Alekhine's Gun - PC

The Cold War has been fertile territory for video games. As an unconventional conflict with impossibly high stakes (you know, mutually assured nuclear destruction) that's hardly surprising. It's to this milieu that Maximum Games returns us in Alekhine's Gun.

You play as Semyon Strogov, AKA Agent Alekhine, a KGB operative working on the wrong side of the tracks. After the rescue of CIA agent Vincent Rambaldi during World War II, Alekhine finds himself drawn into a battle to stop an anti-government plot that's cooking in the US's premier overseas intelligence agency, the CIA. The plot weaves real historical events in and out of the narrative, painting a stark picture of the political climate of the time in a style inspired by film noir.

The game is a stealth-'em-up and has a bit of the feel of the Hitman games. The action unfolds over 11 sandbox game levels, offering a number of approaches to completing the missions. They might take the stealthiest approach, taking out enemies and stealing their uniforms so they can pose as them. For those with an inclination towards breaking and entering there's the option to pick locks, or if it comes to it you can just kill your way to an objective with poisons, firearms, knives, a wire garrote and assorted other nastiness... more