Mention “The Sting” and thoughts turn to the classic 1973 George Roy Hill film starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It was about an elaborate con game, with a dash of suspense, action and comedy broiled together in a fun motion picture.

Fast-forward 28 years, and to the entertainment industry’s rapidly growing sibling, the world of software. JoWooD and Neo offer up a program for the PC called The Sting!, and it has nothing to do with con men. It does have a lot to do with crime and criminals, but without the suspense and comedy.

In fact, this is a game that requires you to plan out and videotape a robbery, then watch it executed exactly how it was taped. That doesn’t always guarantee that it will be a successful burglary, but you can re-do the crime, stopping time and sequences to avoid the pitfalls.

This program is a hodge-podge of styles that, at times, seem at odds with each other. First you have the comic book portraits of the characters, then a 1950s ‘B’ gangster film, with a touch of the film noir added.

Matt Tucker, lifelong career criminal, has recently been released from prison. Rather than being reformed, he is eager to resume his life as a burglar. A friend, who is promptly arrested for a robbery gone bad, sets him up in a cheap hotel – which is used for planning all of his robberies. Matt, then must put together a gang of accomplices, select the appropriate tools of the trade, and then plan the heist each step of the way.

He can wander aimlessly around Fortune Hills, the city that serves as the stooge ground for Matt and his gang’s various robberies, or he can get help in finding location via the map. This is a nice feature; simply pull up the map and double click on the place you want to go, and Matt will set off in that direction.

Planning the robberies is not all that difficult. Matt simply records his plan step-by-step (and you can go forward or backward in the file and re-do sections of it), then when he has finalized it, you click start plan, and the whole thing is carried out without the help of the player. Everyone involved does his or her job as directed. While you might not get caught during the planning phase (and you really won’t, besides it is only a planning phase so there aren’t any repercussions anyway), it doesn’t mean that things will go really smoothly during the robbery. Everything you do registers on an audio sensor. Too much noise and you are busted. The good guys all have a light shining from their faces, which shows their field of view. Get in their way, in a non-obstructed manner, and you are looking at jail time.

Unlike other games that utilize this planning phase, The Sting! doesn’t allow for independent action during the implementation of the plan. Every character, including the main character, operates on the predetermined script. You will not be able to interfere or freelance during the robbery. It is sit and watch.

The player interface is not hard to grasp. For the most part, everything that can be interacted with prompts three options to appear over Matt’s head – a speech bubble, hand or magnifying glass. You have an inventory screen, and a map.

The audio portion is a disappointment. The game starts off like a cheap dime-store novel, the intonations of the voice acting are dead-on for the style of the program. But all that disappears when you get into the game. All interaction with other characters is through chat boards with several options for the direction of the conversation. The actual environmental sounds are merely average and the music, while entertaining initially, can become monotonous.

The graphics really lack detail. While sharp-edged, the polygonal characters and settings lack a clarity, and often look too over-stylized to sustain the mood of a criminal-based game. This is a three-dimensional world, with a fog obscuring everything outside of a block, and similar roadways leading everywhere throughout the city. The angry red dog that surges past constantly seemingly has no purpose in the game. Taxis are useful, but there are way too many for the population of the town. However, if anything, the city itself is much more intriguing than the characters met while cruising it.

The Sting! has a baffling title – perhaps it is a British slang word for robbery, though that isn’t made clear. It does not allow for multiplayer gaming, and is rated for Everyone. While the intent of the game may have been to provide a challenging arena for strategy and fun, it just seems a little shallow. The game tries to portray an atmosphere of entertainment with its stylized graphics and peppy tune, but it is only an average outing.

Install: Easy
This game leaps onto your hard drive, requiring only 200 megs of space.
 
Gameplay: 7
The only time the game slows down is during the planning phase of each robbery, which is precisely when you want it to. That portion is timed, and time is of the essence in a successful heist, so using the record mode of play is to the player’s advantage. Other than that, the game moves nicely along.

Graphics: 6.5
The environmental elements are solid, but the characters are overdrawn. What may first pass as unique, soon becomes tiresome.
 
Sound: 6.
The music becomes monotonous, and the sound effects lack anything that is new or fresh.

Difficulty: 7
There are difficulty settings for each robbery, and, of course, the higher profile the target, the tougher the task. The game is mouse controlled, and a click not in precisely the right spot, may have your character exiting the area you wish them to explore further. The camera angles (again, mouse controlled) help in this regard.
 
Concept: 6.5
There are simulations that are much better for those who wish to plan and strategize, and the graphical quality of those games is also much better. True, this is a game that takes players to the other side of battle between law and disorder, but that is not necessarily a good thing.
 
Multiplayer: N/A

Overall: 6.5
Planning is the key to any successful campaign, whether it is in the arena of the Rainbow Six set of games, or The Sting! However, as one whose home has been broken into and burglarized in the past, it is hard to recommend a game that advocates this type of action. If the game were much more comical, if the program was more farcical, then it might have set better with this reviewer. It has some elements that are solid, but the overall look and sound of the game fall just a touch short.