Invisible, Inc.
Think you’re a smooth criminal?
$4.99 Developer Klei Entertainment, kleientertainment.com Platform iPad Requirements iOS 8 or later; iPad Air/iPad mini 2 or later
To be honest, we don’t know how James Bond does it; spying is stressful work. As an employee of the titular Invisible, Inc., you’re a cyber-spy tasked with gathering intel to ensure the success of a counterstrike on a fellow corporation. Think that’s pressure? You ain’t heard the half of it.
What it boils down to, in playing terms, is controlling a pair of agents (you start with two, but unlock more as you go along) as they infiltrate various offices in bids to smuggle out data, steal augmentations, and so on. Each turn grants you a certain number of action points per agent, which you use for movement, peeking around corners, anticipating patrol routes and, in rare cases, actually attacking.
Sometimes you’ll really need to get guards off your case – and steal their keycards – but once knocked-out hostiles come to, they’ll be extrasuspicious… but using your firearm alerts everyone else to your presence. You’re backed up by Incognita, your AI assistant. As long as she’s got power (which you can boost by hijacking computers), she can hack security cameras and other systems. Careful use of her power points is key to your success, and adds an extra layer of consideration – disable this camera rather than sneaking around it, or save some juice for what’s ahead?
Every few turns, the security level ratchets up… along with your blood pressure. The fact you can only see the parts of the level that your agents have set eyes on adds to the tension – could that newly recruited security detail be lurking around this corner? If they are, you’ll only have a single move or so to dodge out of their line of vision once they’ve spotted you. If there’s more than one of them, it’s often impossible.
Trust us, you will get caught, repeatedly. What results is an incredibly tense, well puttogether turn-based strategy game, with plenty of replayability thanks to its procedural environments.
the bottom line. It’s as tough as graphene – and not always entirely “fun” – but Invisible, Inc. is deep, varied, and rewards perseverance.