Impossible Mission for DS and PSP

There are certain things that should remain dead. Dr Frankenstein learnt that the hard way, but it's a concept most of us appreciate at a young age, and one that extends particularly to technology-based fields such as video gaming. Just because a title was fun in the 1970s – a time when all you had to do was be able to control a block around a screen and people would trip over their flares from sheer disbelief – doesn't necessarily mean an update with better graphics will make it a winner today.

Then again, Impossible Mission isn't from the '70s but from a decade later. More importantly, it was a great game then, and could still be a great game now.

System 3 must think along similar lines, because it's announced it plans to update it. Wisely, that doesn't mean messing around with the fundamentals: as a top secret agent you must attempt to thwart evil genius professor Elvin Atombender's tampering with National Security Computers.

You do this by infiltrating the professor's base and navigating its many lifts and platforms, while collecting parts of the system's password and avoiding being zapped by deadly roving security robots. And you do this against a strict time limit, obviously. It's not called Moderately Difficult Mission, after all.

Clearly the game has been re-written from the ground up to feature new visuals, 3D objects, new sound effects (the original game is remembered as being the first to utilise synthesised speech) and music, but in a nod to the '80s version the game layout will randomly generate for every new game, meaning no two games will be the same.

There are additions, and these come in the form of three selectable characters, a tutorial mode, and three play options: new, original and a hybrid mode featuring the original gameplay using updated graphics. PSP owners also get to gameshare a full copy of their game with a friend via ad hoc for them to try out.

Impossible Mission is currently scheduled for a Spring, release so expect us to have more news on it soon (click 'Track It!' to be alerted of any updates).