Spycraft: The Great Game

Paying for real ex-Intelligence brass to appear in-game, relying on videos to deliver the story when FMV games were often panned .. both are gutsy moves and it worked great. The game is all about realistic espionage themes and tasks. It is memorable because it included the less glamorous side of spying. You will use a beige PC, sit in a cubicle and examine clues. After the fun detective work is done, you report to fellow agents and bosses via pre-prepared emails (just pick the right answers to complete the email). They send you 3G cellphone video replies/messages (back in 1996 woohoo). You will also pick replies in lots of conversations. You get to use interesting softwares (highly simplified for ease of use): ** 'photoshop' pictures and make it believable, this is tricky business ** investigate an assassination: how did they do it ? ** examine security cameras ** Search a database of suspects for the culprit you're looking for, using a facial sketch software. Negatives of this game: * not the DVD version with better videos * some tasks like doctoring a picture are hard to get right, but they're far and few. Source: I finished this game back in late 90s, with a pictorial strat guide from Computer Player :P More on this discussion on GOG forum: http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/release_spycraft_the_great_game

No joke, this was one of my favorite games of all time. IIRC they intended to make a sequel, or an entire series but William Colby, the former CIA director who helped create the game died shortly after it was released. It's presumably one of the most realistic portrayals of the intelligence community in popular fiction. You play as Case Officer Thorn and you're tasked with protecting the president from a foreign attack (among other things). At your disposal are a wide variety of tools such as code-breaking software, image doctoring, satellite image analysis, etc. Great game and totally unique. I don't think I've ever played anything else like it.

This was one of the first PC games I played and it was very fun. The game had it's own internet type search engine for clues and details about the assassins. The game was clunky though and nearly impossible if you didn't have a guide (looking at you face puzzle). Still it's a fun game with a great story, clunky as it may be it's worth a look.

Of all the spy games to be ever released in the history of gaming, Spycraft is without a doubt the most realistic for its time. You will have to not only decode documents that have been encoded, but also use forensics in order to find a sniper, go through enemy territory while avoiding getting killed and making some tough choices in regards to the fate of certain characters and even nations. It certainly helped that former CIA director William Colby, who tragically passed away in a canoe accident two months after the game was released, and former major general of the KGB Oleg Kalugin showed the developers how the CIA and KGB did their espionage during the Cold War. And the FMV actors aren't bad either, which only lends to building up a believable atmosphere in the game.