Monaco 2

Xbox used to run this Games With Gold program, where those with a paid membership received free games every fortnight, and I was a very big fan of this approach.

- By Erin McAllister

In the early years, I played every single title I could get my hands on; this included a top-down, cooperative, stealth game where you and up to three friends could engage in pulse-pounding heists to steal as much as you can carry. I was also terrible at this game and could rarely get any friends together to play it, so after a few shoddy attempts on my lonesome, I gave up. I am, of course, talking about 2013's Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine, developed by Pocketwatch Games. Over 10 years later, a sequel, Monaco 2, from the same developer is here, looking to steal your hearts... and also £20.99 from your wallet.

Monaco 2 is, on the whole, rather similar to What's Yours Is Mine, even without a fun subtitle; you still get to pick from a selection of characters with unique abilities, sneak (or... not sneak) through detailed maps around a variety of civilians and guards, and steal keys, valuables, and coins. However, unlike What's Yours Is Mine, you are no longer stuck with a firm overhead camera angle and 2D graphics that were always a little far away and zoomed out for teenager Erin to properly parse. In Monaco 2, you can move seamlessly between that bird's eye view and a closer look at each room your 3D-modelled heisters are in. You still can't see anything they can't, but the camera control freedom and switch to 3D graphics make the experience far more visceral and easier to understand.