Hidden Agenda Review - Who is 'The Trapper'?

lyra.roberge (56)in #gaming • 7 years ago (edited)

Supermassive Games has proven with Until Dawn to be able to deal with narrative games that can go in different directions based on your choices. In Until Dawn it was called the 'butterfly effect' and in their new game, Hidden Agenda, i see this same concept again, but then called 'domino effect'. Hidden Agenda is less extensive than Until Dawn, is aimed at PlayLink and presents an adventure of a decent film length. Hidden Agenda is an interactive film, but one that is worthwhile.

All together

All games released under the PlayLink label can be played with a mobile phone or tablet. This is intended to promote interactivity between players in the bank and not everyone has access to multiple controllers. In addition, the PlayLink games are aimed at a casual audience and thus must have a fairly high pick-up-and-play content. That is no different in Hidden Agenda, because you have to download the mobile app, connect it to the PlayStation 4 - which can be set up directly by the console as an access point or otherwise via the Wi-Fi network - and you're done.

maxresdefault (61).jpg

Oddly enough, Hidden Agenda is not playing with a controller, even as a solo experience. You will need a mobile phone at all times if you want to play this game. Now that is not very bad, it is more remarkable. Well, having said that, we will now go deeper into the operation of this game, because although you can include it under an interactive movie, Supermassive Games does a few nice things with it and they are mainly aimed at multiple players, which title makes an excellent game for an evening with friends. This simply because of the fact that no less than six players can participate at the same time.

Who is 'The Trapper'?

The game consists of two modes. This way you have the normal mode in which you go through the story of the game. This story revolves around a serial killer 'The Trapper' who apparently initially makes random victims, but as the story progresses, there seems to be something more going on. In the meantime, the research team is confused by last-minute developments and also personal complaints at the police station throw a spanner in the works, so Hidden Agenda can be described as a very interesting thriller. An additional effect is that you can determine the development of the story yourself on the basis of various crucial moments of choice.

If you start playing the game in the normal story mode, you can make two or three choices with your friends time after time. These choices range from examining a specific area to responding aggressively or calmly to the person you are talking to. Each time, the choices you make are divided into either dialogues or actions and virtually everything can have a consequence, so good thinking is very important. The game also offers occasional moments where you have to look for evidence at a crime scene by looking for small magnifying glasses and every now and then you will find a quick-time event to keep the whole thing alternating.

Each player has his or her mobile phone in hand and as soon as the options appear on the screen, each player can make their own choice. If the distribution is 50/50, then one player can use a takeover card and overrule all other choices of the other players. If that does not happen, then another player can use a takeover card again and that can continue until the cards are paid per person. The amount of cards that you have is determined by how successful you are in investigating a crime scene or quick-time events. In the meantime, every player can also check the mobile phone in the logbook to see what the latest developments are, but also what the background is of the met characters.

The story will eventually be steered on the basis of the choices everyone makes and the game has a lot of different domino effects. The first time we played the game it went well, the second time we deliberately did the complete opposite of our first playthrough, resulting in totally different scenes, other suspicions, other deaths and a different ending. Even then you have not seen everything yet, because in order to get the main thread of all possible playthroughs, one or three to five games is necessary.

Specific assignments

Going through the story twice is definitely worth it, purely because the story lines can differ from each other. Afterwards, however, you have seen it, because you still get quite some scenes that you have seen twice before and that you can not skipping to the moment of choice. Is the game in the closet after about four hours of play? Not entirely, because besides that you can go through the story with friends for the experience, you can also compete against each other in a competitive mode. In fact, you get the same interactive movie, but the big difference is that you can get a 'Hidden Agenda'.

The gameplay experience is exactly the same, but there are two major differences. If you play the game in the normal way, you will occasionally have the choice of who is the fairest, the most courageous, knows the most empathy, and so on prior to a scene. The person who gets the most votes, who can determine the dialogue or action choice. That is completely gone in competitive mode. In this, you will be assigned a secret agenda once in a while. It is then up to you to direct the actions or dialogues in such a way that something happens or not, namely what is indicated on your secret agenda.

The other players have to prevent this from happening - although they do not know your agenda - and on the other hand they have to guess who has the secret agenda. This competitive mode is a nice extra and works great if you play with a number of friends, preferably at least three. It ensures that the story can suddenly take an unexpected turn and, given the fact that the game is full of interesting plottwists, it can provide a special experience. However, Hidden Agenda is not a game that will keep you playing for hours on end, because once you're through it in competitive mode, you'll leave it for what it is after a time or three.

Hmmmm...

Hidden Agenda has a suggested retail price of €19.99 and it offers quite a lot of playing time for that price. This simply because the game has a decent replay value. A disadvantage that comes with this is that if you play so well the first time, you can immediately identify the killer. The result is that every other playthrough will feel less. They still know surprising developments, but you have had the peak of the experience and that is less fun for later playthroughs.

Furthermore, the game is here and there a bit sloppy with certain things. Since you get a lot of close-ups from the characters, the developer has done everything to make it as beautiful and lifelike as possible. The animations are generally fine, but the lip sync is as good as 99% of the time inaccurate. That it occurs occasionally, fine. But it's a bit of a shame that virtually the whole game is not right. The mobile app also reacts so quickly to your fingerwork, that sometimes you are all over the place with your cursor on the TV and if you accidentally make a wrong choice because you lose your cursor and everyone has the same choice, then you can not more back.

It is these small technical issues that make the experience a bit short and that is a shame. Also the lack of a chapter select is a loss, because if you want to figure out a certain choice, you have to play the whole game again. Another disadvantage is that where the story is generally well written, the end can occasionally disappoint a bit. During the multiple playthroughs during the review of the game, the end time and again felt abrupt and incomplete. Now that varies greatly per route that you take in the choices, but still it is not always satisfying, so that is a bit of a shame.

Conclusion

Hidden Agenda is an entertaining game despite the mentioned downsides. There are now enough games in which you can determine the course of the story on the basis of choices. However, this game is unique in that it is no longer limited to one player. With a total of six players, the story can actually go in all directions and that is very nice in itself. The competitive mode is a very nice extra, because that makes it all just a bit more challenging. For those two decades and roughly an hour or six of gameplay before you put it away, Hidden Agenda is a great snack. Especially if you have a lot of friends who are in for a nice experience.

Pros

➕ Interesting story
➕ Compelling characters
➕ Varied gameplay
➕ Interesting domino effects
➕ Competitive mode
➕ Graphic at times very strong...

Cons

➖ ...but lip-sync is almost never correct
➖ If you identify the killer, other playthroughs feel less
➖ Control with telephone rather sensitive
➖ Unsatisfactory endings