IGI 2: Covert Strike Preview

In the past couple of days we've had a chance to play around with one the latest builds of Project IGI 2, courtesy of the good folks at Codemasters. In other words, myself and the rest of the demented editors at Action Trip.com have had another chance to test our hand to eye coordination (as well as our verbal abuse skills) in a no holds barred "plant the bomb" (virus, whatever) style of multiplayer gameplay.

We won. But I guess that's beside the point - (Who's we anyway? - Vadar) the important thing is that Project IGI 2 does play a whole lot better than the original game, while still retaining some of the great aspects of the original, like the huge outdoor maps that are perfect for some fierce multiplayer duels. The choice of weapons is also quite impressive and it ranges from various standard assault rifles like the AK-47 and M-16, to some really nasty RPG's with zoom capabilities, sniper rifles (G11, Dragunov), and so on... For a full list of weapons and other game features, please visit the game's official site. As for this article, I'll try to stick to the finer aspects of gameplay and of course the characteristics of the 3D engine, which represents quite an improvement over the original chunk of code.

The gameplay in Project IGI 2 is somewhat reminiscent of Counter-Strike, but it borrows a lot of elements from other military shooters, like say Operation Flashpoint (the fatigue factor, and so on). At the start of each round you need to purchase weapons (like you would in CS), but getting a hold of the more powerful ones can be quite tricky - getting enough money to buy a kick ass rifle like G11 is hardly an easy task. You'll have to win a lot of rounds first and be quite efficient in racking up kills. One other snag here is that in order to spawn right back in the game, you'll have to churn out additional cash, therefore reducing your chances of buying a decent weapon if you get killed again.

The game mode we played was all about planting computer viruses (kind of like setting off a bomb), with the opposing team defending the computer, but the addition of security cameras (like CS, but in IGI2 you can switch them off and they alert the enemy of your presence by raising the alarm) in a multiplayer match was a nice touch. The "Timberland" map that we played on was huge and excellently designed. It's essentially a CTF type of map with two bases and several ways to get to the enemy base. The action is mostly centered on a lake, which lies in the middle of the map and the two bridges that are used to cross it. Players can choose their spawn point before they get back in the game, so that means that the map's main hotspot will be the lake in the middle. The terrain configuration is perfect for snipers, but it's also quite nice for coordinated assaults with covering fire and zigzag advances. The map is essentially tailored for 16+ players, and bearing in mind the excellent choice of weapons available in the game, it is excellent for massive duels.

But, even with all the slight innovations and solid map design, the fact remains that the multiplayer has precious little true innovations over the similar titles. However, this shouldn't stop those who buy the game for its single-player campaign to enjoy a few rounds of intense multiplayer action.

The behavior of the weapons and their balancing is still a bit rough around the edges, but that is to be expected given this is not the final game. Weapon recoil is decent enough, but I did get the feeling that heavy machineguns like "Minime" for example are way too accurate and deadly at mid and short distances. Sidearms are also quite deadly, and too powerful for a default weapon. Some snipers need more accurate recoil properties, but all that can be polished before the final product hits the shelves. And it still remains to be seen whether the design team will go for a more sim-oriented experience, or an action-packed one. As it is, Project IGI 2 shows great potential in terms of weapon variety and versatility. I would strongly recommend a public beta, as that is a perfect way to fine-tune a shooter in terms of code glitches, weapons balancing, recoil properties and such.

For me, the most impressive segment of Project IGI 2 was the vastly improved physics model. Unlike what we've seen in the original, the movement of your character (jumping and so on) in the sequel seems to actually obey the laws of physics. Bodies of killed players will roll down the hill, and swimming in the water will seem quite natural. All this in turn suggests that using vehicles in the single-player will be quite an experience. Player movement and object behavior is a very important facet of any FPS game, and if you recall, the original game had a huge problem with jumping -- jumping in the game seems like the player is on the moon than a place on planet earth. The player model would literally float in the air! I cannot stress enough how important it is for a sim-oriented military shooter to have proper physics, so it's really good to see that the problems of the original code have now been effectively solved.

Finally, the game engine supports all the latest 3D bells and whistles - the water surfaces look very nice due to the heavy usage of pixel shaders, and the same goes for the tree boughs. The textures are quite sharp (in high-res), but it seems that the LOD system needs a bit of perfecting as the objects that are farther away from you look pretty simplistic - even if they're not in the focus. However, this relative drawback has its silver lining, and that is the rock solid frame rate. And besides, I'm quite sure that the developers will throw in plenty of more graphics options before the game hits the shelves.

The sound effects of gunfire and bullets hitting different surfaces are quite good ... for a beta build. The game could use a wider variety of sounds, but as I said, I'm sure all this will be present in the final version.

As it stands, it seems that the designers have made many improvement over the original game. The team at Innerloop has had their ears to the ground and they've been listening intently to what the fans had to say about the original, and the results certainly do show.