This review contains spoilers
Hidden Agenda is a game created by Supermassive Games, known to gamers as the company behind previous hit Until Dawn and future games The Quarry and the Dark Pictures Anthology series (as well as porting the PS3 Version of Killzone 1 but I already reviewed that technically).
Gameplay:
These sort of games are known to me as the "Movie Games", games of which you interact with the game by quick time events on whatever controllers you have. This game is similar to those but with one distinct difference: you use your smartphones. That's right, this is a party phone game exclusive to the Playstation where you play with friends by downloading the Hidden Agenda app on your phone. You dictate the choices in the game by swiping to certain areas on the screen to succeed in certain events (although to get certain outcomes you need to "fail" certain events, mostly shooting at people to be honest); you also choose between two choices on screen for certain situations to determine an outcome and depending on if you're playing coop you can do "takeovers" which you get from getting to quick time events and finding clues first while also trying to get the highest on the leaderboard (at least in the game's Competitive Mode) by guessing other players Hidden Agendas or succeeding in your own (the Hidden Agendas being random objectives dictated by the game that you need to try to pull off using Takeover cards or manipulating the other players in real life). There are two modes: the Competitive Mode where you try to compete against your friends and fulfill your agenda and the regular story mode where you just play to see how everything plays out. This system, best played with friends, can lead to some interesting party dynamics, for example: Imagine drinking crystal head vodka by Dan Ackroyd (available at your local liquor for the low price of 49.99 (buy now LOL)) while intentionally trying to fuck up and choose the worst choices possible for shits and giggles (that was our first run and we actually caught the killer who shot themselves, I'm not even sure how we did it but we did). It can be a very fun party game, but when played by yourself I'll be honest it can be boring as shit. I know this because I went out to platinum the game and by god it got boring quick but that was my fault for going to platinum the game. That being said, the game is mostly good for days when you have friends over and you're bored as shit and you got about two-three hours to go. I almost forgot to mention that you can keep track of story events, characters, clues and such on your phone while playing the game and keep in mind that each decision that you make will lead to potentially different outcomes, or at least somewhat subtly. I say this somewhat subtly because this ties into my next part: Visual and Audio Presentation.
Visual/Audio Presentation:
The game's audio is fine, I don't have any complaints against the game's audio to be honest. The music is fine (the usual thriller music though that intro electronic music is a bop), and the voice actors do well (with the killer being creepy as fuck which fun fact I didn't notice until the second time around how creepy the killer sounded speaking monotone). My main issue is the graphic stuff, specifically the glitches. There were numerous times where models would look fuckin googly eyed while talking to each other, effects like rain would suspend itself in midair above certain characters (look at Detective Tom at the hotel near the end), or how every character looks like they're about to collapse from heat exhaustion with how much sweat they pump out before suddenly disappearing in the next character. Other times like here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH6BgBHGlVo&ab_channel=gamemast15r (context: His model was waiting out of the way to actually spawn in, I assume this was a programming error or something but I just saw that and was confused)
And this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EAcaOCmgRA&ab_channel=gamemast15r (context: I was going for the good ending, caught the killer and they walked through a car)
Shit like that is wonky, and the stuff in between the choice transitions (like voting for certain decisions will still have the same videos in between to the next choices with some potential slight alterations) will pop in a split second too early and is noticable. My main point of all of this is that while this game is made by Supermassive and looks somewhat decent, you could tell that this was cranked out on a smaller budget with a probable limited amount of time for their Playlink program. What is Playlink? I don't know I guess some sort of Playstation Phone party game app but that's reserved for the last section.
Story:
So I'm mostly going to go over a general plot synopsis and give my opinions because it's a story game and there are so many decisions in this game that it's too broad to cover. You play two characters, jumping back and forth between Officer Becky Marney and District Attorney Felicity Graves. You end up capturing the Trapper serial killer in the prologue with your partner Tom (with dictated choices leading to Tom's death, promotion to Sargent or your partner in Homicide), and the killer Johnathan Finn is sentenced to death via lethal injection. Years later, Johnathan tells of the supposed real killer, one Adam Jones, and wants to repent and help find the real killer as they had made a deal to get back against those that hurt them at the orphanage where they lived as kids; meanwhile Becky faces increasing suspicion of corruption after being accused of mishandling evidence (and later being the Trapper) and you have to navigate your way through the police investigation while trying to find clues to clear yourself.
The plot actually isn't bad, and it was actually a decent murder mystery that caught us by surprise towards the end. It plays it's angles well, nothing groundbreaking but it was enjoyable. Again me and a friend played through it the first time not taking it seriously at all and we somehow found who the killer was AND got him to kill himself. It was enjoyable but once we stopped playing we forgot about the plot, and I only remembered stuff after replaying it later this past week to get the trophies.
Overall:
It's not a bad game, you have a decent murder mystery to play on your phones (with the game playing out on your PS4) while shooting the shit with your buddies. The game is worth a go around or two but otherwise it's average. Playing through it solo will be the most boring experience so don't play it solo is my recommendation. I guess the last thing I wanna leave off on are these two points: the log dates start 2019 but end 2023, that's to get my platinum trophy. You can beat this game in 80 minutes to 2 hours and that's literally it; it's the size of the movie and it's paced well. The last note is that I'm not sure when the Playlink Hidden Agenda app will go away or be shut down by Supermassive or whomever at Sony demands it, but considering the game released on 2017 and now it's 2023 I'm kind of surprised when they decide to shut this app down it's going to be the end (unless they decide to keep it alive by other means) of the game entirely and you won't be able to replay it again. That's the main flaw but also the biggest feature: smartphone play. My recommendation is get it on sale and play it with friends, as otherwise it's an average game.
Final Note: Sorry for the Crystal Head vodka quote, my buddy is yelling at me over my shoulder stupid joke suggestions and I appease my peeps cause I like them lol. Also this game again can only be played via Playstation so keep that in mind.
Gameplay:
These sort of games are known to me as the "Movie Games", games of which you interact with the game by quick time events on whatever controllers you have. This game is similar to those but with one distinct difference: you use your smartphones. That's right, this is a party phone game exclusive to the Playstation where you play with friends by downloading the Hidden Agenda app on your phone. You dictate the choices in the game by swiping to certain areas on the screen to succeed in certain events (although to get certain outcomes you need to "fail" certain events, mostly shooting at people to be honest); you also choose between two choices on screen for certain situations to determine an outcome and depending on if you're playing coop you can do "takeovers" which you get from getting to quick time events and finding clues first while also trying to get the highest on the leaderboard (at least in the game's Competitive Mode) by guessing other players Hidden Agendas or succeeding in your own (the Hidden Agendas being random objectives dictated by the game that you need to try to pull off using Takeover cards or manipulating the other players in real life). There are two modes: the Competitive Mode where you try to compete against your friends and fulfill your agenda and the regular story mode where you just play to see how everything plays out. This system, best played with friends, can lead to some interesting party dynamics, for example: Imagine drinking crystal head vodka by Dan Ackroyd (available at your local liquor for the low price of 49.99 (buy now LOL)) while intentionally trying to fuck up and choose the worst choices possible for shits and giggles (that was our first run and we actually caught the killer who shot themselves, I'm not even sure how we did it but we did). It can be a very fun party game, but when played by yourself I'll be honest it can be boring as shit. I know this because I went out to platinum the game and by god it got boring quick but that was my fault for going to platinum the game. That being said, the game is mostly good for days when you have friends over and you're bored as shit and you got about two-three hours to go. I almost forgot to mention that you can keep track of story events, characters, clues and such on your phone while playing the game and keep in mind that each decision that you make will lead to potentially different outcomes, or at least somewhat subtly. I say this somewhat subtly because this ties into my next part: Visual and Audio Presentation.
Visual/Audio Presentation:
The game's audio is fine, I don't have any complaints against the game's audio to be honest. The music is fine (the usual thriller music though that intro electronic music is a bop), and the voice actors do well (with the killer being creepy as fuck which fun fact I didn't notice until the second time around how creepy the killer sounded speaking monotone). My main issue is the graphic stuff, specifically the glitches. There were numerous times where models would look fuckin googly eyed while talking to each other, effects like rain would suspend itself in midair above certain characters (look at Detective Tom at the hotel near the end), or how every character looks like they're about to collapse from heat exhaustion with how much sweat they pump out before suddenly disappearing in the next character. Other times like here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH6BgBHGlVo&ab_channel=gamemast15r (context: His model was waiting out of the way to actually spawn in, I assume this was a programming error or something but I just saw that and was confused)
And this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EAcaOCmgRA&ab_channel=gamemast15r (context: I was going for the good ending, caught the killer and they walked through a car)
Shit like that is wonky, and the stuff in between the choice transitions (like voting for certain decisions will still have the same videos in between to the next choices with some potential slight alterations) will pop in a split second too early and is noticable. My main point of all of this is that while this game is made by Supermassive and looks somewhat decent, you could tell that this was cranked out on a smaller budget with a probable limited amount of time for their Playlink program. What is Playlink? I don't know I guess some sort of Playstation Phone party game app but that's reserved for the last section.
Story:
So I'm mostly going to go over a general plot synopsis and give my opinions because it's a story game and there are so many decisions in this game that it's too broad to cover. You play two characters, jumping back and forth between Officer Becky Marney and District Attorney Felicity Graves. You end up capturing the Trapper serial killer in the prologue with your partner Tom (with dictated choices leading to Tom's death, promotion to Sargent or your partner in Homicide), and the killer Johnathan Finn is sentenced to death via lethal injection. Years later, Johnathan tells of the supposed real killer, one Adam Jones, and wants to repent and help find the real killer as they had made a deal to get back against those that hurt them at the orphanage where they lived as kids; meanwhile Becky faces increasing suspicion of corruption after being accused of mishandling evidence (and later being the Trapper) and you have to navigate your way through the police investigation while trying to find clues to clear yourself.
The plot actually isn't bad, and it was actually a decent murder mystery that caught us by surprise towards the end. It plays it's angles well, nothing groundbreaking but it was enjoyable. Again me and a friend played through it the first time not taking it seriously at all and we somehow found who the killer was AND got him to kill himself. It was enjoyable but once we stopped playing we forgot about the plot, and I only remembered stuff after replaying it later this past week to get the trophies.
Overall:
It's not a bad game, you have a decent murder mystery to play on your phones (with the game playing out on your PS4) while shooting the shit with your buddies. The game is worth a go around or two but otherwise it's average. Playing through it solo will be the most boring experience so don't play it solo is my recommendation. I guess the last thing I wanna leave off on are these two points: the log dates start 2019 but end 2023, that's to get my platinum trophy. You can beat this game in 80 minutes to 2 hours and that's literally it; it's the size of the movie and it's paced well. The last note is that I'm not sure when the Playlink Hidden Agenda app will go away or be shut down by Supermassive or whomever at Sony demands it, but considering the game released on 2017 and now it's 2023 I'm kind of surprised when they decide to shut this app down it's going to be the end (unless they decide to keep it alive by other means) of the game entirely and you won't be able to replay it again. That's the main flaw but also the biggest feature: smartphone play. My recommendation is get it on sale and play it with friends, as otherwise it's an average game.
Final Note: Sorry for the Crystal Head vodka quote, my buddy is yelling at me over my shoulder stupid joke suggestions and I appease my peeps cause I like them lol. Also this game again can only be played via Playstation so keep that in mind.