Hitman knock-off through the eyes of a WWII Russian spy.
After reading the Gamespot review on this thing a few years ago I knew I had to try it at least once. So when it came around on the Steam bargain bin sales, I picked it up.
I'll go into more depth in a minute, but if you'd like the bottom line immediately, here it is:
This game is (mechanics-wise) virtually identical to the Hitman series. But it is for people tho thought Hitman was a little tame in the difficulty department, or perhaps just too well designed.
Death to Spies almost feels like it was made by someone who really REALLY thought the Hitman series was super cool, and wanted to do something just like it, and produced what they thought was a cool, viable clone, but forgot that they didn't really know anything about making games first. That being said, they followed the trace of the Hitman mechanics pretty closely, so they ended up with a decent game anyway.
The two biggest differences between this game and the Hitman games are big and simple:
-Difficulty
-Lack of polish on mechanics
Difficulty: This game is FAR more difficult than any of the Hitman games for several reasons.
First, most levels are far bigger than your average Hitman level. Some of the outdoors ones quite literally dwarf even the biggest of Hitman levels. Such size, coupled with a general lack of direction in missions, creates a general feeling of being lost a lot of the time, which, in and of itself, can be a big form of difficulty. On most missions you'll find a realistic amount of Germans waiting to kill you (And believe me, it doesn't take much to accomplish that task), so you could easily wander into any number of deadly situations without ever completing or even making visual contact with your mission objective.
The layout of these large levels is also way more unforgiving than the Hitman levels. Both games are both supposedly geared towards allowing small "holes" for the player to slip through, whether that be a cleverly obtained disguise, well timed actions, or what have you. These "holes" are to be purposefully exploited in order to complete the mission. Unfortunately only Hitman actually makes these windows of opportunity well enough to be utilized without extreme levels of frustration. The DtS holes are often so small that nothing less than perfect timing will win the day, and sometimes even that doesn't seem to be enough, leaving you with either the "shoot my way through" or "Quick Load" options. Both of which really break the mood. This is compounded by the fact that almost every mission makes you perfect such timed events multiple times, so you find yourself being a quick save/quick load hound, which can often get you into serious trouble if you accidentally quick save in a bad spot.
The other big difference/problem with DtS is the poorly polished/designed control scheme. On the surface, it's exactly the same as Hitman. Standard WASD controls, E interacts, Left mouse to shoot and aim, and an added level of controls with the inventory system. However, whereas Hitman's actions are generally smooth, allowing for fluid gameplay, Death to Spies manages to make even the most simple of tasks, like opening a door, a tedious event half the time. One of the biggest problems is that the developers never bothered to reconcile actions and moving, so you have to had stopped moving completely before you can open a door, hit a guard, etc. This makes the entire game a stop and go event. AND this definitely compounds the difficultly of the already poorly designed timed events in missions.
DtS also assumes ENORMOUS time for all actions. The simple act of killing/stunning a guard takes SSOOOOOO long it's ridiculous. Poor decisions once again.
The game is not without its innovative points though. The added inventory system is neat at first, though of little use, because all you really need for a good rating on a mission is throwing knives and chloroform. There is actually a respectably large amount of WWII era weapons to choose from, both during loadout and while scavenging dead enemies. Unfortunately the most useful weapons, the quiet ones, draw immediate attention, and are without opportunities to find more ammo in a level. Enemy weapons, on the other hand, won't draw attention to you when you're spotted with them, but are never silenced, and therefore nearly useless.
Saving the worst for last: This game's story is pretty boring, and is multiplied in badness to the Nth degree by the horribad voice acting in the cutscenes between missions. Not only do they not speak Russian with subtitles underneath, they don't even bother faking a Russian accent which is just not that hard. Really kills the mood. Could they not have spared another $100 to get the 3 minutes worth of dialogue translated? I mean c'mon.
While this review sounds pretty negative, I'd say that if you have a masochistic side to you, or just REALLY enjoyed the Hitman games or games like them, then this is definitely worth a play. It should even be easy to find at a "yeah I'll give that a try for that amount" price, so go crazy. Have fun.