James Bond? (Project IGI (PC))

Member Name: pow1983

Product:	Project IGI (PC)
Date:	20/06/01 (416 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: See Text

Disadvantages: See text

Project IGI stands for, Project: I’m Going In.

Game play

The first thing that strikes me about this game is the fact that it is like the actual James Bond films (the more recent ones anyway), in fact it amazes me how the James Bond games that are only allowed on Nintendo are so unalike the James Bond films.
You play a British (Hurray!!) character called David Jones who is an ex SAS soldier, you have to think your way in and shoot your way out (quite literally as well). The game is set in Soviet Russia in a time of corruption and blackmail. You are given missions by an American woman, just like M in James Bond. She briefs you on what you have to do in order to complete every mission. The main story line is to capture a stolen US nuclear weapon and prevent a second Chernobyl disaster.
Before every mission starts you are presented with a movie which introduces you to the characters and helps the story line. The movies are very good and get you ready for your next mission. Jones, a freelance British agent hired by US Intelligence to undertake the sort of “blacker than midnight” operations that no one else can manage. Jones is sent into Estonia to “investigate” an arms robbery, but as the storyline slowly reveals, much more is going on.

Once in the mission you are more than likely going to have to gain entry into an enemy compound to gather information, kill or capture somebody important or blow something up. Getting into a compound / enemy base could mean that you have to kill guards, the catch, you have to make sure that another guard or security camera does not see him die, this could result in the alarm being raised making it harder for you to complete the missions, more guards come out of their resting hole to get you. Guards will run after you if necessary. You will also meet security cameras which you will have to avoid or disable if possible when entering and exiting. Destroying cameras will raise
an alarm and guards come from everywhere. This game is very realistic one shot in the head and you or they are dead. When you get into the game you will see just how good the game is, even from level 1 you will be pleased. As you go on you will interact with moving vehicles including tanks which are very hard to run from. You can interact with wire fences and climb over them if possible. You will also go on a fun ride sliding down some cables. You can interact with many objects. The landscapes are absolutely massive each level is very large and you may have to do a lot of walking. In some levels you have to wait and time your next move, you have a set of binoculars and other instruments to help you.

The enemy AI is very good. If they see you they will attack or raise the base alarm (if in a base level of course). They move as normal guards would. The physics of the people are very good they do not look pixelated (depending on your system and graphics settings) and move almost like real people.

Weapons, there are perhaps a small amount of guns personally enough for me but they are all good and realistic when fired. I don’t know the real names of the guns exactly, but there are 3 types of Pistols, 2 Machine Pistols (Uzi being one of them), 2 Shotguns, 3 Medium to long-range machine guns, and a sniper rifle. Other weapons include, Combat Knife, Grenades, Rocket launcher, proximity mines and a grenade launcher.

To play this game successfully you will need to be patient and stealthy, this is not doom. You get one life so use it wisely. You get a health injection pack to help you on hard and long missions.
This is a single player game but as there is a large story line to it its hard to make it a multi player game.

Game play Problems/Annoyances:

I found some minor problems in the game.
The main problem is the fact that most buildings look the same and the layout of each building inside is identical. I think there
may have been a rushed moment to complete the game. A second problem about this game is when you kill some guards they re-appear soon after and come from behind you, you have to watch that closely. These are minor problems that can be overcome quite easily if I knew this before I bought the game I would still have bought it!

Overall this game play is fantastic realistic and beats many games!! I’d say go and buy it.

Overall Disadvantages:
Takes ages to complete depending on difficulty setting.
You will need a lot of patience and redoing a level time after time can get a bit repetitive.

Graphics and performance:

Amazing graphics that will test your graphics card to the max in most cases, I am using a GeForce 256 and I can run the game just fine (1024 x 768) the graphics are no problem. If it’s snowing it’s snowing the weather is very realistic, the landscapes and everything else, people, objects, are amazingly detailed. There are very few problems with pixels and it doesn’t look bitty or square. If you have got a Geforce 3 then this game wont test it at all but will run very smoothly indeed!! A 3D Accelerated card is very much required and I can see why.
I am using Windows 2000 with 128 MB memory. I can definitely say that I need more memory as Windows 2000 uses 90-100MB alone that’s almost all my memory gone! I only have a slow problem when the level and movie loads first time, it takes a short while as it starts to use my hard disk which becomes slow, once loaded everything runs smoothly. I am sure that 128MB is enough for Windows 9x. The game requires 64MB RAM which is a hell of a lot, but what strikes me is that another game I have requires a smaller spec and it runs slower on my machine. A 500Mhz CPU should be enough I have 650 and I have no problems, memory is more important. I have listed the exact requirements below.

Sound

Sound is brilliant, however, I have a surro
und sound system (which is supported by the game) and I can hear bullet shots that hit a wall behind me and things going on around me clearly like helicopters moving from speaker to speaker depending on where its coming from and going to it all adds to the realism and fun. I haven’t tested it on 2 speakers but in this day and age you will need something better than a standard 20W speakers to get full enjoyment out of your games. If you want surround sound then get a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Platinum. Other wise any sound card will do if you don’t want surround.
Conclusion

Finally Eidos have woken up and brought out some decent games! Whenever somebody used to say eidos to me it always made me think of Championship Manager and Tomb Raider, personally I hate both of those games. Now when people say eidos to me it means stealth, real life action and excellent game play. I would say that if you like Rainbow six and games like that then this is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and I think I will play it again on a harder setting.

Other games to consider:

Rainbow Six / Rogue Spear – Still excellent well worth buying as well, is also multiplayer.
Deus Ex – Another eidos game, well worth it.
Hitman: Code Name 47 – Another eidos game excellent as well.

Don’t consider:

Delta Force series – Poor graphics and poor game play nothing alike!

- - Requirements - -

Min:
. 300Mhz Intel PII
. Win 95/98 – 2000 not supported (as in technical support)
. 64MB Ram
. DirectX 7.0 Compliant 3D Accelerated Video Card
. DirectX 7.0 Compliant Sound Card
. 4x CD ROM
. 500 MB H/D space
. Mouse

Recommended:
. Intel PIII / AMD Athlon
. 128MB
. Video Card with 16 MB+
. 8x CD ROM

Summary: