Chameleon – Forgotten Stealth

Chameleon is a stealth action game made by the guys behind Hidden & Dangerous, Mafia, and the Vietcong franchise. They were known as Illusion Softworks, and like many game developers from the past, they are no more. The thing that makes Chameleon interesting is that it was only released in Eastern Europe since it didn’t see proper publishing in the West. However, thanks to Internet magic it is now playable for us Westerners. Somewhat. 

You play as a former government agent. I’m not exactly clear what alphabet agency, just like I’m not exactly clear with the details of the story since my sound kept crapping out on me during cut-scenes, taking the subtitles with it for some reason. But the gist is, when you were a child, your parents, being ambassadors in some godforsaken South American country, gets taken out by a sniper. You survive, and well, this brings us to the start of the story taking place in the current day. You get news about the sniper rifle used in the murder. It’s a special custom-built one, so not impossible to track down. This will be your mission henceforth – track down the rifle and find your parent’s murderer. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s a globe trotting experience, taking you all over the world in hopes of finding clues that will eventually lead you to the killer. From prisons in the Amazons to the streets (and sewers) of Baltimore. There are even a few shoot-out segments in Beirut.

While the story seems simple enough, it is however made complex to be able to take the player all over the world to experience fantastical places, well, some at least. It’s the same with all these kinds of thriller games, and movies for that matter. They all seem to rest on this specific globe-trotting storytelling aspect. I don’t mind it too much, though, considering my favorite stealth franchise Splinter Cell works in the same way. As mentioned, I couldn’t take part in all the story sections since my sound kept dying for whatever reason. I did notice it seems to be linked to the amount of reloads you do… and you will be doing a lot of reloading. So chances are you will be missing out on the story too if you are not some kind of pro, that is. Maybe it’s best to take it as a secret incentive to do your absolute best. Anyway, this leads me to gameplay.

At its heart, it’s a stealth game with unforgiving but stupid AI. Unforgiving, since they will aimbot you from half a kilometer away, yet at the same time act rather retarded when it comes to all other things regarding AI. Exactly how it was in Hidden and Dangerous 2, which shares a 3D engine with this game. Another problem with the AI, besides having a godly aim, is that their reaction time is superhuman. This means any kind of screw-up will punish you severely. They also react very unrealistically. They don’t react to being shot, and they don’t care that their friends get their brains blown out right next to them. If they spot you, their only response to any hostile action is met with 130% hostility, all the time, every time, it’s like they are robots with only murder on their mind. This kills the immersion when it comes to the sneaking and stealth-murdering aspect – having these machines as stand-ins for people just sucks to joy out of it.

Otherwise, the stealth system works okay. Certain missions have you restricted, for example, mission failure if spotted. These missions are strictly an avoidance type of deal. I did find these levels pretty boring and annoying because you are not allowed to fail – you are not allowed to do anything actually, except to discover and follow the extremely linear path to victory. Any deviation will get punished. When you find out where to go, the missions usually go pretty smoothly, but until you do – it’s suffering time! You will die and fail repeatedly. If you step out into any kind of light, the enemies will spot you from miles away. Darkness makes you almost invisible, though. You are either completely hidden, or you stand out like a deer caught in headlights, there is no in-between. When it functions at its best you can have a good time, though. Popping heads of unsuspecting guards with a silenced SIG Sauer 9 mm pistol never gets old. And hey, don’t feel bad for shooting dudes, soldiers, guards, or whatever, the story never actually acknowledges the murdering, so I don’t think you have to either.

When not skulking about in the darkness and are instead forced to shoot dudes to progress the story, the combat feels deadly, at least when it comes to incoming bullets. Shooting anything automatically will send your mouse cursor skywards. I did enjoy the difficulty of shooting because it made me more careful with aiming and having a good spot to fire from. What I didn’t like about the shooting is how weak all the guns feel, except for headshots. Even a guy in just a thin shirt will tank several 9 mm rounds to his chest before going down – which would be fine if he had any kind of reaction to the damage sustained, but nope. He just stands there, takes it, and returns fire like it was a bunch of mosquitos attacking him. Still, the combat is fine for the most part, mostly due to the nice animations, and the sidestepping action you can do in third-person. You can play in first-person too if you feel inclined. It does make it easier for precision aiming.

All in all, the gameplay is not the greatest, however, it’s passable, and worth trying, especially since nowadays it’s a free game in a genre that is starved of good semi-realistic games, aka the spy stealth genre. What does make it stand out, though, is the engine running it all. It’s the same engine that was used for Hidden and Dangerous 2, a game I have mentioned once or twice in this review already. While I did enjoy H&D2, it does sadden me to see that Chameleon suffers from the same issues, like the omnipresent but somewhat mentally challenged AI. Otherwise, this engine, called the LS3D engine, is fantastic. It still looks great today, runs extremely smooth, it got a good animation system, and supports large-scale environments, both indoor and outdoor in great detail. It also has this rugged, realistic style to it. I think you know what I mean if you have played any of the games made on the engine, like Mafia, Vietcong, and H&D2. It has a unique look. It’s just a shame that the AI is so underwhelming, which in my opinion breaks much of the enjoyment and immersion. It did it back in the day when I played H&D2 for the first time, and it did it fairly recently as well when I tried it again. Jesus, those long-range desert/Norway missions still give me PTSD.

Anyway, if curious, it’s free to pick up from My Abandonware. Just scroll down and get the custom installer made by the user Elemhunter. It includes the English translation as well!

And well, it’s hard not to recommend it, since as mentioned, it’s free, and besides the issues presented it’s a nice little stealth game set in a realistic setting, which is rare nowadays. I had fun with it, and the engine in itself is nice to experience again. Especially since it’s such a treat for the eyes, and ears – when the sounds work!

Thanks for reading.

/Thomas