Kombo’s Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don’t waste your time. This is why we’ve split our reviews into four sections: What the Game’s About, What’s Hot, What’s Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game’s About
My Sims: Agents is another effort of the My Sims lineup of games on the Wii. My Sims games are known for their customization and quirky, plucky visual style that brings the best of the sims and makes it adaptable for the Wii and other adventures, like being a Super Spy. Agents starts out innocently enough with your created character working as a gumshoe at a local pizza parlor with dreams of being a Special Agent. Those dreams become realized early in the game after you solve a seemingly simple case with deep repercussions. Can you unravel the large mystery by solving seemingly insignificant missions?
What’s Hot
My Sims titles are not to be taken seriously. From the art style to the Simlish, you can tell that these are light-hearted affairs that are based in a healthy dose of video game reality. Things don’t make sense and the characters themselves (many of them you’ll recognize from past My Sims games) seem to hint at a fourth wall but it never actually breaks. The way Agents flirt with pointing out things that suggest they realize they are in a video game highlights the surprisingly witty script put together for the overall game. The cases you take are silly and normally wouldn’t warrant any good reason to investigate; however, the case builds on itself and becomes a small piece to a large puzzle.
To solve the cases, you need to use your head and your agency approved gadgets. The clues are obvious enough that you won’t be lost but subtle enough that you feel clever for figuring out what to do next. There are constant “Aha!” moments that will have you glued to the Wii-mote as you finish off a case. Gadgets don’t get in the way or overused too many times, the best gadget is the classic magnifying glass that allows you to uncover footprints to the next clue. It depends on what surface you are retracing how intense the footprints will be to follow. The cases and the accompanying tools to solve them show off how well Agents is designed. The pacing is perfect for the cases and the sub-game of customizing your personal look and Agency HQ fill in the gaps between cases. The whole game is a delight to experience.
What’s Not
There are two problems with Agents. The first is that it is always too easy to tell who the villain is. A good mystery will have you guessing until the end but overt visual clues in the cases will tell you who to zero in on first. It doesn’t make the experience any less enjoyable but it spoils some of the fun of the big reveal when you gather all your clues.
The other problem is when you get an Agency HQ, you’ll send teams of recruits on missions you can’t be bothered with. They check in by “text message,” and you’ll have to stop what you are doing and check their messages to see if a decision needs to be made. When you start having multiple teams embarking on multiple mission, the pop-up messages start to consume a lot of your time and distract from the main task.
Final Word
My Sims games have a checkered past, but Agents is a real gem. It is fun to solve the cases presented and they are timed to perfection that you won’t feel bogged down as you jet set to different locals. Above all, the gameplay is designed so well that you’ll be a regular Sherlock in no time.
