Third Eye Crime: Act One

Given the fact that {Third Eye Crime} snuck out the gate around the same time as {Hitman GO}, it's no surprise that it didn't make the same impact as Agent 47's foray into the world of mobile gaming. That's a shame because Moonshot Games have made a nice little stealth title here, and one that certainly deserves your attention if you are after some (more) sneaking on the go.

In truth they had our attention when they wheeled out the word 'noir', and their homage to that genre and period is well weighted. In truth it's more than just a noir-themed game, there's a psychic element to proceedings; a twist in the tail that explains away the visual language of the whole with a neatly executed mechanical device.

It's a pretty straight forward premise. The noir story puts you on the hunt for certain 'items', and has you sneaking through environments, from entrance to exit, picking up collectibles as you go and avoiding the gaze and guns of patrolling guards.

Enemy's vision is depicted via cones cast across the levels. Guards can spot you across the whole environment, and once activated from their patrol or stationary position they will pursue you indefinitely. Luckily, they're fairly easy to dodge and out-think, and so moving around the levels and avoiding active patrols isn't impossible. It's made easier by the fact that, using your psychic intuition, you can see red-bleached hotspots of where the guards think you'll be, a boon that allows you to stay one step ahead of the game. Sometimes you'll even tactically reveal your position, luring patrols out of position, sending them to where you were as you slink past to your eventual goal.

If the clearly signposted visual cones and the hotspots aren't enough to help you through some of the many levels, there's other tricks that can be utilised. First up there's boosts you can pick up en route to each level's exit, such as brief bursts of speed or timed alarms designed to drag your pursuer's attention away from your current position. You can also, if you want, use other aids, such as freezing everyone in a level for a short period of time, to help you get to the end unhindered. These additional bonus skills can help you past a tricky situation, but they're non-essential and every level can be completed without them, as such they felt like a gesture made to the casual audience (you can also skip a level if it's causing you too many problems).

There's replayability if you want it, in the form of challenges to beat, such as times to finish under, and getting through an environment without being seen. In each level there's collectibles, usually in the form of gems, and collecting these can drastically change the composition and challenge of a level, and going for perfect runs and grabbing all the jewels will certainly ramp up the challenge.

Visually it's a fairly straight forward offering, with a simple but pleasing art style. In-between missions the story is revealed via swipes through a comic book-style presentation. It's effective, and the piano accompaniment layers on the atmosphere no end. Fans of Raymond Chandler and co will likely get a kick out of the style, story and presentation.

As it stands you can pick up the first act for a couple of quid, and purchase the remaining two acts for mere pennies as in-app purchases. Even though you have to pay more to access the full game, it's still decent value for money, and for the price we can recommend you pick up a copy if you're looking for more stealth on you iOS device. There's enough variation between this and {Hitman GO} that'll keep fans of the genre happy, and enough personality that it stands on its own two feet.