Review: Stick Man Rescue (PSN, PSP)

I’m not sure what happened in the land of the stick figures, but war has broken out in Tik Games’ Stick Man Rescue and it’s your job to rescue your comrades from behind enemy lines. Well, I don’t really know if there’s a war, the game doesn’t actually tell you what’s going on, so I’ll just use my imagination to fill in the blanks. I’m reminded of Edwin Starr’s song War in which he states “War (manly grunt) yeah, what is it good for absolutely nothing”. Well Edwin, I think I’ve found a purpose for war and that is to watch stick figures tear themselves into tiny bloody pieces.

You assume the role of a black stick figure in a sweet hovercraft carrier. The mission is simple. Swoop down and pick up as many of your black stick figure comrades as you can and deposit them in home base before the blue stick figures murder them. Sounds simple right, well there are a few obstacles along the way. The blues are very creative in the way they choose to vanquish their foes. You’ll be dodging dirigibles that shoot frisbees of death, steam rollers of mayhem, and my personal favorite, meat grinders of errr….grindyness. To be honest, the obstacles wouldn’t be a problem if the stickmen you’ve been tasked to rescue had the slightest shred of self preservation. They’re quite content with being crushed by steam rollers and they wont fight back when crazed machete wielding enemies come their way, but hey, they’ll blindly walk into pits of acid…FANTASTIC!

Stick Man Rescue is essentially a puzzle game. It’s not so much about killing the blue stick figures, it’s more about navigating the traps that the blues have set for the hovercraft. Your hovercraft can only hold four survivors at a time and as you progress through the levels there are more and more stick figures that need rescuing. Eventually, it begins to be game of timing, finding the men who die first and then working your way backwards.  Certain levels have weapon upgrades like bombs, missiles, and flamethrowers to help you complete the mission. Let me just say, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a stick figure man burst into flames then shrivel into ash.

The game isn’t perfect. The hovercraft can be unruly at times, which is a big deal since the entire game is based around the hovercraft. I kept getting stuck on ledges. Even if the tiniest part of my hovercraft touched a ledge, it would stop and sit there like a pile of rocks. I also had a bad habit of getting too close to the stickmen when I was landing or taking off which resulted in their bodies exploding into little bloody piles. Let me just say I didn’t touch them, I just got a little too close. Also, whenever the hovercraft lands, regardless of where the stick figures are in the level, they will run towards the hovercraft and try to get in. This lead to some pretty silly deaths like when a group of stick men ran into a meat grinder, thankfully, you don’t have to rescue all the stickmen to advance to the next level. I totally get that having the stickmen move toward the hovercraft is part of the puzzle mechanic, I just had a hard time letting the suicidal ones go. Also, halfway through the missions the difficulty curve just goes away. I swear the last level is one of the easiest missions in the game.

So this is the part of the review where it gets tricky. Do I recommend Stick Man Rescue? Yes and no. If you’re getting it to play just on the PS3 I would say no. It’s fun, but you’ll get tired of it fast. Also the graphics look stretched making it appear unpolished despite the charming stick figure animations. BUT if you have a PSP I have the feeling that this is a great game to stave off boredom. I wish I could be more certain than “I have a feeling,” but I don’t own a PSP, but I do remember thinking, “This would be soooooo much better on a handheld.” I’m green lighting this game if you have a PSP otherwise I’d pass.