The diversity of Xbox’s full catalogue on the Xbox store, never ceases to amaze me. Gone are the days of the store being littered with war-based shooters, or sport related titles. The current Microsoft store on our favourite console offers a huge variety of genre’s and sub genre’s, there’s never been a better time to be a gamer if you love choice.

Xbox as a brand is quickly becoming a home for indie developers, offering the chance to express creativity and deliver their projects to a wider audience than ever before. Developers Yak & Co have taken advantage of what Xbox has to offer and launched their suave secret agent adventure game Agent A: A puzzle In Disguise on the platform.

The game is set in a stylish 60’s themed world full of hidden contraptions and clever logic-based puzzles to solve, playing homage to classic bond like references and features along the way and borrowing a little here and there from the likes of mission impossible too.

Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to infiltrate arch enemy spy Ruby La Rouge’s (now there’s a name for a villain If I ever saw one) secret hideaway and put a stop to her evil plans. Ruby La Rouge is as vindictive as they come, you really couldn’t imagine a nastier piece of work then her. She’s been plotting and dispatching her foes for fun, and now she’s set her sights on you as she looks to put the finishing touches to her evil master plan.

You take the role of Agent A, the best of the best, the cream of the spy world, in this elegant spy story. Playing from a first-person perspective it’s up to you to cleverly sneak your way into Ruby La Rouge lair and gather the evidence piece by piece in a world full of retro goodness. Packed with strange devices and hidden red buttons to push, will you be able to unlock the hidden safe’s and crack the codes to the security systems that are hidden all over the place.

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This puzzler is crammed full of things to discover and clever logical puzzles to solve, which all go hand in hand in unlocking the next part of this spy related story.

However, do be warned Ruby La Rouge shouldn’t be taken lightly. Her place of residence is a mine field of perplexing trials and a huge labyrinth of strange things go on. You will often find things slightly off centre and often strange. It’s up to you to keep your wits about you, as you take note of any strange code, or weird out of place symbols that might form part of a sypher later in the story. Like all good detectives and secret agents, it pays to have a note pad on you to keep track of useful information that might bear fruit later on in the investigation.

Even animals make an appearance in this super sloth of a game, playing an important role and sometimes lending you a helpful hand.

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The level design in Agent A: a puzzle in disguise make’s excellent use of stylish 1960’s inspired art, and features over 35 unique environments to explore, jam packed with over 100 inventory-based puzzles to solve and work out.

Spread across 5 chapter’s and featuring numerous mission’s and objectives to pass, this game is a joy to be hold for any puzzle fan’s that like to take centre stage and crack a good number. It’s atmospheric, the dialogue is witty and interesting to follow. The story moves at a nice pace, and the puzzle screens and inventory related items are well thought out, offering a challenge and some real spy like detective work to solve. Some of the puzzle’s really do give you a sense of achievement when you figure out the task at hand.

The controls themselves are simplistic and easy to use, aiding an excellent chilled out, yet thoughtful experience, even some of the achievements are a puzzle in disguise.

Agent A: A puzzle in disguise is a creative puzzler masterpiece, it’s just a shame the story has to come to an end.

CX Score
  • 78%
    Overall - 78%
78%

Summary

Pros

  • Variation of puzzles
  • Story moves well
  • Love the references and 60’s theme

Cons

  • Shame the story has to end
  • A little too much to and throwing
  • You really do need a pen and paper!

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