Mission Impossible - Review

I promised you a story of how I came to own Mission Impossible, so here it is.

I rented Mission Impossible on Nintendo 64 from Blockbuster probably back in 1998 or so and had a good time playing it. I very distinctly remember the Embassy mission, actually that mission and the mission in the terminal room with the lasers were the only missions I really remember. But I remember having a good time with the game. Well, except for the terminal laser room. I remember that being frustrating and never being able to get past it.

Either way, one day I was browsing eBay for old video games trying to find some good cheap games when I ran across Mission Impossible for Nintendo 64 for $4 buy now, shipped free. Well I remembered it being good, and hell, it was only $4 so I bought it. I waited patiently and about a week later I received it, I opened it up only to find... Mission Impossible for the NES. I was kind of disappointed that I didn't get the N64 version, but on the other hand I the NES version pretty much new in box, seriously the thing is nearly mint. So I went and checked the ad, maybe I had read it wrong and it was for the NES version, but after re-reading the ad it was definitely for the N64.

I chalked it up to a mistake on their part, it was $4 and I still got a game. I didn't really care.

So I went back to eBay and found another copy of Mission Impossible 64. This time it was $5 buy now, shipped free. Different seller, checked to make sure it was the N64 version, purchased.

About a week later I got it in the mail. Opened it and found... the NES version.

So now I had TWO sellers who sent me the NES version when they were clearly advertising the N64 version. Either these two sellers are really stupid or it's a very, very odd coincidence. Either way, I was out $5. I figured return shipping and the hassle was worth less than that.

So I proceeded to check Amazon. Found it used for $4.50 shipped prime. So two days later I had Mission Impossible, for Nintendo 64 this time, in my hands. Success!

So that's my tale of how I came to own Mission Impossible for N64 as well as two copies of Mission Impossible for NES.

On to the review!

Oh I'm about to get guffawed at! I enjoyed Mission Impossible more than I enjoyed Goldeneye. That's right, I said it. Whatcha gonna do about it? I'll even go as far to say that Mission Impossible held up better than Goldeneye, and that if you put the two single player modes against each other, Mission Impossible is the better game. Oh, I'm sure the nerdrage is on now.

Mission Impossible is a game based on a movie based on a TV show. It follows the movie starring Tom Cruise... kind of. There's two missions that bookened the other missions that have absolutely nothing to do with the movie. Even still, while the plots are similar to the movie they're far from identical. More just kind of based off of them.

Mission Impossible is semi-stealth/action/third person shooter. Frankly the third person shooter aspect is probably why I enjoyed it more than Goldeneye. Let's be frank, 3D games from this era look horrible. They don't even kind of hold up well. Most N64/Saturn/PS1 games look like crap. Sure, there are a few that still look decent, but for the most part they're awful. You almost had to go with a cartoony look for it to work well. The Legend of Zelda games and Mario 64 games still look decent-ish. Any games that tries to give you real looking graphics... well you end up with this:

The part of Sean Bean will be played by Kryten.

Playable? Yeah, though it is a detriment. Ugly as sin? Oh God yes. Because first person shooters put you right into that action with the whole screen filling up your view, you tend to notice it more. Over the shoulder third person? Not as much.

Enough with the Goldeneye bashing though, back to Mission Impossible.

Mission Impossible is fun. It's just stealthy enough to give you a taste of that, but there's also enough action that you're not just sneaking around everywhere, hiding in the shadows. There's also some levels with very interesting gameplay. In one level you stop playing as Ethan Hunt and play as two snipers covering him, switching back and forth between the two snipers and shooting people who come out of the shadows to attack Ethan. I have to admit, it was fun... and I don't really remember seeing something like that before.

There's a certain amount of thinking that goes into this game. Because for the most part you have to be somewhat stealthy you have to decide the best place to ambush people, plant traps, change identities, etc. It's not your standard "shoot everything that moves" kind of game. Sure, it's no Splinter Cell, but it it's certainly what I would consider a predecessor.

Overall Mission Impossible is fun, sure it has it's flaws. Sometimes the controls are sometimes sluggish, there's escort missions, timed missions, and civilians and your crew are bullet magnets, but overall I enjoyed it. The few hours it took to beat were a pretty good time.

Does that mean you should rush out and buy it? Probably not. Look, unless you played it in the past or have some sort of weird affection for Nintendo 64 games you'll probably think it's an okay game, but nothing spectacular. On the other hand it cost me $4.50 so maybe at the end of the day maybe it's worth it. Your choice.

Squid.