Does anyone know of any spy games? The James Bond games are just fancy shooters most of the time and the Hitman series is just assassination. I'm looking for one that is more free-form. I'll elaborate. - You start, as a diplomat or actual spy and are told to rifle through someones papers. You have to do this using disguises, social engineering and (possibly) violence. -There would be a stealth system. - It would take place in a sandbox environ (a city for example) - There would have to be multiple plot paths, factions, side missions etc. These would be perfect, but I'll settle for close. Thanks

I've had Alpha Protocol on my radar for quite some time now. I don't know if it will be open-world (the walkthrough video mentioned a "Moscow hub"), but it looks friggin' awesome either way.

Parts of your description reminded me of Commandos and while it does have a spy with disguises and stealth is a key element in accomplishing goals, it's not a spy game.

I did also like the environments and though somewhat linear when it comes down to it, they were typically large and you often had multiple ways/directions of approaching a problem.

Deus Ex can be played pretty much like a stealth/spy game, and it's very fun to do so, especially given the game's environment of conspiracy theories.

My vote goes to Deus Ex as well. I doubt you'll find any "sandbox" games in this genre (social AI? Good luck on that) but Deus Ex offered an amount of choice and freedom in pursuing your objectives that games really haven't gotten anywhere near since.

No One Lives Forever is a fantastic spy series too, but more linear and comedic. The second one still probably has the most sophisticated enemy AI I've seen, although that isn't saying a whole lot seeing as no one else in the industry bothers to do any AI beyond "they can flank!".

It doesn't exactly fit your description (other than spies), and I'm not sure when it will see the light of day or if it will be any good, but you might as well look into Spy Party:

http://kotaku.com/5500968/the-next-smart-video-game-only-lets-you-kill-once

Quote: Original post by dashurc
It doesn't exactly fit your description (other than spies), and I'm not sure when it will see the light of day or if it will be any good, but you might as well look into Spy Party:

http://kotaku.com/5500968/the-next-smart-video-game-only-lets-you-kill-once

This game sounds like it has the potential to be totally awesome. There's one thing about this game that I think is definitely right. The fact that it's human mind vs. human mind.

When I was first reading the original post, all I could think about is how AI in games with the spy or assassin themes tend to irritate me. Either they're too dumb or inconsistent or unbelievable that it kills the fun or immersion if not both. I don't remember the exact game, but there was this ninja game for the X-Box 360 where the players could literally roll past enemy guards like a tumble weed and they wouldn't notice, but god forbid it if you stood up and walked like a normal person...

On the flip side, there's some over sensitive AI like in Hit Man: Blood Money. Some of the PC's could see things they weren't really supposed to, not even having line of sight, especially in the hotel level where you had to take out those 3 dudes. That's the only thing to me that made the game frustrating, though I enjoyed it over all.

I don't know that our AI systems are fine tuned enough yet to really truly capture the glory of a spy adventure. Though, if they can develop one that is in the middle ground to be balanced, then there might be a hope. It could be fun to have to infiltrate a place, with just a few pieces of intelligence, and a goal that must be done before x time limit. Throw in some random elements that change the game up each time, but don't make it too too hard... could have some potential.

Sorry, not trying to hi-jack your thread. Just ranting about my finds so far and sharing my hopes for the genre in the future. Though, I hope you're able to find one that is fun and suits you. I think that I'll have to keep my eye on this thread as well, see if anything special shows up so that I might have a go at it too.

Try "Covert Action", by Microprose. A game from 1990, I still play it today.