Stacking
Common Sense says
- PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360
- $14.99
- 2011
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A lot or a little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Stacking is an adventure puzzle game. Players inhabit the body of a small Russian stacking doll named Charlie on a mission to put an end to child labor. He's smart, courageous, and a little mischievous. Puzzles are solved by stacking with other dolls to gain their abilities. Most abilities are benign, but some involve mild violence, such the power to punch, slap, or shoot a corkscrew gun. There's no blood, gore, or death and no profanity. One of the dolls appears to be smoking a pipe, while another can use her feminine charm to get male dolls to follow her around.
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What's it about?
Set in a world that prioritizes industrialism above all else, STACKING puts players in the shell of a Russian stacking doll named Charlie that's suddenly forced to start a campaign to put an end to child labor. When Charlie's father disappears, he and his siblings are forced to work to pay off the family's debt. Charlie is the youngest but also the cleverest. So small that he can nest inside virtually any other doll he encounters, he uses his wee stature to inhabit others and assume their abilities, which he uses to solve puzzles. He might stack inside a museum guard doll to gain the ability to lead kids around or another doll to open her parasol. The story provides ample opportunity to use a wide range of abilities to work out answers to many contextual brainteasers. Players also are free to experiment and see how each doll's abilities can be used outside of puzzles. There also are plenty of side objectives that encourage testing doll abilities in fun new ways.
Is it any good?
Double Fine Productions' games are reliably quirky (see Broken Age) and usually pretty fun (see Psychonauts). Stacking is no exception. Charming, witty, and focused on clever conundrums rather than any sort of serious or sustained violence, it forces players to find creative solutions to puzzling situations. Satisfaction comes not only in solving the puzzles -- there's usually more than one way to do so, and it sometimes requires the abilities of more than one doll -- but also working through the original and morally unimpeachable anti-child-labor narrative. You're going to root for Charlie and cheer all his victories, large and small.
It's a visual treat, too. The dolls have a wonderfully detailed hand-painted appearance, and the world, which carries an authentic 19th-century industrial vibe in its architecture and textures, begs to be studied -- which is nice, since keen observation is key to solving many of the puzzles. Families looking for a fun, thoughtful interactive experience can't go wrong here.
Talk to your kids about ...
Families can talk about child labor, a practice that continues in some countries today. What action can we take to put an end to it?
Families also can discuss puzzle solving. What sorts of things do you do every day that require cleverness and puzzle-solving acumen?
Game details
- Platforms: PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360
- Subjects: Language & Reading: reading
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: investigation, logic, problem solving, solving puzzles
Creativity: developing novel solutions
Emotional Development: empathy, perspective taking - Price: $14.99
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online? Available online
- Developer: Double Fine Productions
- Release date: February 8, 2011
- Genre: Puzzle
- Topics: Great Boy Role Models
- ESRB rating: T for Crude Humor, Mild Cartoon Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco
- Last updated: May 3, 2021
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