Product Reviews

This game certainly doesn't skimp on cliches. You play the part of a drunken former secret agent who is summoned back to active duty to help locate a brilliant but evil scientist. Sadly, while many games can overcome such turgid plot lines, this one doesn't have much to offer. Although it tries desperately to keep up with third-person stealth games such as Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell, Aurora Watching is left far behind.

Your character can run, walk and creep silently, but often it doesn't make any difference. Sometimes you can burst noisily into a room and

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open fire at the man using the computer without getting so much as a flutter out of the guards in the next room. At other times you could be sneaking quietly through a blizzard only to be shot from miles away by an eagle-eyed guard. You can shoot back, but aiming is often difficult, and you can waste a clip of ammo before finally dispatching your target. It doesn't help that when you run out of ammo, the game picks the most ludicrous replacement weapon. Often our machine gun would run out of ammo and, instead of offering us the pistol, the game would volunteer the sniper rifle; not particularly useful for close combat against three armed guards.

Once you've killed your opponents, you can search the bodies for useful items and drag them out of sight so as not to alarm other guards walking past. This sounds good in theory, but it's poorly executed. The bodies frequently get caught on furniture and are impossible to move, and when you do manage to drag them there's often nowhere to hide them.

If you persevere, this game is playable and the graphics are satisfying. If it's real stealth action you're after, though, try Splinter Cell instead.