Death to Spies

Whereas the World War II genre has been done to death on PCs and consoles, 1C’s upcoming “Death to Spies” could have been just another WWII game to add to the pile. However, the company is doing things a bit differently than the usual, opting for a third-person stealth take on the genre, with some obvious influence from games like Splinter Cell and Hitman.

Death to Spies presents the story from the Russian perspective, pitting you as an agent of SMERSH, a covert Russian spy agency that carries out assassinations and spy missions. You are placed in Germany with Russian weaponry like PPSh-41 sub-machine guns, throwing knives, and sniper rifles as well as some tools of the trade like choke wire and chloroform.

The gameplay in Death to Spies feels a lot like the Hitman games. While dispatching your foes doesn’t have quite the creative flair that Hitman does, it still feels very similar. The game emphasizes stealth over combat, and while you may be able to use your weapons against your foes, you’ll more than likely want to avoid confrontations aside from the task at hand. Aside from assassination missions, you’ll also be required to steal documents and a variety of other missions.

Controlwise, the game is simple enough, using the kind of mini-menu interface that Splinter Cell uses for interacting with other objects. When you push the interaction key, a menu will pop up on the screen giving you action options. You’ll also have a stealth key that you can push to allow your character to sneak along slowly but silently in order to sneak up on your foes.

The AI in the game is not terribly complex, as guards won’t really change their movements very often. They’ll interact with each other, but this seemed fairly scripted in the preview build.

Graphically, the game looks pretty good, benefiting from some very nice textures and effects. The character models look a little simple and the lighting is not terribly complex, but the configuration should run well on many computers. The game uses some nice looking lighting techniques as well. The game has some pretty good sound effects and a thematic score.

In the crowded WWII action genre, Death to Spies stands out in two different ways, by offering a Hitman-esque approach to the timeframe, and offering a unique perspective that many games don’t touch on, that of the Soviet SMERSH agents and their missions throughout Germany. Look for Death to Spies to hit this month.