An immersive world with great puzzles and character, even though it is a bit short.
Stacking is a pretty fun game in an immersive world. All puzzles have multiple solutions, and finding all of the solutions will grasp and hold your attention until you find them all. The dolls themselves are all unique, and just exploring the world itself is pretty cool. You could spend a decent amount of time just using the abilities of various dolls and completing all these "hi-jinks" challenges associated with the abilities in addition to seeking all possible puzzle solutions. There is a great hint system, and every puzzle solution has three-tiers of hints, offering a vague push in the right direction to almost a flat out description of what to do.
Visually, the world of Stacking is stunning. A close examination of the world is almost required and you can truly appreciate the amount of work that went into the creation of the environment. The dolls themselves look wonderful too; all of them appear as if they were hand painted with a shining finish. Cut scenes are all done in an old-school 1920's style attributed to the very first motion pictures with dialogue written out on certain slides. I didn't run into any visual hick-ups or problems. The camera takes a minute to get used to, but doesn't take anything away from the experience.
The game-play is also outstanding. You'll want to find all the solutions to every puzzle. I found myself trying to find every solution to each puzzle before moving on just to see all the possibilities. The hint system works surprising well, ranging from vague to exact. You can spend plenty of time completing all the hi-jinks challenges too, and you're bound to love the results.
Stacking is unfortunately a bit short. Evening finding all the solutions won't take you too long. There is plenty to do, with the hi-jinks challenges and "matched-sets" of dolls to seek, so don't let this short, but worth-while, trip prevent you from looking. I'm pretty a cheap guy, so I felt that $15 was a bit much for a game of this length, but I don't regret my purchase in the least. I still have some work to do get all the achievement, which most players will feel compelled to unlock.
Stacking is worth the look for casual gamers and for hard-core gamers looking for a unique opportunity or a change of pace. It will take you only about an hour to play through, but at least 4-5 hours to 100% complete. Check out Gamespot's review for more details, reviewer Carolyn Petit did a pretty good job. If you're not sold, try out the game's trial to get a taste. Here's hoping that Double Fine keeps up the good work in the Arcade Games sector.