Overall, MI is an Ok game, buried in the massive piles of stealth games
User Rating: 6.8 | Mission: Impossible: Operation Surma PS2
Atari developers probably drooled over the fact that they would try to replicate a brilliant masterpiece like Splinter Cell, and call it Mission Impossible: Operation Surma. This game has all the makings of a good game, just not mixed properly. I’ve never seen a game so clearly imitate everything about another game more than MI, which feels like a really-dumbed down Splinter Cell. You take the role of Ethan Hunt (picture Sam Fisher before he hit puberty), as you travel internationally taking down a corrupt regime set to bring the world to chaos. The graphics in this game are pretty dated, looking more like a first generation PS2 game. Still, the graphics don’t totally blow, since the environments are pretty decently rendered and objects and backgrounds do seem quite authentic. The character models are pretty well done, since each enemy looks unique, and Ethan doesn’t look to bad himself. The camera is a little touchy, but nothing to distractive from the game. Sure, you’ll have some moments when you’ll be cursing the camera, but for the majority of the time, it’ll be fine. What I thought looked pretty spectacular were the cinematic scenes, which were displayed beautifully, and allows the player to at least enjoy the mediocre story plot. What MI did right was the audio. The voice over acting in this game was very well done, and transitioned smoothly with each character. The sound effects in the environment were decent, and the gun shot sounds were all authentic. What got me into the MI experience was the classic theme song, followed by the awesome music in the game. It sort of gave you the sense of being in a MI movie. Was it me, or does this game feel like the exact control scheme of Splinter Cell. With the exception of maybe 1 or 2 buttons, the control layout is exactly the same as our friend Sam Fisher, destroying the originality from MI. Things did get worse, as MI attempted to mimic the brilliant shadowing in Splinter cell by creating obvious, blatant dark spots in the environment, and encouraging you to hide and kill your enemies there. Ethan walks, crawls and shoots exactly like Sam, and even hugs walls like Sam. After playing this game, I so felt like signing them up for a father-son competition. Where MI did a really good job though, was the hand-to-hand combat Ethan has at his disposal. Although he does the same moves every time, you can somehow never get sick of them. Also, if you catch an enemy from behind or by surprise, you can view the combat move in a nice little cut-scene, rewarding the player for patiently waiting for their pray. What was also impressive were the many gadgets Sam, errrrrr, I mean Ethan, has at his disposal, which provides the satisfactory feeling of being more clever than your enemies. Coming in at the WTF section, is how Ethan would acquire these weapons. Weapons just magically pop into his hands just when the time is right, really making you step out of the super infiltrator vibe. Finally, the story is decent, and allows the player to progress with at least a cause, that being to unravel the plot. Although it is the cheesy MI story line we’ve all come to love, it works, and keeps the player guessing until the end. Overall, MI is an Ok game, buried in the massive piles of stealth games. Players can have fun with the game, but it does wear thin after the first 4-5 hours. What really hurts the game is its totally low lack of originality, as anyone who’s played a Splinter Cell title can easily realize that MI tries to imitate it in every single way. However, anyone willing to play a new stealth game will have a satisfactory time at the very least, as MI can deliver a very average game experience to the player 
