Sid Meier's Covert Action

After making this game, Sid Meier coined the 'Covert Action rule', which was essentially that each game should be one game, not a bunch of little conflicting ones. And all the criticisms he has of his own game were just as obvious to me. The main problem is a huge chunk of the time is spent 'infiltrating' a building. Of course that sounds fun, but it's a case of awkwardly moving from room to room interacting with drawers then going back the way you came. If this was just one game, it would be an action game, because so much time is spent shooting guards and taking photos of cabinets. Sid noted that this was an action game with fleeting moments of careful spy shenanigans, and he's right, because the other game is a bit of 'Carmen Sandiego' and you'll be collecting clues and going to locations. Though in this game you have the choice of following or tracking cars or bugging their phones. It's nothing special after you've done those same puzzles a few times though. And once you've played one case you've played them all. It's the same thing every time and gets old fast. I found myself thinking "why am I not playing something like Alpha Protocol instead?" Because in 1990 this was alright, but nowadays you really should be playing something else that does the spying shtick way better.

What a great game this was back in the day, and now it has returned. The game was simply ahead of its time, w/ the main limitation being graphics and sound. This was a perfect mashup of puzzles, twitch skills, and stealth action. The fact that you could overcome some of the tougher puzzles by doing a risky breaking and entering job was top notch. I particularly liked the spycraft era this was set in with all of the subversive organizations included in the mix. The game also had long legs, as missions were randomly generated using different motives, locales, operatives and those criminal organizations. You never knew whether you'd be stopping a plot involving the KGB, Red Battalion, or the Junta. The mini games was what this game was all about. I got really good at Cryptographs after playing the decoding mini game. You also had to connect circuits for wiretaps, bypassing alarms, etc. The B & E's were the highlight. I always tried a non-violent approach, knocking out guards rather than going on a shooting spree. The controls are all keyboard and not real easy to remember but work well. Of course, mission outcome and score was always the TM of these games. Solving the sinister plot resulted in a Bond-esque screenshot featuring women (or men for "Maxine") that ranged from your agent doing laundry at the laundromat with an optically challenged lady, to handing out roses to a trio of VGA knockouts! I'm glad to see Max back in action in the age of digital distribution.

Admittedly I have a nostalgic connection to Covert Action as I played it fairly extensively as a child however it holds up even after 20+ years. The procedurally generated cases offer a good amounts of variety in gameplay options and it has action and puzzle elements and a good range in difficulty scaling between the four difficulty settings. The action sequences have the right balance between stealth and action with a 2D overhead view that feels rather arcadish (especially if you get discovered). There are electronics puzzles that are similar to "complete the pipe" type puzzles where you try to get electricity to certain points by swapping tiles (and in harder difficulty you have tiles that can't be swapped and energy generating tiles that will generate current if they have no current going to them to increase the difficulty). The cryptographic puzzles are at the simplest level simple replacement but increase in complexity at higher difficulty levels. The only real weak point is the frustrating "driving" mode -- it is almost impossible even at the simplest difficulty level and winds up being downright frustrating at higher difficulty levels where you can't just rely on using the other game modes to get information for your case. None the less this remains one of my favorite games and even now I break it out at least once a year to run through a few cases.

Covert Action is a game almost as old as I am, and it has aged very well. Players begin play as special agent Max Remington of the CIA and their goal is to stop nefarious terrorist plots from happening. To do this the game offers a few clues and the tools to find out more about the plot currently in motion. These tools come in the form of four minigames. A combat/stealth hybrid, a driving game, a cipher, and an electronics game. If you find yourself incapable of figuring out the plot one way, you can go through things with an other minigame. This coupled with plentiful options for clues such as local informants means that you will never truly be stuck. But with time of the essence, you will need to decide on how to spend your time, as with every move you make time progresses and the plot continues. That said, all plots are doable in about an hour each if you don't purposefully delay them. A big part of the game is figuring out this plot, and finding a way to get into it and disrupt it. You may not always know the hideout of your enemy, you may not always have the evidence to arrest someone who you know is involved. And there are red herrings out there. You need to think things through before acting, figure out where you want to go and when or you will just plain not be able to stop the plot. It's a bit of thought to figure these things out, but it is very satisfying when you get it right. Good design ages well, and it shows. All these minigames work together to make for a great game, four minigames with a single overarching almost puzzle-like game that lets you work your brain to figure things out. Then feel great about yourself for stopping a plot and arresting everyone involved, getting a trip to the casino and having a well deserved vacation. Or you know, you could bumble around for a while and then your failure sends the country spiralling into chaos.