Review: Stacking (Multi)

Stacking is the latest game in Double Fine's recent foray into the downloadable space -- Costume Quest was their first. This has been one of my most anticipated games and while I do enjoy Stacking, I can't help but feel a tad disappointed. Keep in mind that my disappoint doesn't mean I dislike the game -- I actually rather enjoyed my experience -- I just didn't fall madly in love with it.

Right from the start, the art (unintentional rhyme) and style hit all the right notes. Stacking is a beautiful game and pulls off the Russian nesting doll look perfectly. The designs, animation, and overall feel  give off vibrations that this is a real world, filled with real, live nesting dolls. I don't know about you, but my mother owned quite a few sets of nesting dolls and I played the blackmore out of them. Yes, Charlie Blackmore is the main character and that was my pathetic attempt at humor. All I can say is that Stacking managed to transport me into my childhood and I never doubted that I was in a real world, which just happened to be inhabited by nesting dolls.

The music did a good job of delivering that silent film feel, but the audio really shines in all the little places. The action of stacking and unstacking into dolls sounds exactly how you would expect and every little noise and effect adds so much without overwhelming. But, the limited sound is also where the problems start. The game plays off the silent film vibe heavily and; therefore, features no voice acting. I don't dislike this design choice, but it really slows down the game. There is more writing than I expected and it really pulled me out with far too many breaks in the action.

I wish Stacking could seduce me as successfully as The Widow Chastity.

Another issue is the gameplay. The game plays perfectly fine, but the puzzles seem either extremely easy or completely nonsensical. In most cases, one solution to every puzzle will be confined in the specific room/area of a puzzle. This basically kept my mind from working on solving a puzzle to working on finding the unique doll in said puzzle's location. And while every puzzle has multiple solutions -- and you need to find them all if you want to 100% the game -- some solutions seem random and are occasionally very similar to other solutions. I don't know if I would have ever discovered some of these solutions without utilizing the hint system. Speaking of the hint system, anyone concerned about getting stuck need not worry; Stacking's hint system is fantastic and will eventually just tell you exactly what to do if you are still in a state of bafflement.

The story of Stacking is surprisingly well thought out and genuinely sweet. If you enjoy a good underdog story, you will be right at home. The sad fact is, once you finish the story, there really isn't much reason to stay. There are unique dolls to find, potentially unfound solutions, and stage-specific hi-jinks to complete. That may sound like tons of fun and as delicious as rum (intentional rhyme), but it is all rather shallow. The unique dolls are all fine and dandy, but there isn't much to do after you find them; and, I suspect the hi-jinks are supposed to be fun, but I only found them tedious and occasionally annoying to complete.

Don't get me wrong, Stacking is full of charm and a game I was happy to play, but it didn't do anything  that will keep me talking about it in a month -- I don't even know if any footprints will remain after a week. I wanted so badly to call this an early contender for downloadable game of the year, but as it stands, Stacking is an almost great game that should have been more than just that. I would also love to see a re-release on disc for Christmas, just so I can use Stacking as a stocking stuffer. Get it? Yeah, I really am that ridiculous and humorless.