Men in Black: Most Wanted is a treat for VR-owning MIB fans

Love the Men in Black movies? Then you’ll be happy to hear that, despite the lack of Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones, Men in Black: Most Wanted succeeds in channelling the spirit of Barry Sonnenfield’s action comedies. Well, mostly; there is one bizarre blunder, but I’ll get to that later.

I do mean the movies, too. It’s true that Men in Black was a comic before it was a film, but Most Wanted uses the original MIB trilogy as its source material, casting you as an inconveniently amnesiac Agent I. From a gameplay standpoint, it’s an excuse to put you through a variety of tutorials, but your apparent neuralization plays into the plot in an intriguing manner.

I’ve yet to conquer Men in Black: Most Wanted’s grand alien conspiracy but, buoyed by quality voice-overs and some intriguing game mechanics, it’s succeeded in hooking me. Yes, there’s shooting, but you’ll also spend time just pottering around, investigating clues and removing all evidence of your presence, aided by your memory-erasing neuralizer.

There’s a neat stealth element at play, whereby civilians get suspicious if they see you wielding any gadgetry or meddling with alien tech. Just hiding it behind your back doesn’t work, either, so you’ll be doing plenty of innocent whistling while radios and other distractions just happen to burst into life.

Men in Black: Most Wanted makes good use of the Meta Quest 2/3’s VR features; while you can bring up an equipment menu, it’s more satisfying to pluck the tool in question off your body. I quickly learnt that just flinging your gadgets aside doesn’t return them to you. At least twice I had to neuralize someone because they’d found my neuralizer just lying on the floor.

Does that make me a crap Man in Black? Probably, but blunders or not, Men in Black: Most Wanted does a solid job of making you feel like a shadowy government agent, coupled with the tongue-in-cheek humour of the movies. At least it does, right up until you visit MiB HQ.

Why? Because compared to the MiB HQ of the movies, your home base, which you visit between levels, is weirdly underwhelming. There’s a moment when you’re going down the MIB lift, as in the first movie, and you’re expecting to see the whole HQ expand in front of you; desks, aliens, the whole works. There’s even a swell of music as you descend.

What you actually get, playing on the Meta Quest 3, is an underwhelming, compact area that’s not only different from the movies, it’s been changed from the above trailer. It may be that there’s a more elaborate, movie-accurate version of the MiB HQ later on in the game, but I doubt it. It wasn’t until I got to the game’s first proper level, set in a dingy motel, that my excitement returned.

Combat is a blast, with some characteristically sci-fi MiB weapons. And, while it doesn’t feel forced, you have the option to use stealth to get the drop on foes. The game’s grunts have a convenient self-destruct handle you can yank, which never failed to make me grin. Throw in a handful of puzzles and a range of engaging characters, and you’re unlikely to get bored.

Ultimately, if you’re not a MiB fan, this game won’t convert you, but it’s a treat for fans of the movies, and if you let it get its hooks into you, you’ll barely miss Mssrs Smith and Jones. Men in Black: Most Wanted is available now on Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro, priced at £19.99.