IGI 2: Covert Strike (PC CD)

I've played this game to death. I was a big fan of the first IGI game, so bought this one as soon as it came out back in the day. It maybe graphically dated, but its still great fun to play. As in the first game, you play special agent David Jones, this time sent on a mission to recover some new EMP chips, but as the plot thickens, you discover traitors in your organisation and are required to hunt them down and discover what they have been up to.

There are around 15-20 seperate levels, set in various areas from military, industrial to far eastern villages to snow capped mountains. You have a real time map computer which gives you a layout of the land and highlights your mission tagets as well as patrolling enemy forces. Each level usually has several objectives for you to complete to finish the level. New to IGI2 is that on each level you have a limited number of game saves depending on the difficulty level you have selected (except on the hardest level, which, like the original IGI game, has no save ability).

They key about this game is is game play. Although not as totally free-roaming as the first game (some levels are limited), you can approach levels how you want to in the main - its not as linear as a lot of games - and more importantly, you will be required to use stealth to achieve some objectives optimally. Your player has a visibilty meter which also doubles as a noise meter. You can toggle Jones's stance to either run or walk, crouch or crawl; each reduces Jones visibility and noise making but also limit his functionality and movement speed. You can creep up behind the enemy and strangle them. The guards you will encounter have three modes - passive, active and aggressive. In passive mode, they are usually standing about or walking pre-set patrol paths; active means the guards are aware of something but not sure what, they usually mill around in this state; aggressive means you've been spotted or a guard has spotted a dead guard you previously killed etc, and will be on the look out for you. Being detected by CCTV security cameras will also set the guards off, as can a dead body in the cameras field of view. If you alert a guard, he usually responds queroulsy; if for example, you can get out of his line of sight (by dropping to crouch mode say) or stop moving if you alerted him via sound, he will, after around 5 seconds, ignore it as an error on his part, and thus will stay in passive mode. Knowing this is useful in the game as sometimes you will alert a guard by performing an action, but you can keep him passive by doing nothing for those 5 seconds. You can take out cameras and guards as you like, but sometimes its better just to try and sneak past them. Some areas also have alarm buttons which a guard might run to activate if you are seen. You will also interact with computer terminals to perform certain tasks/objectives. This usually done in the same way that you perform other tasks such as picking locks or breaking necks; you have to hold down the action key when the appropriate icon is on screen and wait till the progress bar is complete to complete the required action. This makes you vunerable, and if you let go of the action key half way thru, you will have to start again.

One device you do have which is extremely useful is a thermal scope, this shows the guards as bright yellow and red, and it can even detect through walls for a limited range. Very useful in night missions. You will encounter some aircraft, helicopters and a few tanks/armoured vehicles, but you cannot interact with them, although you can blow up the tanks with an RPG! You are also supplied with binoculars. You health meter will drop if you hurt yourself or are shot, but you can replenish up to half of your health in one go by using the syringes you might find on a level (although they are extremely scarce)

There is quite a wide range of weapons in the game, from silenced pistols to sniper rifles, from machine guns to RPG's, some of which have dual fire modes or scopes, and all of the main weapons have a different weight setting, thus if you pick up a big machine gun say, your mobility will be lessened. You can carry one main weapon and one side arm, plus a max of 3 grenades and 3 land mines. You also have a knife as your default weapon. If you pass over a weapon the same as your own, you will automatically collect the ammo from it, if its a different weapon, you will be given the option to change your current weapon for it. Sometimes the weapon you are supplied with runs out of ammo, and as the guards you kill drop their guns, it sometimes pays to pick up their weapons and use them, as there's usually more ammo. The guns feature a reticule which reflects the field of fire, and it changes size depending on your stance. Running with a weapon makes the reticule larger, so your shots will be less accurate; firing in crawl mode gives much greater accuracy, but you can be very vunerable; guards will home in on gun fire and will see your muzzle flash if they are facing you, giving them a good target to aim for. Some guards will fall to crawl mode to improve their accuracy. or do side rolls to confuse you before opening fire.

As i've said, i love playing this game. Some of the night levels and the snow levels are great. The guards can behave oddly; if they become aggressive or active, usually staying out of sight long enough makes them revert to passive mode again, even though there maybe bodies of the comrades strewn about! They also seem to be impervious to their own ammo (a few times on one level, a guy with an RPG has taken a shot at me from a ledge say, however as i've been virtually underneath him, so his RPG hits the ledge he is standing on, and nothing happens to him!

Each level carries a ranking at the end, based on how fast you completed it, together with your weapon accuracy %, health % and the number of times you were spotted. The top rank for each level is Secret Agent (Or 'David Jones' if playing on the hardest setting) and some of them are not easy to achieve!

Not your usual run of the mill shooter, and all the better for it.

Lets be honest, it is dated when it comes to graphics capability, but still very good, the game is different to most FPS games in that you cannot go in with all guns blazing, you have to be strategic and sometimes that doesn't work and you find yourself having to shoot your way out of a corner, which is fun. You do have to be careful when choosing your weapons though as you are limited to what you carry.

All that said, I wanted more, I felt the final mission was a bit of an anti-climax at the end, it was good to gain a viewpoint and watch the reinforcements turn up, but it was a simple case right at the end with the cut scene of saying 'oh, is that it, all over with!' But the game is still very good to play, for a real challenge though, play with a high difficulty level, it's insane, but still fun and you have to be even more tactful.

I did find this actually easier to play than the first IGI, would love to see more of this series as I rated it like a modern version of Thief and those were fantastic games

Love the first part ? You will enjoy this one as well , a bit different but easy to get used to , have fun !!!!!!!!! i had