Tiny Thief Review

By Tony Zhang - July 11, 2013

As Rovio has proved in the past, the best games available on Android and iOS are often those that come in the smallest packages. Take Angry Birds for example; a fairly straightforward puzzle game with rudimental physics has, over the course of a few short years, turned into a household name. No other mobile game has come close to replicating Rovio’s success, not even the studio itself which has recently turned its attention to game publishing.

As far as small packages go, none comes as refreshing or aptly named as Tiny Thief. It’s the second game backed by the recently formed Rovio Stars and is just as impressive as last month’s Nordic-themed puzzler, Icebreaker.

In Tiny Thief, you assume the role of a pint-sized pilferer in his quest for riches and infamy. If you’re expecting a drawn-out tale of dark treasures and conspiracy, you’re probably better off looking elsewhere. Tiny Thief is comical and light-hearted throughout, as reflected in the game’s fantastic, vibrant artwork.

Tiny Thief is split into several chapters -or worlds, if you like. Each one of these is further comprised of several stages themed on one of the game’s bite size quests. Throughout your journey you will encounter flea-bitten pirates, greedy tax collectors and swarms of henchmen as you seek to expose corruption and undo the plans of the realm’s many villains.

At its core, Tiny Thief is a point and click adventure though concise level design and stealth mechanics ultimately set it apart. To beat a stage all that’s required is the theft of a particular item before high-tailing for the exit. It’s not as simple as it sounds, however.

Each stage has its own set of pathways and interactive objects. By tapping certain points of the screen you’ll have to navigate our little hero whilst occasionally hiding from view, creating distractions and climbing to high places.

Puzzles range from simple tasks such as activating a lever to more complex feats like disguising yourself or causing two NPCs to get in a scuffle. Either way, the puzzles are easy enough to understand, yielding a great sense of satisfaction when everything comes circle. On top of that there are hidden items and collectible to find earn better completion bonuses.

One thing players will notice is how easy the game can be at times. Even some of the multi-tiered puzzles can be de-constructed and tackled fairly easily with a little bit of common sense. There is even an extensive hint tool which recharges every four hours of real-time. None of this detracts from the experience, however. Tiny Thief isn’t meant to be an incredibly tense and brutal stealth game; what players want is small doses of sneaky puzzling, and that’s exactly what they will get.

Tiny Thief is no doubt one of the best-looking games to crop up this year. The artwork does a great job in bringing 5 Ants’ quirky kingdom to life whilst presenting on-screen prompts and objects clearly.

View in iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiny-thief/id656620224