Signal Ops

Great art direction and great writing stuck with a terrible gameplay. You'll really want to like this game, but eventually you'll throw in the towel in frustration. 1. The central game concept, having to move the radio throughout the level, becomes tedious fast. They've since added in a difficulty slider to either compromise or completely remove the feature. 2. Much like it's genre predecessors, HIdden and Dangerous and Rainbow Six, when stealth fails, you need to play it like an FPS. Unfortunately, this is a terrible FPS, especially by modern standards. 3. The stealth system is underdeveloped. Supposedly there's a shadow and line of sight system. However the art direction is so stylized it's hard to tell what's effective concealment. For what's ultimately a stealth game, this is a pretty critical flaw. I really loved the art and writing in this game, it's just a shame it's so painful to play.

A unique squad based game where you control multiple agents at your secret base through multiple monitors in their first person POV. However, you won't be able to move much in the mission unless you let you crucial radio operator agent "Bolt" haul his clunky radio backpack through various power sources and attaching signal extenders. The radio however loses power as you carry it, forcing you to relocate to another power source quickly before his monitor turns all static. Incase of such accidents you can control another agent who can give commands for bolt to move back to a targeted spot. Finding power sources and clearing them out of enemies is a rather tedious part of the game for me, making the game feel much more slower than it needs to be. The enemy is easily controllable by pointing the gun at their heads behind them and "interacting" with them, causing them to just stand there hands up in surrender. This makes the game rather comical because the AI is too cowardly to shoot back even if you stopped pointing your gun on them. By utilizing the spy's ability to beckon the enemy to you, you can herd all the enemies to a secluded party where everyone's hands are in the air. Most enemies are oblivious to the spy in his gentleman outfit even while he strolls along military restricted zones in all of the missions, rendering him invincible due to the flawed AI. You'd be picking this old man most of the time because he can easily scout out power sources for Bolt to take the safest route in to extend the signal. There is absolutely no point for running and gunning in the earlier missions. You really dont want to alert whole patrols of guards with the loud gunshots. Most enemies in the game are rather durable to gunshots even if you aim for the head, which deters any need of shootouts unless needed. On the otherhand melee just wrecks everything in your sight, that is if the enemy don't force your agents to surrender mid swing for bringing a knife to a gun fight. The missions are nice and varied but sometimes leave very little leg room for stealth without arresting or killing guards. One puzzle I hated in the game was the pipe puzzle in the second mission. Even with a diagram in the room to help out I couldn't figure out which levers to pull with how clumped up most of the pipes are. Another thing I hated was respawning rebels in the later in the game which spawned like an army of them even after thinning out so much with a couple of bombardments and shootouts. For an indie game it has done a pretty good job, but the game needs extra polishing up on making missions more enjoyable and squashing multiple bugs that I've come across along the way.

This game is hard, doesn't hold your hand, and makes you think.. a lot. But that is far from being a bad thing. I find those things a refreshing change from much of today's popular releases! This game oozes originality, from its painted textures to its unique multi screen character control. It plays like nothing i've ever played before and I'm loving every minute of it!! Do your selves a favor and check this titile out!! It is well worth your time!

This is basically Double Fine meets Rainbow Six. You control a group of agents via a computer screen and order them around to sneak and solve puzzles. You can switch to a first person view with any of them, or monitor two screens at once. In order to see your agents, you need to make sure they are within the signal range of your radio, which can be moved and requires a power source. When unplugged, you have a short amount of time to find another plug. Swapping between each agent gives you a chance to try a different tactics as each agent has a certain set of skills. This game is well made, has a unique art style and offers a lot of stealth and squad based gameplay.

Do you enjoy stealth? Do you enjoy strategy? Do you enjoy a game that gives you the option to kill no one and still complete your objective? Do you enjoy dark comedy? If you answered yes, well my steam friend you will enjoy this. From the graphics of paintbrush textures, To the multiple different missions. If you consider yourself a gaming connoisseur then you owe it to yourself for the unique experience alone.

Signal Ops is a game by independent developers Space Bullet Dynamics. Set in a retro-futuristic 1940s, this bureaucratic society is governed by two feuding organisation, the military and the church. You play as an agent of the church, tasked with carrying out missions involving spying and espionage. However your character never actually enters combat but instead issues commands via video and radio links to the operatives in the field. The game is a first person shooter and you control 3 operatives, at the same time, via these links in single player or cooperatively. This concept is very original but is also the games greatest achievement and weakness. The controls can be frustrating and take time to master. They require lots of patience, organisation and multitasking to pull off, even minor mistakes can lead to panic and mission failure. The gameplay mechanics are also very retro and rather basic when compared to more mainstream tactical espionage games. However, once you are accustomed with the basics this charming game, with it's stylized oil painting graphics, simple plot, humorous narrative and nods to cult film classic "Brazil", combine to form a really interesting tactical espionage action sandbox where objectives can be tackled in any number of ways, alone or with friends. 7/10

I wanted to like this game. If only because it's from an independent deveoper who obviously embraces out of the box thinking but this game just falls apart. The graphcis are in a word, "dated." The controls are bizarre and the gameplay punishing. While the concept is interesting (controlling multiple characters) the controls are a confusing mess and the interface can be buggy often locking up or reacting in unexpected ways. The pace is rather slow and there's just not enough there to get invested in the game Too many distractions from the game's interface and mechanics. I found myself aggravated after a few hours of play. Games are supposed to be fun not cause to raise my blood pressure.

If you want to see an innovative idea for a game, then please give Signal Ops a whirl. However, beyond exploring creative game ideas Signal Ops pretty much falls flat. Hmmmm... I'm thinking that if you're a developer you absolutely must check this game out... but if you're a player, w/o interest in dev, skip this one...

Probably one of my favorite games, but it's not for everyone. It's in its own unique niche in terms of skill, so nothing you learned from other games carries over really. Infact this game reminded me what it was like when I first started playing video games, because it was so out there. It pretty much took me until 3/4ths into the game before I felt completely comfortable with the controls and gameplay, and the missions are very replayable both in design (large various paths) and with the fact that you can use different combination of agents. I feel though that anyone saying it's badly designed and clunky isn't really justified. This game relies a ton on strategy and positioning, so the most I would say is if you get caught completely out of position with your pants down it can [i]feel[/i] clunky because you have to on the spot deal with pressure which is difficult when you have 2-3 sometimes 4 units in first person perspective. So being caught off guard can be really punishing at first when you're adjusting to the micromanaging, although it is a strategic game so it's fair. Combat is kind of a non-option in this game unless your idea of combat is flanking enemies and not having an open firefight. A lot of the guns aren't really effective on more than one guard (minus sniper and shield), however it is extremely forgiving defensive wise as your agents have a lot of health and you are given ~10-11 lives per level. Dying can be a pain though as the new agent is parachuted in at a certain point with nothing but a melee weapon, so you need to retrieve your items or just leave them and steal a guards guns (as long as you didn't lose a valuable item like the radio) All in all, this game is 95% positioning and tactics 5% shooter, and it makes it really interesting and fun to play after you get use to having to micro 4 first person cameras.

A hidden gem that plays like something out of a PS1 or maybe early PS2 era, that i've only managed to complete in a course of 7 years, only because it takes a brainpower of 3 people to play this correctly. While incredibly janky and buggy, it is redeemed by its oozing personality and unique concept, as well as its artstyle and humor, it's one of a kind game and should get more recognition. Signal Ops is a tactical stealth action espionage kind of game with elements of squad management, different classes use different tactics and play out their roles in different ways, someone like the Wrench can lockpick the doors, providing alternative routes or completing mission objectives, the demolition can convert enemy weapons into upgradable bombs that can be placed as traps or used as a grenade, spy can't attack but instead distracts the enemies by coming up to the military base and talking about dirt-bread recipe and etc. But not every mission is balanced around every class, while present, they are mostly optional, making some outright useless on some of the missions. Then comes the next problem - the game is literally a jank incarnate. By the end of the day, even its jankness kinda grows on you. All while unintuitive level design, teeth-grinding difficulty and trivial radio mechanics can be easily overpassed if you bring 2 more friends with you and optionally set the difficulty to Easy, because the game is hard as it is. I don't know what made me craving to keep coming back to it throughout the years, all while dragging the rest of my friends to "finally finish this one for good", i think it's an understandable feeling for some people when something from the past resurfaces and you're like "Huh, i've never actually gotten to it", and maybe that was also part of the reason, but it was incredibly satisfying to finish something that started as a 2013 playthrough, and in retrospect, we were coming back because we were still genuinely interested, and even liked the game, but unfortunately were burnt out after 1 or 2 missions, with there being 9 in total, the game was both ruthless and unexplored, so we had to rely on our own trial and error, making it an incredibly painful experience. But one thing i've noticed, is that it always made me laugh. And this is what made me, personally, keep coming back to it. It's goofy, strange and smart, and that's what i respect about games the most. The netcode was okay, if not great for a game of this caliber, while not all that well balanced, every mission is different and unique, and it keeps utilizing the game's mechanics for strange and unexpected things. Its lack of any kind of public exposure or some sort of user-made strategy guide is the game's only real flaw. That, and the Pope mission. Nobody liked the Pope defense mission.