Agent A: A Puzzle In Disguise (2015)

Another game I played while traveling was Agent A, a game I had tried a while back but didn’t click with. It is honestly great, with very well designed puzzles.

Progression was always just-out-of-reach challenging but super satisfying to figure out. There were a couple of easy to miss items, but mostly it nailed the assignment.

The sense of humor was light and airy, similar to Blast Brigade. The art style was slick, appearing 2D while often being completely 3D.

I can’t really give it higher than 3 stars though. Its nothing ground breaking, just a fun little puzzle game that I would highly recommend for a round trip somewhere :)

Un deuxième jeu de Yak Studio après Down in Bermuda qui nous avait un peu laissé sur notre faim.

On y incarne l'Agent A, un espion à la poursuite de Ruby, une espionne du camp adverse qui s'en serait prise à notre boss et va s'en prendre à notre coéquipier, Agent B. Grillé, on se retrouve enfermé dans la maison truffée de pièges de Ruby.

Etrangement, Agent A précède Down in Bermuda. Je dis étrangement car tout semble plus abouti ici. On a une vraie direction artistique, les dessins et les cinématiques ont un effet pastel à l'huile plutôt sympa, il y a de multiples références aux clichés des films de James Bond...

Les contrôles sont encore une fois laborieux, même au tactile. Frustration encore accentuée par le fait que toutes les zones de la maison sont interconnectées, agrandissant toujours la zone de jeu. Il est très facile de s'embrouiller dans les contrôles et retourner en arrière au lieu d'avancer.

Dans la majeur partie les puzzles sont plus clairs que dans Down in Bermuda. Une maison d'espion est un très bon prétexte à plein de pièges et de puzzles. Si ils sont plus rares certains puzzles ont néanmoins le même défaut que dans Down in Bermuda. Un manque de lisibilité qui ajouté au choix de ne proposer ni indice ni moyen de passer force le joueur à consulter une soluce. Je déteste ça, pour moi c'est vraiment de la paresse, une manière d'accentuer artificiellement la difficulté d'un jeu. Et clairement le jeu perd une étoile juste pour ça.

Bon, j'ai réussi à finir le jeu en ne checkant un walkthrough que deux fois, et au final c'était une expérience assez plaisante. A acheter en promotion si vous êtes vraiment fans de jeux d'escape room !

I have this pet peeve when it comes to puzzle games and it's the whole "puzzle for puzzle's sake" approach devs have sometimes. This is one of those "oh one of these important gem items needed to unlock a secret cave in a spy's hideout that is operated by an AI is somehow in a random bird's nest and you have to drive a boat back and forth and catch some fish in order to lure it away" type of situations. There's this weird stone puzzle (I think it's meant to be ancient even) with strange symbols on the island which okay I guess but the solution to it is painted on the shutters of the lighthouse on a nearby island ??? Okay sure yeah, makes sense.

The game was entertaining enough but I can't give it a higher score because these types of random ass puzzles give me a headache. I don't understand the appeal of making a player go through every area in the game fifty times, trying out everything they can think of until they finally find the random next step. If you have a story in your game, use it to guide the players and make it make sense please. It's a shame though because I liked the premise (nothing wrong with a cliché if you put in the effort necessary to make it interesting) and the art style, too bad they squandered it.

Room escape type of puzzle game where you're an agent trying to capture an enemy's agent. The story is funny, decently written and the artwork compelling. The graphics are not realistic, but the design and atmosphere don't look empty either. The result is acceptable to me.

The puzzles use logic and objects/actions are not really hidden. You play just with two buttons, one for focus in/interact and the other to focus out. There are no unreasonable decisions to make and, as you don't end up with tones of items in the inventory the game doesn't become a trial and error. It's neither a long game, it can be finished in one afternoon.

I had a lot of fun from this indie developer, and I'm looking forward to other games they might publish. It's not as good as The House of Da Vinci but I really enjoyed this game and didn't feel bored for a second. Therefore, 5 stars for me.

On the scale of a hidden object game and MYST, this is about the dead centre. It is a single location full of puzzles to solve to progress a light and breezy narrative.

It shows its mobile roots in how it is split into chapters and the menus and locomotion feel kind of dated. I wish there was a hint system because I did not play this in one sitting and every time I came back I forget where I was going and the way puzzles build kind of require a singular train of thought.

I got it on the eShop on sale and it was very easily worth the $2 I spent on it.