A C64 classic converted onto the Master System by US GOLD

"Another visitor. Stay awhile. Stay forever." Not the most inviting greeting you could wish from a game. Impossible Mission, inspired by the 1960's TV spy-shows, places you in the role of a secret agent out to stop the world-dominating plans of Professor Elvin. A secret password has been dissected into 36 pieces and scattered throughout Elvin's HQ. You must infiltrate his complex, find the password pieces, reassemble them, defeat the evil Elvin and save the world. By the way, you've only got six hours to do it.

"Destroy him my robots." Travelling via elevators, you visit a myriad of rooms - packed with deadly security robots - to find the puzzle pieces hidden away in household items like desks, sofas, bathtubs, bookcases and candy vendors. Each room is depicted as a multitude of platforms and lifts, with you leaping around - avoiding robots and searching objects. There are many types of robot, each with their own movement patterns. Most are armed with electric rays. Some stand still, others home in on you, and the top of the range models move faster than you. You'll soon learn the robo patterns - don't make any hasty moves until you've sussed what type of robot you're dealing with. Computer terminals can provide platform resets and snoozes to temporarily stun the robots in a room.

"Aaargh!" Contact with a robot or its electro-beam spells your death, as does falling off the bottom of the screen. Every time you lose a life, ten minutes are knocked off your time limit. The password portion of the game is like a jigsaw puzzle. Randomly selected each time you play, the password is nine letters long. Each letter is formed by overlaying and correctly orientating four pieces of puzzle. Elvin's room layouts are random for each game, giving Impossible Mission an edge over other platform titles.

Call me nostalgic. Call me virtual. I hope someone, somewhere, someday develops a virtual reality version of Impossible Mission. It would make a perfect VR game.

Rik Haynes

£24.99cart November

GRAPHICS
6
IQ FACTOR
8
AUDIO
5
FUN FACTOR
8
ACE RATING
802

Predicted Interest Curve

Impossible Mission will keep you gripped. Graphics, sound and gameplay look dated by today's standards, this is especially true when compared to the Alex Kidd and Wonderboy scrolly Sega platform games.The sampled speech has suffered a loss of quality, it sounds like a sample of a sample. Traditional computer gamers willt ake to Impossible Mission, action hungry console gamers probably won't. Don't dismiss it, just give it a playtest before you buy.

Rating
80
Reviewer
ACE magazine
Region
UK
Scans
ACE-Magazine-Issue37?gallerypage=87

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