Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Mission: Impossible – Operation Surma delivers a stealth-driven experience that feels faithful to the franchise’s espionage roots. As Ethan Hunt, you navigate a variety of global locales—from snowbound research facilities to crowded city streets—using shadows and gadgets to avoid detection. The core mechanics revolve around crouching, peeking around corners, and timing takedowns, which ensures every mission feels like a tense puzzle to solve.

One of the game’s strengths is its extensive gadget roster. You’ll have access to night-vision goggles, a wrist-mounted taser, and fingerprint scanners, among others. These tools aren’t just for show—they’re essential to bypassing security doors, hacking terminals, and subduing enemies silently. Learning when and where to deploy each gadget becomes a satisfying layer of strategy as you progress.

Enemy AI exhibits a reasonable level of alertness, reacting to sounds and changed patrol routes. While some players may find the AI occasionally predictable, the varied mission designs compensate by forcing you to adapt your approach. Whether you choose to stealthily pick off guards one by one or create diversions to slip past unnoticed, the game supports multiple playstyles.

The level design encourages exploration and replayability. Many areas have hidden routes, maintenance tunnels, and ventilation shafts that allow for alternative paths. If an alert is raised, the game gives you the option to reset the alarm or fight through waves of guards, adding tension and consequences to every decision you make.

Graphics

Visually, Operation Surma presents a solid if not groundbreaking aesthetic. Environments are richly detailed, from the slick corridors of Surma Corp’s labs to the dilapidated warehouses housing guarded intel. Textures on walls and machinery often feel immersive, though distant environments may suffer occasional pop-in on certain consoles.

Character models do a commendable job of capturing the likenesses expected in a licensed game, even if Ethan Hunt himself doesn’t mirror Tom Cruise perfectly. Facial animations during cutscenes convey urgency and resolve, while in-game animations—such as shimmying along ledges or silently dragging foes—feel fluid and responsive.

Lighting plays a crucial role in gameplay and atmosphere. Dynamic shadows allow you to melt into the darkness, and well-placed spotlights heighten tension when you’re unexpectedly illuminated. Reflections on metal surfaces and water puddles add polish, although bloom effects can occasionally feel overdone in brighter levels.

Loading times between missions are generally swift, maintaining immersion and pacing. Audio design complements the visuals, with ambient sounds like distant alarms or dripping water enhancing the sense of presence within these high-stakes environments.

Story

Operation Surma offers an original narrative that stands apart from the films while retaining the trademark twists and betrayals of the Mission: Impossible brand. You begin with a routine data-retrieval mission that quickly spirals into a desperate race against time when you uncover the ICE Worm virus. The stakes escalate from industrial espionage to global catastrophe, keeping you invested throughout.

The Surma Corporation’s ambiguous motives are gradually peeled back through intercepted communications, interrogation sequences, and gadget-enabled surveillance. As Hunt, you’ll infiltrate private research facilities and rendezvous with ambiguous allies who may or may not have your best interests at heart. These plot revelations unfold at a brisk pace, ensuring the momentum rarely wanes.

Character development focuses primarily on Ethan, showcasing his resourcefulness and unwavering resolve. While supporting characters don’t receive extensive backstories, their cryptic hints and sudden shifts in loyalty heighten tension. Plot twists—such as the identity of the mole within the agency—engage you in untangling who to trust.

The narrative’s finale culminates in a high-octane showdown where every gadget you’ve collected and skill you’ve honed comes into play. Although some story beats may feel familiar to genre veterans, the unique premise of weaponizing a computer virus gives the campaign its own identity and sense of urgency.

Overall Experience

Mission: Impossible – Operation Surma is a rewarding stealth-action adventure that captures the spirit of the movies without directly copying any single film plot. The blend of gadget-driven gameplay and diverse mission objectives creates a satisfying ebb and flow between tension and release. Fans of methodical infiltration will feel right at home, while newcomers can appreciate the clear objectives and accessible controls.

Replayability is enhanced by optional objectives, time-based challenges, and secret collectibles hidden throughout each level. If you enjoy honing your run to perfection or uncovering every hidden passage, there’s plenty of incentive to revisit completed missions. The game also features a variety of difficulty settings, allowing players to fine-tune enemy awareness and available resources.

While some technical rough edges—like occasional AI predictability or minor texture pop-ins—prevent Operation Surma from feeling entirely next-gen, these issues never derail the core experience. The game’s pacing, engaging gadgets, and well-crafted stealth segments ensure it remains compelling from start to finish.

Overall, Operation Surma stands as a solid entry in the stealth-action genre. It delivers the thrills expected from a Mission: Impossible title—high-stakes heists, intricate disguises, and pulse-pounding escapes—making it a worthy purchase for fans of espionage games and action-oriented players alike.

Retro Replay Score

6.6/10