Spies in Disguise: Agents on the Run

Anytime a big movie, particularly a big movie aimed at kids, gets ready to hit theaters, it's a safe bet that a mobile game tie-in is sure to follow. Enter Spies in Disguise: Agents on the Run, an endless runner game based on the Spies in Disguise animated flick. If you've played any other of the endless number of endless runner games, you probably know what to expect. Players pick a character and then start an obstacle course run, jumping dodging, and sliding to bypass any hazards and collect the obligatory stream of coins. Oddly, the game never explains exactly how it's supposed to tie in to the movie from which it's based, and it never really feels like it fits. Instead, it feels like the movie was pigeonholed (pun intended) into a completely unrelated game.

The game tries to add a couple of extras layers to change up the formula a bit, giving each character a special ability and tossing the occasional car chase into the mix. But neither of these does much to make the game stand out. Only certain characters can ever access the car and those that can wind up dealing with controls that are sluggish and unresponsive while behind the wheel. The game's also hampered by the massive grind required to unlock any new content and characters. This leaves players stuck in a repetitive loop unless they're willing to shell out the cash to speed up their progress. Meanwhile, players have to choose whether or not to get pulled out of the experience and forced to watch thirty second ads for completely unrelated apps (some of which wouldn't necessarily be suited to the "all ages" market") just to continue their current run for a few more seconds.