Spy vs Spy

Spy vs. Spy is a video game created by Michael Riedel for the Commodore 64 and published by First Star Software in 1984.

It's the official electronic adaptation of a famous comic strip published in Mad magazine. The game was also ported to Apple II, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, NES, ZX Spectrum, and many other platforms.

You play as one of the two spies against a friend or the computer. The goal is to find the briefcase and be the first to escape the embassy with the secret plans. If you want to win, you will have to make things difficult for your adversary, and placing traps is the best thing you can do.

Technically speaking, the game is brilliant. The screen is divided in two so that each spy can move independently and explore all the embassy rooms. But the building is the same, so when the two spies are in the same place, they will meet (and fight, usually). You can use a map to see where you are in the embassy. If you leave a trap in a room and your enemy enters that room, you can kill him (but you can also be killed by your traps). It's also possible to disable the traps if you have the correct item in your inventory.

Spy vs. Spy is a typical game that is easy to learn and difficult to master. If you play against a friend, many hours of fun are assured.

The Amiga version, published in 1989 by Wicked Software, is a faithful port of the C64 version. Well, even too detailed, the graphics could have been better, but it's still a great game.