James Bond meets Impossible Mission meets The Incredibles

We met with lead designer Ed Kay in the PlayStation Lounge at E3 to discuss the retro styled stealth action of CounterSpy. The game is played both in 2D (platforming and stealth section) and in 3D spaces (when you enter into cover), which makes for an interesting mix of mechanics.

Kay told of inspirations such as the obvious ones (James Bond) as well as older spy shows and games like Impossible Mission. We spoke to Kay about the fact that this stealth game seemingly allowed you to play a little more aggressively, however as it turns out that's not a great plan.

"You're trying to manage the defcon of each country you're playing on. There's the Imperialists and well as the Socialists. As you're managing the defcon if that gets too high the rockets are going to launch and it's game over."

The game has a very nice stylised visual design.

"Actually one of the guys who works for us used to work at Pixar for many years, working on films like The Incredibles. So this kind of design vision is definitely being really, really impactful on the game."

CounterSpy is coming to PS3, PS4 and PS Vita on August 20 and is also heading to mobile platforms.