Review: Stealth Inc is still a bastard

Originally released as Stealth Bastard Deluxe: Tactical Espionage Arsehole last year, London indie team Curve Studios has introduced a somewhat more family-friendly title for the game's console debut but the covert platforming action is no less brutal than before.

Set in a facility that churns out clones, your mission is to hack every terminal in each level to unlock the exit, then escape without being squished, lasered or reduced to a spray of red pixels. Lurking in the darkness is key to not getting caught in the gaze of cameras, turrets and robots that guard the facility, and your mini Sam Fisher-like character's goggles change colour to indicate when you are hidden from view.

The puzzles start off basic but quickly escalate, and before long you're moving blocks to create new shadows, leaping between moving platforms and redirecting robot patrol routes to trigger switches. This progression is eased by the simple controls, with jump, crouch and hack terminal being the only button presses you'll need to perform.

Levels are often laced with tricks and traps designed to catch you out on your first playthrough, and even if you have quick reactions you'll find yourself dying a lot of times while you work out the route to the exit. Thankfully, respawns after these deaths are instant, and with plentiful checkpoints scattered throughout each area, you can work your way along without losing too much progress.

Stealth Inc can be frustrating, as you know the game has given you all the skills and tools you need to beat a level but you just can't for the life of you work out how to get past it. However, after careful consideration and experimenting, those light bulb moments when you figure out the solution feel all the more satisfying for it - like scratching an itch that was previously out of reach.

There's also plenty of humour to be found in the game, as the cutesy graphics and characters appear at odds with the sadistic traps and cascades of blood that accompany every mistake. Text comments regularly pop up on screen from a mysterious overseer, who dishes out both hints and mockery as you fail to live up to their lofty expectations.

There are a total of 80 levels divided into 8 sectors, and your performance on each level is ranked on time taken, number of deaths and how often you were spotted. Beat the target for all three of these to be rewarded with an elusive S-rank, and achieving this for the whole sector unlocks a bonus level, as does finding all of the hidden helix collectibles in each sector.

As Stealth Inc is Cross-Buy, you receive both PS3 and Vita versions. We found the puzzling was well suited to the Vita's smaller screen, although use of the handheld's extra capabilities is restricted to touchscreen menu taps. Meanwhile, a single button press on the main menu syncs your progress to the cloud, for easy transfer of play between the two systems.

A level editor is included in the package, but sadly there doesn't seem to be a way to share your creations with other players, which makes this feature feel rather redundant. However, with an online leaderboard tracking the best times on every level and unlockable equipment that gives you new ways to approach the puzzles, Stealth Inc has a compulsive hook that will keep you coming back for "just one more go".