Years ago a movie tie-in was the cash cow of the video game industry. No matter what the film there seemed to be a game for it, be it Batman, The Untouchables or even Home Alone - I'm sure that there were probably even a few Merchant Ivory conversions for the Mums around someplace. The vast majority of these games were never any good, most of them being actually the same games with different characters. Now with the convergence between the video game and the movie being so close the movie tie-in is back. But has anything changed with respect of the quality? Well not quite!

Mission Impossible - Operation Surma is the latest movie spin off game to hit the PS2 - it's NOT a conversion of the movies, but instead a whole new adventure for the IMF team led by Ethan Hunt. In the movies Ethan was played by Tom Cruise but both his image and his voice have not made it to the game, obviously a budget restriction - Ving Rhames however has reprised the role of Luther and it's him who will be talking you through the missions that you face.

This time around your mission (should you choose to accept it) is something to do with an evil baddy and his plans to unleash some form of computer virus on the world. The game opens with a rather neat little intro movie which shows Ethan getting his briefing underwater and then it's on to the game proper. Before you actually start to move Ethan around the game world things are actually looking good. The presentation of the game is very nice and so are the briefings and music, however things soon change.

The game starts with the tutorial type mission involving you sneaking across a courtyard to meet with your contact and retrieve a disc from him. Along the way you hand is firmly held with prompts telling you how to overcome the next bit of the mission and move across the courtyard. Within seconds you start to get a déjà vu feeling - a third person sneak stealthy type game with gadgets and gizmos thrown in.

   

This being Mission Impossible there are many, many gadgets - if anything perhaps too many, and pretty much all of them are in constant use. There is a dart gun for knocking out the guards dotted around the level - a pair of binoculars which have a rather nifty zoom, which are used for taking photos and picking up audio - a grappling hook device which allows instant access to higher levels and a rather ingenious multi-gadget which allows you to hack into video cameras and do a few other clever things. As well as all that you are able to pick up the odd handgun for when stealth fails.

So far it sounds all rather exciting and lovely and for a few minutes the illusion is still there. But very soon you find that each level is more of an obstacle course that requires you just having to work out which of your gadgets to use where. Need a camera turning off? - Then use the multi-gadget, need to reach that overhead pipe? - Then its time for the grappling hook. The requirement for all this gear is almost constant, and besides running across a few empty spaces each level soon feels more of a chore than anything else.

At its heart MI is Splinter Cell done on the cheap. A lot of the character animations actually feel very, very similar to that used for Sam Fisher and also all of the actions that Ethan can carry out seem to have been pretty much cut and pasted from Splinter Cell too. This being a stealth game Ethan is able to sneak around the levels, a stealth meter shows how well you are hidden in dark areas. When sneaking up behind guards a single tap of the X button can knock them out or (and I wonder where this idea came from) you can grab them and move around a level with them in human shield form. There is even an option to drop from above onto an unsuspecting victim and knock them out. Oh and don't forget to hide the bodies in a dark area. The only welcome addition is a little icon that flashes and lets you know when the attack will succeed and which means no dropping too far away and feeling a little silly. Ethan is also able to go toe to toe with any of the baddies dotted around the place using a very simple one-button combo system.

The controls of the game are rather fluid but I do have a problem with how you use the gadgets at your disposal. For example to use your binoculars you have to press 4 different buttons (not including the direction you want to look) and also the consistency with how they are used is very poor. The dart gun has a huge range but no zoom. That's not a problem as the target turns red when a guard is even close to being in the cross hairs - you then just fire and the guard drops - no matter how far away they are. The binocular cam on the other hand is a different kettle of fish - on the first level you have to take two photos of two rather large objects, I had to make numerous attempts to get a good photo, experimenting with different zooms and angles before the photo was accepted.

   

The levels have numerous security measures. Be it Cameras, guards or laser tripwires they all activate an alarm and place the guards on high alert. The only problem here is that you are given 60 seconds in which to find and disable the alarm. These alarms are usually only about 20 seconds away and take about 5 seconds to disarm. You do the maths. The alarms can be activated and deactivated as many times as you want (or I suppose don't want) and this just results in a ludicrous back tracking and a complete lack of tension. All of the security measures can be overcome using the gadgets or stealth but most of the time it's actually quicker to set them off, complete your task then disarm the alarm.

The graphics are reasonable, some of them do seem lifted from that certain other game especially the animation of the lead character, but they are still fairly good. The lighting techniques are a little ropey but the reflections and shadows do allow you to be able to tell at an instant where the hiding places are. The level design is rather simplistic and you soon get another feeling of déjà vu with the levels having been seen in some form or other many times before. Sound-wise the game seems to be lacking - all dialogue is spoken, but even Mr Rhames seems to be delivering his lines with a hint of boredom in his voice. Also the script leaves a lot to be desired being very much 80s TV rather than hot Hollywood movie.

MI is a strange game to sum up. There are so many things that are even bad or unoriginal about it and quite a few niggles but even with them I did actually find myself enjoying playing it. I think the reason being was the simplicity with which it played and the blatant hand holding for each objective, meaning you never forgot what you were trying to do, and there was also a strange compulsion to see where the story took me. I guess it's very much liking watching a rather bad movie that had a few good action scenes early on, you want to turn it off but carry on watching in case you miss something spectacular. At its heart MI: Operation Surma is just an average game that apes a better one, and one which I imagine will soon be able to be picked up in the second-hand bins before too long. At full price it's a bit of a gamble.