Alekhine’s Gun, review: 'One of the ugliest games this generation'

It’s impossible to talk about Alekhine’s Gun without acknowledging Hitman. Both are third person stealth games that focus on assassination, relying on costume changes and cunning to get you near your mark. They also both released in the same week, and that’s a major problem for Alekhine’s Gun.

While the latest Hitman installment shows a high level of polish and craft, Alekhine’s Gun is one of the ugliest games this generation, looking like an early Xbox 360 launch title. The frame rate suffers too, panting and wheezing when the onscreen action gets too much.

The game flits across several locations and decades, from 1940’s Nazi strongholds to 1960’s America, and this works in its favour, ensuring that your next mission will have variety from your last. There are multiple ways to take out your target, with all the classics present (poisoning, staging an ‘accident’, or a good old fashioned bullet), but none of them have the inventiveness of the Hitman series.

The stealth system works up to a point, but it’s easily breakable and this ruins the player's immersion. Enemies will show interest in you if you act suspiciously, but immediately forget about you when you turn the corner. Characters ponder you thoughtfully if you stray too near them, leading to bizarre scenarios where you can stroll through a room and prompt crowds of Nazi foot soldiers (all with identical character models, by the way) to stroke their chins in perfect synchronisation, like a strange, mass Jimmy Hill tribute.

There’s a stealth game here, but it’s not a great one. It’s a genre that’s admittedly lacking in titles, so if you’ve played Hitman, and need something to occupy you until Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is released, then you might be able to stomach Alekhine’s Gun. For everyone else though, it’s one to avoid.