Mention

A Mention is a singular piece of information that has absolutely no context. It is often collected during Wiretaps and Photography. It is the least valuable, and most common kind of information that can be collected.

On its own, a Mention is rarely useful. However it is always possible to investigate further into the information provided by a Mention, in the hope that it would lead somewhere.

Also, Mentions are sometimes very useful in bulk - if Max can keep track of how many times any specific name, place or thing was Mentioned to him.

Description[]

A Mention is an independent piece of information. It is basically a reference to something, be it the Name of some suspect, an Organization, a City, and so on. It is given without any context, and with no indication of relevance to the plot or anything else.

The visual appearance of a Mention, when one is found, is very distinct. It is a mid-sized box with a black frame and a light-blue interior, and is meant to resemble a document as viewed through the eyepiece of a Camera. The Subject of the Mention (I.E. the information itself) is displayed within the frame.

Types of Data[]

Mentions are distinguished from one another by the kind of data they contain. Each Mention will contain only one of the following:

The Name of an enemy agent.
A Photograph of an enemy agent.
The Name of an Organization.
The name of a City.
The location of a Hideout.
Nothing.

When a Mention is generated, the program picks one of these randomly. However, there are rules as to the specific subject of the Mention, as explained below.

Name Mention[]

This is simply the name of an enemy agent. This could be the name of a Participant in the Criminal Plot, or the name of a Red Herring. Naturally, the likelihood of a Red Herring's name popping up in a Mention is higher when playing on the higher Difficulty settings. Very occasionally on easy levels, the name of a Mastermind may be mentioned.

It is worthwhile recording every name you come across - they can be queried on Hacked Terminals later in an attempt to get more information.

Photograph Mention[]

Mention Photograph — A Photographic Mention

This type of Mention is basically just a photograph of an agent. Again, this could be a photograph of a Participant in the current Criminal Plot, or it could be a photograph of a Red Herring. Again, occasionally on easy levels, photographs of Masterminds have been known to appear.

Unfortunately, there really is no use for Photographic Mentions - you can't search for a face. At most, it can be used to identify agents when Observing a Hideout to see who comes out. However it's such a long-shot that it's practically not viable to begin with. Photographic Mentions are therefore best ignored.

Organization Mention[]

Mention Organization — An Organization Mention.

This mention shows the name of one of the Organizations featured in the current Theatre of Operations.

The game randomly chooses an Organization to mention. However, the randomization does have a pattern to it: Organizations whose members include Participants in the current Criminal Plot tend to be mentioned more often than others - especially on lower Difficulty settings. Therefore, by making note of which Organizations get mentioned more than others, it is sometimes possible to deduce which Organizations are worth investigating - by performing various espionage activities at their Hideouts.

City Mention[]

This mention shows the name of one of the Cities in the current Theatre of Operations.

As with the Organization Mention above, the mentioned city is chosen randomly, but Cities where Participants in the current Criminal Plot reside tend to get mentioned more often, especially on lower Difficulty settings. By making note of which cities get mentioned more often than others, it's sometimes possible to deduce which cities are home to Participants.

Hideout Location Mention[]

Along with Name Mentions, this is one of the more useful kinds of Mentions. It basically reveals to Max the location of a certain Hideout.

This is the only Mention which actually has a permanent effect: Once it is acquired, Max can now visit the Hideout by traveling to the city it is in - it'll be shown on the locations list.

The game chooses which Hideout to reveal based on the place where the Mention is acquired. For instance, if the Mention is acquired during a Wiretap at the PIFA hideout in Rome, the game will reveal the location of another hideout in Rome, or another hideout belonging to PIFA in another city.

There is also a greater chance for the game to reveal a hideout belonging to a Participant in the current Criminal Plot, if one such hideout exists that answers to the above criteria. Also, if revealing another hideout in the same city, there's a greater chance to reveal one belonging to an Organization which is employing one or more of the Participants.

Note that it is possible for a Mention to reveal a Hideout whose location is already known to Max. This is unfortunate, as it has no benefit at all.

Hideout Mentions are often rarer than the other types.

Empty Mention[]

The much-hated Empty Mention may or may not be a programming glitch. The Mention box pops up, but it is absolutely devoid of information.