Sid Meier's Covert Action

Look, most of my time with this game was spent doing 'practice' with the cipher minigame. For that alone, it's quite a lot of fun. The phone tapping minigame is also a bit of fun to figure out, though less engaging. As for the 'full' actual game.. I've only played it once or twice on the easy setting. Some of the activities are tricky, particularly movement while infiltrating a location. If you're on a laptop without a numpad, you might be out of luck since that's where the movement keys are. The closest game I can think of is Carmen Sandiego, but that might just be skin deep, since both of them are investigation games that have an elevator sequence bridging their core loop. Fundamentally, you're finding and following clues, snooping on people involved in a scheme, building up a dossier until you have enough info to apprehend the ringleader. It's the kind of game I'd love to see redone with more refined and modern controls, but it fundamentally works as a 2D game and probably wouldn't as a 3D game, so.. any indies paying attention? Should you buy it? If you like ciphers and you don't mind playing something that, to modern tastes, feels more like an alpha or tech demo, then give it a shot if it's on sale.

I love this game even if I can't figure out how to not suck at driving or placing wiretaps. Even if they remade this game and took out all of the fun that comes from writing down clues because too much is going on or doing cryptograph puzzles, I'd be happy with it drawing attention to the original. It's a lot like Carmen Sandiego in that you first have to learn where the action is and who's involved, then going through the rigmarole of jumping through legal hoops because you need to fill out that dossier before you're allowed to make an arrest and finally having like no time at all to hunt down all of these nefarious ne'er-do-wells, hopefully also snatching up their toys like blueprints or explosives. It's as rough as you'd expect from a game old enough to have its own kids but it's complex and neverending, randomized fun that you can just get a good game going pretty quickly.

I picked this game up back in the late 90s on 3.25" floppy's and I still have the game to this day. It sits proudly on my desk at home. I discovered that it was on Steam and snatched it up in a heartbeat and had a great time playing through a few missions again. The biggest issue is that you really need a 10-key pad to do the combat missions. This wasn't an issue in 1990 when just about every computer had them, but these days? Good luck! Others have spoken to how good a game this is and I won't bore you with regaling how it cured cancer for me or the like, but I will say that for a game that was made when it was, it had *so* many avenues of play. I always avoided tailing people in cars as that was the least fully baked concept in the batch, but it was still an option. Many, many options to completing a case. That's what I loved about the game and still do. Your mileage may vary as the game's graphics are...rad, dude! Yeah, 16 colors is quite comical these days. But, don't toss the baby with the bathwater, as the saying goes. If you like spy thrillers, like I do, then you owe it to yourself to snatch this game and give it a whirl.

Truly one of Sid Meier's under-appreciated classics, this is a must play for fans of his other works, and espionage fans in general. Don't be afraid to fail multiple times as you learn the best wheres and ways to play. Utilize the cheat sheets for an easier time across the four minigames. A pen and paper is also recommended. Consult your assistant at any CIA headquarters through the Intelligence Branch for tips about your current objectives, and which lead(s) might be best to follow.

This was a classic, but need a modern remake introduce to todays audiences.