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While it may have a budget price, the game’s pretty threadbare play still provides little value
When it comes to budget titles on the Switch, there’s always a bit of a conundrum when considering how they should be reviewed and scored. Since the asking price is relatively low, where should that place the standard of expectation, some would ask. The thing is, the answer is that where overall quality is concerned, no matter what the price there should always be a standard. Where money should be saved shouldn’t be in how well the game plays, but instead on its length, its looks, or some other area that is ultimately more peripheral to the core experience. Heisting, sadly, seems to have missed the general memo, delivering a reasonable experience overall, but one that’s also ultimately quite dull and repetitive.The premise is that you’ll be the leader of a growing team of criminals whose business is hitting banks, jewelry stores, and other high-value targets to get in, grab the loot, and then get out as quickly as possible. Since you’re the brains of the operation you’ll be dictating how your crew moves through the building, what is grabbed, and when. The ultimate goal in each spot is to manage to steal everything of value before your timer runs out, the alarm sounds, and the authorities show up in force. In principle this can sound pretty basic, and it generally is, but since the game likes to stack the odds against you initially for every mission it isn’t unusual to need to linger in one place for a few attempts.What you’ll be able to do to improve your odds is to invest your earnings in a variety of areas. While you’ll want to continue to get better gear and add more muscle, ultimately what will typically be your hold-up will be the timer that pretty well always starts out too tight to be conquered. The problem is that the investment in getting more time is specific only to the current mission, so the game is naturally geared to making you waste as much time as possible to keep you on the hook. Granted, being a bit more smart about how you perform jobs plays a role, for instance trying to grab items furthest away before getting the closer ones, in your success, but the odds against you pulling off a mission the first time continue to get poorer the further along you go.The issue is that while some of the details may change, and you’ll add more crew and get better gear, the fundamentals of play really never evolve in any significant way. So while initially the play may feel a bit novel, the honeymoon period tends to end quickly, and then the experience just continues to feel more bland the further you go, even as minor details change in the attempt to keep you engaged. Unfortunately, there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of gas in this game’s tank, so whether it has a budget price or not it simply doesn’t feel like a great investment.
Justin Nation, Score:Bad [5.8]