Solid Snake. Sam Fisher. The King. What do they have in common? Yes, they’re all sport some pretty slick outfits, but now with the release of Sneak King for the Xbox systems, The King gets to join the ranks of silent stealth operations. Unfortunately for gamers, The King opted to leave his knives and guns at his castle and stars in a no-frills, frustrating title with little to no replayability.
Out of the three Burger King games now available at the restaurants, Sneak King is the one that focuses solely on the burger chain’s beloved mascot as he sneaks around various locations, a la his commercials, and stalk hungry people in order to deliver BK treats to them. From lumberyards to the downtown streets, no citizen’s hunger is to go unchecked and it’s up to you to see that The King is able to deliver the goods.
Not only can The King tiptoe his way behind an unsuspecting diner, but he can also take advantage of a number of hiding places from which he can pop out of with sandwich or side dish in hand. If people go hungry for too long, however, they will pass out and collapse, which in some cases causes your current mission to end.
Variables such as how close you are to a person when you feed them, how hungry they are, whether or not you are hiding and more are taken into account and multiplied with a chain combo, which extends for every delivery you make unnoticed. The game throws a total of 80 challenges at you ranging from "do this within X minutes," to "serve X amount of people while in hiding spots," etc.
Completing all 80 challenges unlocks a sneaking suit, but don't expect Metal Gear out of this title. Tedious game play and some shoddy mechanics are definitely going to turn many players away from what is easily the weakest title in the BK lineup.
The first aspect of the game many 360 owners will notice right off the bat is the less than stellar graphics, which is likely due to the fact the game also plays on the Xbox. The graphics are passable for an Xbox title but when combined with generic environments, repetitive bare-bones “customers” with stiff animations and routes and a sometimes awkward camera, Sneak King isn’t too much of a treat to look at.
It seems most of the attention to detail went to The King himself. He is noticeably more detailed than any other aspect of the game and while running; his cape features some decent fluid animations.
To even further dull down the presentation, the music is extremely generic, repetitive and forgettable. Xbox 360 users, though, will have access to the custom soundtrack feature in order to mask over the dreary, soft tunes that loop through the stages. Most of the sounds heard in the game are from the ambience of whatever environment you are in at the time – birds chirping, saws spinning, construction equipment, etc. If you get close enough, you can hear people talking in a manner that can only be compared to Simlish (i.e. nonsense).
The controls get the job done and feature solid performance that gets The King to where he needs to be. The real problem lies within the camera controls that easily get stuck on walls, creating a huge number of blocked views, most especially while hiding.
There’s nothing more to the game play than what I’ve already described – the entire game is nothing but sneaking up behind people and giving them surprise helpings of Burger King products. That concept alone gave me a definite “WTF?” moment when I first heard it, as it isn’t the most appealing concept in the world. Why recreate World War II, go on massive fantasy quests or battle enemies in hand-to-hand fighting when there’s food delivery games to be played? Being so, Sneak King is so absurd that it ends up being somewhat compelling to where you just can’t stop after a few mere deliveries.
Those playing the title in the 360 will benefit from at least one play through thanks to the mostly-easy achievements to add to your Gamerscore. However, with no multiplayer, online capabilities or huge in-game rewards, there is no reason to give Sneak King another play once you’ve had your fill. Unfortunately for some people, a few minutes may be all they’ll need for that.
Most of the time, avoiding sight isn’t too hard thanks to the narrow vision cones placed directly in front of your customers. Most of your danger stems from people other than your target that is positioned off screen. You can literally walk directly beside someone and not be seen.
However, the people all follow a set path repeatedly and make jerky turns thanks to their stiff animations that can reveal The King with no time to react. This can make Sneak King nothing more than trial and error, which is doubly frustrating seeing as some of the later missions can take 20-30 minutes to complete. If you have to start such a mission over, you’ll have to devote yet another 20-30 minutes to the cause.
With 20 missions per level and not too much variety through each one, playing through the game seems like the same mission over and over. The tedious nature of the game mixes with the lackluster presentation and creates a game that isn’t to be taken seriously. Sneak King is good for a few laughs, food for curiosity and perhaps a couple of achievement points but nothing else – even at a $4 price tag.
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