Spy vs Spy (X-Box)
Developed by: Vicious Cycle Software
Published by: Global Star Software

Sometimes nostalgia is a real bitch. Although I have a soft spot for the videogames of old, I must admit, there are a lot of them that just don’t hold up nowadays. When I heard a couple of years ago that a remake of Spy vs Spy was in the works, I was cautiously optimistic. I can remember spending countless hours playing the original Spy vs Spy on the Commodore 64. It was supposedly the first split-screen multiplayer game ever made, and the colourful style and variety of humourous traps made it a lot of fun to play. It was even successful enough to spawn 2 sequels.

In this new version, developer Vicious Cycle wanted to adapt the game to a 3D world and introduce online play. It seems like it was a tough road for them just getting the game to see the light of day. I think it changed publishers a few times, and even now it has only received a very low key release with minimum distribution. Originally I might have speculated that this was because of the game’s lack of appeal to today’s gamer, what with its simple cartoony tone and property licence that is no longer very relevant. (Do kids even read Mad magazine anymore? Well, I guess there’s still Mad TV…) And it’s probably true that if people were going to play a video game about a spy nowadays they’d much rather take on the role of Splinter Cell’s tough-as-nails Sam Fisher. But after playing this updated of the classic Spy vs Spy, I suspect the reason why it almost never got released is because, well… it ain’t that great.

Technically, Vicious Cycle has done just about everything you could expect in terms of upgrading the original. There are tons of new weapons, new traps, new game modes, more simultaneous players, and decent 3D graphics. The problem is, the core gameplay has remained the same, making it painfully obvious that the original game had a lot of weaknesses in its design to begin with.

In case you haven’t played the original game, let me explain. Basically you had to run through a maze of interconnected rooms, searching in desks, behind paintings, and underneath trash cans, trying to locate a briefcase and 4 items. Once you found all 4 you could make your way to an airstrip outside the building where you would escape and win the game. The real fun came from laying traps for your opponent: a bucket of acid on top of a door, a gun on a rope tied to a doorknob, or a time bomb for example. Some of these traps could be avoided with items found in the rooms, like an umbrella shielding you from acid. If you happened to run into the same room as your opponent, a good ol’ knife fight would ensue, most likely resulting in the death of one spy. Dying put you out of the game for a brief period of time and also dropped all of the items you were carrying.

It occurs to me now that although the box art for the original Spy vs Spy proclaimed it to be an “action/strategy” game, there was actually very little strategy involved. There was no way to know where your opponent had set traps, unless you were constantly watching their screen (which may or may not be considered cheating). For the most part it all came down to dumb luck. In the new verison of Spy vs Spy, it still comes down to luck most of the time, and that’s pretty frustrating.

Both Modern mode and Classic mode stick to the “collect 4 items and briefcase” formula which is really kind of dull and arbitrary in retrospect. The most fun comes from killing each other anyways, and games in Modern or Classic mode often drag and turn into marathon sessions because it takes forever for anyone to actually accumulate all the loot. Luckily, some of the other new game modes do away with the item collection tedium and let you concentrate on the fun stuff. You can choose from standard Deathmatch and Last Man Standing scenarios, along with “Armed and Loaded” (compete for the most money) and “Get MAD” (a King Of The Hill type scenario).

The problem is that the levels are all designed for Modern mode, with safes scattered throughout the area. What ends up happening is that each spy always respawns in their respective Hideout after dying, so all of the game tends to happen back and forth in between the Hideouts with no use at all for any other parts of the level. There is a “Run And Gun” variant however that lets you disable Hideouts altogether, which would be my recommendation.

Playing online via X-Box Live also puts a new spin on things since you can’t see what the opponent is doing. However, the odds of finding other people to play this game with are pretty slim considering its limited release.

One thing I haven’t really mentioned is the single player Story Mode in this game, and that’s mainly because isn’t worth mentioning. Spy vs Spy is a multiplayer game through and through. The single player story mode is the same as the multiplayer modes except that you have specific objectives in each map, and there are cutscenes in between to tell the story. The only cool thing about the single player missions are that they unlock more multiplayer levels and also the “Mod-A-Spy” option which allows you to dress up your spy in all kinds of wacky outfits.

For such a simple game, Spy vs Spy should probably feel a bit more polished than it does. The graphics and environments are okay, but the controls are awkward at times. It’s difficult to aim with ranged weapons, and you can’t bring up crosshairs and move at the same time. It’s also damn hard to judge jumps with no shadow beneath the characters and wonky camera angles. The music in the game is done by Combustible Edison, which should have been a perfect match considering that they cover the Spy vs Spy theme. However, for some reason their loungey style has been rendered sterile and flat, amounting to nothing more than repetitive elevator music and not capturing the zany energy of the game at all.

To be fair, the budget price tag is a good selling point. You will probably get enough fun out of this game to make it worth 20 bucks, though if you haven’t played the original you might not want to bother. It doesn’t live up to my hopes of being an under the radar hit, but it’s still a blast to play with friends and it has more options under the hood than you may think. — Sean

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