It seems that prior to it's release Stake was being hyped as a game that would break genre barriers and bring us a type of game play we have never experienced before. How did Gameness Art Software and Metro3D attempt to accomplish this? By blending the four-player split screen action of a First Person Shooter (FPS) with the beauty and finesse of a 3D fighting game. Initially the concept raised my eyebrow a bit so I decided to go ahead and review this game for the fans.

Shit, My Blender Is On Fire

The main problem with the blending of the two genres in Stake is that they forgot to include good graphics, game play, sound, control, plot and replay ability in the mix. This game reminds me of something you would see in a movie about a science experiment gone terribly wrong. Stake would play the role of the early, deformed mutant experiment that got locked in the basement when they didn't really know what they were doing and screwed everything up.

I desperately wanted to like this game. After a few hours of playing I was desperately thinking that I must have missed something, there had to be something else to this game! In the end I was wrong, there is nothing else to this game. I knew it was supposed to be some sort of party game, but it didn't seem like there was really any game at all.

 

I'm So Lost

Since there isn't really any point to get into the nitty gritty and specifics of this game, I thought that I would just describe my gaming experience. The first thing you do is select your character, obviously. There is no information about any of the characters or their strengths and weaknesses. Basically you just pick one that you think looks cool. Then you are dumped into a loading screen that looks like a warp tunnel and seems like it's going to take the rest of your life to load the game. Interesting enough, while this load screen is going on there is a small graphic of two kids button mashing two Xbox controllers. It's like the developers knew exactly what to expect while people were playing Stake; button mashing.

After taking a shower, eating lunch and going for a jog the game finally loaded. No cinematic, no text intro, just bam, game time. Then your controller starts shaking. You have no clue why. You die, you have no clue why. You freeze, you have no clue why. Your controller continues shaking, you have no clue why. You shrink, you have no clue why. Because you can't fucking see anything! The camera is fixed in the worst top angle possible and all you can do with it is zoom in and out. Maybe after a few minutes you'll figure out how to pick up some items that make the levels "user interactive," but you still can't see anything far enough to figure out where to throw the bomb you just picked up. If you're lucky you may actually get a kill and two and then think that you are on your way to mastering this game. Suddenly you are told that you lose and need to continue. Once again having no clue why.

Just Don't

Honestly I see no reason to ever play this game or think about playing it. I would recommend to any of our readers who think about giving it a shot to just go play in traffic. It would probably make for a better gaming experience. If Snackbar had a "Wall of Shame" Stake would be my first game inducted.

-Soda out

May 21, 2003 | 4 comments
Shane Quast