Invisible Inc. and Using Your Melon

This is my confession.  I am a save scummer.  I like to save...and load...and re-load.  Those saves are like a comfy safety blanket to reassure me while I thoughtlessly push ahead.  They've saved my bacon on numerous occasions as I did many, many stupid things.  Things like carefully maneuvering my XCOM team into a position where everyone could be hit by a grenade lobbed by a single, vicious Muton or thinking "that car is on fire" and then promptly forgetting it and watching as it explodes into a giant fireball of death.  Even better than mashing the save button is the convenience of the auto-save.  What would we do without auto saves?  Well, the answer is that we would probably play much more thoughtfully and not rush through things.  This, I have discovered through the challenging, but very enjoyable turn-based spy game, Invisible Inc.

I love the art style in Invisible Inc.

In Invisible Inc. players are placed in charge of a recently-raided, now weakened spy agency.  This agency is on a mission to re-locate their mega-super-computer/AI to a new network that is currently under the control of a different organization.  Re-locating this agency is no simple matter and requires you to recover lost assets including agents being held prisoner and actual cash money that can be used to train and improve your agents.

The first thing I noticed about Invisible Inc. is its fun, The Incredibles-esque art style.  Your agents are cartoony spies--both serious and goofy at the same time.  Each mission is a turn-based sneakfest the requires players to maneuver their team through a map filled with obstacles like guards, security cameras, roving robots, and turrets.  Plus, you have to do it with no saves and a limited number of options to re-play a turn.  So much for save scumming....

Each mission players select allows them to bring up to four agents.  Every agent has his or her own special skill set.  Some are skilled hackers who can access the many electronic devices scattered around a level.  Accessing these devices allows players to unlock safes or override security cameras and robots.  Other agents can be given talents that increase their strength or speed allowing them to carry more items or to move further on each turn.  Players can bring up to four agents on a mission and more agents become available as players progress and opt to rescue new ones from detention facilities.

The first step on each mission is to figure out exactly where your chief objective is located.  There isn't a handy map or any kind of indicators to tell players if they're heading in the right direction.  Along the way players have to override and possibly subdue any security guards that might block the way forward.  If you do opt to take out a security guard they are only knocked out for 3 turns and when they wake up they will be at a much higher level of alert--they will definitely be looking for you.  Players have to make a choice about how to handle guards.  It's best to try to avoid them as much as possible.  Stealth is the best strategy but is not always an option.  Another part of the challenge is finding the exit teleporter and navigating your whole squad to it.  Oh, and there's a turn timer that will add in some sort of new security every 5 turns.  Some cameras that you might have previously hacked might re-boot themselves or a new guard might start patrolling.  Haste, like stealth, is also a safe bet.

All of this must be done with one save.  ONE!  Once you start a mission...that's it.  If you screw up, it's all over.  On lower difficulty levels you can have several rewinds that allow you to play the beginning of a turn.  But that's it.  There's no restarting a mission.  There's no endless loading and re-loading.  On the lowest difficulty setting I will admit to fully utilizing those rewinds on several occasions.  After completing a full campaign, I decided to start a new game and picked the next highest difficulty.  It's definitely harder.  You only get three rewinds per mission so you really need to play cautiously.

Invisible Inc. is a highly enjoyable and challenging game, so much so that I am almost afraid to screw up my current campaign.  I've made it through about four missions without failing and having to restart.  My advice to new players of this very enjoyable and intense game is to just take it slow.  Don't rush haphazardly through every door you see!  Take your time and scout ahead.  Stealth and speed seem to work much better than strength and greed (ooh that was very rhyme-ey).  Avoiding the guards is in your best interest as is selectively looting safes.  I would highly, highly recommend starting on the lowest difficulty level until you've gotten a handle on how things work.