Project I.G.I. on PC CD-ROM

The ‘IGI’ in Project IGIstands for “I’m going in”, but this, likeThief 2: The Metal Ageis more of a first-person ‘sneaker’ and not a full-on shooter.

You are Jones, a 35-year-old soldier sent in to do the necessary dirty deeds,rescue a guy named Josef Priboi and take out the trash. Imagine running aroundan army base, dodging bullets from all and sundry while tactically planningyour movements around in order to kill without trace and achieve yourobjectives.

Except that’s the idea, but it doesn’t turn out like that in practice.I was really looking forward to this game, since, in my own sadistic way- strictly when playing computer games only, I must add – there’s nothingquite like lining up your sniper rifle, aiming at the back of an enemy soldier’shead and letting off a few shiny rounds of fire, watch his brains splatteragainst the wall and nick his supplies. You’ll also be able to hack intocomputers, blow up tanks and more… so what’s gone wrong?

There’s certainly no problem with the graphics. I only got to see the openinglevel for reasons that will become clear shortly, but the sparseness of anarmy base was perfectly represented and began to give an immersive feel asI set out to kick bad-guy butt!

The crisp, sharp graphics make it run like the wind on the right systemwith high resolution, but I prefer to pipe it through to the TV and the 16MbVoodoo 3 3000 AGP allows up to 800×600 resolution – not as good as that shownon a monitor, but it still looks brilliant on a 32″ widescreen set.

A hum in the background, the call-out of the enemy, the sniper fire bangingoff the speakers – it all sounds both realistic and fantastic, just everythingI expected.

However, the control system is a complete dog and it’s just for the want ofa handful of configurations that need changing but can’t be:

• 1. You can’t rotate with the keyboard, just the mouse. I expect the left andright cursors to provide this function, IN ADDITION to others allowing strafeleft and right, not INSTEAD OF. This means I’m constantly moving hands betweenthe keyboard and mouse – do it too slowl… you’re dead!

• 2. You have to press ‘activate’ to climb a ladder, rather than simplyjumping onto it, before using up/down to make your move.

• 3. As you perform No.2 (no sniggering at the back, please!), the view-pointchanges from first-person perspective to the third-person, which isdisconcerting to say the least.

• 4. Not a control problem, but a big problem is to be had in the completelack of a save game option. If you die (well, not IF, but WHEN), then it’sback to square one!

Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t use Micro$oft’s Outhouse Express foremail, or any Windows-based email and news program for that matter – I useone in DOS. I always have since March 1994 and won’t be changing because itdoes everything I need.

Similarly, I don’t use a mouse to play first-person-shooter/sneakers likeQuake III, Soldier of Fortune andThief 2: The Metal Age -I prefer the keyboard. If someone starts shooting at me, I find it far easierto twirl round with a deft flick of the wrist on the cursor keys, whilstpulling back out of the way of enemy fire, before retaliating, as opposedto doing something similar with a mouse, however easier some people claim itshould be.

Why couldn’t the game’s designers have provided alternative controls? All thegames I mentioned above do, so why is this one doing it’s best to annoy me?It’s a great shame as, otherwise, it appears to have first-rate potentialand now I’ll never know.

Project I.N.U.: I’m now uninstalling.

GRAPHICS
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
ENJOYMENT

0

OVERALL

If you’re after some more info on Eidos Interactive’s games, you can checkout their official Website atwww.eidosinteractive.com

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.

This game was played on a PC with the following spec:
Intel PIII 600Mhz, 128Mb RAM (133 Mhz), Voodoo 3 3000 AGP, SoundblasterLive! 1024.