Bank robbery can be fun, and Escaping from Prison is satisfying, but diamonds are a stickman's best friend. And, wouldn't ya know it, the Tunisian Diamond is on display at Stickville Museum. It's night, so the usual rabble has gone home. It's just a couple of guards standing between you and an early retirement. With all your technology on-hand, they should prove no problem, right?... WRONG! Puffballs United is back with another comical adventure, Stealing the Diamond. It's schadenfreuderiffic!
Stealing the Diamond is set-up choose-your-own-adventure style. An animation plays, and every so often you use the mouse (and occasionally the keyboard) to make a choice as to what your stickman avatar should do to proceed. The main divergence comes at the beginning, where you choose between Busting In and Sneaking In. The choices of the former generally have a time limit (giving it the feel of an old laser-disc game), while the latter's do not. There are three paths to a successful heist and forty ways to fail. There's no particular rhyme or reason as to what choices will succeed or fail, so progress will inevitably include dying a lot. Of course, that's sort of the point. A 7% chance of victory may seem low, but remember... it's a very big diamond.
This interactive movie might be more movie than interactive, but otherwise it has the complete package: smooth animation, hilarious writing, impressive voice-acting, snarky death messages, and a kickin' soundtrack. Puffballs clearly has an understanding of the nature of animated physical comedy, and many of the situations he creates wouldn't be out of place in the best Road Runner cartoons. I also really liked the background scenery of the museum. There's so many jokes to spot that I'm sure I missed a few by blinking. There are also quite a few internet-culture references herein: those who know their FALCON PAAAAAAUNCH! from their SHOOP-DA-WHOOP will probably enjoy this more than those who don't. Still, there are more than enough crashing into walls for everyone to enjoy. Achievement hunters might have preferred the inclusion of a save system, but, overall, Stealing the Diamond is a real gem.
Thanks to Chris and Joshua for sending this one in!
Walkthrough Guide
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Stealing the Diamond Walkthrough
Paths to the three endings:
(Note: Every possible choice you can make at each branch is shown. The option in bold is the one that you want to choose to get to the next step. If one of the options is "Wait", that means you can fail by not making a decision in time. Use the non-bold options as a checklist if you're looking to maximize your FAIL collection.)
Bust In: (Aggressive ending)
Kick / Ram / Jump / Wait
Lance / Shield / Mace / Wait
Tow Cable / Basket / Wait
Branch / Rock / Wait
Bubble / Sticky Grenade / Wait
Drive / Diamond / Bribe / Wait
Sneak In - top three options: (Undetected ending)
Jumble Hoppers / Anti-Gravity Cap / Teleporter
Penny / Tranquilizer / Falcon Punch / Invisibility Pill
Drop / Wire / Portal Gun
Laser Cutter / Hammer
Cannon / Cheese / Plank
Snap Neck / Diamond / Rifle / Jump
Sneak In - bottom three options: (EPIC ending)
Shrink Ray / Pick / Liquidificator
Gun / Plane / Bombshell / Wait
Up / Left
Metroid / Crowbar / Pokéball / Super Mushroom
Divide By Zero / Nuke / Mecha / Satellite
Medals:
The ending medals are self-explanatory, as are the FAIL medals. So I'll cover the others.
Like a D6
After picking "Sneak In", pick the Jumble Hoppers. Do this three times.
BUNP
On the Undetected route, pick Snap Neck instead of Diamond.
01100010
On the EPIC route, pick Pokéball instead of Super Mushroom. Then when the dialogue boxes start popping up, try to close as many as you can by clicking the OK buttons. One of them will give out the medal.
It's a joke guys
...I'm sorry, I still haven't found this one yet.
Obscure Medal
Click on all the paintings in the game. Here's a list:
-"Zeus - Rage" - Spy it by the exit during the Undetected or Aggressive route.
"NO U - Luigi" - In the background towards the left during the Super Mushroom choice on the EPIC route.
"Angry Hitler" - On the wall during the Plane choice on the EPIC route.
There's one during the EPIC route during the cutscene after the final choice, not long before the hero decides to make a break for the exit. You have to be quick to get it before a piece of rubble falls on it.
A painting of a pear with a mouth (no, seriously) is by the entryway to the medieval section that our hero whizzes into during the Aggressive route.
Shortly after the pear on the Aggressive route, there are two paintings on the wall before the options for the Shield choice pop up. Be prepared to retry quite a few times, since they whiz by quickly and are hard to click on.
???
On the Undetected route, pick the Portal Gun instead of the wire. Then read the FAIL message carefully.
Posted by: SonicLover | July 12, 2011 1:45 PM