I found Death to Spies to have all the makings of a good game with only a few let downs. Firstly, it was very very difficult no matter what you did. Secondly, I wasn't that fond of the graphics, but that is a personal choice. All in all I'd say that if this game goes on sale, you should go for it, particularly if the sequel is included too.

I was not a big fan of stealth games, well, Death to Spies changed my mind. Good graphics and a very good story bring you in the world of russians spies and their missions. Fight for your country during WWII or just kill an ambassador, every mission has a purpose and a clear target, but the way you accomplish your mission it's up to you. Do you want to be stealthy like a silent shadow or maybe kill everyone who cross your path? It's just your choice. What's matter, agent, is that your mission is accomplished!

One of the best games I've ever played.

I went in expecting an awful knockoff of hitman, but as it turned out I was only half right. It is very similar to a less polished hitman, but it is by no means awful. I don't regret playing it at all. The mechanics were further refined in the sequel, so if you only want to play the best of the series, play that one.

While you have a gun, it isn't oft that you can use it. And you have to wait your chance. And the waiting is the most terrible thing there is, because your nerves are getting the best of you.

Beside that it is very intriguing game. You have so many thing you can/must do. It is never boring

This is possibly the second game that has actually ran nicely when I loaded it up; straight into the proper resolution and up to max settings. Although, with that came bad news: Steam’s screenshot system broke, which is a huge shame, and this will be the first blog without screens to accompany it.

When I say this game is Soviet Hitman, it is a pretty spot on description of this game, all though certainly not a bad thing. You are a Spy for the Soviet organisation SMERSH, - coming from the Russian for Death to Spies - which was the USSR’s counter-intelligence agency during WWII created to combat Nazi spies attempting to infiltrate the Red Army; essentially an anti-spy agency, hence the name.

The game has a nice tutorial, set on a bootcamp style setting; you go through an assault course to learn about movement, shooting range for guns and grenades, - which are super tricky to throw precisely - and a little guard house part to teach to you the sneaking and taking out of enemies. It’s a pretty helpful tutorial that shows you everything you’d need to know to be able to get stuck in to the game.

So the first mission: I was tasked with gaining access to a Nazi army base, stealing some documents, and 'kidnapping' an SS officer.

Firstly I had to gain a Nazi uniform, lose my PPSh, and drive to the base in a truck; the game starts you off in a kind of large forest area, with a path up to a small Nazi camp. The road to the camp had a couple of patrols I had to avoid. The first couple were easy, but one kept catching me out - thanks to quicksaves it wasn't too much of an inconvenience - but I persevered and hid behind a tree at the right angle as to not be seen. Once I got to the small camp, I had to negotiate my way past a few guards, down into a bunker, and get myself a uniform; which I did by knocking out a guard and sticking super close to a wall. I pinched his uniform, and swapped my PPSh-41 for his Kar98k, got in the truck up top and drove away, with none of his Nazi friends any the wiser.

After driving my way past the earlier patrols, and up the road I arrived at the base and I ditched my truck next to some hangars and scouted the area out, checking my map where I needed to go. On the minimap I noticed a flashing blip on one of the Officers in the area, and realised he must be my target; so I stalk him around the base 'til he gets to an alleyway with a little side alley off of it, knock him out, and stow him back here. Unable to steal his uniform, I set off in search of more uniform, stealing one from an SS trooper, and a supposed officer, neither of which high enough in command to get me into the building with the documents. I finally find myself a high enough ranking officer to take out, steal the uniform, and steal me some documents. Unfortunately at this point, I alerted an unsuspecting female in the next room, she comes bursting in, and I had to shoot her with my silenced Tokarev; poor girl.

Next I realised I had just dumped my truck and the target and mostly forgot about them, so I rushed back to my truck and came up with a plan to move my unconscious, slightly overweight SS officer to the back of the truck. I returned to my alleyway, parked my truck in a manner so other Nazi soldiers would not be able to come along the alleyway, then crawled under, collected the Officer, stowed him in the back, and drove out the base, and all the way down to the exit, finishing the level; with minimal fuss I must admit, pretty good considering rarely could I finish anything in Hitman without some bloodshed. I am sorry for that helpless girl's family, but she drew her Luger, so there wasn't much for me to do.

Next I load up the second mission, and boy, was this one different. I was present with a large area full of guards and buildings, some ruined, some fine. My first objective was to find and set free a target; this target was holed up in a building surrounded by Nazis and I had to get past them all. The only way to get past some of the guards was to find myself an officer’s uniform, something that I found to be impossible without a huge shootout. There were two officers on the map, both inside well guarded buildings I needed officer clearance to enter aswell. So really, I was at a loss from the beginning. After numerous attempts at luring guards away from said buildings, I had died for the last time, and said to myself “enough is a enough sir” and decided to write myself a blogpost.

So that was Death to Spies; a pretty good game, but let down by its insane difficulty - the internet tells me they all found it difficult too, by the way.

This game is in depth and challenging enough that you can play it for weeks (hours and hours everyday) but it only took me about 60 mins to learn how to play fairly well. Within one or two sessions I had no problem playing. There's a lot of different ways you can accomplish any of the missions and I've enjoyed playing this game so much I could see finishing it (I'm almost there), not playing for a month or two and then going back to it and starting all over again. You will die often and make a lot of mistakes but as long as you save, it's not a biggie. There are missions that are a little more covert and highly stealthy and ones that lend themselves to leading more into combat. I'm glad I bought the bundled pack of DTS and DTS: Moment of Truth. For this price, it's a great deal. Glad I took a chance on this game.

For some reason, it reminds me a lot of Hidden&Dangerous (the training mission, I guess) - but make no mistake, Death To Spies is original in its own way, even for a stealth game.

What's interesting is that most of the time, your point is not to kill and it will most likely get you into more trouble than it's worth. You do have the option to, and at some point you'll have to, but your objectives - unlike Hitman - don't always involve you having to kill your target.

Your objectives are as varied as they can be difficult. One time it's about finding plans, the next time it's about carrying a briefcase without a certain agent finding out you took it. I played pretty much every stealth game around, and I haven't felt anything like Death To Spies.

I do have to say that most of the time, it's about finding the right person to dispose of so that you can take their uniform. The game is still fun and challenging - as it should be - but mechanics boil down to this: to get access to this room, you need an officer's uniform. In there, you'll find a colonel. Wait for the right moment, then take his uniform, etc.

However, I remember it being hardcore. First, it's never clear who exactly you should pursue and second, once you think you've got the right person to take the uniform of, you have to stalk them and wait for the right opportunity.

The setting is WW2, so there's nothing special, but playing as a Soviet agent is refreshing, it changes from the usual "Allies against Germans in France shooter" trend.

Death To Spies is truly a masterpiece, but I would only recommend it to stealth genre lovers. Missions often drag on for a few hours, and I don't think every gamer will like waiting for the right moment before they can advance.

Death to Spies has been fairly compared to the Hitman series and in fact shares many of the same game mechanics. Stealth and murder are the main gears of this game and if you like this sort of action then you will not regret purchasing this. Just don't expect any major innovations and truth be told the second in the Death to Spies series is somewhat superior and is less glitchy.

A fantastic third person stealth action game. It's like a cross between Hitman and Commandos with the difficulty to boot. As a Soviet agent you not only infiltrate German bases to carry out missions but in a cool twist, take on your 'allies' the USA and Great Britain in a few scenarios as well! While the interface may seem a bit clunky and the graphics a bit 'last gen', the actual gameplay and non-linearity for much of the game in the ways available to carry out your objectives, either through stealth, disguises and using the environment(such as locking a nosy chef in a freezer so he doesn't raise the alarm at you sneaking about) or going in all guns blazing(only really available as an option in some missions) the game has it all. A criminally overlooked game, every bit as good as Hitman or Commandos though some may be put off by it's slight roughness around the edges.

An interesting game between Splinter Cell and Hitman, while it can drive you mad with it's difficulty, it's fun for the stealth-action lovers. Graphics are good (compared to the other Russian games released at that time).

You may expect some bugs though, as Russian games always tend to have some by nature :) Saving the game often helps!

I had very low expectations going into this game but I was pleasantly surprised. Although there are said to be bugs in the game, I have not experienced any and I have had an overall good time with this game. It definitely reminds me of a less polished version of Hitman and is a good stealth action game.

This game is very similar to the Hidden & Dangerous series and Commandos: Strike Force, but it also shares features with the Commandos and Hitman series.

Basically, you're playing a Soviet special operations operative. Unlike in Hidden & Dangerous or Commandos, you're always on your own. And that's where the similarities with the Hitman series come in. You're as much a military specialist as you are a spy and an assassin. You have a wide range of infiltration and sabotage tactics at your disposal, like eliminating enemies silently with suppressed guns, throwing knives or chloroform, disguising yourself in enemy uniforms, stealing enemy vehicles, etc. You also get access to a large (but common) selection of WWII era firearms from all major powers, so you're not limited to Soviet weapons.

The game is fairly polished and works well on modern hardware and W7x64. I recommend it for anyone who liked the other games mentioned at the beginning of this review, and anyone with an interest in stealth action and tactics.

Death to Spies is unexpectedly immersive game. Gameplay is similar to Hitman, but this game is deadly authentic, especially uniforms, music, buildings. There is olso some bugs and difficulty is not for everyone. But DS is one of the best stealth games title.

Death to Spies rough diamond. The gameplay is great and very similar to the Hitman series but much harder, although rather than playing a fictious clone, you take control of a covert soviet spy. The missions are fun and varied but the game is let down by quite a large amount of bugs. I would highly recommend this to fans of the Hitman series who can cope with bugs. 3.5/5

A pretty decent stealth game akin to earlier Hitman games. In fact, has a better atmosphere and feel to it.

Real difficult though, prepare to get frustrated at times.

I loved the game, was looking forward to another Hitman-esque type game, and this game nails it. It's a little more clunky that Hitman, but it does a great job at entertaining me in the same way that Hitman did. A must buy for Action fanatics or those who loved Hitman at all.

This game of stealth really put me to the test. Trying to quietly move around a German base to a destroyed city also added to the awesomeness. Really good game, but wait for a sale.

How can this game get so many high marks when it has a game killing bug with floors in the interiors of buildings? Just in the first mission alone I have been stuck on building floors trying to move and it is like running in place stuck in molasses. For the developer to not notice this issue and never release a patch for it is unforgivable. In fact they did acknowledge the issue way back in 2007 and still never fixed it. Go to the IC forums and see for yourself.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=2264

An excellent game, lack of advertising didn't help sales, graphics and sound really add to the realism.

The only downside I have found is that it is really difficult, the AI is really good.

If you like war games then this is the one 10/10

One of the best games depicting Covert Military Operations, especially in WW2. One of the most famous and efficient military intelligence (Soviet) in action, not only across the Eastern Front, but occasionally troughs the world.

Game is built around archived sources, so you know that this game brings you true atmosphere and emerging!

One of the best FPS "spy" games on the market... leaving competition ages behind! Both in graphic and story.

Death to Spies is unexpectedly immersive game. Gameplay is similar to Hitman, but this game is deadly authentic, especially uniforms, music, buildings. There is olso some bugs and difficulty is not for everyone. But DS is one of the best stealth games title.