The plan is simple. Get in, grab all the money, get out. Everyone has a role in this heist, and if we do our jobs correctly, nobody sees us and nobody needs to get hurt, see?
Thing is, when youâre playing Monacoâthe fantastic class-based co-op stealth gameâthings donât always go according to plan. Thatâs not a bad thing. Typically, class-based games work best when everyone knows how to effectively use their specific class. Typically, we play games to be efficient at them: in this case, since itâs a stealth game, youâd think that, above all, youâd want to avoid getting caught. If youâre playing as Monacoâs Mole, for example, youâd think youâd want to be mindful about what parts of the level you tear down: the ability is noisy and attracts guards.
And sure, thereâs pleasure in being sneaky in stealth games. Thatâs especially the case when a game seems to change for the worse when you get caughtâLeigh Alexander describes Metal Gear Solid 3 as being a game where âYou feel a sense of pleasure and mastery so long as you donât generate noise or movement above a certain acceptable baseline. Call enough attention to yourself and suddenly youâre fighting an unpleasant combat game in which you experience crushing anxiety and virtual pain.â
Monaco is less like Metal Gear Solid and more like Pac-Man, in that the game becomes better when youâre the predator. In Pac-Man, as Robert Boyd puts it, you switch between being a predator who can kill everything, to being vulnerable preyâand much of Monaco is in making these switches intentionally (versus making these switches because of a screw-up, like you might in most stealth-games).
Plus, thanks to the timer, Monaco is less about stealth than it is navigating a level quickly. And speed doesnât always mean furtive finesse. Speed might mean going, âScrew it,â and recognizing the shortest route between you and your goal is directly in front of a bunch of guard dogs. Youâre going to take it anyway. And when you doâwhen that dog sees you, this music starts playing:
Itâs so pulse-poundingly perfect, you feel as if youâre supposed to be playing like that the entire time. Beyond the pleasure of trying to navigate a level while under pressure, heists are interesting because things go wrong, no? It feels more romantic, more true to the heist spirit, to play Monaco brashly, knowing youâll risk being caught.
Hence Monaco is the rare game where I donât mind having a lack of communication with other players, or having someone else mess up mid-level. Yes, weâll try our best to play it safe, but when that doesnât work, the slips and mistakes arenât something to dread. Thatâs when the game becomes interesting. Actually, Monaco reminds me of Borderlands a bit.
Borderlands is best played with four other people, as the difficulty scales to an absurd level. Itâs not just more monsters, itâs bigger monsters, deadlier monstersâliterally badass monsters. With four players, Borderlands becomes the adrenaline junkieâs dream. Monaco can similarly become entropy with more people. And if it does, itâs like an added layer of challenge where you have to know how to react and adapt quickly, while in danger.
Granted, Monaco also becomes more complex with more people: multiple classes means more opportunities for sophisticated strategies. If you play by yourself, you are restricted to only using your abilities. With more people, you can pursue routes and approaches to a level you couldnât otherwise.
Maybe you get the Lookout to scope out the scene for you before going forward, and when the coast is clear, you get the Mole to bust down some walls. With this alternate route, the Cleaner, who can take out enemies, has the opportunity to get the jump on some unsuspecting guards. You wouldnât be able to do most of that stuff on your own, especially if youâre not playing as those classes.
Some people will want to figure that stuff out, see which combinations work best under specific circumstances. I am too, by virtue of playing it and paying attention to whatâs happening. But for the most part, thereâs only two words for the heart of Monaco, Borderlands and even games like Super Smash Bros: chaos reigns.
The Multiplayer is a weekly column that looks at how people crash into each other while playing games. It runs every Monday at 6PM ET.
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