Game of the Day 2/28/2016: Impossible Mission
Impossible Mission is a minor classic on the Commodore 64, and has a fairly interesting legacy of its own, including inspirung Sega's Zillion on the Master System. The version I'm talking about today, though, is the one I've played the most: Impossible Mission for Nintendo DS. It was a fairly early budget title on the handheld, and I believe a GameStop exclusive at the time, launching at the hefty MSRP of $9.99. Seeing it, I promptly snapped it up. I mean, hey, portable Impossible Mission, a game I wasn't crazy about... so I didn't worry about whether it sucked. I'd just finished Zillion and thought it might be something to do.
Well, as it would turn out, Impossible Mission, if you don't know, puts the player in the shoes of a secret agent tasked with sneaking through the underground base of a mad scientist, attempting to gather all of the pieces of his password and solving its puzzle in order to stop him from using his doomsday device. You travel narrow corridors and elevators to gain access to single-screen rooms, which contain various password pieces, codes to shut down security, and to reset lifts in computer terminals, desks, lockers, etc. You must escape robots, solve lift and jumping puzzles, and avoid pits and electrocution in order to succeed within your time limit, which by default is eight hours of real time on DS, or six in original mode. Die, and you lose ten minutes.
Speaking of original, there is an "original" mode that takes the graphics back to the C64 style, a new look overhaul, and a hybrid with the new backgrounds, but old sprites, which is nice. The DS game offers some other improvements, though, such as saving, tighter control, and faster searching that leaves you less vulnerable. These serve to make the game just easier enough to be more accessible, and it works.
Honestly, I think Impossible Mission actually works better as a portable game. For one, the way the game is presented with the map on the second screen and being on a handheld make it more apparent that it is meant to be played less like an action/adventure game and more like a single screen platform/puzzle game. Also, the fact that the game is randomized every playthrough gives it portable legs, and the time limit and saving combo make it easy to work your way through a few rooms, save, and keep going later, or it's short enough to get through a solid road trip.
Impossible Mission is kind of love it or hate it by nature, but the DS version with its newfound accessibility really won me over in a big way that it had never pulled at me before. The remake pays respect to the original while carefully addressing its flaws in a way that doesn't feel like a cheap cash-in, even if it is a budget release. If you like Zillion, Impossible Mission, or like the concept but were put off by some of the clunkiness of the classic game, this may be worth a look.
Played it?
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Originally Posted by Emperor Megas
No, that's not it, but man did that give me a HEARTY freakin' laugh. That looks SO flamboyantly gay! Those goofy, exaggerated mannerisms. Just wow! Thanks man, that shit made my morning, big time!
