Project IGI 3 The Mark

When it comes to capturing the real-life intensity of a firefight, only a handful of AAA titles have managed to replicate the frantic hail of bullets with such avid attention to detail as Project IGI 4 The Mark has. With a development history that spans nearly two decades, The Mark signifies the best entry in this criminally overlooked series so far.

Outrageously dated visuals aside, Project IGI 3 The Mark manages to be a surprisingly up-to-date FPS experience that delivers the thrills we’re used to seeing only from some of the most bombastic AAA titles in the market.

Blast from the past

Like the previous Project IGI games before it, The Mark looks and plays like your everyday Call of Duty game. Unlike those titles, however, IGI has always been more prone to tactical engagements rather than full-on gunfights.

It might be surprising to hear – especially for series veterans – but The Mark is technically not a new chapter in the IGI series. This is an unofficial modification of Project IGI 2: Covert Strike that includes some new scenarios and weapons – just the kind of thing you might be looking for if you grew up playing the other games in this series.

While we wait for IGI Origins to finally make its long-awaited debut, The Mark remains the most recent – and, in many ways – the best way for new players to get introduced to the series, and for long-time fans to relive their glory days playing Covert Strike.

Still, as much as the game tries to introduce a much more modern narrative structure, some aspects of the game are held back by the dated engine, which is something that might dissuade new players from even touching The Mark.

Old is New

Being a mod of an almost two-decades-old game comes with more than a few caveats in terms of presentation and overall gameplay quality. The same tactical stealth gameplay that players loved about Covert Strike is present in The Mark, but the engine is certainly beginning to show its age by now.

Character models and every piece of geometry present in the maps look awfully dated. On the flip side, the game should be able to run on virtually any modern machine, so that might be some good news for players that don’t own a powerful gaming rig.

Things like modern gun physics and controller support are virtually nonexistent in The Mark, sadly. It’s clear that this is a mod of one of the very first modern FPS games – we just wanted to see some more time being invested in making it look at least similar to what modern graphics standards are.

All that said, Project IGI 3 The Mark might still be a nice little gem for long-time IGI fans to enjoy while they wait for any word on the release of the next official IGI game. If you’re a new player looking to get into the series, you’re probably better off playing IGI-2: Covert Strike.

Pros

• More of the same tactical shooting gameplay the series is known for
• Great map and mission design
• A good variety of objectives to tackle

Cons

• Very dated visuals
• Awkward gameplay
• Unintuitive user interface