May 8th, 2002 (12:00am) - May 08, 2002 - Chasing military secrets across Eastern Europe through to the Orient, hacking security terminals, pistol whipping attackers, setting explosives the IGI team are back and David Jones is about to be caught up in his most dangerous assignment to date.
IGI 2: Covert Strike brings the world of Project IGI back to PC screens as the acclaimed superb stealth-based first-person shooter returns, continuing the espionage theme of the original.
The missions of covert surveillance, stealth and blazing firepower continue the career of Jones, once a key SAS member, who now works as a freelance operative for a secret organisation code-named ’IGI’.
IGI 2: Covert Strike is set soon after the events in Project IGI. The Cold War has ended and the Soviet countries are attempting to rebuild their shattered nations. No longer faced with a nuclear stand off, Russia is able to move financial support from its military forces to its private research and production industries. World powers turn their attention to gaining information on each other’s industrial secrets.
The game takes place over three linked campaigns, each packed with individual missions. Each mission expands the plot and is sequenced with impressive animated scenes that absorb the player in the game’s carefully constructed narrative. The spiralling plot takes the action through Russia, across Libya and into China utilising locations including military airbases, harbours and secret government installations.
Jones’ assignment has him plunging into Russia to locate and retrieve any evidence of the rumoured EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) chips new technology which IGI suspect could be employed in weapons development.
It won’t be an easy ride: an advanced Artificial Intelligence system will give Jones’ many enemies the ability to work together as effective teams, using realistic combat tactics and electronic security systems to locate him, hunt him down and neutralise him. The AI will react in a co-ordinated manner with different characters performing different roles within the team you are opposed to.
At least Jones has resources to deal with the enemy whether intelligence gathering, sniping a guard from a distant tower, or storming a courtyard with all guns blazing. IGI 2: Covert Strike will feature an outstanding array of realistically modelled weaponry in both single and multiplayer modes, from sidearms and machine pistols to assault rifles and rocket launchers. Surveillance and similar modern technology, including a GPS system and light intensified optics, will be featured throughout the locations.
The implementation of a redesigned "Save" system for IGI 2: Covert Strike improves over the original’s. IGI 2’s Save system will be a function of the map computer a device which David Jones, the game’s central character, uses to receive tactical support in the field from IGI HQ.
The map computer has the functionality for Jones to download and upload to save and load the current mission status and position. Doing this in the field will take time and drains battery energy from the map computer, so players will have to save tactically.
Meanwhile, development work on IGI 2: Covert Strike’s all-new multiplayer mode continues. IGI2: Covert Strike will deliver a full team-oriented multiplayer mode, with squads of eight players per side. With objective-based gameplay, it pits IGI operatives against terrorists from around the globe.
IGI 2: Covert Strike is being developed at Innerloop Studios AS, the Oslo-based team that created the original, and is scheduled to be published* by Codemasters this summer on PC CD-ROM. The game’s web site and forum can be found at: http://www.codemasters.com/igi2
