing you play a tense bout of cat and mouse with pursuers.
To help him outwit the staff, Rothko has been gifted the power of telepathy. This allows you to intuite where guards intend to search, with your sixth sense painting enemy search patterns onto the map in red highlights. This addition is designed to give you the upper hand when planning your escape, but its not 100% reliable. In truth, we often ignored its guidance, instead falling into a pattern of trial and error, memorising the path our enemies would take in response to particular actions.
Third Eye Crime: Act 1 has an interesting arcade twist to its stealth core. Unfortunately, despite its best efforts to move away from the genre’s usual tropes, it has simply found new ways to implement old ideas. The result is a game that is fun to sneak through once, but which doesn’t have us especially eager for an Act 2.
Screenshots
$1.99
