Monaco

Genre: Action, Adventure, Strategy, Indie, Casual

Developer: Pocketwatch Games

Publisher: Pocketwatch Games

System: Windows, Mac

This review has no funnies. This only affects you if you’ve found any of these reviews to be funny in the first place. This review will have no funnies because this game is seriously just that good. Now, I had the good fortune of making my first attempt with a group of people, but I imagine that, even if I had played on my own, I would have loved it instantly.

Why I love Monaco: A love letter (read in a ridiculous French accent like the candlestick in Beauty and the Beast or the song Foux Du Fafa by Flight of the Conchords or really any other stereotypical French accent, we really can't make fun of them enough).

Mon Petit Scorpion,

Oh sweet Monaco. We have only just met and yet I feel that we have known each other for so long. I had read so many reviews and watched you creepily from afar, too timid to properly make your acquaintance, too cheap to afford your tastes.

You were so beautiful then and are even more beautiful now than I could have ever imagined. You capture the essence of the harvest moon over the fields of western New York, fleeting, breathtaking. Your vivid colors, blended together in a pulsing discothèque of violent armed robbery, could reel in the most innocent child. Yet your learning curves could break the most stubborn man.

 

For what you give in beauty pales in comparison to what you offer in company. The pickpocket with his monkey, the mole with his hammer, they are not deserving of your love. Even the locksmith could not open your heart alone. I suppose the lookout could do if you’re into the ladies. But the cleaner, well, I wouldn’t hang out with him if I were you, not without the others around. Yet through them I am connected to you, an individual in a team competing for your favor like female emperor penguins fighting over an orphaned chick or some other simile.

Your love is tough. You tempt me with your seductive style, but when I approach you laugh me away, wrapping your arms around the neck of another. But I will always come back. Not for the jewels, nor for the glory to be had, but for the game we play.

Love,

Jacques (This is what I assume my name would be had I been born French)

Happy Thoughts: Just writing about this game makes me want to play it.

Sad Thoughts: This game can be pretty tough at times. And if you think you've got it down, you should consider playing the game with someone that isn't very good at games and see how easy it is then. I guarantee you will have a challenge on your hands.

The Bottom Line: This game is even better than I expected and I think I will have a lot of fun with it for quite some time.