NoelSH {A Blog By Noel Herron

At first I was reluctant to talk about this subject because it would have been all personal and psychological—all about me, and how I thought Meet the Spy was creepy. But now, after having a chance to ferment, I can actually offer you something that you might actually care about.

I don’t think I overstep my expertise (or lack there of) when I say that consistency in video games is very important. I’ve seen my favorite video games slip into cart racers and die because they ran out of ideas. Inconsistency flags went up in my mind when I watched Meet the Spy.

I can’t fault Valve for trying something different, and Meet the Spy was certainly that. In some ways it was for the better. The look and feel of the cinematography mimicked that of a live action movie, something that needs to be seen with 3-D animation.

Meet the Spy suffered similar and unique issues relative to the other character introduction videos. Not to be too nit-picky (but it’s a critique, so what the hell) but these videos are often laced with cheap lines, as if they couldn’t think of anything better to say, i.e.: “Use more gun,” “They got more *beep* than they got the likes of me” “She weighs one hundred fifty kilograms and fires two hundred dollar,” blah, blah, blah. Meet the Spy uses lines like these. Not only that but they ran with them. When the Spy sad, “your mother,” that was funny, but then they go a long way with that little joke by actually making the effort to show photos. Everything up until this point was great. When the Heavy showed the Soldier the photo and you saw the Soldiers reaction, which was near priceless. However, from that point on, it got bad.

On the unique side, this video was dark—it wasn’t dark comedy it was just dark, it was too serious. Up until now it’s been all smiles, but when the Spy disguised himself as the Medic, there was a tinge of evil; something that does not belong in Team Fortress 2. I had too much sympathy for the characters getting killed. I almost thought the red spy was the enemy. These videos are supposed to show-off the character to demonstrate their skills and personality. Perhaps the Spy doesn’t have much of a personality, but every other character has been charismatic and positive. The Spy’s character seemed inconsistent.

We don’t know much about the Spy, but I don’t think they did him justice. They made him too serious. Listen to his laugh in the game; the guy is not without a sense of humor or character flaws (see below).

Another slight inconsistency is in the story style. Every other video, debatably with Meet the Soldier, has had the character addressing the camera. Meet the Spy looked more like a scene from a movie. It seems more productive to have these videos in an interview format to better convey the quality of the characters personality. Nothing is really learned about the character in this one.

I think Valve wished it could make feature films. Either that, or they wish to bring a more cinematic quality to their games. Valve posses the artistic talent, the technical skill in model making, animation, and world creation, and the innovation to make movies. This video seemed like a cry-out to do that. They pulled more expression and more drama out of these characters than I have ever seen before. But that’s not the point of the videos, again, inconsistency.

To sum, the video seemed to lack focus. It was inconsistent compared to its predecessors in both mood and style. It did not accomplish what the other videos did in regards to showing off the characters personality. The videos are almost like propaganda for the character, and in this one I felt sympathy for the people the Spy killed. It’s still entertaining, but a little gruesome. On it’s own, it’s not bad, but it doesn’t do the game justice.