Review: Draw a Stickman: EPIC

Draw a Stickman: EPIC
Cost
$7.99 / £7.99
Format
Digital only
Size
0.41 GB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed], Steam
Release Date
09/11/15
Developer
Hitcents.com Inc
Publisher
Hitcents.com Inc
Modes
Single Player

Draw a Stickman: EPIC currently has 30% off the above price and it will be running until 17th September

Have you ever wanted to create your own hero? Have you ever wanted to dictate who it is that needs to be saved? Well Hitcents’ Draw a Stickman: EPIC could fulfill those needs. You take control of your very own hand drawn hero either with hand gestures using the Kinect, or with the controller if Kinect isn’t really your thing.

In Draw a Stickman: EPIC you are tasked with using your created hero to rescue your friend you drew from the evil clutches of Zarp. Throughout your quest you will have to face Zombies, Dragons and massive Armakillos among other creatures trying to stop you from finding your friend. To even the odds in each level you will be able to use different pencils that will aid you in defeating enemies and progressing through each level.

Even stick zombies like brains...

Even stick zombies like brains…

There are 13 main story levels each filled with puzzles and obstacles to navigate. Each level has a hidden puzzle piece and colour buddy to find. If you find all the puzzle pieces, a bonus level is unlocked and each colour buddy gives you access to a new colour to draw with when creating your stickman (you can change your stickman drawing at any time on the level select menu).

There are 4 different pencils you can draw with in the game, each with their own ability. The first pencil is the fire pencil. Just draw some fire and use this to light things on fire such as torches, some enemies, wooden doors etc. The second pencil is the cloud pencil which can create rain to extinguish fires or fill a bucket with water for example. The cloud pencil doubles up to create lightning as well. Just draw a cloud and colour it in and you have lightning which you can use to start up anything electrical. The third pencil is the key pencil, which is pretty self explanatory. Lastly there is the Axe pencil, which again doesn’t really need explaining.

In each level, you will be given the relevant pencils you need to get you through the level and solve the puzzles. As you progress through the game the levels will begin to have several exits to different levels. To find all the exits you’ll need to solve various puzzles making use of all the pencils given to you.

As far as the controls go, they are fairly easy to use. You control your stickman with the left analogue stick, pick your pencil you want to draw with using up and down on the d-pad then confirm your choice with X and you draw by holding down the right trigger. If you are playing with the Kinect, you draw hand gestures. Now I didn’t get too much time in on the Kinect whilst playing but from what I did, I found the gestures to react really well and I didn’t really have any issues with the Kinect picking up my movements at all. But, even when playing with Kinect, you can only use it for drawing things. Regarding playing the game with the controller, every now and then I would stop moving. There is one level where you need to run away from an area to avoid an explosion and on several occasions whenever I changed direction, my stickman would just stop moving. I found using the controller to draw things became a bit tedious because of the lack of fluidity in the movement of the cursor. Trying to draw anything circular was a bit of a nightmare, but that isn’t really something that could be helped when using the controller. Freehand drawing just doesn’t lend itself well to a controller.

I think my biggest issue was having to keep re-drawing axes and/or keys. For whatever reason, after using them 3 times they just disappeared. So having to re-draw them over and over became quite frustrating and that is probably the only reason I still have 200+ trees to chop down to finish the game up completely.

Getting my Paul Bunyan on!

Getting my Paul Bunyan on!

Something I really enjoyed in Draw a Stickman: EPIC was the art style. The simple drawings used to show the environment and the enemies just work so well. It really makes you think you’re wandering around in a sketchbook.

Time for the achievements. There are handful of achievements that require to perform specific tasks throughout the levels, such as firing yourself out of a cannon. You get some for unlocking all the levels, finding all the collectibles and drawing 1000 fires, cutting down 1000 trees and opening 1000 containers. There is one achievement that is a little bit glitchy and that is the Sconce Boss achievement which requires you to light all the torches in the final level. If you do what it says you will be given 5% towards the achievement but there is a way around this. Just keep lighting them, extinguishing them, then re-lighting them and it will eventually unlock.

Overall I was left with a smile on my face after playing through Draw a Stickman: EPIC. The art style is wonderful, the puzzles will sometimes leave you scratching your head but they aren’t too difficult and being able to draw your own hero and your own take on fire, clouds etc make it a joy to play. Yes, there are small issues with the controls sometimes being non responsive and having to re-draw keys and axes can become irritating but that doesn’t take away from the overall experience Draw a Stickman: EPIC gives you as a gamer.

PROS:
1)Great art style
2)Good to see Kinect being used
3)Fun puzzles
CONS:
1)Controls aren’t great
2)Having to re-draw axes and keys
7.8
GOOD