Spec Ops

***Spec Ops*** is a game that first appeared in "Karate Trainer".

## History

When High Five drops Miko Kubota off at her home, he tells her he'll be at their Hinobi Store playing the newly released *Solid Gold Edition* of this game. While doing so, he is interrupted by Phil Altiere asking him to mind the register while he and BITT inventory a new shipment of repair parts. Five, having been engrossed in stealth games, eagerly wants to put his skills (and obsession) to use. When he gets a call from Miko asking for his help in covertly helping her sister Lexi sneak into HQ's training room, he enthusiastically agrees. He sneaks around the storefront in a manner reminiscent of the game and, also like the game, steals Phil's key card to access the training room and sneakily delivers it to Miko and Lexi.

Later, when he's informed by BITT that the training room is malfunctioning because Lexi's belt is still active, he takes one of the shipment boxes and uses it to sneak into Lexi's school like the player character. He is disappointed and confused when Miko automatically recognizes him in spite of his attempt at being stealthy.

## Description

*Spec Ops* is a game playable on Hinobi home consoles.

## Gameplay

The game focuses on stealth, with the goal of traversing levels and collecting necessary items without being detected. Players play as as unnamed male character.

The game is in 3rd person perspective and appears to have fixed camera angles, rather than giving camera control to the player. It features the player's name and what appears to be a health bar in the upper left corner, a mini map in the upper right, and an inventory and/or ability tracker in the lower right corner. The lower right tracker displays icons corresponding to potential and in-use items and abilities.

When a key item is seen on-screen, the game UI highlights the item and tracks it across the screen. When a key item is obtained, an image of it appears in the lower right corner above the inventory/ability tracker.

### Presumed Features

The following features are presumed to exist in the game, but are not confirmed, based on them being featured in the real-world scenes of the episode as visual gags:

There are cutscenes where the player communicates with other NPCs over communicators. Videos of the speaking characters' heads are displayed on the sides of the screen while images of what they are discussing, such as mission objectives, are displayed between them in the middle. At the bottom are a rewind, play/pause, and fast-forward buttons over a progress bar. When the cutscene concludes with the player accepting the mission, the word "ACCEPTED" appears over the cutscene.

When the player enters a stealth mode level, "STEALTH MODE" appears on the screen.

When accessed, the inventory is a vertical list displaying each item and how many of them the player has.

### Abilities

* Crawling through vents.
* Hiding
	+ Hiding from enemies' view (the player hugs a corner and their model turns transluscent, accompanied by a sound effect and a crossed-out eye icon appearing on the screen. Leaving the wall deactivates these features. Thus, it is unclear if the character is actually turning invisible, or if it is merely a visual representation of a game mechanic).
	+ Inside storage closets/cupboards.
	+ Inside a box (this is an on-demand ability the player can perform at any time, not reliant on there being an existing box in the environment).
* Distracting enemies (the player throws a toothpick held in their mouth to make enemies turn towards the source of the sound).
* Stealing key items from enemies.
* A knife-based ability (judging by the presence of a knife in the player's inventory).

## Characters

* Unnamed player character
* Enemy guard NPCs

## Trivia

* The game is a parody/expy of the *Metal Gear* video game franchise created by Konami, specifically the *Metal Gear Solid* series beginning with the 1998 game that marked the series' transition to 3D.
	+ The player character looks identical to Solid Snake.
* The game is rated C, presumably for "Classic Jane".
	+ The rating logo is a "C" inside a box, with "CLASSIC" on top and "JANE" at the bottom. Real world video games released in Canada and the United States are rated by the ESRB, with ratings being displayed as a similar design: the word on top corresponds to the letter logo in the center (such as "E for Everyone", "M for Mature", etc.), while the bottom of the box reads "content rated by the ESRB". Thus, it is unclear if the full C rating is meant to be "*for* Classic Jane", or "C for Classic, rated by JANE".
* The game has a special *Solid Gold Edition* version.
	+ *Spec Ops: Gold Edition*'s cover art was designed by Mark Taihei.
* High Five says two catchphrases in relation to the game:
	+ When playing, he says "I *am* the dusk." This is a reference to the quote "I am the night", commonly associated with the comic book character Batman. The quote is from a longer line said by the character in the 1992 animated series episode "Nothing to Fear": "I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!"
		- Coincidentally, the *Ar**kham* Batman video game trilogy also features heavy focus on stealth traversal and combat.
	+ When sneaking around the Hinobi store, he says "I am a shadow on the wind."

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Karate Trainer