The game has only a couple levels. Experienced gamers will likely be able to play through in about 20 minutes. Personally, after the third bird, I was stuck for a while myself, but that's just me. The whole thing has a mission orientation and the first level is almost a tutorial for the second more elaborate level. The learning process is nicely integrated into the first level. It comes in a zip file and needs no installation. It requires about 20MB of disk space.
So, what's so great and fun about this game? To begin it's richly experience-based and has a gorgeous aesthetic. Technically it is certainly a first-person game, but that description leaves too much unexplained. You'd almost have to say that this game verges on creating its own genre -- or at least sub-genre. You might call it bossa nova noir!
It does have a story, but delightfully not one of the color-in-the-lines type stories that are so common in today's gaming world. Like a great avant garde film, the story emerges impressionistically and is subject to a whole bunch of interpretation.
Soon as the game begins the player is immediately immersed a Euro-spy ambiance. Right off the mark you're wandering amid elegantly dressed guests at a black tie cocktail party, which is spread out over a series of terraces. The terraces look out over a Swiss style mountain encircled lake. Groovy bossa nova tones accompany you through the assembled partiers. The first mission is already underway.
This first level, really a test run, is quickly completed. The second level seems to take you behind the scenes. Once more you are delivered by elevator. This time you emerge in a scenario that is more elaborate and complicated. On this second level, your missions take you through a series of back corridors and over a number of exterior catwalks during an ominous and stormy night.
Incidentally, one of my few complaints about this game is that I could have done without the clue cards. They at least should have been optional. On the first level I ignored the protruding card corner and simply wandered around the party. Eventually I stumbled upon the briefcase necessary to complete the mission. That was way more fun.
The aesthetics of this game are almost as much fun as the play. Boldly foregoing the usual polygon realism the game conjures up a vivid world of its own that works beautifully with an espionage sensibility that stops just short of being self-mocking. It's maybe ironic without descending into cheesy.
This game is delightful in both it brevity and creativity. It's a real treat that is still our number one choice among free games for the list of best games for PC .
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