The concept of Spy vs Spy comes from the mind of Antonio Prohias, a refugee from the Cuban Cultural Revolution who arrived at the doorstep of Mad Comics and proceeded to wow everybody with his comical take on two opposing spies trying to outdo one another. The masked spies became a beacon of popular culture, and synonymous with Mad Magazines’ quirky and off the wall humour.

So it is surprising that this game seems to ditch that humour and present us with a really average, uninspired and boring single player platform game, along with a somewhat fun, but ultimately flawed multiplayer game.

The single player component sets you up against your opposing spy, black or white depending on whom you choose. There are various henchmen to deal with as well as your opponent spy, and you proceed through the levels completing a bunch of goals and then fighting a boss battle at the end of the level. In all there are 8 levels, and these are the same 8 levels you will be playing in Multiplayer.

The problem isn’t the game play so much in itself – it is really just the same old thing over and over. Go through this door, shoot those guys, collect the coins – after all, it IS a platform action game – and then move on to jumping puzzle, open the next door and do it all over again, then kill the big boss at the end. Essentially it is the same as every other platform action game, and adds absolutely nothing new to the genre. That damn Italian plumber certainly has a lot to answer for!

A great part of the problem is the game is just not funny. The humour in the game makes Rove McManus seem like a comic genius comparable with the likes of Barry Humphries. The potential of humour in games is more than readily apparent in games like Voodoo Vince (XBW: 83) or Armed and Dangerous (XBW: 82) and it’s a great shame that Spy Vs Spy misses the boat altogether. Given the source material, there is so much potential for something side-splittingly funny, but to use a cliché as tired as the game, there are more laughs at a funeral.

Part of the wacky appeal of the comic series was the crazy traps the spies laid out for one another, and the fact that these ingenious and deadly traps would backfire with hilarious results. You can lay traps for your hapless foe in the game, but there is no real satisfaction in it, because for the most part it is simply pressing a button and waiting for the scripted AI to trigger it. And although it can backfire, it’s normally because you’ve forgotten that you’ve pressed the button to set the trap, and backtracked into the trap by accident. It just seems all rather useless, especially when most of the time you encounter the dreaded opposite spy outside the scripted events, you can club them to death or simply shoot them.

The multiplayer aspect of the game is marginally better, in that you run about attacking black or white or red or blue spies in a Deathmatch style fight. There are two modes Classic and Modern. Classic is an all out Deathmatch, where the winner has to collect all 4 pieces of a special item to win. These items are located in safes, so you have to open the safes – but other spies can trap them, and if you’re killed you lose your items. You can find ways to disarm traps, and use decoys to confuse your foes. Modern is essentially the same as classic, except you have the option of a safe house in the level. But beware, there are extra ways the opposing spies can get into your base and steal your items, so there is a little bit more strategy going on.

With 4 people split screen the game is quite fun, and there is a lot of customisation and additions you can add to make the game more fun. For example, in Classic mode you can choose to have the Briefcase modifier, which allows you only to carry only one item at a time until you grab the briefcase. When this item is obtained you can carry more, but of course if you die your opponent can grab the case and all the items. Unlike single player, it is kind of funny when you press a button to set off the scripted traps, or even better they fall for one of your safe or anvil traps.

Unfortunately the maps seem too big on less than 4 players and you can spend a long time not seeing another spy, but luckily you can add bots to the game and play with a full complement of players. However, fun as it may be, the laughs don’t last long. The game grows tired rather quickly, and even though there’s a Xbox Live! component, there’s simply no one playing.

Graphics for the game are quite respectable. Your spy can be customised with different outfits that are unlocked during single player, and these all look pretty cool. The iconic spies are realised quite well in 3 dimensions, and the levels are very colourful and have a comic feel to them. The weapons and effects are very over the top, and fit in very well with the source material. The sounds of the weapons and squeals of your injured spy are also very appropriate, although I found the loonytunes style cartoon music to become rather grating after a while.

Conclusion:
Spy Vs Spy suffers from a very pedestrian single player game that lacks the humour of the comic on which it’s based, which is very disappointing considering how funny and clever they often were. Multiplayer is more fun, and is a good game for weekend hire – maybe to play with young teens or possibly with some mates and some beers, but at the end of the day there are better, more humorous, more exciting multiplayer games available.

Pros:
Good 3D realisation of the original 2D cartoon
Fun Multiplayer with lots of options

Cons:
Single player seems like a bad afterthought.
Very repetitive
Nowhere near the hilarity of the source material.

60/100