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Xbox | Action | Mission Impossible: Operation Surma

Boxart for Mission Impossible: Operation Surma
Mission Impossible: Operation Surma 57 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.0
  • SOUND: 4.5
  • CONTROL: 4.0
  • FUN FACTOR 4.0
  • AVG USER SCORE 3.0
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.4

Update: Mission: Impossible?Operation Surma

Update by AIRHENDRIX | 08/27/2003 | 12:34:00 PM PST

Vanish from the game radar for a year and look what happens!

Disappearing off the radar for a year or so has worked wonders for Mission: Impossible?Operation Surma. It?s emerged looking like it could be one of the top stealth action games of the year, much like a Splinter Cell set in the IMF universe. Yup, its potential is that strong. And that said, Surma borrows more than liberally from the standard set by Splinter Cell?IMF agent and main character Ethan Hunt (who in the game looks nothing like Tom Cruise) moves with a very familiar half-crouched prowl, and the game makes good use of lighting and shadows for its stealth-focused gameplay.

Yet Surma?s definitely no mere clone, expanding the genre?s hand-to-hand combat with a sharp array of moves and adding the occasional action flourish here and there. Unlike Sam Fisher, Hunt packs much more than a clobbering elbow?he can sneak up behind enemies to snap their neck, or lurk in a doorway and clothesline an unsuspecting enemy as they rush through. Of course, he can also force enemy?s to unlock doors at gunpoint and carry their bodes off to better hiding spots.

Surma definitely puts you behind the trigger more, too. In one level, Hunt use a sniper rifle to provide cover as an ally emerges from a compound, mowing down a horde of enemies in the process. In another, he dons a rocket jetpack to skydive, avoiding missiles while he struggles to land in a plane.

Surma?s story isn?t based on the movie or TV shows, but follows a freshly penned tale that pits Hunt against an evil corporation that?s using a powerful new computer virus to wreak havoc. The trail will take Hunt from a research facility in the southwestern U.S. to Eastern Europe to a prison in Africa. The visuals already look quite sharp, though the animations and lighting aren?t likely to rival Splinter Cell?s gold standard.

True to its franchise, a heavy gadget focus will spice up the action. Along with the ability to rappel in that famous spread-eagle pose, Hunt will snap pictures and manufacture face masks, use tranquilizer darts, micro cameras, and more. As long as another delay doesn?t creep into the picture, Surma should be one of the sneakiest hits of the holiday.


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