Mission: Impossible

Based on the 1996 film of the same name. Developed by Infogrames and published by Ocean Software for the Nintendo 64.

The PlayStation version released later has improvements, featuring more polishes, better cutscenes, better music, a lot more voice acting (though it is mediocre), better aiming, better controls (although still feeling a bit stiff with movement), and a quick-save feature that allows you to save checkpoints within missions. For the purpose of this review, I am reviewing the N64 version.

This game is designed to expand its length by using the outdated trial and error, as it's being loaded with beginner traps that immediately make you fail the mission you are playing, which cause you to restart the entire mission as there is no checkpoint.

The box of the game says it has interchangeable first and third person view points, but third person is the only camera angle available and it just zooms a bit when you aim with your weapon.

Ethan's face in the title screen looks so off-putting that it borders on the "uncanny valley". What's no better is the terrible and inconsistent voice acting, when Ethan says "Way to go", he sounds like an old lazy man.

The shooting segments of the game have very stiff controls and are difficult to maneuver. The movement controls in the game make you move at half the correct speed if you don't move directly forward, left, or right.

The ammunition is very scarce and the only way to save ammo efficiently is taking headshots. However, due to the sluggish aiming controls, it can be tedious and you can get a lot of damage while doing this.

There are also no pickups in the game that restore your health. After completing a mission when the next mission starts your health is not fully restored, however you can restore your health by exiting the mission and restarting the mission from the beginning.

The plot is very convoluted and nonsensical. Early in the game where Ethan is suddenly suspected to be Max's mole in the CIA after you complete the Embassy Mission as they claim that the mission that they paid him to do was impossible without assistance from the other side. This is the first time Max was even referred to in the game and you don't get any information about her until a later mission. Later Candice orders Ethan to steal a list of American assets from an American agency. Near the end of the game, the person who framed Ethan reveals that he knew that he was not the mole and knew who the real mole was, and framed him to motivate him to track down the real mole. It's worth noting the game does generally follow the plot of the first film, but with so many scenes cut out that it's impossible to follow the plot without having seen the movie. However, because so much has changed so that even if you HAVE seen the movie, it will still make little sense.

The second CIA mission has you wandering around the level with enemies that put you under arrest when you go close to them and don't knock them out quickly enough around corners which make it impossible to detect them before you get caught the first time. Also since the mission is taking place on three floors you may fall off a bridge and fail the mission due to suddenly being put under arrest by a person you didn't see before you fell down.

Another mission in the game has you plant explosive gum, and there are two paths you can take to the left and right which are supposed to lead to the same place. Taking the left path causes the gum to explode making three guards run to and kill you. Taking the right path breaks the game, the gum does not explode, and you cannot complete the mission as it makes you go through a hallway with one of the guards who arrest you that you cannot react to and take down, thus failing the mission.

The mission where you have to shoot down Max's goons is broken. Ethan's movements are random, enemies and their movements are random, and as massive obstructions block your line of sight some enemies will spawn in places where you cannot even hit them, thus giving them free hits to Ethan. When this happens the only thing that you can do is wait until Ethan manages to run away and lure them to a place so you can shoot them, but since Ethan stands still when he is being fired at this doesn't even work most of the time.

One of the missions gives you false instructions on how to complete it. The mission instructs you to get information about the mole from Max. However, you must actually kill her in a certain way to complete the mission, which will prevent you from getting information from her as she is dead.

The absolute final mission has stiff controls with the turret where the turret turns very slowly and enemies can target you too quickly.

Expect the impossible.