As a result of trying the collection of classics of an entire historical company such as Data East Inside the new Evercade VS console, I was able to play an arcade game that I had barely spent a couple of minutes on in its day.
I mean, as is evident from the cover image and title, Sly Spy 1989 (also known as Secret Agent in Japan). A game with a spy along James Bond he had to deal with a terrorist organization in possession of a nuclear missile. And of course, there were other clichés of the time and even plagiarism towards the adventures of the character created by Ian Fleming. But do you hold the pull?
Like Bad Dudes, but here with guns
It is obligatory to mention the previous Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja before talking about this Sly Spy to put ourselves in tessitura. And if that 1988 classic was starred by some ninjas, in the James Bond spy the style of play was extremely similar … except for the fact that we had a gun here.
Yes, on paper it could give the feeling of being before a substitute for the mythical Rolling Thunder of 1986, but that classic of Namco Snacks On This Later Data East Production. And the reason is how simple it got to be.
He could not be blamed for his attempt to offer varied situations, with many parts on foot, the second phase on a motorcycle or a pair with a diving suit, but he was weak when it came to level design. Or rather, by the use that was given to the platform, with blind jumps in certain phases that were a nuisance.
Not that it was bad, nor is it that it is now. Simply its formula has been widely surpassed and it did not help in its day that the aforementioned Rolling Thunder be most effective in balancing platforming parts of shooting and bullet-dodging tactics. In Sly Spy there was a huge point of madness with the presence of enemies left and right.
There was no moment of rest, since the bullets came from all sides of the screen, having to dodge even explosive barrels. The striking thing is that we could not change weapons at any time: we had the pistol and from there we did not leave … until the ammunition ran out. That moment was totally revealing, since we did a lot more damage with the kicks.
The difference was exaggeratedTaking a very clear example in the tigers: with the pistol we needed several bullets to bring them down, while with the kick it was only necessary a miserable blow. And what is more curious, the game was more fun that way, especially against that villain who was a straightforward copy of the Shark from The Spy Who Loved Me from James Bond. In fact, the two times we faced him I always ended up running out of bullets. And better this way, of course.
Sly Spy, the secret agent of the arcades of ’89
Sly Spy was a very straightforward game, otherwise. What was distilled in recreational games, it is true, but to the point of being somewhat striking in some phases, such as the second of the motorcycle. There we could barely move, just crouch or jump almost static to avoid bullets and eliminate the rest of the enemies from the road or flying. His boss in the limo was a joke. One of the easiest you can remember in the entire history of video games by far.
It was not his strong suit, of course. No boss stood out, being clear. All the bosses were ridiculous, except for the last one because of that trap set to mislead us and put pressure on us. While others pulled the resource of taking out more and more enemies until not one was left. And of course with combat where they all repeated, one after another. Of the resources that I abhor the most of that time.
But, things as they are, aesthetically it was a joy and also how much they tried to offer a varied proposal, like those phases of diving with a harpoon where we even saw them against sharks, as is necessary. All that cocktail of its varied scenarios compensated for the null variety of weapons, by having only the pistol, as we have commented. Now, there was a choice in the middle of the game to unlock the golden gun collecting a series of power-ups for a super powerful shot for a few seconds. It was a most short-lived situation that was not always obtained in the best situations, but that guaranteed to kill multiple enemies with a single shot.
Today it is still a passable classic that airs in less than half an hour and that curiously was reissued on Nintendo Switch by 7,99 dollars in 2018.
