Rezzed, The PC and Indie Games Show. Brighton, 6th-7th July 2012

Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Act Surprised: Official HD Meet The Spy

By John Walker on May 19th, 2009 at 12:26 am.

Aw.

Just a quick note to say the official version of Meet The Spy is now available on Valve’s Spy Update pages, and available to download in HD via Steam. There’s also the traditional unveiling of the achievement names, with their descriptions to be added tomorrow. Also, kudos to Valve for their good humour over the weekend’s accidental early leaking of the video via YouTube, with the bonus achievement shown above.

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85 Comments »

  1. Russ says:

    Oh hey! In their version you can read all the lights, like “Blue Pyro” and “On Toilet”!

    WAIT-

  2. Alex says:

    Ha ha ha, one of the signs on the viewing screen at the beginning says “LEAKED VIDEO”. Second to lowest row, second to leftmost column.

  3. Jon says:

    No sniper achievements?

  4. Fumarole says:

    By far the best Meet the so far.

  5. Griffinheart says:

    Got in an argument with a guy today who claimed “Meet the Spy” wasn’t even close to the best “Meet the…” video–it’s hard to argue with grad student engineers who have an unhealthy love of the “Meet the Engineer” video, though.

  6. Mighty Florist says:

    And in true form, keeping the conspiracy train running, the Spy achievement ‘Who’s your Daddy?’ involves the Scout.

  7. chipp says:

    This was a fantastic Meet the video!

  8. Spartacus Morbidia says:

    The title card says “copyright lololol.”

    That is fantastic.

  9. Mythrilfan says:

    Sadly, it’s said that since time immemorial, Spartacus. Or is that gladly then?

  10. Meat Circus says:

    When we’ve met the Medic and the Pyro, I demand a ‘Meet the Announcer’ too. I find her strangely alluring.

  11. Noc says:

    Also, “Red Pyro,” followed by “It’s a Man” and “It’s a Woman.”

    And “Needs Roomate,” “Depressed” “Defenestrated,” and “Hungry.” As well as “Found Dracula” and “Lost Dracula.” I looked back at the YouTube version to see if “Leaked Video” was there, too, but it was too blurry to tell anything.

    I really hope they return to this board in subsequent installments.

    (Though I am a little disappointed that there does not seem to be a panel for “Needs Food Badly.” Or a “Red Warrior” or “Blue Wizard.”)

  12. The_B says:

    “It’s the only way we’ll learn.”

    I think I need to use that myself once or twice…

  13. Rich_P says:

    Gentlemen, continue alert board adlib at full force.

  14. Psychopomp says:

    “EXPLOSIVES LOST DRACULA IN WOMAN”

  15. Stijn says:

    THEORY RED SPY = MAN BLUE SPY = WOMAN

  16. Lang says:

    Notice the picture for “deep undercover” has the spy wearing a trilby or something.
    Interesting.

  17. drewski says:

    The standard def video says “Lost Memory” in the second left, second from bottom light box.

    Nice.

  18. Vinraith says:

    Upon further viewing, definitely the weakest “Meet the…” yet released, but still entertaining. The achievement titles and the text under the video on the official site are both funnier than the vid itself.

  19. tmp says:

    Also, “Red Pyro,” followed by “It’s a Man” and “It’s a Woman.”

    There’s also “Is a Robot” there, far on the left side.

    Also, “Red Spy” appears on the board twice. Perhaps one of these replaced something else that’s originally there.

  20. Y3k-Bug says:

    Really Vinraith?

    I mean, I can get saying its not the strongest, maybe. But the weakest?

    The demo and scout ones were rubbish.

  21. Y3k-Bug says:

    Also, from left to right:

    Blue Scout / Has Evil Twin / Red Spy

  22. Psychopomp says:

    @Y3k

    There is no helping some people.

  23. Vinraith says:

    @Y3k

    80% of the run time of this one isn’t funny and isn’t trying to be, I’m not really sure where all the love is coming from (except for the big board, which is great). The demo is one of my all time favorites, alongside the engineer and sniper at the top. I understand that senses of humor vary radically and all that, but are people really finding Meet the Spy funny or do they just like the action scenes of the spy or something? What’s the appeal, here?

  24. MeestaNob! says:

    I reckon they’ve got better as they’ve gone on, myself. This one is ace.

    Ninja edit for Vinraith – Funnies:
    - Heavy murders door with shoulder charge: “AAAAArrrggggggghhhhhhhh…..right then.”
    - Spy claims Red Spy is “Here to f**k us too!”
    - Red Spy shags with his mask on.
    - Solly shoots blue Spy in face. Spy’s dying expression on pause is priceless – surprise indeed.
    - Red Spy stabs Solly and Heavy to tune of TF2 music.

  25. tmp says:

    80% of the run time of this one isn’t funny and isn’t trying to be.

    While it may be right to say ’80% isn’t funny” due to differences in what one personally finds funny etc, i think you got the other part of it wrong. It definitely tries to be funny, and does succeed for lot of people with compatible sense of humour. Hence all that love you are not really sure where is coming from.

  26. Vinraith says:

    @tmp

    I’m content to believe I’m completely not getting it, and I’m glad other people are enjoying it so much. Maybe you can help me out, though: what’s supposed to be funny about the scenes showing various red spy kills? This video seems more about showing off the class than about humor to me, if those scenes are supposed to be funny I don’t really understand what’s supposed to be funny about them.

  27. Vinraith says:

    @MeestaNob

    Fair enough, I’m not here to tell anyone they shouldn’t enjoy the thing. Will you concede that the tone of the humor in this one is a marked departure from the earlier “Meet the…” videos? I think it might be that many of you like this tone more, whereas I preferred the previous tone (ala Meet the Sniper, Demo, and Engineer).

  28. tmp says:

    I don’t think these scenes in particular were supposed to be funny, change of music for them is enough of a hint. The rest of it though that surrounds these scenes, it’s loaded with gags and silliness — from the beginning with the soldier parroting all announcements, struggling to remember the “1111″ combination, the heavy’s charge, the whole “Yo Momma” thing… with evidence. The list goes on, a lot of it is in expressions, sounds and other small details. Although the dialogue has some hillarious lines too.

  29. Vinraith says:

    @tmp

    OK, wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something there. You’re right, though, those don’t take up nearly as much of the run time of the over all video as I thought they did. Eh, like I said above, I think there’s a marked difference in tone and we’re both reacting to that in opposite ways.

  30. Ryx says:

    More:
    - Scout’s expression at the nude photos of his mom.
    - Heavy showing soldier a particularly risque photo
    - Scout getting nicked by the balisong.
    - The idea of a huge board with a bunch of random things for the announcer to say on it.
    - The door’s password, 11111, and the number ’1′ on the keypad being weathered and overused-looking.

  31. Oak says:

    BLUE MEDIC / LEAKED VIDEO / OUTSIDE BASE

    Mystery solved.

  32. Muzman says:

    The Spy’s dramatic turn on “No. That would be your mother!”

  33. Y3k-Bug says:

    Hell, the video is so funny, its funny before it starts.

    Before you click the play button on the video, the screen says

    Meet The Spy
    Act surprised.

    That’s hilarious!

  34. Y3k-Bug says:

    Also:

    *Scout making various shocked, throaty sounds as he sees the pictures of the Red Spy fucking his mother*

    Blue Spy: “Indeed.”

  35. Willy359 says:

    There’s humour in the Spy vid, but it’s something else that makes it the best of the series so far: the other classes FEAR the spy, and they show it. Most of the time it’s all fun and games for these characters, but it’s ice cold fear for the engineer, the sniper and the medic when the spy comes to call. It’s murderous paranoia for the heavy and the soldier. It’s professional respect from his opposite number. All these goofy characters now have a Serious Situation on their hands. That’s what makes it the best vid: it shows the spy as the most badass class in the game.

  36. Hidden_7 says:

    There were lots of funny moments in this video, (too many to count, I started doing a list but decided against it) even the stuff that isn’t actively making a joke is kinda funny because the style is somewhat incongruous.

    Now the Meet the Engineer… I’d be hard pressed to even point to a part of that that was supposed to be at all funny. It is far and away my least favorite. All of the others have at least one moment that got a laugh from me, I don’t know if Engineer got even a smirk.

    But in any case, arguing sense of humour is kinda silly, since it’s different for everyone. Breaking down the videos as to what percentage of run time was trying to be funny I think is somewhat of a mistaken route for appraisal, however.

  37. Reverend Speed says:

    There IS a difference in tone, but I think that’s more to do with the subject than any change in Valve’s approach to the shorts. Is it possible, Vin, that you’re seeing humour as the key value delivered by the Meet The videos?

    I’d imagine that they serve the key purpose of demonstrating the spirit and primary activities of the classes WITHIN the humourous milieu of the TF2 silly spytech world.

    So the engineer’s laconic and pragmatic and his main function is to solve problems with guns.

    The soldier’s mental, is armed with a bazooka and can rocket-jump.

    Sniper prefers to distance himself from the results of his work (‘it’s a job’) and packs a mean machette.

    The spy is one ruthless, sneaky motherfucker. He’ll break your toys. He’ll stab your snipers. And when you think he’s your bestest pal, he’ll walk right into your house and leave you with nothing.

    To suggest that he is also making the beast with two backs with your mother is not too great a stretch, I think.

    We spies are like that.

    Stronger context for Meet the Spy contrasts more strongly with humour ergo Meet the Spy is graetst thing EVAR.

    EDIT: Yeah, Willy359 put that better.

  38. Psychopomp says:

    Less funny=/=Not as good.

    Following that line of logic, Pan’s Labyrinth is a terrible movie.

  39. Vinraith says:

    @Willy

    That would certainly explain it, seeing as Spy is one of my least favorite classes. So’s Sniper, but the tone of that one wasn’t geared towards “look how badass snipers are.”

    Actually, that’s EXACTLY it. Every other “Meet the” video is about making fun of the character and, to a degree, the type of player that plays that character. “Meet the Spy” has no sense of humor about the spy or spy players, it’s all about making fun of other characters. No wonder spy players like it so much. :D

  40. Muzman says:

    Not geared to how badass snipers are? Watch that end part with the music and the slo-mo reloading over “Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet” again some time.

    I like how we’ve all conveniently forgotten the Demoman, it seems. For the best if you ask me.

  41. Erlam says:

    “The demo and scout ones were rubbish.”

    Bullshit!

    “All Cock-sure with your head full of eyeballs!” Come on. It’s good and you know it.

  42. unique_identifier says:

    RPS READERS / DISAGREE OVER / SOMETHING SUBJECTIVE

  43. tmp says:

    “Meet the Spy” has no sense of humor about the spy or spy players, it’s all about making fun of other characters.

    Well, there’s that part where the Blue Spy gets his head blown off and totally doesn’t see it coming… that was pretty funny, because at that point i was thinking precisely what the Blue Soldier was thinking. And then the whole “He’ll turn red any second now… … *poke* aaany second” thing….

  44. Wulf says:

    Heh, the Demo-man was my favourite, because next to the Sniper he seemed the most layered of all the characters. I want to know what traumatic experience made him so amazingly and hilariously neurotic.

    In my opinion, the Demo-man’s neuroses would appear to be the point of his video, which makes it a bit more of a high-brow kind of humour than the other Meet the Team videos.

    I love how it seems like the interviewer is trying to bait him too by asking him if he’s a good Demo-man, which makes him all twitchy and causes the aforementioned neuroses to fire up.

    What I like about a good Meet the Team video is when they make the characters seem interesting to me, and therefore less one-dimensional (and Valve does a lot of one-dimensional characters, as I’ve mentioned before). To me, that’s more important than a Meet the Team video being funny.

    @unique_identifier:

    I feel your pain, but it’s not just RPS, it’s the majority of the World as a whole. If you ask the average human being if they have any idea what it means when one says that there’s no fact in subjective media, they wouldn’t have a clue what said one was talking about.

    That’s where the problem stems from, that so many people haven’t been taught that there are no facts in subjective media, and there are very few hard facts at all, even the most solid idea becomes mutable over time. So if one is going to play with ‘facts’, they should stick to the basics and keep to what’s known as Common Knowledge.

    Remember how the RPS review of Zeno Clash approached facts, stating only basic thtings about the game before moving on to pure subjectivity? That’s how it should be, them RPS blokes have a good grasp of what a fact should be, and not to mix it up with subjective viewpoints and amateur, anecdotal research.

    But, you could tell the bleedin’ Internets this until you’re blue in the face, and they’ll still argue as though part of their subjective opinions were solid, immutable fact.

    /sigh

  45. PleasingFungus says:

    Also, for bits that make fun of the Spy: the Red Spy’s desperate attempts to stab the Heavy, who seems only slightly inconvenienced by this. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” Not exactly the “argh!” instant-kill he managed on everyone else.

  46. James T says:

    Mad… WITH POWER!

    [discovers that 12.37% of the video was NOT DEDICATED TO THE FUNNIES, BUT TO SHOWING OFF THE CLASS! GO TO CODE RED, or whatever it is we do!]
    Normally I never complain about people wishing to ‘unweave the rainbow’, but Jesus Christ…

  47. MeestaNob! says:

    The ’1111′ password gag could even be seen as in-joke for Valve employees struggling with a horde of imbecile Steam users who have easily guessed passwords on their precious accounts requiring (frequent) rescuing.

  48. mgl says:

    Best or not, ‘Meet the Spy’ shows how much Valve has grown in confidence with these animated shorts. Remember Meet the Heavy’? Mostly talking-head shots, with some in-gameish footage at the end. ‘Meet the Soldier’ was perhaps the funniest from my POV, due mainly to the extended misrepresentation of Sun Tzu, but still a bunch of in-gameish footage spliced in with the Patton routine. ‘Meet the Engineer’ and ‘Meet the Demo’ were a tad more ambitious, but nothing special.

    But with ‘Meet the Scout’, ‘Meet the Sniper’, and now ‘Meet the Spy’, Valve is really ramping up. Everything is more sophisticated: cinematic camera angles, spot-on comic timing, character development, in-jokes galore, and (in this one especially) even some dramatic suspense. They’re turning into a professional animation shop before our eyes.

    And having perused those snapshots closely, I am wondering how Cate Archer ended up with such a prick of a son.

  49. Walter says:

    Looking at the achievements I realised that the weather effects i.e. the rain is going to make cloaking very difficult outside.

  50. Dorian Cornelius Jasper says:

    So. Does this mean that the entire time, Red Spy was disguised as his own son?

  51. Vinraith says:

    @mgl

    It is a hell of a piece of animation isn’t it? I don’t see how anyone could argue against that.

  52. Tenorek says:

    I think this video is the best because it balance the funny parts with a bit of good action. It seems the spy is the only one who takes his job seriously,lol. Another funny part is the engineer just admiring his lvl 3 sentry. If he’s anything like me, it got sapped just after getting it to lvl 3.

  53. Duke Nasty VI says:

    Take a look at the package the sniper has received, but not opened up yet. “URGENT”, indeed. This is probably my favorite meet the team video so far. The cinematography is very good

  54. DarkNoghri says:

    @Wulf

    Pull open the download page for the ‘Meet the Demoman’ and read his character description. :D

    As an engineer, I can definitely see where all those grad students got their favorites from. But honestly, I think this one may have topped it for me. Just the cinematic awesomeness of the character, mingled with humor (Alarm-o-tron 5000?), plus the great strides that Valve has made in animation make this a great one for me.

    That and I was totally thinking the same thing the BLU soldier was.

    Thinking back, though, my first impression was that the scout was the spy and the soldier was gonna get backstabbed in front of the door, but that went out the window once the heavy showed up.

  55. Yargh says:

    Some of the achievement names are ver very good.

  56. Optimaximal says:

    I originally twigged that it could be the Scout when he spun ‘his’ butterfly knife around but wasn’t hurt when it hit his fingers – He feigned pain, but there was no blood.

    Still, I then expected the Spy to change colours and start stabbing 3 slack-jawed gawpers.

  57. Jahkaivah says:

    I know I shouldn’t be analysing the boards actual use, but they’ve got “red spy” on there twice and not a single “is a spy”, “has briefcase” or “sentry down” which I would imagine be very useful.

    @Psychopomp

    WHY DID SHE EAT THAT GRAPE??????

  58. Rei Onryou says:

    I’m surprised. No really. This Meet The … was awesome and I don’t know why some people dislike it.

    Also, the Demoman video is the best. “I’m a black Scottish cylcops. They got more £$£$% $%^*&^% £$% £$%^ $£%£ %^ $^$%£ than they got the likes of me.”

  59. Overwatch_UA says:

    @mgl
    Heh, you noticed Kate Archerish appearance too? No surprise here — Kate’s the hottest and most sophisticated lady in the biz =) They’re meant for each other!

    And yes, it’s a little bit unexpected how Valve grows in their various “cinematic” skills. We just never thought they’re going that way.
    If they progress at this rate, we could see some really mind-blowing stuff in the future. I’m even afraid to imagine what that would be.

  60. gulag says:

    Well, that was nice.

    As ‘Meet The…’ vids go, it’s a marked departure in tone and structure. While the rest are mostly ‘to camera’ pieces, this is more ‘fly on the wall’, much less jocular, but packed with a wry humour, quite befitting of the Spy, who always stands apart as a loner in a team game.

    I imagine part of this is an effort by Valve to guage public tastes for longer pieces, focusing on a story set in the game world, in the vein of Red Vs. Blue. I’d buy it.

    My 2 Cents – Meet The Sniper was the ‘best’ one so far, with Soldier a close second.

  61. Paradukes says:

    Well did you notice that just about in between the two “Red Spy” panels, there’s a “Has an Evil Twin” panel? Probably coincidental, but there you go…

  62. Nimic says:

    I think this was my favourite. It didn’t make me laugh as much as some of the others, perhaps, but the overall theme of it was great.

    And I have to say, after the last Class Update’s crushing disappointment, this one has started off quite well. I think it might even make up for it, and more.

  63. Polya says:

    Red Spy murdering the sniper was downright nasty, as were the sweet moves with the medic.
    @Dorian Cornelius Jasper
    Just occurred to me. Now that’s just messed up, even without the idea of the scout being his son.

    Anyone think the scout’s mother could be the announcer?

  64. RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:

    “Nein!” – classic

  65. Fazer says:

    You really should write about Robin Walker’s firing spree – http://www.tf2.com

  66. Wilson says:

    I like the bit on the title panel at the bottom where it has:
    COPYRIGHT LOLOLOL
    A Valve Picture

  67. Vandelay says:

    I think it is the quality of the animation that really stood out for me with this one. It looked good in the leaked YouTube version, but in HD it just looks stunning.

    I think this is also the first of the Meet the… videos that actually has a real story going on, which really stands it apart and could be where some people are less interested in it. The humour isn’t just random one liners that look funny by themselves, but require the background of the characters and the story to fully appreciate. Perhaps some experience with playing the classes wouldn’t hurt as well.

    This, as well as the Sniper video, really show that some people in Valve have a real talent for this.

    A TF2 film anyone?

  68. Spliter says:

    My 2 cents:
    Spy is one the most complicated class of all. Playing with other’s minds, pretending to be someone else until they feel safe, and sneaking around like a tarantula ready to leap at an unsuspecting prey.
    I think the reason they put less funny stuff about the spy himself was this: so far every video showed the nature of the class, but most of them are funny/cheery by nature, spy on the other hand is more of a professional that takes his job seriously.
    Also: the “one one one…uh….. One!” joke cracked me up XD
    Also2: why did they change the two “Intruder Alert” at the beginning into one? I liked it that way…

  69. LionsPhil says:

    This video wins by virtue of having a GENTLEMEN reference. That is all.

    (Note that Meet The Sniper also wins for the Pure Pwnage reference. Boom, headshot indeed.)

    As for the “his own mother”—he’s impersonating the scout, you fools. Why would his real mother be also impersonating the scout’s mother? She’s not a spy. Probably.

    (…I guess that wasn’t all.)

  70. Tei says:

    “This video wins by virtue of having a GENTLEMEN reference. That is all.”

    Yea. But, is references to memes something that add or remove value from a original creation? I think it raise the quality of a “mashup” like the uncyclopedia. But for a dramatization of a videogame?

    The spytech world is supposed to be the “clean world of iconic’s”. Where a phone as the shape of a phone icon, a box of ammo look like a box of ammo, a car will look like the icon of a car, ….. thats probably why is soo apealing. It shows that the icons are “right”. Our dayly life teach us that today phones look nothing like the phone icon
    ( like this: http://orquestasms.com/imagenes/phone.jpg), and this is a unpleasant surprise for our poor brain. Phones don’t look like phones in real life.

    Memes are a culture product of the “post-modernism iconclast internet culture” It breaks my inmersion.
    Memes are not clean. There are like a zillion of then, and If you are not much “into” then, you can’t get then. Are probablly the nemesys of what the spytech world suppose.

  71. Vanderdecken says:

    Oh dear, a bunch of computer geeks debating the compatibility of people’s sense of humour. I fear the epitome of the RPS comments ecology has been reached.

    Also, vid made me lol. Note that another entry on the signboard simply says “SMELLS”. http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8145/112a3pu.png

  72. Stupoider says:

    You got something against computer geeks, Vanderdecken? :(

  73. Serondal says:

    I think one thing that would make the spy FAR more effective is friednly fire. I dunno if every single server I ever played on just disabled it or if it isn’t even an option or what, but FF would make a spy a LOT more effective.

    When I do play TF2, which isn’t often, I just shoot everyone that I see even people on my team just incase they’re a spy:P As I normally play as a pyro if they catch on fire I know they’re a spy and finish them off. I wouldn’t go around doing that if I could actually hurt my team mates.

  74. Psychopomp says:

    There is a FF option, it’s of by default because almost every weapon in TF2 has a spray/splash; in addition to griefing.
    As for the fire thing, when FF is on, fire still down not harm teammates.

  75. Serondal says:

    I wouldn’t know Psychopomp as I’ve never seen a server with FF On for TF 2 :P So I guess that means the Pyro is the natural enemy of the spy if the pyro has any common sense or roleplays a true pyro

  76. Calabi says:

    I was on a server with FF on once, it was a rain of death………no one should ever have to witness such horrors.

  77. Funky Badger says:

    There’s also a Doom sight-gag, down Sacha (diminutive of Alexander?) when the Heavy smashes the door.

  78. argh says:

    Delete me

  79. Ryan says:

    Hey Wulf! From the Meet the Demoman page on Steam:

    A fierce temper, a fascination with all things explosive, and a terrible plan to kill the Loch Ness Monster cost the six year old Demoman his original set of adoptive parents. Later, back at the Crypt Grammar School for Orphans near Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands, the boy’s bomb-making skills improved dramatically. His disposition and total number of intact eyeballs, however, did not.

  80. Ryan says:

    Jarate is on the board!

  81. RodeoClown says:

    The Ambassador is out.

    Pistol with sniper accuracy, increased time between shots.

    Mmmmm…

  82. Bursar says:

    Does ‘sniper accuracy’ imply headshot crits and increased damage?

    I thought the standard pistol was pretty accurate anyway.

  83. Jon Kristinsson says:

    One of my favorite line, which hasn’t been mentioned is the Soldier’s:

    “And a knife!” after the Spy’s “We have a problem.” Could have been awfully unfunny, hadn’t it been for the perfect timing and the off-camera delivery.

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