HEIST is the first game by Australian studio Atomizer Games, and I'm very impressed by it. Despite the fact that it has a few issues, it's still very well-made and a fun way to spend your evening. Please note that my playtime above doesn't reflect my actual playtime, it's actually around three hours, but Steam didn't register it for whatever reason (I think it's because my Wi-Fi was down and Steam wasn't online).
Much like the description says, you play as a cat burglar in the Depression Era trying to avoid guards, pull off various heists, and escape without being caught, no false advertising here folks. The black and white color scheme gives off a noir film feel, and it works very well, so don't fret if you think it'll be bland and boring when you play it, I assure you it's not.
First, the good stuff. There's a story in HEIST, but it's fairly simple, so don't expect Bioshock levels of storytelling. It's straight and to the point because much of the game revolves around and focuses on the gameplay. There are 7 levels, so the game, while short, is concise, with the developers focusing their time on perfecting these specific levels instead of flying off the rails and having the game stray from its main focus, the stealth, and its level design. I love stealth games, and I'm a huge fan of the Metal Gear series, so if you are too I think you'll like the gameplay at the very least.
The level design is fantastic with each room being a puzzle in itself with you trying to decide how you'll tackle the challenge and steal the item/escape. There's no time limit on any of the levels so don't stress over that. HEIST is a game about taking your time to pull off the perfect heist and focuses on strategy over action. After every level you get a new tool to aid you in the missions, these include, but aren't limited to trip wires, smoke bombs, and cherry bombs (purely for distraction purposes). There is an arrow to guide you to your objective, so you don't get lost in the levels (it'll pop up when you press the TAB key).
I guess the only con I can give HEIST is its AI. The guards are incredibly easy to exploit, and you can pretty much cheese your way to your objective. This is because there are green objects (couches, desks, etc...) that you can hide under and become invisible even when you're being chased, they also act as a sort of "quick save" point. Theoretically you can sprint to the next one if you know where it is and work your way towards your objective that way. If you make enough distance between you and a guard that's chasing you and make it to a dark area it's fairly difficult for them to find you. Effectively, the game isn't that challenging in this aspect. I also did run into one bug where the guards kept colliding with each other, meaning that I had to restart the level (granted, I'd only played five minutes of said level up until that point, and it only happened once). I recorded that moment and uploaded it to YouTube, and it's accessible via the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1DgwXsow-4
Once the devs fix this collision issue and point it out in this review's comments I'll gladly edit the review to reflect that.
Nevertheless, despite the AI issues, HEIST is a fairly good game where you can just sit down on a weekend and have a tea while you play it. It takes around three hours to beat, so don't worry about it getting in the way of your work. The game was cheap in my country but if you feel that it's too expensive for a three-hour experience wait for it to go on sale and see if the price warrants the playtime at the discount that it's on when it goes on sale. Overall, I feel like HEIST is pretty good and worth your time, and it's very impressive given that as far as I know this is Atomizer Games first game. I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the next game they release in the future.
