Bureau - Agent Kendall (XBLIG): "A Sexy FBI Thriller"

I have never played a game like this in my entire life. This is definitely not a bad thing. The developer, ggaler was kind enough to allow me to review his unique, and visually impressive FBI thriller. The execution, and realistic elements that he included in this game were top-notch. I'd even go as far as to say that this game was XBLA quality. The subject matter, and short length of the game probably played a role in it becoming an XBLIG title though ...

The plot of Bureau - Agent Kendall revolves around the main character Agent Kendall who was transferred to homicide at the start of the game. The developer gave her a sexy look that I assume is geared more towards the guy gamers. After Agent Kendall is reassigned to homicide she is paired up with a male agent named Dale Kyler. Agent Kyler's role in the game is to guide you (Agent Kendall) through all the legal, and investigative processes of solving a case. Your only real tool in the game, other than your communications with suspects is a PDA device that allows you to keep track of case info. You can perform background checks on the characters involved in the case as well as make conversation choices. All of this is kept track of, and made accessible via the PDA. I found that there was only one case in the game which was kind of disappointing, but the wide variety of interactive choices are very interesting.

As you are investigating your suspects in the game you will be given a list of choices to choose from. These interactions can either harm, or help the outcome of your case. You will also need to visit the suspects several times in order to make a solid hypothesis. The hypothesis is basically what you think really happened in the incident. To narrow your hypothesis down you must use given agent/FBI hours to research things about the case. There are a limited amount of FBI hours, and they must be used wisely. In my case I actually squandered them rather poorly. The Agent hours will replenish with each new day. Using the hours is simple and only requires you to assign them via the PDA. As with the suspect interviews you will be given several choices to make when researching with given hours. You must figure out how to best spend the time that you are given.

Bureau - Agent Kendall features some of the best 3D styled graphics in the XBLIG. Between certain interactions in the game you will be presented with some extremely impressive, and sexy cutscenes. The game is more on the mature side, and I did see some scenes with partial nudity in them. The language is also on the mature side at times. The sexy scenes involving Agent Kendall, and a certain female suspect do seem to be more for the guy gamers  out there. I'm not complaining though. Aside from the steamy cutscenes there a few scenes that feature Agent Kendall doing other activities such as exercising, and riding a motorcycle. I also found that the scenes that involve Agent Kendall visiting the suspects are just repeats. When she goes to do research at her house it's the same thing as well, but includes different times of day. There were a few interactive cutscenes in this game that made it really shine, and involved surviving certain situations.

I found Bureau - Agent Kendall to be a very impressive game on many levels. The developer had the FBI tactics down to a science. The entire game was executed perfectly, and featured some amazing cutscenes. The interactions were brought to life with artistic renderings of each character. I did notice that there were no actual voices in the game, but it didn't matter. The interactive dialogue process was smooth, and allowed for simple yet involved gameplay. The game also featured a samll, but amazing soundtrack which you can also acess via the 'extras' in the start menu. I highly recommend this game. If you have the extra 400 msp to spare it is definitely worth it.