Level 22: Gary's Misadventures Review

Level 22: Gary’s Misadventures follows Gary, an office worker, who after having a night out on the town getting drunk for his birthday, has woken up hungover and late for work. After having been late one too many times, it is now imperative that he make it back to his office without being seen by anyone. Unfortunately for Gary, his desk is on the 22nd floor, and therefore he’ll have to prove sneaky enough to get through the building undetected.

Assisted by his ex co-worker on the cellphone, Gary is introduced to a variety of techniques that he can use to help him make his way to the stairwell on each level. The possibilities seem endless; with the ability to crawl though air-ducts, lure security guards over with food, hide under cardboard boxes, and the classic newspaper trick. As an added bonus, along the way he’ll have the opportunity to uncover secret knick-knacks belonging to his friend as well as crack wall safes and discover hidden rooms that contain company secrets.

Despite Level 22's comedic premise and promising outlook, the minute differences between being spotted and remaining unseen cause slight frustration above anything else. Guards or people facing towards Gary will be identified by a red cone of vision, which represents anything in their direct line of sight. The smallest moment of time can trigger the difference between being spotted or not. The pixel-art looks fantastic, but unfortunately makes it terribly hard to look for any of the secrets or knick-knacks as they don’t specifically stand out. Puzzles are time-based and frustrating, but luckily a Game Over will immediately reset to the most recent checkpoint. The chiptune soundtrack is great, but it gets slightly repetitive over time.

Controlling Gary requires players to simply tap where they want him to go, and tapping again on objects to interact with them. Collected items can be used by tapping the image on the top right corner of the screen. Moving the screen around gives players a slight advantage on planning their next move, but can be tricky when hiding as it restricts movement. Frustratingly, the camera is zoomed in quite close to Gary, and therefore it’s tricky to see his immediate surroundings at the most crucial of times.

Level 22: Gary’s Misadventures is most certainly a game with replay value, but where the gameplay is not so enjoyable at times, this can deter players from going back and retrieving those missing items or secrets. At $3.99, this might not seem a game with a whole lot to offer for the price, but it’s certainly fun and worth checking out.