E3 06: Death to Spies impressions

LOS ANGELES--Do you want to kill more spies? Sure, we all do. Well, you're going to have your chance in Death to Spies, the new World War II stealth action game from Haggard Games and 1C Publishing. The developers are describing it as somewhat comparable to Metal Gear Solid, and there definitely are similarities in the gameplay of the two games.

The story of Death to Spies revolves around the Soviet department known as SMERSH, which was responsible for--what else?--killing spies. The action that we were shown revolved more around going behind enemy lines and taking out some devious Germans, though. We weren't sure what the objective of the mission was, but it started out with our character using a silenced pistol to nail a headshot on a German sentry. Since the uniform was bloodied, the SMERSH spy was unable to steal the uniform and use it for his own, but he did manage to trap the body with a grenade, leaving a deadly trap for the next soldier to come along.

The game's stealth mechanics revolve around a suspicion meter, which affects how closely your foes are examining your actions. Obviously enough, running into a German base with a Soviet uniform on will cause everyone to shoot you on sight, but if you manage to steal a German uniform, they'll be much less likely to notice you. The effect can be improved by also stealing a German weapon and using that to replace your own. Other behaviors, such as walking instead of running, will also affect your ability to blend in. You can go ahead and start shooting dudes if you like, but you can take only a few shots before you die, so stealth mechanics will be required if you want to complete your missions.

Other aspects of the game involve stealth aspects as well, including moving corpses around so that they remain undetected and even peeking through keyholes to see what's on the other side of the door you're looking through, complete with a neat keyhole frame around your visible area.

Death to Spies is currently set for a 2006 release, presumably later this fall. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more details as they become available.