241: World of Spycraft

[Anthony Burch]

World of Spycraft

Most videogames about espionage present highly stylized accounts of what it's like to be a spy. But one mid-'90s gem had the guts to offer an unflinching simulation of real CIA operations. Anthony Burch revisits Activision's Spycraft: The Great Game.

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[Eleuthera]

Heh, I actually have that game lying around somewhere. I don't think I've played it since '98 though. Maybe I should give it another go

 

[tyrannus007]

That game sounds really interesting. If I ever find it, I'll give it a go. Maybe Good Old Games will put it up for sale eventually.

 

[Quistnix]

Played it back in the day but didn't get most of it since English isn't my first language and I was pretty young back then. I replayed it a couple of months ago, and loved it to bits. Great, logical puzzles that perfectly fit in with the story. My love for the game was reinforced by the ending, which is brilliant and made me feel really dirty no matter what I chose.

 

[Jens_T]

In 1985 there was a game that managed to capture the essence of spying, namely: sitting at a desk and reading files:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fourth_Protocol_(video_game)

 

[VGFreak1225]

Facinating. Well, if I ever get the opportunity, I'll give it a whirl. Thanks for the info Rev!

 

[CopperBoom]

Yeah this reminds me of that EA game where they call your actual home phone and such. I was always interested in it, but never gave it a try. I wish I had.

This also sounds pretty interesting. Too bad there is probably no easy way to get this going on a mac.

 

[PieMaker]

To me, Covert Action (the game) still takes the cake.

 

[thevegetarianzombie]

Pity it's not on Steam. I want to play this now.

 

[KyleGamgee]

Seriously, this sounds pretty cool.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Must have a go at this, sounds awesome!

 

[RedFox042]

I always Enjoy reading Anthony Burch's articles. a nice new look at an older title. Aces mate Aces.

 

[Cosplay Horatio]

Hi Anthony! Welcome to The Escapist. I like the concept of realism and moral choice options of the game. Almost every other spy game is just as you mentioned some rugged 5 o' clock shadow bearing, eats nails for breakfast bad ass or some suave, rich, gentle, and good looking ladies man both types with enough weapons, gadgets, intelligence, and charm to save the world or destroy it completely. There are not enough spy games of this caliber and that may not be so bad but we all including you must enjoy these types of high quality gems that find our way to us every now and then.

Great job on the article and I hope to read more from you here and on Destructoid.

 

[Sparcrypt]

Nicely written, though I would like to point out I had to skip some bits of the article - namely where you started the sentence with 'take the ending for example' - dont tell me that, I'm going to hunt this game down now

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Great article and I was considering buying it, until the ending was given away of course. I don't remember reading a spoiler warning.

Otherwise it sounds like an interesting title, something to have for those days when I just wanna use my noggin. I wish that developers these days didn't play down to their audience so much.

 

[jjhoho]

Wow, I didn't expect Spycraft ever to really come up. A couple months ago, I was reading Oleg Kalugin's book about his experience in the KGB, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I looked further in to his life, only to find that he had made a game. I was, however, hesitant to go and find it, as it had been made in 1996, but after this I may just have to find it. Before this I'd never really heard it mentioned.

 

[squirepug]

Oh man, I played this game several times on my 486 DX4-100...A trip down memory lane.

This was one of my favourite games of the 90's, thanks for bringing back the memories.
I think I even have the overly large 4 CD Case somewhere, it was green and hopefully my 4 year old hasn't destroyed it...

 

[Jory]

This sounds pretty awesome. Never heard of it.

Should definitely be a regular thing to bring old underappreciated games in to the limelight.

 

[Miral]

I seriously loved playing this game. I wonder if it still runs under Win7... I think I'm going to have to find out tonight.

(People interested in this game might also want to check out Uplink by Introversion -- it's lower budget and focused on hacking rather than spying, but at least in my brain they're filed as similar gameplay and a lot of fun. And Uplink is available on Steam.)

 

[maninahat]

Sounds extraordinary. I'll be taking a look.