“Day-to-day life, one at a time,” is not only a quote that you might find in a Pinterest poster, but is also a sort of a Japanese games staple that many have experienced one way or another, be it in more grandeur titles or even small titles that people like you and me would enjoy playing to unwind.
Spy X Family: Operation Memories is a bit like that, plus add some Pokemon Snap and WarioWare elements into it, and you have yourselves a game that’s pretty casual to pick up and play at any time.
So Is this operation as memorable as the title suggests? Perhaps.
Presentation
The first thing to mention is that the game’s visuals look almost exactly like the anime, complete with the expressive faces that the likes of the main cast of Anya, Yor, and Loid do, with Anya and her iconic smug face being on full display. It’s rendered quite well in the 3D space with all of the bright colors and some funny exaggeration of the outside world as seen by Anya, lovingly recreated here as well.
Most of the voice cast is also back in voicing their characters, even the secondary ones Becky and Damian are all fully voiced in all of the game’s cutscenes.
This brings in the comparison to not only Namco’s previous anime games like the Shinchan and Doremon ones but also older titles like Boku no Natsuyasumi where the day-to-day life might be similar but it’s how you’ll spend it in that meantime.
The reward of doing the tasks usually sees you getting more outfits for the main cast to wear from top to bottom with additional perks that help with unlocking more locations to visit as the game goes along.
Gameplay
Operation Memories is exactly what it says on the cover, the main objective of the game is to fill up a school assignment book with memories that you have collected throughout the game, some of which are specific to a location that you can use to unlock more places for the Forger’s to visit during their outing days, some of which have story stuff happening in the background as well.
It does this by using a Pokemon Snap style picture taking mechanic where you, the player, would be taking pictures of Anya doing an action shot, like playing with Bond with bubbles and such together, that would need the perfect angle and shot to be inserted into the picture book that doubles as our completion percentage at the end of the day.
And at home, you can also “relieve” the memories of any of the Forger’s day in the form of mini-games that include the parent’s other jobs, like being a master thief like Loid or doing a Musou-esque battle with Yor. This also pairs with stuff like Anya’s school stuff like Dodgeball playing or Yor’s little brother having to dodge the more dangerous stuff that is his sister’s cooking at home, it’s quite an interesting compilation of stuff to do in between the picture-taking.
It’s quite a casual game that you can pick up and play at any time, with the day-to-day stuff being able to breeze through quickly should you want to. But really, it’s akin to playing Animal Crossing but without the daily waiting period, but for fans of Spy X Family, some bite-size stuff like this should suit them quite well.
Content
This game is quite an interesting enigma in terms of content for fans of the show since it doesn’t really take place at any time before or after the anime movie, or even within the manga. So it’s a sort of side story episode that’s playable where all of the main cast just hang out and have fun, which Bandai Namco isn’t strangers to, as well.
Would I, as one of the fans of the show, recommend newcomers to this one as the starting point of the Spy X Family series? No, as well, sadly. The game starts with a pretty quick intro that doesn’t let you in on the intricacy of the Forgers, not without watching at least three or more episodes of the anime.
It’s a finicky title, this one. With the pricing of it being quite steep for the amount of stuff that non-fans of the show would expect when compared to its contemporaries, and not enough story beats for the fans to enjoy besides having fun with the side characters.
So its content does feel very all over the place even with the gameplay being fun as it is.
Personal Enjoyment![]()
As a fan of the show but hasn’t seen any of the later seasons or even the newest movie, it seems to me that Operation Memories is made for those Season 1 viewers like myself and many others, which I could see being the basis of this game, due to how video games are made within 18 months of their source materials sometimes.
Am I disappointed that it’s basically a playable OVA of Season 1? Not really because I do like the casualness of it all, from the gameplay style to how the story ebbs and flows through the game as you help fill up Anya’s picture book. And really sometimes, a slower pace game without life-or-death situations is fun on its own.
Verdict
Spy X Family: Operation Memories is their version of a summer vacation, no pressure at all with some fun side mini-games on the side. It’s mostly for the fans which isn’t that bad and who knows, maybe the antics of this game by their main cast might charm you into watching the show.
Played on PS4. Review code provided by the publisher.
Spy X Family: Operation Memories
Their version of a summer vacation, no pressure at all with some fun side mini-games on the side. It’s mostly for the fans which isn’t that bad.
- Presentation 8
- Gameplay 7
- Content 7
- Personal Enjoyment 7