The Masterplan
Developer: Shark Punch
Price: $20
Platform: PC
MonsterVine was supplied with a PC code for review
Heist films are cool. Stories about actual heists are also pretty cool. For some reason though, there haven’t really been many video-games about heists. Developer Shark Punch is looking to remedy this with their latest game and for the most part The Masterplan accomplishes this with a fun little heist game that takes you to a variety of locations that’s unfortunately bogged down by a few issues.
The Masterplan opens up with you escaping the most unguarded prison of all time and deciding to get back into a life of crime because your character obviously didn’t get the hint after his first arrest. You’ll start out small, hitting up diners and supermarkets but eventually make your way up to bigger jobs like a casino or Fort Knox. Don’t let it be said that this game doesn’t have variety because that’s one area is really excels in. There are twenty heists to work your way through and they’re all super varied with some pretty solid level design accompanied with an appropriate soundtrack to steal stuff to.
Before you head off to steal the savings of some sucker, you’ll hang out in your hideout with your posse. This is where you can view a random selection of new goons you can hire and purchase weapons you’ve unlocked. After you’ve got your crew setup with the right gear you pick a place to rob and head out. Unlike recent heist games that focus on the hectic intensity of the last part of a heist, The Masterplan instead goes for that satisfaction you get when you plan your every movement and get away without a single gun going off. You can go in and just blast everything in sight, but the game is clearly meant for the more patient thief who prefers to slowly move his goons through the building and get away without getting any sort of attention.
You’ve got to be smart with your plan too since death is permanent in this game and you really don’t want to lose a good chunk of cash you spent on a goon because to a stupid mistake. You’ll also lose whatever weapons/money they had on them too if you don’t run over and pick it up off their body. This adds to the tension of each heist and forces you to plan ahead instead of just bumbling into each room. Perhaps the coolest part of the game is the ability to control hostages. Pull a gun on a civilian and they’ll put their hands up and become a resource you can use for your own nefarious deeds. You can use one to open a door they might have the key for, carry loot for you when you’re full, become a distraction, or even attack another character. I’m sure I should probably be concerned about the morality of using a bunch of civilians as meat shields against cops, but that Scarface mansion isn’t going to pay for itself.
The game’s best moments are when you’re meticulously working your way through a level when suddenly the alarm goes off and you realize you made a huge mistake like lock a civilian in a room with a phone. Suddenly your only goal is to book it back to the getaway vehicle while securing as much loot as you possibly can in 30 seconds. That’s something I really like about this game, how an alarm doesn’t mean automatic failure. You can end a level whenever you want by simply returning to your van and taking off. If you don’t want to complete all the objectives you don’t have to; simply grab what you want then book it if things get too hot for you.
My main issues with this game are with its finicky controls and technical issues. The pathfinding is also super iffy at times with you giving a goon a direction and watching him run in circles, get caught on some furniture, or take a terrible path to get to the waypoint. Your goons occasionally bunching up together making it hard to select the one you want doesn’t help things either. There’s also no way to quickly select a specific goon you want. In a game like this I would expect there to be an option to bind goons to certain keys but instead you have to scroll around to find them. Dragging the mouse to select multiple goons is also a pain since you can only click/drag from one direction; if you try to do it from any direction other than top left to bottom right it straight up won’t do anything. Clicking on them can also be a hassle at times since I’d place my mouse directly on a goon but it wouldn’t select him for some reason. This happens mostly when you zoom the camera out a bit to get a better view of the area, but that’s the exact type of moment where I wouldn’t want my clicks to not get recognized. The game is also plagued with almost constant crashes. Each time I played the game it would crash one or two times which really sucks when you’re playing one of the longer heists. With no way to save in the middle of a heist, the game crashing can really put a damper on your enjoyment.
The Final Word
The Masterplan is a neat game that will definitely satisfy if you’ve been hungry for a heist game, but technical issues stop it from being something great.
– MonsterVine Rating: 3 out of 5 – Average
