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Developer: Way Forward
Publisher: Global Star Software
Genre: Platform
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 05 Apr 05
User Rating
6.9 (16 votes) -
- The celebrated comic series makes a jump to the Xbox, but the sub par gameplay and weak visuals in this budget game doesn't do it any justice.
Overview
Not being a huge fan of Mad Magazine, I had to do my research on what this game Spy vs. Spy thing was all about. I found out that Spy vs. Spy is a series of comics that have been around for quite sometime that are actually much more popular then I could have ever imagined. There was also a Spy vs. Spy game made way back, but I have a feeling not very many people have played it. Now we have a budget title made by developers Vicious Cycle who are trying to bring the two spies onto the Xbox. So is this an enjoyable budget title, or one that's not even worth the twenty bucks? Read our full review to find out!
Gameplay
If you are a consistent reader of my reviews, bear with me, because a lot of what I am about to say will be sound so familiar from reviews of previous budget titles. The whole idea of a budget title is for those of us who are financially challenged to be able to afford a game. Budget titles are usually lackluster, with little to no originality or innovation in its execution. While there are a few rare exceptions, of course, the adage "you get what you pay for" still holds true.
Surprisingly Spy vs. Spy includes both a single and a multiplayer mode, which is a very good start for any budget title. Let's start with the single player segment of the game, which includes one of the weakest artificial intelligences I have played against in quite some time. The single player is a typical experience that has no real depth to it. I would have expected with the comic being so popular, the storyline in the game to have been somewhat entertaining, but to be honest I was pretty bored with the whole single player experience as a whole.
Spy vs. Spy was not made for the single player, but instead the multiplayer, which is supposed to be what makes this game worthwhile. The multiplayer really doesn't have a whole lot to choose from. It has your typical deathmatch, last man standing, Get MAD, and Armed and Dangerous modes. Basically those last two are just cool names for a capture the flag rendition, and Armed and Dangerous is just a different type of deathmatch mode that involves money.
The multiplayer support is average at best, because of the poor map that really does not give us anything new in terms of gameplay. Spy vs. Spy is one of those games that tries to take advantage of the public by using these loveable characters and giving a mediocre experience, and for me this just did not work. Both the offline and online gameplay was definitely sub par. Also the game does hold some really unresponsive controls, which basically just makes the average gameplay even worse.
Graphics
To get straight into it, the visuals of Spy vs. Spy they are honestly just plain bad. First off the camera in the game is actually quite bad and becomes extremely problematic both online and offline. Also you will find that all of the environments in the game are extremely poor in design, and have seen done in much better fashion years ago.
The character models in the game are also pretty bad with little to no detail, and the comics probably do better justice to the spies then the game does. Although it's pretty obvious that budget games usually can't compare visually to the full priced gamesm it can be said that this game is even bad for a budget title.
Fun Factor
Spy vs. Spy isn't a game that is without having some enjoyable moments because it is still a decent third person shooter. The game does have its fair share of problems, like the controls and the camera angle, and this contributes to why this game is nowhere near as fun as it could have been. I would have thought Spy vs. Spy would have tried to be a more light-hearted affair, but the game just is a typical shooter that could have been a lot more fun then it is.
Overall
Spy vs. Spy costs $20, but with that being said I think if you dish out an extra thirty bucks you could get a great shooter that the Xbox is known for. I would have to say unless you have been a Spy vs. Spy fan all of your life, I think you could easily do better with your money then dump it on this game.
- Gameplay
5.0 - Graphics
4.0 - Fun Factor
5.0 - Overall
5.0
