Even the legendary JamesBond occasionally needed help from the rest of the staff at MI6.
Developed by the Space Bullet Dynamics Corporation, Signal Ops puts you in the role of an officer working within the shadowy halls of Facility C7 where you are in charge of controlling special agents working in the field, planting evidence, sneaking around and doing other spy stuff.
Your job is to guide them through missions from your remote CCTV computer monitor in mission control. They can fight, they can sneak, and they can die, so planning out your the methods of your espionage is always a good idea.
Now you might be thinking, I bet it’s done through some kind of boring interface where you have to click on one guy and then order him somewhere.
Or you might think it’ll be a lot like a game like Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon where you control a number of soldiers all at once.
While it’s true Signal Ops shares many of the same qualities of these other games, Space Bullet attempts to turn this formula on its head by layering the game’s many perspectives right in front of the player.
In the first mission, you are tasked with planting evidence in a few homes and finding a secret operative out in the field. I spent most of the mission sneaking around from house to house using two characters as lookouts for one another. This is where the perspective shifts and reveals more of the game’s tactical aspects.
In Signal Ops, the perspective shifts allows you to control upwards of four characters at once. This can include any number of different combinations of stealth oriented teams and assault oriented teams. Because you’re monitoring your operatives from CCTV cameras, this gives the player a kind of pan-optical viewpoint of each level.
The problem with this is that uing up to four different screens at once can be quite challenging and result in a lot of restarting. A few times, I was caught by the guards because my hands couldn’t move fast enough to move one of my operatives out of the way.
The gameplay is never difficult to the point where it’s broken or unfair, it’s just really challenging. Rather than having to think in a linear manner in each level, Signal Ops gives players a set of tools and skills to develop over the course of the game. It’s the Shadow of the Colossus formula.
Let me explain. Video games like the Legend of Zelda give you a new tool for each area. This progression is designed to make each challenge surmountable with a game-changing item. Shadow of the Colossus gives you four items and then challenges you to use each of them to beat each of the game’s many bosses. It makes you make do with what you have, and so does Signal Ops.
Each operative in the game has a certain skill set that makes them useful to completing the overall mission. The Mechanic is able to pick locks, The Gunner is capable of taking out enemies from a distance, and the radio guys keep the signal strong for the team, so the operation can continue. This creates a strong dynamic that keeps to the “work with what you have” formula.
It challenges players to think outside the box. Or, perhaps more appropriately, think inside many boxes at the same time.
Players are also challenged by the limitations of the game’s dynamics. The radio signal keeps you in contact with the agents in the field. Inside of that dotted green line, an agent to do anything, but outside of it the agent’s blind. This means having to keep an eye on the positions of each operative as you play out each mission.
I failed the first mission at least five times before being able to accomplish all of my goals. I found that leapfrogging from location to location with my mechanic moving up and my radio guy following close behind was the best formula for getting the evidence planted. The problem was that if one is caught the other loses his second perspective.
There’s a literary technique called “Mise en abyme” that heavily influences the game’s mechanics. The term refers to a frame within a frame. One of the most famous examples of this is Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. The story is told layer by layer through an explorer who writes a letter home to his sister. From there the story changes narrator and perspective for each frame.
The effect of this is a shifting perspective where you’re never quite sure who the narrator is or what can be considered to be a true account of what actually happened.
The same effect occurs in Signal Ops. As an officer you’re never quite sure why you’re ordering these men to do your bidding, but on the further layer – the player – you question your motivations.
From the character designs and the narration, to the tactical game play and challenging difficulty, there are few games out there quite like what the Space Bullet Dynamics Corporation has framed for us.
You’re not quite at the level of M from the James Bond universe, but this might be as close as you get.
Signal Ops is available over Good Old Games for $14.99.