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Brevity
05-16-2003, 05:31 PM
Sam Fish..er, Ethan Hawk is back in yet another MI game.
IGN

Price: 39.99

May 16, 2003 - Things tend to go like this: A hot new game is released and sells a jillion copies. Companies see how well the said games sell and think, "Hmm. What if we had a game like that." A development team is found, and so begins the creation of a game that strongly resembles hit game X, but has a distinctive feature that sets it apart from the trendsetter. So is the case with Atari's Mission Impossible.
It's, um, impossible to talk about Mission Impossible without mentioning Ubi Soft's excellent Splinter Cell. Both games have so much in common, the two seem more like long lost brothers than competing games. Where to start… How about the lead character design. Sam Fisher and Ethan Hawk both sport slick, ultra-tech, black outfits that are skintight and sleek as hell. We assume that if the two showed up at prom on the same night, a jealous catfight would break out because the two secret agents would mistake each other's outfits as their own.

But where Mission Impossible most resembles Splinter Cell is in the player's repertoire of moves. Ethan Hawk creeps, chokes, shoots, and even knocks soldiers out while doing his best impression of Mr. Fisher. And believe us when we say that the impression is one of the best we've ever seen -- the similarity is uncanny. Just wait until you get a look at how Ethan shimmies across pipes, sometimes eve lifting his legs up just like, yep, Sam Fisher.

But both games are not completely alike in every way. For example, in Mission Impossible, Ethan Hawk must stealthily knock out enemies and, to prevent alerting other guards, must pick up unconscious bodies, throw them around his neck, and hide them in a dark place. Wait. We did that in Splinter Cell too, didn't we. Let's give this another try. Ethan has a distractor gun of sorts that he can use to attract the enemie's attention while he sneaks by…wait. Oh, never mind.

But Mission Impossible borrows from more than just Splinter Cell, namely the Mission Impossible movies, which makes a bit more sense. While the game's story is independent from the movies', several scenes are inspired by some of them more memorable film scenes. For example, the scene in Mission Impossible where Tom Cruise is dangling from a wire as he accesses a computer terminal is recreated as is the scene where Tom is destroying the bio-culture in the lab.

But there are some original elements to the game too. By using his trusty binocs, Ethan can take pictures of guards and other characters (yes, his binoculars act as a camera too), that he can then send to Luther, voiced and modeled after MI star, Ving Rhames. The photos are then used to make masks and disguises for Ethan that can later be used to help facilitate infiltration. We didn't get a chance to see this aspect of the game in person, but the concept is intriguing nonetheless.

Mission Impossible uses a solid graphics engine that draws relatively large environments and characters without too much trouble. The game is still very early, so much of the lighting and effects had yet to be implemented. But what's already in place is looking pretty good. Again, the character models are large and animate well, and the texture work is competent if a bit bland, but this is usually characteristic of games in their pre-alpha/alpha stages.

Movie license-based games are infamously known for their bad quality and reliance of flash and name over any real substance. Luckily, Mission Impossible shows promise and may actually be a good game in the end. Sure, there is some hefty "borrowing" going on the game, but no one ever said that was a bad thing.

Don't forget to check back with IGN as we'll have more on Mission Impossible in the coming weeks.

Shadow20002
05-16-2003, 05:44 PM
Hey, Brevity, are there some screenshots of this game ? :cool:

Brevity
05-16-2003, 09:39 PM
I looked and did not see any. I'll Keep checking:watchout:

Shadow20002
05-16-2003, 10:26 PM
Anyway, thank for all. This title could challenge the sequel of Splinter Cell, hope they done it well or else... ;)


P.S. If you find something, post it here instead of linked to another site.