Hacktag

In today's technology-riddled world, we all know it's better to be the hacker than the one having all your sensitive information stolen. Hacktag gives players the chance to team up for some espionage as either a hacker or a stealth agent, helping infiltrate corporate offices. Teamwork is a huge aspect of this game. On the ground, the stealth agent helps the hacker access certain areas that require hands-on assistance. Some objects, such as locked doors, require physically typing in codes that you figure out as a team via a fun mini-game. As the hacker virtually helping out, you can brew a cup of coffee or make an office phone ring to distract patrolling guards long enough for the stealth agent to slip behind a closed door or piece of furniture undetected. While the missions are plentiful, with more maps being added steadily, the tasks are pretty redundant. This could get boring for some people, or could be perfect for those who love mastering maps as the difficulty ramps up.

Hacktag is perfect for couch co-op with a friend, where you can discuss strategy, but this is where the online play falls short. With teamwork being such a huge aspect of this game, the two characters must rely on each other, making communication a priority. The fact that online play has no chat system outside of four generic comments (e.g., "Well Done," "Help Me") makes it difficult to complete time-sensitive aspects of missions. This is where some sort of online voice communication would be a great addition, especially for goals that require precise timing, like turning off security cameras for a few seconds when a guard is out of range. The game also has a number of random bugs and glitches that can affect play. For example, some menus aren't fully fleshed out, the tutorial was inaccessible for weeks, and some doors that were required to fulfill some objectives would not open. Some of this is understandable because of the Early Access state of the game, meaning gamers can play while the developers are tweaking and updating these issues. Finally, and perhaps because the game is still looking for an audience, finding players online to team up with seems to be a major issue right now. But if you can deal with these hiccups and are interested in entering this fast-paced world of espionage, bring a friend along for the fun, at least until the online community expands,