The Plan (PC)In The Plan, a group of intelligent seasoned thieves plan and implement the heist of two priceless pieces of artwork. Unfortunately, the faultless plan causes an alarm to be triggered and the driver of the getaway vehicle flees, leaving one of the robbers locked in the building. The story picks up some five years later with two members of the team beginning the breakout of their incarcerated associate. Bearing in mind that the initial intro is the first taste of the game, I couldn't help but notice that something was amiss during the intro to The Plan. The whole intro is done in an LA Law style, with still images flashing up to explain the dialogue. A prudent tactic, but only really suitable for a short snappy intro where very little needs to be explained - and in The Plan this becomes quite drawn out and begins to point towards the developers just not having the time or resources for any animation. Nevertheless, it's clear even from this static story of betrayal that the three members of this elite team of thieves are after revenge.
In fact, the controls are never really an issue here; there aren't many moments that require lightening quick reactions and, true to its name, careful planning is the key to progressing. The other key is patience, because you will quickly get used to the small guitar rip you get when failing a mission. This game is very difficult and you will have to employ a lot of trial and error to make your way through most of the missions, although all new features with each mission are adequately explained within your inventory.
Each character has their own special skills that almost always need to be utilised in order to complete the mission. Being a woman, Valerie is a great talker and this can be used to distract the attention of guards or officers while the other two slip by, steal something or just asphyxiate everyone in the room. There are also other useful skills such as lock picking and pick pocketing, and of course, pock licketing. Okay, I made that last one up. Anyway, this game is loaded with features and each level brings a new element into the equation. Weaponry is rarely used, as this is a team that operates discreetly, but there are items available such as small hockey-like pucks that release a 'crazy purple knockout gas' which incapacitates anyone nearby. The firing system on these is also genius as, when pressing to release them, a line appears for the path that the puck will take, then you adjust the power and, boom, you can take out the officer at the end of the room by bouncing the puck off every person in the room.
However, after several hours of the trial and error method, you quickly find you've had just about all the error you can take and the music that accompanies the Mission Failed becomes like a Pavlovian trigger mechanism for you to throw your controller at the cat. I can understand a challenge, but when you're operating three characters at once and one of them is a rather pathetic dainty little woman who has so much pride in her performance that she can't crouch and walk, things become a little too challenging. It's not so much that the missions are difficult to perform, more that it is often unclear what needs to be done. However, you can't write off The Plan just because of some difficulty, and as the game goes on things in improve, and despite early signs that you're going to be stuck with these three idiots the whole time, there are a total of seven playable characters throughout the game.
You have to commend Eko Software for developing such a unique style and one that would have been deemed very challenging to pull off when first dreamed up. I can only imagine the lengths required to achieve the three camera perspectives and you have to say that they have pulled it off very well. The Plan was to make a revolutionary new game and I'm pretty sure that by a few iterations of their trial and error method, they will be producing some top titles. In the meantime, if you're going to get stuck into The Plan, you should either get a boomerang-shaped controller or lock your cat away somewhere out of sight …
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