Stick it to the Man! is a sidescrolling platformer for the PlayStation 4 (as well as for a myriad of other consoles including the PS3, Vita and PC). The aesthetics has the characters and world take on the form of paper cutouts and it works wonderfully well. The player takes control of Ray who was just having a normal day testing out the hardness of hard hats when he gets into an accident. When he wakes up, he suddenly finds himself with an arm sticking out of his head. The pink glowing arm gives him additional powers. Not only can the arm stretch, Ray can now read the minds of others as well as grab onto stuff from far away to swing himself onto the platform.
The controls are simple. Ray can jump and this forms the core of the (simple) platforming. Grabbing onto faraway pins helps increase the distance he can travel and at a much quicker pace too, which can be crucial in escaping guards. As a carry over from the PC control scheme, you use the analogue stick to aim the arm, which also acts as a select for which character you want to read the mind of and the stickers to grab or place. Thus it can be unwieldy at times especially when you want to run through something fast via grappling but the arm doesn't quite line up with where you were aiming for.
Reading a character's mind ties into using the PS4 controller's speakers in a neat way. It doesn't feel tacked on and is a nice surprise the first time it happens. What helps is that the game has a unique quirky sense of humor. While there are some bizarre elements with some of the jokes as well as the story, on the whole, it's naturally funny. To progress through the story, you just have to travel the whole level, grab stickers and then read minds to see what the characters want. Then you give them the appropriate sticker to trigger the next event.
There aren't too many sidequests, most are required for the story. The only semi-significant ones are when it is tied to an achievement. While most of the game is pretty easy, there are certain sections where the answer is not obvious. The poor logic in these sections are annoying especially when you know you are towards the end and it feels like it is artificially dragging out the game. There are small sections interspersed throughout the chapters where you figure out how to get past and avoid the enemy. The enemies chases you once you are spotted but if you are caught, you just end up respawning at the start of the section so there's no real penalty. This makes the game fairly relaxing.
The story is intriguing and while there are plenty of diversions, Ray is ultimately being chased by someone who wants his ability. Unfortunately, the antagonist's backstory is never fully revealed, no matter how interesting it was. There are collectibles in the form of reading the minds of all the characters that appear in the game. If you miss some, you can use chapter select and the game has a good map to show the objectives.
It is a short game though since it takes around three to five hours to complete on a first run. Once you know what to do, it takes a lot less time to complete each chapter and there's not much replayability. Overall, Stick it to the Man! is an enjoyable game. The gameplay concept doesn't sound like anything special but finding stickers, reading the mind of others and then putting the stickers in the correct place is surprisingly addictive. It's definitely worth a play especially since it is cheap and doesn't take too long to complete.
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