The Nintendo DS has become a popular platform for adventures since its inception, but from Ace Attorney to Touch Detective to Hotel Dusk, the lineup of original DS adventures has been almost exclusively Japanese to date. That’s neither a good nor bad thing, just a curious observation about the lack of Western adventures made for the handheld despite its obvious conduciveness to point-and-click gameplay. The lone exception so far has been Sproing’s Undercover: Dual Motives, which unfortunately won’t be inspiring any other intrepid developers to follow suit any time soon.

If you haven’t heard much about Dual Motives, that’s hardly a surprise. When it comes to the prequel to Operation Wintersun, “Undercover” represents not just the series name but its non-existent sales and marketing campaign. Somewhere along the line, however, under the watchful eyes of absolutely no one, the game was quietly released in the UK. And while I won’t go quite so far as to say it might be better off staying hidden, I will say that it doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny, delivering little more than a clumsy attempt at utilizing the unique DS features in what is already a substandard adventure.

Like its PC predecessor, Dual Motives stars mild-mannered physics professor John Russell. Under the looming shadow of World War II, the game is set in an inexplicably tiny research facility where top English scientists have gathered to work on secret military projects. But there’s a traitor in their midst, and after a quick and dirty frame job established in the game’s introduction, all signs point to Russell, leaving him no choice but to expose the real culprit and clear his name in the process.

A WWII-themed spy game should be rife with adventuring possibilities, but it won’t be long before you realize that Dual Motives capitalizes on none of them. In fact, it really doesn’t even try. Other than providing an excuse for espionage, the war has no impact on the game whatsoever, and despite its title there’s nothing “undercover” about Russell’s exploits. Unlike the previous game, which took players behind enemy lines and into battle-ravaged territories, Dual Motives takes place entirely within the quiet confines of the remote facility where everyone recognizes Russell for the unassuming character he is. And while you do some sneaking around in between fetch errands for your colleagues, much of your "spy" work amounts to creating distractions only one step above yelling “Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!"

Luckily for Russell, he once again has the help of female cohort. This time around it’s Audrey, the facility secretary who’s convinced of his innocence for reasons known only to her. Players control both Russell and Audrey throughout the game, switching between them at will. The multiple protagonist concept also presents a wide array of possibilities, but again Dual Motives is limited only to its most basic uses. Both characters must work together on a few occasions, but other times the only real use of a second character is to gain access to one or two places the other isn’t allowed. And while that serves a perfectly reasonable purpose, to achieve it generally means trying exactly the same actions with both characters until one succeeds. Making that even more annoying is that there’s no way to make them both travel together.

Whether controlling Russell or Audrey, the action of the playable character displays on the bottom screen while the inactive character is shown on the top one. And I do mean “inactive”, as the character will merely stand in place where you left them, motionless until you beckon them again. Surely a better use could have been made for an entire screen than to emphasize the gimmicky nature of its second playable character, particularly since both the travel map and inventory take up entire screens of their own and either would have been a more logical choice instead.

This isn’t the only peculiarity in the use of screens, either, as dialogues are carried out between close-up character portraits placed top and bottom. What’s odd is that each person’s text is displayed on its own screen, meaning to read through a conversation requires constantly shifting your sight up and down to see the individual lines. It’s totally unintuitive, as I instinctively kept looking for dialogue where it just appeared last, never to find it waiting.

Not that you’ll spend much time talking to people, as none of them have anything interesting to say. From fellow scientists like the bomb and propulsion specialists to the ever-lurking but irrelevant MI6 agents, each is limited to his or her role as a plot device, which is generally to make your life a hassle in one form or another. Russell himself is utterly bland, though you’d expect as much from a bookwormish, non-heroic professor. Audrey has a bit more pep but no real distinguishing characteristics other than a refusal to do anything that will break a nail or get her dress dirty (an unwillingness she goes on to completely overlook when the game demands, mind you). Conversations are generally short and quick, rarely with as many as even two interactive choices. At least the mechanics speed things along, as the full text displays immediately, and a quick screen tap moves the dialogue forward. Translation from the original German can be a bit spotty, but given the limited sample size, that’s the least of the game’s worries.

You’ll do plenty of tapping elsewhere in Dual Motives; a stylus tap being the DS equivalent of the PC’s “click”. For the most part, the game plays out very much like a traditional point-and-click adventure. Tapping the touch screen either moves characters around the environment or interacts with objects. Unlike mouse-driven games, of course, available hotspots aren’t shown until actually clicked on, at which point a multi-cursor option allows you to examine or attempt to use them with a second tap. It all works well enough mechanically, though often you’ll click on something you think will be interactive only to accomplish nothing more than moving your character directly in front of the objects you’re interested in. You’ll also need be sure the character is within range of an interactive item, even just to look at it. Usually the locations are small enough not to matter, but occasionally you’ll inadvertently cause your character to slowly meander to distant points just to say there’s nothing useful there.