Spy Game (2023)

It is a suspenseful spy drama with many twists and an open-ended ending.

Spy Game is a spy drama that turns real-life spies through an online game where the organization crime recruits players and turns them into real spies.

The Synopsis: In Jinhai, China, a spy game has become popular among young people. As it turns out, the game was developed by an overseas intelligence organization known as "Night Fog." They are using players to engage in espionage activities without their knowledge and seizing the opportunity to cultivate spies among them. The evil seeds of the game have been spreading silently throughout the city. At this time, Gao Tian Yang, the head of reconnaissance at Jinhai National Security Bureau, works with intelligence officer Wu Xi to dive deep into the game as they investigate a case surrounding leaked laboratory secrets. During their investigation, the two rescue Huang Zi Cheng from a conspiracy, who is like a little brother to Gao Tian Yang, and in turn, he becomes their informant thanks to his rich experience in the spy game.

It has a good start and supporting casts like Li Yi Tong, Wei Da Xun, Wang Li Kun, Tony Yang, Wang Yang, etc.; it is an interesting story with decent acting from lead actors/actresses and supporting cast, with interesting twists.

The only complaint I have so far is the synthesized voices that they use to distinguish the characters in the games vs. the real voice in the present time of the drama. It is watchable, and the ending is open for Spy Game 2 since it is open-ended. I give it a 7.5 rating.

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The basic idea of this drama is interesting

Apart from the basic idea, it's hard to find anything good about the drama. During the first two episodes I thought this was a bad parody of spy movies - I was wrong - this is just a very bad spy drama.
The plot and events are full of contradictions and lack of logic, and both the authorities and the spies often act so illogically and stupidly that the drama should be called "Spy Games for Dummies".

The bad script is probably partly to blame, but all the actors perform poorly, even Li YiTong who usually performs excellently in all her roles is uninspired in this drama. Wei Da Xu's "performance" as Huang Zi Cheng is a complete flop.
The VR scenes are also completely unrealistic, for example everyone who uses VR will surely notice how ridiculous it is to "teeter" on roller skates when the movement is made with a controller and the person is actually sitting.

One example of illogicality in this drama ( there are dozens ):
An Spy organization draws up a multi-part plan to steal something. The route of the courier carrying the object is planned so that at a certain point he disappears from all surveillance cameras - and after that he can no longer be located. However, the handover is planned to take place a few hundred meters BEFORE this disappearance. In addition, the handover takes place directly to the car visible in the surveilance camera.

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