IGI Origins drags the early-00s cult classic FPS series out of retirement

I loved those bafflingly ambitious late '90s/early 2000s shooters. I tried them all. I traipsed through Trespasser and wept at Hidden & Dangerous's muddy, buggy, broken war. And I joined Graham in falling a little bit in love with Project IGI's stomach crawling spy jank. That's why I'm not scoffing at IGI Origins, a return to the 80s Cold War sneakers that kept me entertained back in the day. As broken as they were, I'm always happy to see more.

Here's yer typical CGI peep.

If they try to add in all that nonsense, then I'll give them props. Not enough games do ziplines. There's not a lot else to see, just the promise of gadgets, stealth, an alternate 1980s, and lots of globe-trotting. The player is out trying to redeem themselves, so it's not just patriotic foreigner bashing. No, you'll bash those foreigners with a purpose.

Developers Antimatter Games created Rising Storm, and have worked alongside Tripwire on a lot of their games, which gives me hope. They're not in the business of making duds.

I'm glad it's back. When I was playing Metal Gear Solid V and its impressive preview-demo-thing Ground Zeroes a few years ago, it felt like the promise of those old games had finally been fulfilled. It was proof that trying to do this sort of ambitious ground crawler was possible. I lost weeks to both those games, and it only made me keen for more of the same. I want IGI Origins to be good, and then I want someone to remember that Hidden & Dangerous is out there, in the mud. Watching. Waiting.