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Mission Impossible: Operation Surma

Score 6.3/10

Three years since the last movie, Atari releases the next installment of the Mission Impossible franchise. With another Mission Impossible movie out this year, moving the franchise onto a next-generation console might just be a way to attract new fans of the series. While the jury is still out on the not yet released movie, this game will not attract that many new fans.

Operation Surma on the surface seems like a combination of the Metal Gear Solid series and Splinter Cell. In reality it's a bad attempt to capture the magic of both games. Most of the mechanics are derived from Splinter Cell and nothing innovating has been done to improve them. In fact it takes just a few minutes comparing the two games to realize that Splinter Cell is the superior one. The rest of the time playing MI simply reaffirms your first conclusion.

 

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If games were rated for first impression, Operation Surma would get a 10. During the first scene you are treated to is an incredible cinematic masterpiece that just feels like genuine Mission Impossible. Ethan Hunt is sifting through the wreckage of a sunken submarine and finds his next mission briefing, which is to snatch the Ice Worm virus from the evil clutches of the organization, SURMA. Then you get control of Ethan and it goes downhill from there.

Before I go on about Operation Surma's 

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technicalities, I want to talk about the part of the game that annoyed me the most - long range combat. When you equip a gun to engage in combat, you will notice the crawling framerate. It's apparent throughout the game but if you didn't notice it before, you'll notice it now. Aiming and shooting is choppy and unresponsive. The system itself is un-engaging and bothersome. If they did this part of the game a little better, it would have positively influenced the game immensely.

But the list of Operation Surma's flaws doesn't end there. Do not be fooled by the opening cinematic. Operation Surma is not a beautiful game, far from the best on the PS2 and not even come close to challenging most Xbox games. The graphics coupled with the poor framerate make Operation Surma a lot worse than it could have been. Poor graphics could be excused if Operation Surma had something in terms of gameplay but once again it falls short.

Operation Surma has an assortment of moves found in many stealth games (with a few unique moves that Splinter Cell showcased). The stealth aspect in the game is done well with a few flaws. Hiding in small shadowy alcoves will shelter you completely from patrolling guards but unrealistically they will not notice any of the noise you make while hidden. Sometimes this even happens while they're stationed one foot in front of you. Besides that problem, I enjoyed the stealth aspect of the game.

The voice acting in Operation Surma is superb. In fact it's some of the most engaging I've seen in a while. Unfortunately immobile character lips detract from the overall effect but it still does a good job.

Operation Surma got one thing many other games do not - a wonderful license. There are not many people in the world that haven't heard of the Mission Impossible franchise. Unfortunately there are also not many people in the world that have heard of a good Mission Impossible game. Operation Surma continues this trend. It's not worth more than renting.

-Stefan Shetty

(February 23, 2004)

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