Like many people that grew up in the 90's, I found this game in shareware compilations. Years later, I can finally enjoy the other episodes of the series. Or the complete game, not sure which is which. Secret Agent is a simple platforming game : Find and destroy the radar dish, find the TNT sticks to escape, find a floppy to disable a laser barrier, use coloured keys to open doors, use a teleporter. Why is there a radar dish deep inside buildings? Why don't you escape the building from the way you came in? Why blasting the escape door rather than finding a key? Who cares! The game is simple, but not basic. You start on an overview map and must clear different levels scattered on it to access the final level. Thanks to this idea, the levels are quite short, which is good for playing in short sessions; also because there are no save points in the levels. The level design is varied, as well as the graphic design. There's no copypasting of levels, and most levels have their own feel and design. Some are open and feel industrial, there are vault-like levels, industrial levels, laboratory levels... However, it's not perfect. Some parts are infuriatingly hard in an otherwise very easy level. Many jumps requires pixel perfect jumps, where your character sprite literally hangs in the air. Some jumps on floating platforms can be tricky due to the primitive physics. And of course, since the game was released, we have been spoiled by 30 years of refinement in platformers. But it's still a solid retro experience that is well worth trying at least once.
