Hidden Agenda
Metacritic Game Reviews, Hidden Agenda for PlayStation 4, Blending the best elements of movies and games, this story-based adventure.
In 2015, a title that looked and played out much like a typical, almost cliche, horror movie. But there was one aspect of the game that made it feel different: choice.
Horror movies are filled with people making seemingly inexplicable decisions that lead to death, and Until Dawn was your chance to show how smart you are by making the right choices and keeping everyone alive. Though it was a single-player game, Until Dawn became something of a social experience, with people sitting around a television yelling what they think the on-screen characters should do. Now Supermassive is taking this idea to its logical conclusion with Hidden Agenda.Today sees the debut of Sony’s new PlayLink initiative, which includes a slate of PlayStation 4 games that utilize mobile phones as controllers. You can use your iPhone as a mic while belting out tunes in Singstar, or select answers in competitive trivia games. But Hidden Agenda is the most ambitious project so far. It plays out as a gritty, violent crime drama — think Saw meets Law & Order — but adds a multiplayer element on top.
As you explore the story, players can work together to make important decisions, investigate crime scenes, and piece the mystery together.Hidden Agenda revolves around a serial killer known as “the Trapper,” a criminal who boobytraps his victims in order to inflict even more harm on the first responders trying to save them. Your time playing is split between two characters: detective Becky Marnie and district attorney Felicity Graves. For the most part, the game plays out like a movie, as you watch events unfold on-screen, but at regular intervals you’re forced to interact in some way. You might need to make a choice on how to proceed with an investigation. Should you be cautious or aggressive when searching a crime scene? Relaxed or demanding when questioning a witness? You also have to work together to find clues, and at certain points you’ll need to quickly hit on-screen buttons to avoid violent scenarios.
Just like in Until Dawn, your choices can dramatically change how the story unfolds, and often important characters can die as a result. The difference, of course, is that in Hidden Agenda there isn’t just one person making those decisions. For most choices in the game, you need to reach a majority before you can proceed, and for particularly difficult decisions — like whether or not to shoot an assailant — everyone needs to agree. The result is a lot of arguing — but in a fun way. “Each dilemma has no right or wrong answer, so they’re designed to encourage debate among the group,” explains Will Doyle, director on the game.Hidden Agenda also adds a number of video game-y elements that encourage more social play.
In between scenes, you’ll often have to take a vote, deciding who among your group is more persuasive or trustworthy. The person decided upon will then have to make an important choice by themselves later on. You can also earn cards that let you take control of a situation and make a decision without the help of the rest of the group. “We spent a lot of time striking the right balance between life-or-death dilemmas and more sedate, character-based choices,” says Doyle. “Like all stories, the drama needs to ebb and flow to give audiences time to breathe.”. Read next:The story is a fairly gripping, if not an especially unique, thriller, with all of the requisite twists and turns.
It’s a bit too self-serious at times — I can’t remember a single joke during my time with the game — and it’s incredibly bleak, with dark, gloomy locations devoid of color. But for Supermassive, just like the horror of Until Dawn, this type of story lent itself well to creating a interactive narrative experience. “Genres where death is expected, and so decisions that the characters make have consequences that can’t be undone, lend themselves perfectly to the stories we like to tell and the games we make,” explains producer Jez Harris.Predictable story beats aside, if there’s one thing holding the game back it might be the app itself. Hidden Agenda requires a companion app, available for free on both iOS and Android, and while it’s not especially pretty it does contains a wealth of useful information. You can read up on the characters, important choices, and the overall story; these blurbs are updated constantly as the story unfolds.
But when it comes to interacting with the game on your TV, it doesn’t always work as it should. Most of the time your phone’s touchscreen acts as a sort of trackpad, letting you move a cursor around on-screen. In my experience it was frequently unresponsive; sometimes someone would make a wrong choice because their cursor went astray, or miss a quick time event because of a delay. When these actions can lead to death, it makes them all the more frustrating.At times Hidden Agenda feels like something of a first draft. It’s an intriguing thriller, but with a handful of rough edges that hold the experience back. That said, it’s hard not to see the potential for this kind of storytelling. It feels like a natural evolution of games like Until Dawn — and Supermassive has plenty of ideas to move things forward in the future.
Cooking mama world kitchen wiki. “ Until Dawn established us in this area and since then we’ve been exploring multiple new concepts, designs, and stories that build significantly upon what we have created before,” says Harris. “You can see some of these ideas in Hidden Agenda and we are really excited about the future of narrative gaming and how we can contribute to that future.”.
Hidden Agenda is the companion app you need to catch a killer and play the crime thriller game, Hidden Agenda, on the PlayStation®4 system.Either alone or as a group of 2-6 players, choose how the hunt for the infamous trapper killer unfolds – in this gripping crime thriller from the makers BAFTA award-winner Until Dawn™.Use your smart device to uncover clues, receive hidden objectives and make major decisions with life-or-death consequences.Outwit a ruthless serial killer, using takeovers to seize control at decisive moments. How will your story play out?Make sure your PS4™ system is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your device and then you're ready to go.
By purchasing this item, you are transacting with Google Payments and agreeing to the Google Payments. AFinitDataCallback(key: 'ds:17', isError: false, hash: '27', data:functionreturn 'gp:AOqpTOEPJlBYahEjHC6pHfQRbmBZJQXz3ueoOuZlw6U3Un8PyLPD6ZGOZWYgeVI9IuDGPbd5-hu06U2au7bGJQ','Jasmine Mitchell',null,2,null,null,null,'download. I have been trying to download and install this app for two days now!!! Its not my phone as im able to download other apps and i have plenty of storage space. When i try to download and install it wont open the file.
Then i hit cancel to try it again and the same error.the file wont open. I even tried it on another phone i had to see if it was my phone and the same issue occured.
So for that reason i wish i could give this an 0 as i cant install the app to play the game.' ,619000000,0,null,null,'0','Jasmine Mitchell',null,null,2,null,null,null,'concept which was released without having the game fully tested and fixed. Really bad game in which competitive gameplay is not working. You simply cant select who you think has hidden agenda mission. Id refund it if it was possible.' ,704000000,6,null,null,'4','Deeno',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Foster',null,2,null,null,null,'enjoyable, a bit short though and due to the choices not changing the future story that drastically it definitely Lacks relatability. Overall I enjoyed my experience of playing over a friend's house but I may be disappointed if I'd shouldered the cost of the full game myself.'
,354000000,0,null,null,'3','Connor Foster',null,null,2,null,null,null,'1973',null,2,null,null,null,'worth $10 -The game is really boring. It has a good plot and everything but not good execution -The game was very fast paced in some parts but slow with others -Having a tutorial every 5 seconds takes away from the experience, especially if I've already played it -My phone told me hints before I actually got to uncover them -Not enough time on the timed parts -Constantly looking down and missing key moments -To a certain extent I could just use a controller with a sidebar for the other info',338000000,0,null,null,'3','Kai-Aaron 1973',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Bear',null,2,null,null,null,'enjoy the game. The app works great. People complaining about it not connecting are apprently incompetent and those complaining about their phones.its just that.
Played through the game my battery is fine.' ,205000000,0,null,null,'9','Chellie Bear',null,null,2,null,null,null,'KNIGHT',null,2,null,null,null,'was a great game. Sucks that you have to play it over and over again just for a 100%. Got the good ending at my 2nd playthrough. Also didnt know black canary was in it lol. Beth was my favourite character ud83dude0a.' ,426000000,0,null,null,'5','You KNIGHT',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Merino',null,2,null,null,null,'are fine, laggy a bit but it's just the phones making sure they're connected to the PS4 and wifi.
Having the phone as the control is better suited than the proper controller. Story is awkward here and there but the game does require multiple playthroughs as your choices affect the story in many different ways - even if you least expect it. Consider investing a lot of time if you DO want all of the endings.
Don't play competitive first time if you're playing with friends - or do if you want to ruin some days/nights. Either play the story together or have a competitive 'get a good ending' party.' ,266000000,0,null,null,'8','Ellie Merino',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Breese',null,2,null,null,null,'the game itself was pretty lame and predictable, but since this review is about the app, I'm giving it five stars. Connection was perfect, and easy to do. First time we played we had 5 people, and we were all able to connect our phones with the game within seconds. Even when the router was accidentally unplugged, the game reconnected instantly when the wifi was restored. TL;DR: Boring and predictable game, but great app functionality.'
,419000000,0,null,null,'2','William Breese',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Johnson',null,2,null,null,null,'idea. Put together very well!'
,715000000,0,null,null,'0','Jake Johnson',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Joshipura',null,2,null,null,null,'app worked efficently. My family and I did not have a single problem when connecting to the game. For the game itself, it was very fun and engaging and kept me on the edge of my seat.
100% reccomend to other people looking for a game to play that has suspense and mystery in it.' ,628000000,0,null,null,'6','Arushi Joshipura',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Locke',null,2,null,null,null,'app is not very good.
It's very laggy and imprecise, which is a problem during quick time events. It's also a massive drain on device batteries. The app adds nothing to the experience and there's no reason for the studio to not have used a traditional controller, which would have worked much better.' ,686000000,0,null,null,'0','Vince Locke',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Moffat',null,2,null,null,null,'our group found the console game itself to be boring, we had no issues with getting this app installed and connected across a range of Android u0026 iOS devices. No complaints with performance and ease of use. App gets full marks however the console game itself is average.'
,891000000,0,null,null,'3','Perry Moffat',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Halim',null,2,null,null,null,'works great. Anyone who said that it didnt work, connection took too long etc etc. Not meant to be rude but im sorry, you guys are really f.g i.t. Theres ps4 hotspot mode which works wonder. No need for fast wifi so read the instruction before cursing this app!'
,708000000,0,null,null,'3','Rifki Halim',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Lazershark',null,2,null,null,null,'really good story, even better graphics. I recommend having English audio',290000000,0,null,null,'1','Sky Lazershark',null,null,2,null,null,null,'uKNOWit',null,2,null,null,null,'just found out about this game, after playing, Until Dawn. Where have I been?! This is just what I needed, until they make another game with these similarities. Love the graphics. Such scary, emotional choicemaking!
Give me more!!! Your Wi-Fi sucks, if you're having issues.' ,714000000,0,null,null,'6','IAMHOT uKNOWit',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Swanson',null,2,null,null,null,'app or my friends phone, couldn't tell which was the cause of the unresponsive app. Other games where you use your phone, hers acted fine. So I am inclined to think the app is buggy. ,74000000,0,null,null,'3','Ali Swanson',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Shah',null,2,null,null,null,'app ever!!
I tried connecting it to same wifi network witt this app opened. After opening this app several seconds later it goes back to the home page of my device. I tried after getting wifi hotspot on and guess what? The same thing occurs.
Please fix this or help me.' ,804000000,0,null,null,'5','Rucha Shah',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Stewart',null,2,null,null,null,'love the game but the app needs to be more optimized. I can only play through half of the game and then my phone dies, even if my phone is plugged in on the charger.' ,312000000,0,null,null,'4','Gerry Stewart',null,null,2,null,null,null,'the game, case closed, but that son of a b., the control is really annoying, think this will be the last kinda a game i'll be playing, i love the story, but not the control.' ,86000000,0,null,null,'2',',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Beats',null,2,null,null,null,'game night experience with the right group of people. This game is meant to talk amongst each other in order to enhance the gaming environment.'
,162000000,0,null,null,'8','Tremendo Beats',null,null,2,null,null,null,'Sinclair',null,2,null,null,null,'experience: Look at Tv, Please wait, Look at Tv, Please wait, Look at Tv, Please wait, Look at Tv, Please wait.we never.