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Monaco - What's Yours is Mine!
2010-08-30 17:00
What: Monaco - What's Yours is Mine
When: launch date to be announced
Players: one to four
Platform: PC (various sources)
Web: http://www.pocketwatchgames.com
Big crime doesn't often get as far as Monaco - in this surveillance-happy and notably crime-free country, even pickpockets are a rarity. Of course, when crimes do happen, they tend to be newsworthy. Last year, three men arrested after parking up outside the Hotel de Paris turned out to be key players in the Pink Panthers, an international gang of jewel thieves wanted in connection with a major Mayfair diamond robbery in 2003.
But of course when it comes to the fictional world, Monaco is up there as the most glamorous - and obvious - place to stage a heist. From Hitchcock to that helicopter in Goldeneye, there's only one city from which to make your getaway. And that's not just in the movies.
Computer game manufacturers Pocket Watch have recently come up with their own fast-paced cops-and-robbers caper set in a fictional version of the Principality, expected to launch on various gaming platforms later this year.
Although you shouldn't expect a virtual Monaco (graphics are deliberately blockish and retro, in the style of traditional 'top-down' games) fans of Indy games will be wowed by the the speed, sound, and inherent fun factor of this newcomer to the multiplayer market.
Adopting one of six characters with their various jailbreaking skills and strengths - the Hacker, the Redhead, the Locksmith, the Rat, the Cleaner, or the Prowler - the idea is for up to four players to break out of The Prison (on Avenue St Martin - could that be the Oceanographic Museum?) and then make off with the loot while avoiding the long - if pixellated - arm of the law.
Of course a more legit way of making money quickly is to be part of the team that made this stylish and innovative game: Monaco - What's Yours is Mine ran off with the swag earlier this year when it bagged not only the Design Prize but also the overall $20,000 Grand Prize for Best Independent Game at this year's IGF Festival in San Francisco.
As a visitor to or resident of Monaco, you surely owe it to yourself to get hold of a copy when it comes out. You might even find a few policemen playing it too (off-duty of course).