Imagine
you're back in 1992 and for Christmas, you've opened up a brand new Neo Geo Gold
console. Your excitement builds as you look to see what games you've been lucky
enough to get. You rip apart the wrapping paper to reveal "Super Spy,"
and it looks to be revolutionary for it's time due to the first person
perspective. You get the console up and running and pop in the cart only to
realize you've got a $200 game......that doubles as a doorstop.
The game puts you in the role of the classic secret agent, attempting to infiltrate the enemies stronghold. From a first person view, you can move left or right for a majority of the game, and once in while forwards and backwards down hallways. (Done with a decent mode-7 effect) Ninjas pop out of doors or simply appear from the side and confront the player, each having their own weaknesses. You must eliminate all of them before advancing any farther with your small array of moves such as punching, kicking, stabbing, or with a another weapon that you've picked up.
The first problem with the game shows up very early when you first run out of ammo for your handgun. Punching and kicking will only get you so far as enemies will fire machine guns from an assured distance, leaving the player nearly defenseless. You can duck and avoid the bullets, but your only allowed a limited amount of time and you must move fast. Eventually, the ninjas will run up closer to you allowing for some well placed kicks, but these are hardly effective. Not only does this make the game nearly impossible, but incredibly frustrating as well.
The game holds it's own graphically, if only for the cool mode-7 scrolling portions. Players only get to see their characters hands (and occasionally his feet) while in action, leaving the rest of the systems power to the enemies. The ninjas are highly detailed, but lack any kind of decent animation. Some bosses have some great facial expressions while getting blasted with your fists, but this is the only animation highlight. There are some nifty added details like highly destructible backgrounds and explosions, but this isn't enough to save the game.
No other game has ever made a player feel like their actually punching someone better than this one. The sound of blasting someone in the jaw is amazingly deep and the accompanying scream couldn't get any more satisfying. The music is forgettable Neo Geo fare and the other sound effects are simply recycled from numerous other games.
Now, back to the opening story.....You know there's no chance of taking the game back since it's open and your stuck with it. You figure you'll make the best out of it and attempt to get a little further into the game with the potential that it'll get better. It doesn't take long before you realize that there's no hope and just quit playing it. As days pass, your parents begin to wonder what happened and force you to play it since it just cost them their 2nd mortgage. Soon, you just can't take it anymore, slam the controller on the ground in frustration, breaking it. Your parents rip into you like never before and ground you for 3 months without any games. Moral of the story: Bad games not only hurt the industry, but family life as well.
