Review: Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine (PC)
Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine is in this humble writer’s opinion the best indie co-op game to date. Developed by Pocketwatch Studios for both PC and Xbox, Monaco is a top-down co-op heist game in the style of classic GTA and Legend of Zelda. In essence 30 Minutes or Less as a video game, minus Aziz Ansari. The result is a game that with or without friends, with hours to spare or minutes, will maintain your interest and earn your praise.
As you boot the game for the first time, you are greeted with a delight to the senses. The bright neon colors, perky piano tunes and simple interface would surely warm the heart of the most biased COD fanboy. The game starts you off with four basic characters and gives you four more through the course of the game. Each has their own color template and quirky personality. From the silent but violent Cleaner to the guard tempting Redhead to the outlet using Hacker, you really feel as though each has a deep and detailed backstory.
The prematch sequence places you in a simple but intuitive lobby system where you can pick out characters, read some delightful dialogue explaining the situation and plan with your teammates. Ingame voice chat is a real plus and helps turn the tide of a bad game into a fantastic one. The text system also helps but not as immersive as voice chat. You start off each match in a secluded area of the map where no enemies lurk and helpful power ups like shotguns, smoke bombs, and wrenches, are readily available.
Monaco doesn’t overpower you with these but rather helps you in the case of a sticky situation. They are balanced out in the form of numerous, distinct enemies. You get club wielding wardens, scent following dogs, and machine gun welding french agents.
The maps have got to be one of the best parts of this game consisting of black blueprints (blackprints?) that don’t reveal anything unless you or a teammate happen to be in the vicinity. This is where the stealth aspect come in as you never know what lurks around the corner. You get around this by using disguises or the ever-useful lookout, who detects enemies throughout the map. This game uses coins as an incentive to go into every corner of the map (Mario much?) and get the 100% completion. These are often placed next to Patrolling enemies and you must use of distractions becomes a must. The level’s main objectives also vary from rescuing a friend to robbing a train station to escaping a burning boat.
The music ties this package together in a nice upbeat bow in the form of catchy 20’s piano music. It usually stay nice and melodic but turns quick and loud whenever something goes wrong. Even 20 hours into the game, it still makes your heart pump and hands sweat whenever the tempo rises and a guard spots you.
In conclusion, Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine, is a great game that shouldn’t be passed up in any way shape or form. The co-op keep you coming back as each team goes through the maps in a different way. Daily leaderboards further fuel this games competitive nature and will surely keep the community alive even after COD 26.5 releases. Quirky writing, a vibrant color template and the solid gameplay will keep you playing levels over and over, in order to get the satisfaction of completion. If this game doesn’t get your attention, then you have no soul and should not be playing games at all. But for everyone else this is a fantastic value for $15 and will redeem every penny as you sink hours into it and yet yearn for more.