The Swindle

This is likely one of the most stylish (and challenging) stealth/action role-playing games you've ever played. With graphics that look ripped from a gorgeous children's book or a 2-D animated film and with a sprightly piano soundtrack, it takes you to a romantic alternate reality where you get to be the Fagin-like head of a ring of thieves. But after drawing you in with this amazing first impression, it immediately shuts you out by not teaching you to play.

The few tutorial messages at the game's start aren't enough to explain everything, which means suffering lots and lots of pointless deaths and more reading (in the help section) than you probably want to do. More bothersome than this are the controls. Theoretically, you can play with either a gamepad or keyboard, but the keyboard controls are downright horrendous. Seriously, the game is near unplayable without a gamepad. But if you have a controller and are patient enough to learn the ropes by dying 50 or so times, then you're in for a good time. The idea is to rob places, build up cash, and use it to buy skill and equipment upgrades. Once you have things such as wall-climbing suction cups on your hands and high-end computer skills for hacking, you can take on tougher security measures and reap bigger rewards. In addition to having the right toys, success depends on fast reflexes and careful planning. The challenge of The Swindle is admittedly steep, but the randomly generated locations make for near-endless variety and entertainment.