Operation: Tango has a great central premise; you and a buddy must work together in asymmetrical co-op to complete a globe-trotting set of covert missions. One plays the agent, while the other is the hacker, and you'll both play an integral role in saving the world from cyber-destruction. You both have different views on a given scenario, so vocal communication is essential in order to get the job done.

In practice, the game generally handles this idea rather well. The eight missions are nicely varied, and have you doing cool spy stuff like hacking mainframes, dodging lasers, and tracking down targets. The story serves only to provide some slight context to what you're doing, but the objectives and settings are all interesting and fun. Working out puzzles where you need to truly cooperate — giving each other codes, or guiding the other player through obstacles for instance — is great, and the game excels when you're both on the same page and deftly thwarting evil plots.

The trouble is it doesn't give you the time or opportunity to puzzle things out naturally. Whether you're the agent or the hacker, gameplay changes frequently, and you'll constantly be presented with new interfaces or mechanics. That's all well and good, but you're given no room to work out what you're meant to do; nine times out of 10, we figured out how things worked by trying something and failing the mission. There's no wiggle room to experiment; you almost have to fail to succeed. Frustratingly, after this trial and error passes and you know what the game is asking of you, it's a really good time.

It packs quite a lot in to its short runtime, with plenty of variety making for a unique set of levels. The game does struggle with frame rate here and there, especially playing as the agent, but it generally looks and sounds good, and the Hint system is a nice touch if you need a pointer or two. Despite some small setbacks, Operation: Tango is well worth a try if you're after a co-op kick.