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Spy vs. Spy Review - Xbox

SPY vs. Spy is a game about having fun, if I may be allowed to say that first and foremost. It's not about completing objectives stealthily without being detected, it's not about collecting items, and it's definitely not about getting up to level 50. A person getting into Spy vs. Spy with a competitive edge will put it down after the first 5 minutes of playing it. However, if you approach Spy vs. Spy with a fun-loving, frag-all attitude, it's all about the carefree gaming inside. I don't know what to compare the game to, due to the sheer uniqueness of it's gameplay. Spy vs. Spy tells the story of the never-ending rivalry between the black spy and the white spy, which was spawned in MAD magazine in the mid-late 90's. These two will stop at nothing to kill each other. The game sees the arrival of more spies, the blue and red spies, in order to expand multiplayer beyond the classic black vs. white.

Gameplay

The game is very easy to play, with a 3rd person perspective and near-automatic aim, allowing for simple just-hold-down-the-trigger kills. The HUD is colourful, and shows what weapons, traps, and (in some gametypes) items you have. The in-game controls are simple, albeit confusing at first. The weapons are probably the wackiest thing about the game, if not the traps. Tommy guns, bazookas, classic black-spherical bombs, a flamethrower and even an ice gun allow for some varied gameplay, with different effects such as slowing the opponent down for the ice gun, etc. The traps are the essence of spy vs. spy, with the two original spies always setting traps for each other, and usually unwittingly triggering their own traps. From spring-loaded boxing gloves in hidden safes, to anvils and acid-filled buckets waiting wedged between the door and the doorframe, to even wall-placeable mines, placing these traps around the map and watching as your opponent gets into one is one of the unique features in this game. In some areas there are in-map traps, which are activated by pulling a lever and can either be dodged or snuck by. These are only used when the two spies are facing each other in the single player story mode, but used a lot in multiplayer, where you can have up to four spies on the same map.

Singleplayer has three game modes: Classic, Modern and Story mode. Classic and modern mode involve the black and white spies running around in a building trying to find five items, the difference being in modern mode, where you have to find certain items which are then used to get the objective items. Story mode is where you choose to play either the black or white spy, and have 8 levels to finish. Story mode is not that much fun unless you like getting stuck in a game where you don't know where to go, despite the game giving you an arrow displaying your next 'objective.' The (continued next page)