14 DAY TRIAL // 
Clandestine is part of a rare group of espionage-focused experiences that understands that no operative can ever survive and succeed in the field on his own, despite the glamorous picture of solo work delivered by entertainment like the most recent Bond movie.
The game includes two very different roles, with some interesting mechanics associated with each, and the development team at Logic Artists encourages players to work with a friend to achieve the objectives and uncover a world-spanning plot.
Clandestine is an uneven experience, with graphics and story unable to match the same quality of the core gameplay.
Despite its limitations, I found the experience engaging, spending hours at a time trying to find the best way to mix and match abilities to progress and reach objectives without attracting unwanted attention.
Story
Clandestine takes place in 1996, a period of history when computing as we know it now was still in its infancy and the entire world was adapting to a new historical period.
The Cold War has ended, the Soviet Union no longer exists, and the United States of America seemed to be the superpower that could lead a world of democracies.
The development team at Logic Artists imagines a complex situation that is known only to the secret services of the two former adversaries, with secret agents taken out all over the globe and no information on who is behind the attacks.
The Kingbridge Executive is created by the FSB, successor to the KGB, and the CIA, to deal with the threat and gamers will be able to take on the role of two operatives, named Katya Kozlova or hacker Martin Symborski.
Clandestine manages to show how old-school spy work can be enhanced by the careful use of technology, and the game offers a very interesting look at how the two characters, Whisper and Condor, establish a working relationship.
The writing is most solid and deals with plenty of espionage-specific terms, but the fact that the protagonists are not veterans means that it will be easy for gamers to learn with them.
The narrative, mostly because it is set so far in the past, might not appeal to all stealth game fans, but Clandestine has some nice twists and turns, although the conversations inside HQ can sometimes feel over-scripted.
Gameplay
Clandestine is a mix of two very different experiences, a third-person action title with top-down hacking elements that's best enjoyed cooperatively with another human, although solo play is fully supported.
The development team at Logic Artists manages to deliver a unique take on the espionage space, showing how two very different types of gameplay can be mixed to evoke the tension and the complexity of covert operations.
The more traditional role is that played by Katya who, as a field operative, needs to sneak around, find cover, take out enemies either non-lethally or by killing them, deal with guards, and find a way to move around the levels without getting into a fail state.
Martin becomes the hacker, and his role is more limited and more complex at the same time because he has four screens on which to distribute his attention.
The support character will need to always keep the bigger picture in mind, opening doors and hacking cameras to open up access to areas of the environment by hacking through firewalls and using his algorithms to get data.
He is threatened by admins who can lock him out, but it's relatively easy to stay away from them while also guiding the field operative.
Pagers and utility accidents can also be used to make it easier to move through areas and to distract the attention of enemies.
It's crucial to deal with cameras as quickly as possible and to always take out guards in secluded spots or using environmental means, and killing them is also an option, although it feels like it goes against the spirit of the experience.
“Clandestine is relatively linear but offers options and gamers will have to get used to a process of trial and error as they seek to get past guards and security systems to reach their objectives.”
Checkpoints can be a little hit or miss, but the levels are not too big and that gives gamers more of a chance to experiment with each section and see how the results vary based on their approach.
The game does not aim to deliver a realistic experience, but the need to deal with both the hacker and the operative action, in solo play, or to coordinate with a friend, when using coop, creates a unique take on the stealth genre that no other title currently delivers.
Graphics and audio
Clandestine is created by a relatively small team, and the ambitious nature of the core mechanics means that there are some limits to the quality of the visuals the title offers.
The game looks functional but lacks beauty, meaning that it's easy to look at the interface and the levels to get the information needed to make progress and achieve objectives, but there are no efforts to deliver detailed models or superb animations.
The biggest offenders are the conversations, which make it a little too focused on the limited quality of the character models and faces.
During actual gameplay, the attention of gamers will be concentrated on their mission, making it easier to forget the barren textures and the fact that the entire world seems made of prefabricated bits.
I like how the hacker interface looks, clearly designed to reflect both the state of technology during the early '90s and the way players tend to see the activity through the lens of movies and video games.
When it comes to sound design, Clandestine fares somewhat better, with solid voice acting that has guards speaking their native language rather than English and subdued music that enhances the atmosphere and the tension.
Multiplayer
Clandestine is almost entirely a cooperative game, and it's quite a pity to engage with it without having a friend join in, although playing solo is easy for those who might find themselves lacking one.
The mechanics created by the development team at Logic Artists ask two gamers to put their fate in each other's hands, mostly because the one who takes on the role of Whisper is unable to make progress if he or she does not get codes and hacking support from Condor.
The hacker needs to carefully watch the progress of the field operative and anticipate his needs as much as possible, working to open up avenues of advancement as fast as possible while also offering warnings when needed.
Communication is at the heart of the Clandestine cooperative multiplayer experience, and I love the fact that when I and a friend fail a mission, I feel like I let him down and wasted his time, something that works to improve a duo's performance in the long-term.
It's a good idea for those gamers who plan on joining forces to tackle a mission to talk a little before its start to create a clear idea of their initial approach and to determine how they can best communicate when the action gets hectic.
The Good
- Espionage action seen from two perspectives
- Focus on cooperation
The Bad
- Limited graphical appeal
- Some difficulty spikes
Conclusion
The game will discourage some potential players with its limited graphics quality and with the fact that it requires two humans who can communicate well with each other to get a solid multiplayer experience.
But for gamers who loved Alpha Protocol, the buggy but solid Obsidian title, and would like to play a very different take on the same core, the title offers hours of tension and interesting interactions.
Logic Artists has also created the interesting Expeditions: Conquistador in 2013, and with Clandestine they prove that they can create very interesting gameplay combinations that will certainly appeal to fans of a particular theme and genre.
