When the first IGI came out a couple years ago, it featured some really cool, innovative concepts.  However, lousy AI and monotonous level design plagued the game.  Now, IGI 2: Covert Strike has hit store shelves.  While the game does feature some nice improvements over its predecessor, it can’t really compete with the much better action titles out there.

IGI 2: Covert Strike puts you in the shoes of David Jones, an ex-SAS super spy working for the IGI.  The IGI (or Institute for Geotactical Intelligence) is an elite group of covert operatives employed to eradicate the threat of terrorism and global aggression the world over. As Jones, you perform various missions, taking on enemies in several different settings.

 As Jones, you have a lot of great weapons and neat tools at your disposal.  These weapons range from silenced handguns to sub-machine guns to sniper rifles and RPGs.  They are to fairly true to life and each have unique strengths and weaknesses.  One really cool toy you can use in the game is the GPS system.  This handy-dandy device functions primarily as a map, put it also points out the locations of cameras and guards, and even shows you their patrol patterns so you can map out a strategy to deal with them.

Another great thing about this game is the sheer size of the environments.  The draw-in distances are huge (you can almost see forever), giving the levels a realistic quality.  The levels also seamlessly shift from indoor to outdoor areas. 

The huge scope of these levels also accounts for the bouts of slowdown the game suffers from.  This can be a problem if you have less than 512 MB of RAM, as it forces you to play the game with very low detail settings. 

Another nasty problem with the game is the enemy AI.  The AI is slightly better than that of the first IGI, but its still got a long way to go.  Enemies will do clever things like pretend they don’t see you and set off a flash grenade.  Soon after, however, they will run at you with guns flailing.  This thoughtless “run n’ gun” AI may have worked a few years ago, but now that games like Splinter Cell and Medal of Honor doing cool, complicated things with AI, it just doesn’t cut the mustard.  The cheesy AI makes matters worse since the gameplay supposedly relies on stealth, a situation where you need to think in order to outsmart your enemies.  It is often much easier (and effective) to run into a situation with guns blazing and kill off all the enemies than figure out ways to outfox them.

The game’s graphics are good, but not great.  The textures are pretty good, and the environments are huge and seemingly boundless.  However, the character models are very plain and the animations look very jilted.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just climb a ladder and watch your character’s knees bend like a marionette.  Also, as I mentioned earlier, the huge environments account for ugly bouts of slowdown.

The sound does its purpose, and doesn’t really stand out in any way.  Your enemies will hear your footsteps if you move too fast and will be alerted to your presence.  The gunfire sounds like gunfire.  The voice acting is fairly well done, although the enemy banter gets pretty redundant.

IGI 2: Covert Strike could’ve been a great game that expanded on its predecessor and mixed 1^st person action elements with the excellent covert elements of such like games as Splinter Cell.  But alas, it wasn’t.  Instead we get a nice concept mired by lousy AI and unbalanced gameplay, making for a pretty mediocre experience. 

Gameplay: 7.5
The levels are impressively huge in scope, and the weapons and gadgets are really cool to play around with.  If only the AI weren’t so lousy.

Graphics: 7.8
The graphics are good, but not great. The game features some really nice textures and huge indoor/outdoor levels, but the character models are plain and featureless and the animations are stiff and jilted.  Plus, the slowdown is pretty nasty.

Sound: 7.5
The sound is pretty average for an action game.  The voice acting is well done, although a bit repetitive.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 7.9
The game’s storyline is pretty similar to a Tom Clancy game.  The game doesn’t really provide any background to the story before hand (you need to rely on the manual for that), but the story progresses nicely through the game.

Multiplayer: 8.0
The multiplayer modes play a lot like Counter-Strike.  You have certain goals your team must accomplish, and you get to buy weapons and tools before the match starts.

Overall: 7.5
IGI 2 makes subtle improvements over the first IGI, but ultimately not enough to make it compare to much better titles in the stealth action genre.