This is the review of a game called Stanley; The Stanley parable to be precise. A game that requires you to sit at your computer and push buttons. But you enjoy pushing buttons don't you? Doesn't it make you happy? Why else would you play video games, considering all you do is sit and push buttons all day? As for Stanley, Stanley enjoys pushing buttons. Its his job, he sits and pushes the buttons he is told to push for as long as he is told to push them. Then he goes home to his wife and kids, then he goes to bed to then go back to work and push buttons the next day; this makes Stanley happy. Staley likes his job, he likes his life and he doesn't ever question why he just pushes buttons all day everyday...or does he?
The Stanley Parable is an extremely peculiar form of entertainment. I refrain from using the term game because to be frank there isn't much game on offer, however it offers one of the most complete gaming experiences you will ever have at the same time. The Stanley parable is all about story, Stanley's story, the story that you chose for him, or perhaps the one that is chosen for you?
Unless you go into The Stanley Parable with the right mindset you'll be extremely confused & surprised at what you will find.
Originally a mod made using the Source Engine, 2013 saw Steam's Greenlight project release The Stanley Parable as a standalone title, and it is everything the original game was, and nothing of what the original game was simultaneously.
Lets get to the point shall we? You play as Stanley, a happy man who pushes buttons at his computer all day before leaving work to go home with his family. He does this everyday, of every week, of every year. That is until one day Stanley stops getting commands to push buttons on his computer, until he realises that nobody else is in the office with him, until he realises that he is free...or so he believes.
The games narrator will guide you through a single storyline of The Stanley Parable, one that is filled with hilarity, many questions and ultimate sets up what you are letting yourself in for; however you don't have to listen to the narrator. Instead the narrator will comment on what you are doing, whether that be directly ignoring his instructions, locking yourself in the broom cupboard, going to your death, visiting your wife and even playing you soothing new age jazz if you get a tad stressed.
Your goal can be many things, you could try to escape your place of work, you could explore a place you have never been before, you could find out what your bosses secret is, you could play with the photocopier, or you could just let the game tell you how choice is an illusion, that everything has been pre-determined for you and how games in particular never let you choose what happens next.
The Stanley Parable is extremely simple in terms of gameplay, you walk down corridors, through doors and use elevators every now and again. If you're really lucky you might get to push a button and make your life complete.
The narration is where The Stanley Parable transforms from what is essentially a dull and mundane task of walking into an interesting, funny, depressing or life changing experience.
The games outcome changes every time you play, unless of course you chose to play the same way (or are you really choosing), and even then the narration may be different to before. It does this by presenting you with very simple choices, for instance walk through the left door or the right door, you could then choose to go up or down the stairs, enter the garage or the broom closet, turn off the game or pick up the phone to speak to your wife. These mundane decisions create such an unpredictable network of possibilities as to how the game could end, but its not until you begin to play many of these endings that you realise that the game never ends. You finish, and then you wake up at your desk to experience a new possibility, or the same possibility, or you could just push buttons.
The games visuals are Source Engine standard, they look good but show their age now. Think the office sections during Portal & Portal 2 and you have a pretty accurate representation of how the game looks, by no means a stunner but good enough.
The audio work is also minimal, no soundtrack and only small sound effects on certain intractable items, but of course the narrator, hands down the best voice acting there has been in a game ever; this narrator makes you laugh, cry and want to hide behind your chair all in one sentence. The scripting, voice talent and sheer timing of it all is genius.
So here it is, the beginning, or is it the end? Actually come to think of it, we might be in the middle. Maybe we're in space, or you might just be at your desk...pushing buttons and making yourself happy. You simply cant review a game like The Stanley Parable, its something you have to experience in order to understand what someone means when they talk about it, because its just so unique. So play it, or don't, I mean you have the choice don't you? Or maybe you don't, maybe its been decided for you, maybe you have decided already and haven’t realised it yet, maybe your wife and kids are playing it, maybe they decided for you. You don't have a wife and kids? That's what you think. Well whatever you decide remember one thing, just one little thing. No not that fern, yes you'll need it later on but put that out of your mind for now, all you need to remember are these two little words; you lose.
The Stanley Parable – 9/10
+The Narrator
+The Illusion of Choice
+Pokes Fun at Pretty Much Everything
-Takes About 5 Minutes to Reach an Ending
-Running on an Outdated Engine
-I'm No Longer Pushing Buttons
