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Dragon Age 2 surprised me. Super Meat Boy abused me. Kinect and Move winded me. And Duke Nukem: Forever made me cringe. But of all the games I played at Pax 2010, I was easily most impressed by Chris Hecker's Spy Party.
The premise is simple, yet brilliant. One person plays a spy at a party trying to complete very spy-like tasks. The other person plays the sniper trying to find and kill the one player-controlled spy in a room of 13 people. The rest is a brilliant battle of observation, deception, and subtlety.
Contact the double agent in the room.
Bug the Ambassador.
Swap out the statues.
Switch the microfilm.
The Spy needs to complete all of these objectives before the time runs out. The other AI controlled characters in the room walk around, pick up objects, talk to each other, and do whatever else people do at classy parties. The Spy needs to blend in. By appearing as if AI controlled, the spy can complete his or her task without alerting the Sniper. OMG, is that red laser aimed at me? Maybe I should put down this statu... BOOM. Fucking Snipers.
The Sniper's job is also a challenging one. He needs to looks for any hint of the Spy secretely completing his or her task. Did that lady just pat the butt of the Ambassador? Which one of those people in that group just whispered "banana bread" to the double agent? The sniper needs to observe, deduce, decide, and pull the trigger. But the Sniper has 13 people to watch all at once. And focusing on the suspicious man in the top hat could mean the Sniper is not seeing what is going on over by the book case. Wait, who is over by the statues? *Beep beep* Time is over, the Spy got away. Fucking spies.
Spy Party is the most creative game I've seen in years. It's smart, funny, competitive, and insanely tense. This game is as far as two years out from release, but this small PAX build could entertain me for months. Give me my banana bread Chris Hecker. I want it now.
Comments
14 years, 7 months ago
This game, barely in it's early stage, looks fantastic! it may not be done, but I'm intrigued to try this game out. I fear for the this game at the same time I'm interested: I'm afraid as it further develops, more things will be added to this and make it not nearly as enjoyable is it was in its basic phase...but well see! I'm very amped to play this!
14 years, 7 months ago
This game actually sounds amazing. I will keep a close eye on this title.
14 years, 7 months ago
sounds VERY interesting... very original gameplay makes me want to try it out.
14 years, 7 months ago
Seriously, I'd buy the game in its current state RIGHT NOW. That's how much I want to try it
14 years, 7 months ago
This seems like a pretty good game. I think it would be more fun to be a spy knowing that someone is looking right at me unsure if they should shoot or not.
And did Dragon age surprised you good or bad?
14 years, 7 months ago
Reminds me of The Ship.
14 years, 7 months ago
One of the few games over the past year or so that has gotten me generally excited to play it. With the crowds it drew at PAX I would not be surprised if this game develops into some sort of weird spectator sport.
14 years, 7 months ago
Damnit Brad stop showing me awesome games I have to be excited about as soon as I see them!
14 years, 7 months ago
Where's the recorded interview? :D
14 years, 7 months ago
I had actually heard a bit about this game well before PAX. The premise vaguely reminded me of The Ship.
Honestly, seeing it in action makes me happy that it looks as awesome as the pitch was, but it also makes me a little sad that I don't own a 360. Not having one is making me miss out on a lot of creative and fun indies. =(
14 years, 7 months ago
Check out the website's pics, Nolan and Joseph made it on the second screen!
To me, this game looks like it could hold out for at least a few weeks, if not a few days. I mean, there's really not too many objectives or a wide variety of game play modes incorporated so far. It's gonna be the same thing over and over again, and it'll eventually turn stale unless something new is added to the mix. A great example is Left 4 Dead's campaign mode. Yes, it does have the AI Directory to extend replayiblity online, but even that gets old over time. So what did Valve do? They added other game modes and objectives to rejuvenate the game. And I think that's what the devs should do, add other game modes or objectives, or at least more map varieties to give some spice to the game.
14 years, 7 months ago
the concept sounds awesome. I wish I could try it out too
14 years, 2 months ago
[...] salivating to even play any SpyParty soon. Check out our coverage of SpyParty from PAX Prime 2010 here and our interview with Chris Hecker [...]