Mission: Impossible
Reviewed by Scott McCall
Some might say the drama leading up to Mission: Impossible's
release might be more interesting than the game itself. After
all, no game in 1998 has been more heavily scrutinized than
Ocean's oft-delayed Mission: Impossible. Opinions from players
and critics cover the entire spectrum, from awesome to
decent to disappointing. Most critics have given the game a
lukewarm reception at best, making me wonder if playing
Metal Gear Solid before the rest of us had a negative effect
on their opinions of this spy thriller. I don't know, maybe I'm
just easier to please, but I found that I thoroughly Mission:
Impossible, and now I'm going to show you why.
First and foremost, Mission: Impossible is nothing like GoldenEye
007. I really didn't realize this for myself until I actually
played the game for a while. It feels completely different, it
looks completely different, its pace is completely different,
and its character interaction is completely different. Yes, they
do share similar concepts, but the execution is different
enough that you can't directly compare the two. Still, I'm
going to compare them to show how they're alike and how
they're different -- but not to promote one over the other.
Many have complained about Mission: Impossible's trial-and-error
gameplay. Is it me, or do those same people seem to have
forgotten that GoldenEye 007 had the same type gameplay,
especially on its higher levels of difficulty? But just like
GoldenEye 007, it's still fun to replay the same levels over
and over in Mission: Impossible because you feel that you've
accomplished something new each time or that the next time
you'll be able to put it all together and meet the objectives.
While GoldenEye 007 introduced stealth elements into the 3D
action/shooter genre, it still relied heavily on its action. A
lot of that action is missing in Mission: Impossible, which
may be disappointing if you're looking for a game just like
that beloved classic. Mission: Impossible places greater
emphasis on puzzle-solving, teamwork, gadgetry, and following
orders. Basically, the shooting element has been reduced to the
point that the game can no longer be classified under the 3D
action/shooter genre.
For example, in addition to your pre-mission objectives, you'll
often receive updates, new orders, or advice from Phelps or
someone else. You have an "IMF Communicator" to check for
information about possible actions, such receiving a message,
talking to a character, opening a door, pushing a switch, or
climbing a wall. There's also a "Field Scanner" always on the
screen that will lead you to important objects, people, and
spots. Some might think these devices take away some of
the mystery, but you'll soon realize that the game can be
challenging enough even with the help of technology. Remember,
the Impossible Mission Force is a team; you're not a one-man
wrecking crew.
One thing about Mission: Impossible that may turn people off
too soon is that the first two levels (mission one) are
uninspiring and unexciting, not to mention that the control is
initially a pain. But once the game starts to follow the movie
a little more closely and starts to introduce more team
members and gadgets (mission two), the game gets much
better. Listen to some of these objectives on future levels.
For instance, on one level, you must escape from CIA headquarters.
Along the way, you have to do your best to avoid security and
you must take a sergeant hostage to escape. In order to do
that, you have to spray paint the video surveillance cameras
and find the appropriate item to hold him up with. On another
level, at a party, you have to get a killer before she gets you,
find a way to lure a general downstairs, and impersonate
him -- all without getting the guards suspicious. Yet another
level has you taking control of snipers to protect Ethan Hunt,
the guy you would normally control. This is only a small
sampling of a few objectives and doesn't necessarily represent
all the objectives on that level. Some levels might only have two
objectives while other levels might have seven or eight
objectives. Speaking of which, the objectives can usually
completed in any order, but that's because you usually have
to complete certain ones first before getting further into the level.
Intelligence, teamwork, and gadgets also play a great role in
Mission: Impossible. One of the greatest gadgets, the facemaker,
plays an integral part of the game and is a great item to use.
You'll be knocking out people throughout the game and
impersonating them. So once you're impersonating them,
you have to play a little differently. In most instances, you
shouldn't run, you shouldn't have a weapon drawn, and you
shouldn't act confused. The enemies in the game will actually
pick up on these types of behaviors. Also, on nearly every mission,
you'll be meeting with other IMF members on several occasions.
Sometimes they'll give you advice, sometimes they'll give
you items, and sometimes they'll join your cause. But
oftentimes you'll also have to make sure there's no one looking
when talking to them or placing an item somewhere.
Getting back to items, there are many other cool gadgets
you'll be using such as a video freezer, night-view glasses,
nausea powder, fingerprint scanner, smoke generator,
wire-cutters, scramblers, and more. But don't think that
weapons are non-existent. OK, so they're not as high-powered
and deadly as the weapons in GoldenEye 007. They still get the
job done. You'll be using a 7.65mm silenced gun, a dartgun, a
blowpipe, explosive gum, an electro-stunner, a fire extinguisher,
and more.
One improvement Mission: Impossible has over GoldenEye 007 is
when it comes to the use of story and cinema sequences. For
example, before starting certain missions (there are five
missions with a varying number of levels in each for a total
of 20 levels), there's the classic, self-destructing message
for Mr. Phelps. Instead of just displaying text on a screen,
the developers wisely used real-time cinemas with full
voice to describe the mission. And although the background
information and in-game character dialogues are text-only,
it still greatly helps to expand the story. Real-time sequences
are even used before or after completing or triggering something.
It makes great use of the N64's capabilities to do this.
Although one could make a case for Mission: Impossible's
gameplay, spy elements, and intelligence, there really is
no excuse for the inexact and weird control. It does take a
while to get used to, and once you do it's not that big of a
deal. But you know the control isn't that great when if you
haven't played it for a few days, you struggle with it for a
little bit.
Mission: Impossible has variations of the control depending
on the level. What that means is that on one level you might
not be able to run and on another level you might not be able to
jump. Normally, here's the control scheme: the A button is for
action (jump, open, receive message, push switch, etc.), the
Z button is attack (trigger, shoot, or punch), the R button (when
held) switches from a third-person view to a first-person
perspective, the Bottom C button crouches, the Top C button
zooms in on the first-person aiming mode, and the Left C
and Right C buttons side-step in the that mode, too. If you
didn't notice yet, I haven't mentioned the B button. It's used
to do an inventory scroll. Now here's where it gets confusing.
Once you're inside the inventory scroll, you must press the
B button to switch between weapons. But if you need to switch
to a certain gadget, then you must press the Left C button
as needed. Then you press the A button to accept the choice
of that weapon or gadget. This isn't easy to do effectively
in the heat of a mission, although you will get better with
practice. Finally, you use the Control Stick to move. This
isn't as smooth as it should be, either. When running, the
camera switches to a far away perspective. When moving
normally, it uses a rear, third-person viewpoint. When using an
offensive weapon or gadget, you must stop and hold down
R for the first-person aiming sights. So that means you
can't accurately attack without stopping. Ouch. Also, you
can tweak the camera a little with the L button and Control
Pad. It's useful to use the Control Pad to look around bends.
There are also slightly different control schemes for the
Terminal Room, Sniper mode, and Gun Boat cannon, which I
won't go into detail about here.
As usual, the final version of Mission: Impossible doesn't
exactly look like the renders we were originally shown.
That being said, most of the levels look pretty decent and
are faithful replications of the movie sets. There are
obviously going to be some problems with repeating
textures, but many of the levels have a distinct enough
look that it's not a problem. Character design and animation
ranges from better than GoldenEye 007 to kind of disappointing.
The animation definitely isn't as realistic or varied as
that game, but there is some good situational animation.
Some of the outdoor levels do have fog (they might say
it's atmospheric, but we know better), but most of the
indoor levels look good with very little pop-up or clipping.
The sweeping music score of GoldenEye 007 isn't quite
here, but the music does a decent job. The music isn't all
based on the Mission: Impossible theme, but there are definitely
a few recognizable variations in and out of the game. There's
also some original music. Fortunately, the music is in stereo,
although the separation could be better at times. The sound
effects can be kind quite weak, but the voice is pretty good.
Besides the long mission introductions, there's in-game voice,
mostly acknowledgments of messages from the IMF or one-word
comments after an attack.
Mission: Impossible is the newest game in the ever-growing
spy thriller genre, which is something I can't enough of. The
key is that you must realize this game is not and was not meant
to be the next GoldenEye 007. It's also one of those games
that won't be critically well-received but will be commercially
well-received, if only because of the strength of its license,
although I think it does an admirable job of living up to it.
Without a multi-player mode, the replay value won't be
through the roof, but it's no worse than any other one-player
game. So even though some levels are great while others stink,
the control is less than desired, and it didn't match the overly
ambitious original design, Mission: Impossible is clever enough
and fun enough to warrant a long, hard look.
Graphics: 3.8 out of 5
Sound: 3.7 out of 5
Control: 2.8 out of 5
Gameplay: 4.2 out of 5
Lastability: 3.3 out of 5
Overall: 3.9 out of 5