Spy Fiction

With more gadgets than that kid from Goonies, Spy Fiction tries to up the stealth/action ante, but does it work?

If cool concepts alone made great games, Spy Fiction would be an instant classic. In reality, however, Spy Fiction is a friendly-but-flawed rehash of Metal Gear Solid fused with several interesting (but poorly developed) concepts that intend to give the game a unique flavor but end up tasting stale.

Spy Friction

Spy Fiction attempts to distinguish itself from other sneaking and shooting spy games by employing a variety of cool but often useless gadgets. While a few devices like the 3DA camera and the Predator-style invisible camouflage are consistently useful, the majority of the non-weapon items are lame fillers that can only be used in special circumstances and feel like the unused crap in Batman?s utility belt. The implementation of handy high-tech gadgets does offer a new (albeit shallow) dimension of gameplay, but because there?s no real need to use them its likely you won?t even remember they?re there.

One of Spy Fiction?s most unique attributes is the aforementioned 3DA camera that lets you take on the appearance of whomever you photograph. Although the ability to assume the identity of any character in the game and pass by guards unnoticed sounds promising and can be fun at times, the enemy A.I. is so hard to gauge that it?s sometimes best to forego the disguises and find another route altogether. Time after time, our flawless disguises would survive thorough inspections by armed enemy guards only to be ?discovered? after accidentally bumping into a hall mopping janitor (seriously). Interesting idea? Certainly. Flawed execution? You bet.

Been There, Done That.

Spy Fiction does get some things right though. Since everything from the character design to the gameplay style and even the sound effects seem to have been ?borrowed? from Metal Gear Solid, the game is entertaining overall, but feels way too familiar and uncreative to warrant more than a single play through ? though it is nice to have two selectable characters with unique skills and mission objectives if you do choose to replay this puppy. For all its faults, Spy Fiction is still an enjoyable title, but it seems unlikely anyone will stop to notice Spy Fiction lurking in the shadow of MGS 3 or Splinter Cell 3.

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