"A good but different kind of sneaker"

I heard about this game on forums and got interested in it because of its stealth gameplay. After seeing the terribly long and boring trailer on YouTube I bought this. Does it deliver the stealth experience?

Story - You play as a Russian spy set in 1951 or rather in WW2. The story is bad enough to confuse you. you get called in by your superior and he asks a series of questions on your past missions. Then you play these missions. Your first mission is set in 1942 in a Nazi weapon development camp and you progress from there.
2 out of 5


Graphics/Sounds - The good news is this game will probably run on your machine. The bad news is that it's nothing to brag about. First the graphics, they basically compare to say Hitman 2. You have the standard fare, ragdolls, AA, shaders etc. The graphics are not technically impressive but fortunately they are varied.

The locales are never the same, you don't stay in Nazi Germany for long. And although you won't be impressed with the graphics, they will never hinder your experience. I experienced a few clippings but that's understandable when dealing with corpses you're carrying and dropping.

The sounds on the other hand are lacking. For a stealth game the sounds are terribly bland. you hardly hear soldiers near you, they don't even talk it seems! you hardly hear footsteps. This results in you being forced to use the display map for information on everything. You'll be staring more frequently at the map than the world around you, and that's a shame.
3 out of 5

Gameplay - Fortunately the gameplay picks up. The best way to describe this game is say that it's a mix of Hitman and Commandos. This game is not Thief, there are no shadows to hide in. The missions are quite varied and remind me of Commandos, eg infiltrate this base, steal these documents, rescue this prisoner.
here's several objectives each mission and you don't have to do them in any specific order. You're given a lot of leeway on how to achieve them. The display map also gives line of sight of enemies, much like Commandos does. You can only carry 3 weapons, 1 rifle/smg, 1 pistol and a knife. You also have a backpack full of the same stuff y like ockpicks, grenades, wire cutters, plot items.


Again the game can be described as Hitman when it comes to the sneaking. First everything is third person. When you make too much noise or are caught or anything a 'danger bar' shows up and gradually fills up. When the bar is full a guard has tagged you as an enemy and you're discovered. This is no Metal Gear Solid, or even Thief. Once you're caught, you must usually pull out the carbine or load a saved game. Sometimes fleeing will work but you will load a lot in this game.

The AI for the most part is competent, if not interesting. AI is very tricky. FEAR for example has a vaunted AI, but it's in fact all scripted and the constant radio chatter make them sound a lot smarter than they are. Remember when I said that the enemies in this game hardly speak? That leads to confusion between people.

The strong point of AI is how it responds to you. To infiltrate you will typically disguise yourself as an enemy soldier or officer. If you look the part most enemies will leave you alone, but if you carry a Russian pistol or jump around crazily or stand around suspiciously your danger bar will gradually fill, the enemy is very good at guarding it's territory.

If you're ever discovered, a sort of 'contagion' takes place. The immediate soldier who discovers you or a body tells his buddy who tells his buddy etc until the immediate area has you tagged as an enemy. But if you switch your costume to something different, they go back to being clueless! Very nice.

The AI is one of the best when it comes to overall awareness. A weak point is that once you pick a guard off and carry his body in a dark place, everyone else acts as if it never happened. You'd think they'd get suspicious when half the staff is mysteriously missing. Stealth games have always had AI troubles, but Death to Spies I believe really innovates in the area. (while still sharing much of the same old stupidities)

One final note, I never played the new James Bond games or Splinter Cell. If you're the kind who's played every stealth game on the block, this one might seem uninspired and boring.
4 out of 5

Play game/Replayability
The game has 10 missions that don't take very long to finish. Each mission is several hours but depending how little quick save/loading you wish to do and what limits you set on yourself the game could last for a long time. The game is hard by the way, this is not something you'll most likely rush on a Saturday.

Rent or Buy?
Buy it. If you like the idea of being a Russian spy, going on different locales and different missions, and enjoy infiltrating enemy bases this game is for you. I'm sorry for the comparison again but if you enjoyed the spy character in Commandos, this is it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/11/08

Game Release: Death to Spies (US, 10/16/07)