Mercifully, Spy x Family was never going to work as a cut-and-paste anime arena brawler. Tatsuya Endo’s laugh-out-loud slice-of-life manga sensation is effectively a comedy, and while it does have its fair share of spy action, you were never going to see expressive infant Anya flying across a 3D environment performing Kamehamehas – although that probably would have been amusing in itself.
Spy x Anya: Operation Memories is a unique proposition from Bandai Namco, then: it’s a kind of lifestyle simulator with a Persona-esque schedule system and a unique photography underbelly. At its core, your goal is to fill the pink-haired protagonist’s scrapbook with pictures, and so you’ll embark on routine “ootings” with your parents to capture lots of memorable moments.
Outings include trips to a local aquarium or park, and you’ll be able to bring three items with you to mark the occasion. This could include a toy gun, for example, which will allow you to play pretend Spy Wars with real undercover agent parent Loid. Your photo will be rated on angle, focus, and timing – and once you’re happy with the results, you can add it to your diary.
Taking good photographs will earn Eurekas, which can then be spent on minigames, largely inspired by the source material. In one you’ll need to complete a simple Metal Gear Solid-style spy mission as the family’s patriarch; in another, you’ll assume the role of secret assassin Yor in Dynasty Warriors-esque combat gauntlets. The minigames are generally very scrappy, but they’re passable diversions.
The problem with Operation Memories is that it’s incredibly repetitive. Each outing has a set number of actions, and you can only go out with your family once every three days. That means you’ll spend a lot of time simply going to school, coming home, eating dinner, and repeating. You’ll end up skipping through samey cut-scenes over and over just to get to something new.
But if you love Spy x Family, there’s still plenty to enjoy here. Exploring the Forger household, small as it may be, is unquestionably fun – and Anya is as expressive and amusing as ever, resulting in regular laugh-out-loud moments. It’s not a bad game, then – in fact, it’s something a little different in the licensed anime category. But it could have benefitted from a bit more variety.