Alekhine's Gun

It looks like Hitman and even plays like it, but you're much better off with the real thing.

While the premise is interesting and the good intent is apparent, the buggy engine and unimpressive level design makes it a forgettable experience

The recent premiere of Hitman was quite a disappointment due to only one episode at the beginning. Alekhine's Gun seemed like the perfect title to sweeten the long wait. And it would have been if it had been released 10 years ago...

Like the chess move it’s named after, Alekhine’s Gun puts its pieces in the right places, but then it fails to follow through with any quality or grace. It’s hard to feel accomplished after pulling off a clean kill when the targets lack the competence to even defend themselves.

The stealth genre is one that's often hard to get right in a game. It has to have a balance of patience and action, combat and hiding, and – most importantly – it has to be open and varied. Somehow, Alekhine's Gun fails at all of these things, missing the mark more than a Stormtrooper after drinking five cans of Red Bull.

The Cold War setting is probably one of the most abused settings in video game history, and it's not difficult to understand why, with two nuclear super-powers confronting one another in unconventional ways for supremacy. With a setting offering very interesting narrative possibilities, it's no wonder that Alekhine's Gun story is engaging enough. Unfortunately, it's one of the very few things that...