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Dynamighty slips onto Playstation consoles with a super stylized stealth action game. Read the review!
The Cold War is alive in this game and you progress the game by stealing secrets from both sides. Before each mission, you prep your weapons and abilities. Found some blueprints in the last mission? With enough funds, you can unlock them for use in your next one. Same with the abilities. Depending on how you want to progress in the game, you can go the stealth way and get silenced weapons, sleep darts, etc, or you can equip explosive guns or high powered shotguns.
The game is 2.5 D... which means you have a 2D sidescroller, and at times you enter into a shooting gallery type mode if you pop behind cover and aim out. This gives you some strategy about how to line up your headshots or target an explosive device.
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| I hope you can see the guy flying off after I launched him with an explosive. Whee! |
Depending on whom you invade, the Socialists or Imperialists, (the Russians and the US), you'll get a procedurally designed level with either side's specific base components. The fact that the game is designed this way keeps the gameplay relatively fresh. Sometimes there is no "easy" way to clear a specific room, and you'll rely on your weapon selection and cover points to do so.
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| Pick your ability carefully... it will go away after the level is over |
I saw "relatively fresh" because once you see the basic pieces of a level, that's pretty much it. Yes, the game gets tougher with different armored cameras, soldiers with RPGs, but the only thing you do in the game is invade enemy bases. Luckily, you'll find ways to change your gaming on the fly as some rooms call for stealth, and others a little bit of assault rifles.
The game is on the short side, but you will also have a sort of leaderboard challenge, too. Each level you are assigned a "Rival Spy," which consists of your PSN friends or others. There is a score for you to beat, and if you do so, you go through the next level, find the spy's body and search it for extra cash. Cash that can be used to upgrade, choose "formulas" (the abilities), or buy more ammo for your weapon of choice.
Some issues I ran into are some long load times with the Vita versus the PS4. What took a minute to load up on the Vita was over within 20 seconds on the PS4. And at times the framerate took a serious dip on my Vita when the action got heavy, but not on the PS4. That is not something that always happened on the Vita, but something I noticed.
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| I liked some "glitches," See that guy doing a headstand? He's dead. |
Verdict:
8.5/10
Stylized graphics, alternate Cold War setting, precision stealth gameplay in a procedurally generated system... Counterspy is an engaging and strategic (if somewhat short) game.
The Vita is a fun place to play this, but expect better performance on the PS4. (I didn't get a chance to see it on the PS3)
Thanks, Dynamighty for letting me review this game! I was looking forward to it for a LONG time!
Look interesting to you, readers? Let us know if you like stealth games or a blast through it all kind of game!
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