Have you ever wondered what Sly Cooper might’ve been like as an early 80s arcade game?  Yeah me neither.  But now that question has been answered with Super Spy Raccoon.  It’s a stealth action 2D platformer game designed like classics such as Donkey Kong.  Play as a spy raccoon as you collect all the secret documents in each stage while avoiding detection.  If this had come out before Metal Gear, it probably would’ve been considered really innovative.  It’s available on Switch and PC but reviewed on Switch here.

Play control is simple.  Just move around with the control stick and press the button to jump.  You’ll lose a life if you get spotted or hit an enemy, and when all your lives are lost, it’s Game Over.  But you can continue right where you left off, but your score will be halved.  If you collect a can of invisible paint, you can go undetected for a short amount of time.  Not only must you avoid enemies, but their line of sight as well.  Spotlights and motion detectors must also be dealt with. You can hide behind bushes and things as well.  Each stage is a single screen and there are about half a dozen screens in all.  Collect all the documents in each level to move onto the next stage.  You can also unlock suits for your character as you play.

The only problems I had with this game is that there are these owl enemies that move their head back and forth and you must bypass them when then are looking away, but sometimes it’s hard to tell what direction they are facing, especially in handheld mode where the pixel graphics aren’t as easy to see.  And once you pass all the levels and master them, there’s really not much else to do.  But it’s still kind of a neat idea for an arcade throwback.

Kid Factor:

Nothing too violent or objectionable here.  If you hit an enemy or get caught, a big stamp that says “Mission Failed” appears on the screen and you start back where you left off, but that’s it.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, and younger gamers may have trouble with the more difficult levels.  Super Spy Raccoon is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews