Spy Fiction Review

The stealth genre is in high commodity. There’s a surplus of spy games, ridden with gadgets, gizmos, and sneaking. Where Metal Gear Solid required you to try, and try again, Splinter Cell gave you an open-endedness that has yet to be matched by other games in the stealth genre. Spy Fiction falls in the middle of both worlds. You’re equipped with the gadgets of Sam Fisher, but you’ll have the linear gameplay that Solid Snake plagued us with.

Since the storyline in games is mostly irrelevant in reviews, I’ll leave it at you being a member of an intelligence agency that tries to curb terrorist activity. The game us a basic clone of the Metal Gear formula. You’ll sneak along edges, peer around corners, and move slowly on guards, exhibiting force when required.

Where it derails from the Metal Gear train is that there is no incentive for stealth tactics. If you raise the alarm, you’d clearly have an easier time, while saving time, by shooting all of the enemies that appear on-screen, then hiding for the duration of the alarm period.

You’ll find that the shooting isn’t precise by any stretch of ones imagination, and the fact that you can only auto-target, by pressing the fire button, a bullet is automatically shot, before a target of an enemy is displayed, meaning you might cap the guy more times than you need to. They included cloak ability, but guards will oftentimes run to you and shoot you anyway, so it’s almost useless. Again, because of this fact, you’re almost encouraged to shoot and kill every guard.

Spy Fiction doesn’t leave you without some handy equipment. The spider grip will have you clinging to walls, out of guard’s sights. With your camera, you can take pictures of guards, civilians, personnel, etc., and use those photos as a disguise, by jumping in a garbage bin or locker. You’ll need a clear picture of both their face and clothing for it to work. Clever concept, but not the least bit believable. For the record, the originality score stems from the inclusion of things like the ability to disguise as an enemy.

Spy Fiction is a visual clone of, once again, the Metal Gear franchise. Nothing comes to mind as for a level of ‘wow’ that I experienced when playing the game, and viewing its scenery. The whole user-interface, and then of course, the video clips, are all inspired by Metal Gear. So while there are no major flaws, the game doesn’t go past much more than getting the job done in the graphics department.

My final word is that Spy Fiction is simply of the category that belongs to average stealth games. It won’t be remembered for anything but its lack of original design, and then of course, the disguise system, which will likely be mimicked by other companies in the future. The two playable characters add some replay value, but not that much. Like Resident Evil, once you play one character, you’ll often find you don’t want to play the game again with the other character. Solid try Sammy, but next time, put more effort on the core of the game, the stealth.