I love this game. Beside silly haircuts, clothes and gadgets, the story revolves around moon-stones, earthquake-inducing LASERS and such things. It all fits quite neatly in the 1970s jive, when everything was over-the-top. Dialogues are quite funny too: "Police got new teletyping machines that can send a whole printed page thousands of miles away in just TWO minutes!" :D Gameplay is fun, and that's what matters. Of course there are many switches in each level - it's a puzzle game! But there are many different ways to solve those puzzles (even some that probably weren't planned - like using the robot for teasing the guards). All commands can be given during a pause, so you don't need ninja reflexes to play. Characters have unique abilities, but others can perform most of those feats too (except Rocket's vent crawling and Robo's invisibility) by using tools, which you can buy or find on the map. Meaning, you'll play a level very differently with different crooks. At first I was quite mad 'coz some levels couldn't be completed perfectly. Then I realized you *weren't supposed to* in the first run. You can replay them for 100%, AFTER unlocking new abilities. (Though I still managed to get all the loot during the first run in all levels but two - without being seen once.) Challenge mode is much harder, with tougher guards and tight time limits. So re-playability is quite high. Beside manual saves, the game has a really neat autosave feature, saving every half-a-minute or so, thus allowing you to experiment freely, not requiring a level-restart for every single mistake (like Commandos do for example). So why just 4/5 mark? It's mostly bug-free, but there *is* one very nasty bug, which corrupts every file, saved while guards are alerted (including autosaves). So you need to save BEFORE you lure guards away (by making noise or whatever), then go without saving and making any mistakes until the alert ceases, which can be quite frustrating. If they fix this I give it 5/5.
Comparing this to Rainbow Six or whatever is pointless - it just isn't that kind of game. Stands completely by itself - if you must classify it, I'd say it's a stealth-action-tactics game. NOT shooter at all. Weapons are purposely inaccurate to prevent turning it into one. OTOH melee weapons kill with one blow - as does the sniper with his rifle. If you want to rush in, guns blazing - forget it. Not the game for you. If you prefer striking from behind or avoiding enemies altogether - you're in for a treat! What makes it completely different are graphics, humour and, well ... signal ops. Everything looks like painted in water colours. In days of photo-realism, not sure if this was due to budget constraints, but it works great - esp. with the overall humour tone. It definitely doesn't take itself too seriously - in spite of the dystopian world. UI is deliberately wonky, de/briefings really hilarious and agents' drivel quite funny. It's fun to play and I really enjoy its vibe. The most unique feature though is what the game's name suggests: you control your (2 to 4) agents remotely and see only what their cameras see. These have quite limited transmit range though, so you have to move your single transceiver around to keep agents in its range. Well, you *can* blindly send an agent anywhere you want and if he manages to find his own way there - cool. If he gets stuck or killed while you don't see through his camera - need to try something different. Perhaps even restart level with different agents. Another thing is, transceiver needs power and works less than a minute on battery while you carry it to a new power source. And THIS is what makes the game so hard, intriguing and completely different from anything else out there. Still has some minor bugs, but NOTHING as bad than mentioned for the early versions. Unique fun if you have the patience for it - I love it and find it worth every penny. But if you look for a FPS or some serious tactical assault, keep looking.
Duped with all those 5-star review into buying this poor excuse of a game. There are three (3?!?) sorts of missions: 3D dogfight, 2.5D strafing run + (quite rarely) 2D bombing run, which are (more or less randomly) repeated ad nauseam, with some cliche story text thrown in between. You can't control even speed of the plane. Just four ways of movement + fire. That's it! Oh, and did I mention that it doesn't work with a joystick? My trusty Logitech Wingman Force 3D, which so far worked in every single game - be it new or ancient. The game actually recognises it and buttons, as well as the 4-way hat work. But not the X and Y axis!? Inexcusable. Gave it two stars just for the nostalgia-sake feeling it evokes. The gameplay itself is abysmal, utterly repetitive and just plain boring. Today that wouldn't do even for a demo, let alone for a $10 game - which is total rip-off IMO. Avoid!
