Two characters flailed their arms, a fat top hat wearer and a gent in a tuxedo, and the codeword sounded again. Characters make hand gestures when they speak, so we focused in on a group of guests. Zooming in on the party with the sniper’s scope reduces your view further still, but crucially allows you to pick up on some of the spy-only actions, as well as tag objects.ĭuring our play, we heard the spy trying to make contact with the double agent when the codeword ‘banana bread’ sounded. The sniper has one bullet which ends the game once fired at a character.Īlthough you can navigate along the full width of the building, the window frames themselves minimise your vision. There’s a lot to keep track of as the sniper, something which inherently adds to your own confusion and pressure to pick off your charge.

TO TAKE A LIFE AND SAVE A LIFE WITH A SINGLE BULLET While playing as the spy presents a rare lesson in behavioural psychology, as the sniper you’re offered a new perspective on one of gaming’s most common positions, the aggressor. It’s thrilling to deceive the other player as you carefully imitate the computer’s ritualistic behaviour. A cool-headed approach saw us blending in effectively as we watched the sniper’s laser flick across the harmless AI characters. You can do everything the AI characters can, such as picking up statuettes, reading books from a bookshelf and talking to other characters. These momentary tells give the sniper a fighting chance and push the tension higher still.īefore getting rumbled, we did achieve some of the missions assigned. That can be a dead giveaway, and did in fact get us shot by the competing player during our time with SpyParty. These must be completed before the timer runs out, however, you can add additional time by looking at your watch. You can select a number of objectives, such as planting a bug, stealing an object or collecting a dead drop. When you choose to take control the game itself starts. Playing as the spy it can take a moment to get your bearings, so it’s helpfully that the computer controls your character initially.

As the spy you are attempting to mimic the behaviour of the AI characters – purposeful, inconspicuous actions – to fool your silent predator. Once you’re over this initial barrier, however, you’ll find SpyParty is unlike the challenges you face in most games.

Spyparty gameplay help