Posted on September 20, 2012
My Top 100: #84 – Mission: Impossible
1998 – Ocean Software (Nintendo 64, PlayStation)
Nintendo Power seemed to believe that two Nintendo 64 games would revolutionize their respective genres, and both were based on movies that would be a couple years old by the time they were released. One was GoldenEye 007, and the other was Mission: Impossible.
If I remember correctly, the amount of hype surrounding M:I was even greater than the hype behind the Bond game. Early screenshots showed some fantastic lighting effects, as well as character models more realistic than we had ever seen! Indeed, this was shaping up to be something quite special. Even though I had never seen the Tom Cruise movie, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.
Kinda dark, but this looked pretty incredible in ’96. (Credit for the image goes to Unseen64)
The finished product actually looked quite different than this. It wasn’t as dark and gritty, and had a bit more of a cartoonish look to it than they probably wanted. That didn’t really matter to me, since it was very much unlike anything else I had played before. Very few situations called for brute strength or actually shooting a bunch of bad guys, so sneaking around was the name of the game.
There was also a level based on the Terminal Room scene in the movie, where Ethan Hunt is dangling precariously from a cable, avoiding security lasers and such. It was promoted as one of the coolest parts of the game, figuring prominently in ads for the game and screenshots on the back of the game box… instead, it was one of the most infuriating experiences I’ve ever had in any game, ever! The controls for it just didn’t fit the game at all, and instead of just doing what I needed to do, I found myself swinging around the room like an idiot.
Thankfully, the rest of the game is quite enjoyable, and I never let that one level get me down.
Aw, mannn. This guy flies through all the dialogue and gets things done like it’s no big deal, but you had to be quite sneaky about the way you did things in this level. Not only that, but that woman in the red dress is out to ruin Hunt’s day if he pulls off the face-switcheroo the wrong way. She kinda creeped me out, too, just because she followed you all sketchy-like. Good times!