Alekhine’s Gun – Poor Man’s Hitman

REVIEW – This game is not what it looks to be from multiple points of views. First off, you could say that Alekhine’s Gun is no more than a cheap ripoff of early Hitman games… and it is, though. Also, this title was originally planned to be Death to Spies 3, but the original developers (Haggard Games) got replaced by Maximum Games, who also took up the publisher role. Is this game terrible? Maybe.

 

Semyon Strogov returns: Agent Alekhine is still a KGB-agent working for the CIA. He needs to survive and complete tasks throughout eleven missions in creative ways. The story is based on real events, going from the second World War to the Cold War era. Levels are similar to Hitman games’ regarding size in areas providing some freedom. (Norway, Cuba, Texas, Switzerland, etc.)

A küldetések elvégzését követően a program kiértékeli játékunkat.

First to fail

Let’s say you’re new to this genre. Would you expect a tutorial mission? Yes, but instead, you have to learn the basics during the first level. Alright, I guess. So I saw a guard looking through a gate facing away from me. Getting that garrote out. Oh, you can take the Nazi guard’s clothes (of course – 1943, this is a flashback mission). Let’s hide the body. Go to this guardhouse. I go in; I put it down… and half the body is clipping through the wall. I walked over to the other side of it, and I made the body disappear.

This was my first ever impression with the game. You can guess where this story goes. For example, I could say that the guard’s „suspicion circle” started to grow despite not seeing me, ending up shooting at me. Mind you; he did not see me after two seconds, not enough to trigger him.

A küldetések elvégzését követően a program kiértékeli játékunkat.

Warming up

Let’s get into the pre-mission preparations. You can choose what you take with yourself: from the Tokarev TT pistol through the Walter P38 to the MP40, you can pick other guns, garrote, chloroform, knife, and so on. Most weapons can be upgraded, but you have to buy the bigger guns that require at least a three-digit RP amount. Getting to the stage, you can always check out your tasks, and you also get a large map as well – the map needs to be analyzed to get around efficiently.

Then I started to realize that the framerate was a problem. Sometimes it just dropped under 30FPS on PS4. This isn’t the only issue with the game, though. The maps and the enemy positions didn’t feel like they were well thought out. There’s also a lack of interactivity. There’s a gramophone on the table. Why can’t I play that and not just use my own whistling to catch that guard’s attention?

A küldetések elvégzését követően a program kiértékeli játékunkat.

Bug

I still haven’t mentioned all mistakes! The Instinct mode (You’re not Agent 47…) shows what NPCs suspect of you: white is OK, yellow is a little suspicious and red is very cautious of you. One time I made a red alerted. Guess how I solved the problem? I closed a door in front of him. Yes. I closed a door in front of him. Speaking of doors, there’s a door opening minigame, and I managed to get shot and die while trying to get that locked door open. I was sneaking (not running!) up to an enemy, which did a sudden 180 and killed me. I got stuck in bookshelves, and I also managed to fall out of the level, followed by a crash.

This is where I would usually talk about audiovisuals. OK! While the story is alright (we must stop the events that would cause a third World War, this is a positive point for the game), the cutscenes’ style is okay, but the quality looks weak. The graphics look like a PS3 game. I already talked about the framerate and the voice acting is also sub-par. In-game character animations are harder than a five-day loaf of bread, and we can also mention the stupid AI, too! Everything is given to succeed, right?

A küldetések elvégzését követően a program kiértékeli játékunkat.

Shitman

This game is weak, and I’m kind on Alekhine’s Gun. It should have been released later, as the game fails on almost ALL important segments. Alekhine’s Gun is easily the worst game of 2016 so far. Sure, it’s not as huge of a flop as THPS5 was, but I don’t think we saw a worse title than this in 2016 so far. Only sick masochistic people play this on their own, and I am one of them. I can’t even recommend you to play the game.

Go play with literally any other Hitman game, yes that includes Absolution, too. Hell, play with the other Death to Spies games. I’d only spend like five bucks max on Alekhine’s Gun.

-V-

Pro:

+ 11 missions with various locations
+ I really enjoyed seeing the bugs
+ The story is interesting…

Against:

– Almost everything else is outdated and sub-par
– Tons of bugs
– Weak AI


Publisher: Avanquest Software, KISS Ltd.

Developer: Maximum Games

Genre: Action Stealth

Publication: Mars 1,  2016 (PS4, X1) Mars 11 (PC)

Alekhine's Gun - Poor Man’s Hitman

Gameplay - 2.7
Story - 6.4
Grafika - 4
Music/audio - 2.1
Ambiance - 2.8

3.6

BAD

Alekhine's Gun is everything what Hitman isn't, while being nothing that Hitman is. A poor man's Hitman.

User Rating: 1.5 ( 1 votes)

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Grabbing controllers since the middle of the nineties. Mostly he has no idea what he does - and he loves Diablo III. (Not.)

One comment

  1. weiya says:

    Go play Hitman Absolution too.

    Proved me this guy has no idea what he’s talking about.

    Absolution was better than Blood Money by far. Blood Moneys mechanics sucks for todays standards, can’t even crouch without holding the key and few options to sneak.

    The hypocrisy is funny here. Yes, this game isn’t good, in particular it isn’t thought out well as far as level design and options go…which are terrible but then to use a shitty out-dated game as a reference that is even better than a 3 Year old Hitman game is just sad.

    If you liked Blood Money in 2016, you like bad games, end of. This game was just another “blood money” to give you a reality check how bad old stealth games were. I can’t replay old thief, mgs and hitman games simply cause they’re so bad. This game at least has better graphics than it…and more atmosphere, but I do agree it doesn’t even have a solid base and doesn’t even know what to do with it’s own little mechanics there are and the level design there is HOWEVER: Blood Money was one of the worst games I’ve ever played. Can’t crouch without clicking it down, can’t change corners, can’t do anything except

    Blood Money falls on every level as a modern game even to this one. Horrible graphics, zero animations, no atmosphere, ugly main character and zero intelligence needed to get it through. Now that’s all the arguments you brought up for this game, but the difference is here you’re honest.

    Alekhines Gun is a disappointment but I draw the line where you use shitty, outdated games like Blood Money as comparision when Absolution was 1000x than both games combined. I guess challenging gameplay is too much for you. Modern Hitman including Absolution and Splinter Cell: Blacklist amongst Styx: Master of Shadows mop the floor with your belowed shitty Blood Money, that was nothing but a generic stealth game with zero atmosphere, shit graphics even for its time and had zero substance.

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