Gameloft has a long list of iPhone and iPad games both licensed and not. Here’s another one of their creations, but are you tired of them yet?

Silent Ops ($6.99)

“Join a secret organization that is present everywhere, protecting us from the invisible threats of the 21st Century that other agencies aren’t equipped to handle. They employ only the best agents and the smartest technology, but they aren’t the only ones… ”

Presentation

The game graphics start out a bit bland, and although I will admit I was apelled by them, if you play through the first couple levels it gets better. It’s not the best we’ve seen from Gameloft, but it’s alright.

Sadly the faceless guards stay there throughout the whole game. As for voice acting, well, Gameloft has nailed it once again, but not in a good way. The plot (more details in Gameplay) is also pretty bad, even for a Gameloft game.

Controls

The controls are the same as with most Gameloft games. You have your virtual joystick to control the movement of your character, with a sprint icon, a skull icon which can be used for stealthy takedowns (or it will turn into a fist icon for up close combat once spotted), and an ironsights icon on the bottom corner to aim your weapon. To change your weapon you swipe on it on the top of the screen.

Gameplay

The storyline starts of like Shadow Guardian, with someone being interrogated against their will, and you reliving the memories the people who are holding him are seeing. As for the plot of the game, it’s every single spy movie you’ve seen, including spies, bad guys, a deadly virus that must be stopped, down to the seductive Russian girl.

All sounds good right? Well, not exactly, because the quite honestly the plot is a mess. And combined with Gameloft’s typical voice acting, it’s all downhill. As for the gameplay, it can be easily compared to their previous game, Splinter Cell Conviction, because it literally is Splinter Cell, nothing new. If anything, it feels less fun to play than Splinter Cell.

For a spy game, the game surprisingly doesn’t require a lot of stealth. On the first two levels, as the stealth controls are introduced, some creeping is needed. After that, the game turns into a normal third-person shooter with a very dumb AI that does very little to stop you.

As for tips: don’t get killed in the cutscenes. The checkpoint system makes you sit through them each time, and you can’t skip them. And the boss fights are just terrible.

Conclusion

Gameloft tried to clone their previous hit game, Splinter Cell Conviction, problem is unlike Splinter Cell, Silent Ops isn’t very good.

If you played Splinter Cell Conviction, you need to knock down your expectations for the game. The same goes if you’re expecting a brilliant spy, stealth game. This sadly is not Gameloft’s finest work. I’d pass on this one.