More of a puzzle game with action elements, this early access title is okay.
Take on missions and save the world like a real spy, all with the help of time manipulation.
In Spymaster by InnerspaceVR (Maskmaker, A Fisherman’s Tale), you are one of the few remaining spies belonging to still active agency, NODE. The game is out today in early access – May. 7 – on Quest and Steam.
In this world where surveillance is controlled by one entity, PROTUS, you’ll take on various missions as the “operator” who can rewind time using C.A.S.S.E.T.T.E.
Whether you’re stealing a briefcase containing sensitive information in Vienna, or getting truth serum into the system of a corrupt politician, you’ll embody three different agents – each unique in their own right, making every new mission you undertake feel fresh.
As you step up to the board and pick your next mission, you’re given a briefing of what’s expected of you – including a lay of the land.
Each mission will give you different combinations of the agents with which to work and it’s your task to ensure they can pull it off successfully. Because it requires you to look at the mission from all angles – coupled with the rewind feature that lets you change the outcome if something goes awry – the game can be considered more of a puzzler or thought experiment, with moments of action throughout.
You’re given a three-minute timer to complete each mission and while most tasks are fairly straightforward, you’ll find that rewinding will probably happen more often than you’d expect.
With an ability that would be coveted by Cher, just grab your watch and turn back time if you make a mistake.
There are also bonus tasks each mission – usually completing within a certain time, having the agents high five – but these don’t seem to benefit your playthrough in any way.
Right now, it seems like they’re just there to add replayability.
Once you’ve planned out the mission, you’ll select which agent you wish to become and things will play out your way. As Mulligan, you’re armed with a short-range taser that can take out robots and cameras – though the latter is only for a short window. Playing as TIC, you’ll get a handgun with limited ammo, while OSCR the robot doesn’t seem to have a gadget.
Because each character is unique, their abilities – or lack thereof – can end up causing you to have to start over and rethink your plan to succeed.
Mechanically the game is very simple, with grabbing, and movement done the normal way – grip buttons and thumbsticks – and running achieved by moving your arms as if you’re actually sprinting.
You’ll use gadgets with the trigger and that’s really about it.
You can’t even crouch with a button, which ends up causing a buggy glitch-like scenario, that makes it seem like you’re rapidly jumping around when you need to perform the action – by crouching physically.
When rewinding, you’ll notice that you can’t access agents at certain points during missions. For example, if you want to fix a mistake with Mulligan before changing something up with OSCR, you’ll need to go back further in order to be able to access the latter and make the edits.
If the operator is able to change things on a whim, all agents should be accessible at all points in the game. Obviously to make things more challenging you can’t simply embody all agents at any point, but that seems to be a bit of an issue considering the premise.
Graphics are a mixed bag here, with the world being bright and sharp with a blocky feel, but with low quality coming in other places. While everything is animated and gives off the feel of being in a Saturday morning cartoon, the lack of textures and low-quality animations of characters feels a little stunted.
One of the biggest issues noticeable when it comes to the graphics – this really is something that can be written off as a quirk depending on your point of view – is that characters mouths never move when they talk. Instead, you’ll notice that characters faces are under detailed and devoid of any real life – almost as if you’re around a ton of ventriloquists.
Their bodies are a mix of androgynous detail with harsh lines. Not to mention the way characters are designed, it’s damn near impossible to see the item you have equipped on your belt – this makes it difficult in a tense action moment to accurately grab your sidearm/taser depending on whether you’re using TIC or Mulligan – and can lead to disaster and a necessary rewind.
Another thing to notice is when you’re in the base and someone appears on the TV screen for a conversation; they’re not actually moving. Instead, to denote movement, you’ll see a change akin to watching a slideshow – almost like you’re watching a new animation student’s first project.
Since the game is in early access, it might behoove InnerspaceVR to touch up the character designs to fix some of the issues.
When you’re playing each mission, the world looks good – even hanging out on the boat which doubles as your HQ looks basic but nice – so the character issues can be overlooked if you’re not obsessing over their immobile mouths.
Bugs, however, can be found throughout, with characters freezing randomly or oddly moving into a framerate killing slow motion. In addition to these odd bugs, you’ll sometimes find yourself launched drastically up into the air like you’ve stepped on a springboard, only to find yourself dying because you landed somewhere you shouldn’t.
Oh, and there are instances – though not as easy to replicate as being thrown into the air like you’ve just sat on an airbag – where items you’ve attached to your body will just disappear.
This is something which required not just a rewind, but a complete reboot to fix.
Also, there are some instances where grabbing the dial to rewind will see the timeline randomly jumping around – even if you’re no longer holding onto it.
Overall, Spymaster can be a fun experience that allows you to play out those Mission: Impossible fantasies, taking on missions to save the world. Besides lacking an engaging story, the heavy puzzle elements and limited moments for action, may be off-putting for those who were hoping to simply dive in and live on the edge.
The ability to rewind a mission is a neat idea, but it almost seems like too powerful an ability that will become a crutch for most.
Being able to rewind even the tiniest mistakes can make gameplay feel tedious as you work to get something correct. By the time the mission is over, the accomplishment can feel stunted and almost non-existent, since those relying too heavily on C.A.S.S.E.T.T.E., won’t really have gotten anything done by skill.
Perhaps limiting the number of times this can be used each mission, or even requiring a cooldown before you can use it again would make things a little more challenging and eliminate the feeling of meh that one might experience after the mission is over.
Right now, it makes you feel like you’re in a broken time loop and exit out of the game once it’s over.
Oh, one big gripe with the game, and it’s something that shouldn’t have been overlooked by the development team, but they never explain for what C.A.S.S.E.T.T.E., actually stands.
Spymaster, was reviewed on the Quest 3 after receiving a pre-release review key from PressEngine.
