The shady, adventurous life of spies will never be boring. We are folks who crave escapism and creative action in our entertainment. There?s nothing that hits the spot like watching someone way smarter and more good-looking than us take down the bad guys.
Mix that with the very real world drama of the Cold War in the 80s?where no one was sure if they?d make it out of the decade un-nuked?and the legend of the spy soars. Phantom Doctrine lives in that legend, telling an alternate history story about a rogue intelligence agency, the Cabal, and their quest to eliminate hostile global entities looking to profit from the military stand-off between NATO and the Soviet Union.

As a muddier, more morally iffy take on the genre, it?s visually mobbed with dark hues. Every mission seems to take place at night, which doesn?t hide the lack of detailed textures vehicles, buildings, and clothing. But the simplicity of the character models gives the game a distinctly disciplined feel. These characters are supposed to be identifiable, but not memorable. They?re spies, after all. Character creation involves choosing which shady government agency you work for. The American CIA and the Russian KGB are your only options initially, with an unlockable third faction. After that, you?re whisked away to a character editor that seems robust for this sort of game. It may be underwhelming for folks very into character creators, though.

Soldier, Spy
Turn by turn, you will navigate each mission like a r...