Infiltrator II

Year 1988, evening, Dad says we're going to bed in an hour. That was three hours ago. Infiltrator II pinned me to the monitor with the same trick as the first game — it gave me a helicopter, a uniform, and the feeling that I was a spy from a B-movie thriller who somehow ended up in my room.

The game picks up exactly where the original from 1986 left off. A mad dictator, whom you presumably didn't defeat thoroughly enough in the first installment, has regrouped and the world faces doom once again. Enter Johnny "Jimbo Baby" McGibbits — a name that was the height of irony back then and today sounds like it came from a nonsense generator. Three new missions, same basic structure: you fly in, infiltrate, destroy.

Infiltrator II is essentially two games in one. First you pilot a helicopter — and it's a proper simulation with an instrument panel, altimeter, radar, and enemies who won't let you through for free. Then comes the ground phase: you disguise yourself as the enemy, blend into patrol crowds, complete sabotage tasks, and hope your fake ID holds up. The combination of both approaches gave the game a depth that a pure shooter couldn't match. The helicopter controls are precise but demanding — without the manual, you'd spend the first hour crashing like a stone.

What Infiltrator II did better than many of its contemporaries was create tension during infiltration. You didn't have infinite lives or the ability to shoot your way through everything. You had to think, judge when to speak and when to stay silent. That's aged surprisingly well. What's aged worse is user-friendliness — the game explains almost nothing, error messages are cryptic, and death comes for reasons you only understand in hindsight. Save states weren't a given back then, so failing late in a mission was genuinely punishing.

Today, Infiltrator II will appeal to those patient enough for games that expect you to figure out how things work on your own. Nostalgics around forty will be reminded what it was like to play without YouTube guides — with a friend beside you claiming they beat it on the first try. Did they? Unconvincing. You can play it in your browser without installation or DOSBox, and even if you don't understand why the game works until the second hour, it's worth finding out.