I Count on You To Die 3: Cog Within the Machine is notable if just for being the third entry in a sequence on VR video games. Most VR titles can think about themselves fortunate in the event that they get a sequel, not to mention attain the hallowed standing of “trilogy”. Then once more, few VR video games have discovered a formulation that’s as reliable and repeatable as Schell Video games’ assortment of spy capers. A lot in the identical method that the James Bond sequence has a set construction and tropes, solely I Count on You To Die’s blueprint includes pastiche and puzzles somewhat than automobiles, devices, and variously objectified girls.

This third quantity of breezy espionage adventures sees you as soon as extra don the tuxedo of Agent Phoenix, who, alongside their implied resilience to demise, can also be probably the most energy-efficient spy in existence. Agent Phoenix doesn’t go in for all this parkouring throughout rooftops and thumping individuals in loos; they will thwart the enemy’s plans with out ever getting off their arse.

Not like most trendy VR video games, which have sought more and more elaborate methods to unravel the issue that actuality repeatedly options partitions, I Count on You To Die stays stubbornly a devoted seated expertise. You would possibly sometimes be required to lean barely in a single course or the opposite, however on this world your legs exist solely for the aim of threatening loss of life by thrombosis. Even leaning is an absolute final resort for Agent Phoenix, as a chip of their mind permits them to remotely manipulate objects by way of telekinesis.

However Schell Video games treats this limitation as a springboard for creativity somewhat than a hurdle obstructing it, setting up elaborate espionage escapades round your slothful spy. As with the earlier two video games, there are six separate situations so that you can resolve on this threequel, in addition to a tutorial to will get you again within the swing of issues. All of those boast an identical stage of high quality as earlier adventures, although a pair would possibly simply be the perfect situations but.

The sport’s intentionally throwaway story sees you chasing an excellent scientist named Dr Roxana Prism, who has gone lacking from the Company. The primary mission includes investigating Prism’s condo, which seems to have been extracted straight from the thoughts of Ken Adam. You will lounge on Prism’ round leather-based couch as you make risky cocktails along with her mix-o-matic drink dispenser. It has all the things you’d need from an IEYTD opener, a thematic location, numerous enjoyable tactile interactions, a comedy robotic butler, and naturally, numerous methods to by accident off your self.

Whereas thematically IEYTD’s closest relative is ol’ sneaky Jim, mechanically its nearest and dearest could be one thing like Dragon’s Lair. Each interplay in these video games has the latent hazard of slicing the purple wire, with greater than slight probability that it will see you exploded, poisoned, lasered, crushed, or in any other case separated from the existential plain. Ought to Agent Phoenix be required to rise from the ashes, they will achieve this from the very starting of the puzzle.

Therefore, there’s a component of studying IEYTD’s puzzles by rote, a pinball-like development of bouncing off all of the mistaken issues till you may navigate easily by the obstacles. Schell Video games usually revels in these highwire situations. To return to Dr Prism’s home, at one level you might want to make a selected cocktail to take care of a selected drawback, which includes mixing the drink in a cocktail shaker. However one of many elements is very flamable, and should you shake too arduous it will explode, killing you immediately.

You would possibly ponder whether these ‘gotcha’ deaths may be annoying. To Schell Recreation’s credit score, The sport does its greatest to minimise the ache. As soon as you understand what you are doing, most situations may be resolved in a couple of minutes. With the solutions in hand, you skip sure steps and put together issues upfront (which your goofy handler will sometimes acknowledge with a joke about your innate spy senses).

Nonetheless, the reply is ‘sure’. Dying in these video games can frustrate. For each two or three deaths that make you chuckle, there’s one which elicits a hearty “Oh fuck off”. Such profanity is commonest when the sport forces your hand, requiring you to answer one thing inside a particular timeframe that you just had no option to anticipate. It is also doable to screw your self over. The mixology puzzles in Dr Prism’s home additionally require you to show your cocktail mixer right into a grenade. Nevertheless it’s doable to throw your makeshift grenade right into a place the place you may’t get the cocktail shaker again, forcing you to restart the puzzle.

Fortuitously, the sport’s inventiveness and dedication to its shtick makes it price tolerating these rare irritations. Later sequences embody an encounter in a cable-car suspended between two snowcapped peaks, and a mission the place you chase a truck armed with flamethrowers in a automotive stuffed with devices – most likely the perfect mission of the lot. But my favorite a part of the sport is not a mission in any respect. Just like the earlier two titles, Cog within the Machine’s tutorial is adopted by a Bond-style credit sequence full with its personal tune. These have at all times been enjoyable, however this one is genuinely good, in no small half because of the belting vocals of American Idol’s personal Hayley Reinhart. It isn’t only a good Bond parody, it is a good Bond theme outright, and it is virtually well worth the entry price simply to sit down by it.

There’s one thing oddly comforting about Cog within the Machine. There is a bizarre strain on VR to show itself, to ship greater, extra wholly encompassing video games, to change into the subsequent revolution in what the medium may be. However Schell Video games is not any of that. Cog within the Machine is aware of precisely what it’s, what it is good at, and it is fairly content material to ship that have confidently and with type. It is a reminder that VR gaming is not actually a part of the linear technological arms race that is been happening for the reason that Voodoo 2. It is a completely different format with its personal deserves and limitations. In case you embrace VR for what it is good at, somewhat than anticipating it to interchange your PC, then you may have a fairly good time.