Project IGI Review

The models are great. I really loved the way they acted (how they were animated), especially when getting shot. In Land Warrior, you only needed one bullet to kill someone, and here you'll need much more unless you aim straight for the heart or head (a bit o' that CS-induced 'realistic as opposed to unrealistic' gameplay balancing).

You'll begin each mission with your faithful knife in hand, and several other lethal toys in backpack. There's the always present Glock 17 and MP5, and rummaging through the dead bodies, you'll easily find the unsurpassed AK-47, M16, Uzi, Desert Eagle, Minimi, Spas 12, and even the LAW80 bazooka. All this is adequately followed by a wide range of hand grenades, flashbangs, and similar stuff. If you consider that AI bug I mentioned, you'll realize how much every bullet for Dragunov meant to me. Fortunately, the authors decided to make this gun absolutely precise, which made the bullets suffice somehow. You'll always have to ration your ammo carefully, because there is not too much of it about. On the other hand, you'll find a large assortment of all types of weapons, and you'll really be able to carry as much as you find, so you'll usually find yourself carrying an entire arsenal at the end of a mission. Apart from the weapons, you'll also be able to use a couple of high-tech devices, like the GPS tracking system which will give you your current position at any time, binoculars, and the first-aid kit.

You'll really be in dire need of that last thing, as Project IGI DOES NOT FEATURE A SAVE GAME OPTION. This highly inconvenient flaw resulted from the deadlines that EIDOS imposed on Innerloop programmers. Can't be helped, you'll just have to face that fact (Or, as Innerloop suggests spam EIDOS with requests to include this option in one of the future patches). You could also look for a trainer that would give you unlimited health and ammo. Though, if you really like the game and start playing it seriously, you'll need none of that... (Except maybe a baseball bat to go postal on your PC. And as one of our readers said: "hey, can you please let EIDOS know that I'll get medieval on their asses?")

One more thing I would like to mention is the game physics. This game was supposed to bring a brilliantly realistic physics model, yet my impressions were just the opposite. The thing that bothered me most was the gravity. Each jump you take will make you feel like you started flying, and you'll clearly be able to see the situation on a roof or something. These seemingly high jumps confused me a lot because I never managed to jump over a low fence when jumping from a nearby crate? Ironically though, I had troubles getting on those damn crates, 'cause I was actually leaping over them (jumping like a horny rodent on Mars). Still, the most aggravating thing was that just jumping around in open spaces can sometimes take as many hit points as if you had fallen from the first floor.

There. IGI is striving to be a perfectly realistic game in some aspects, yet some of its features keep it far from that. I, personally liked the game, and I wasn't that bothered by not being able to save games (He's a lying bastard! He was bitching and moaning all the time - Ed). It just made me play more cautious and plan each move in advance. After several days of play, I forgot all the flaws and felt like I was playing a 3D version of my favorite Commandos... I guess that's why I gave it such a high mark...