There is often only so much you can do in a video game. Sure, shooting aliens is fun for a time. Finishing first in a close race can be exciting. Knights in shining armor can be cool, raiding tombs can be tantalizing, and your standard hero and villain dynamic can be as comforting as cream of mushroom soup on a cold day. But sometimes that kind of world is not enough and you want to do something a little more complex in a video game than just jump on a mushroom. Sometimes you want to explore a character who lurks in the shadows, taking on impossible missions. Sometimes, you want to watch and learn about your enemies before taking them out. Sometimes you want a little tactical espionage action.
Throughout the years, there have been some stellar spies in video games, both in the stealth genre and outside of it. But who makes for the most majestic member of the secret service? Who is the sneakiest, most devious spook? These agents of espionage prove that now is no time for spy games to die.
10 The Car From Spy Hunter
While an automobile itself isn't exactly capable of espionage, the fact of the matter is that the Spy Hunter series, which began as an arcade game in the 1980s before being rebooted in 2001 for the PlayStation 2, is a great showcase of spy-genre staples. You've got the Intercepter, a high-tech car with an array of dangerous gadgets as well as the ability to transform into a go-fast boat. You've got exotic locales to speed through. You've got the theme music from Peter Gunn playing the whole time. It's a stretch to say that you're doing much spying, but the series wears its aspirations on its chrome-plated sleeves and is a delight to play for any fan of the car chases frequently found in the spy genre.
9 The Spy From Spy Vs. Spy
Based on the popular cartoon strip of the same name, 1984's Spy vs. Spy is an early example of engaging espionage-oriented gameplay. You don't just shoot people from the shadows or a technologically advanced car. Instead, you make your way through an 8-bit embassy collecting secret items in competition against another player. As you sleuth around trying to fill your briefcase on the way to the airport, you can get into fistfights with your opponent or lay traps for them. To this day, it's a tense experience and an exemplar of video games allowing players to do more than just blow stuff up.
8 JC Denton From Deus Ex
The Deus Ex series might be more identifiable as a part of the cyberpunk genre, but spies aren't only found in fast cars and trench coats. JC Denton, the protagonist and player character of Deus Ex, is as devious as they come.
In the game, you'll frequently have to stealth your way through the dark and use nano-tech augmented abilities throughout the sprawling, player-choice-driven narrative. If that wasn't enough, JC Denton also does the very spy-like thing of flip-flopping allegiances as he learns more about the world's vast conspiracies. It all adds up to an intricate and compelling spy-cyberpunk hybrid well worth playing even decades after its initial release.
7 Joanna Dark From Perfect Dark
2000's Perfect Dark is pretty blatantly a first-person shooter, and you pretty much just run and gun through its numerous stylish levels (albeit while using stealth occasionally), but Joanna Dark is indisputably a master of espionage. As capable of nailing a headshot as she is at going undercover, the Perfect Dark series sees her doing everything from dealing with defectors to uncovering vast corporate conspiracies. The original Nintendo 64 game deserves its place in the pantheon of first-person shooters for its exceptional artificial intelligence as well as for its excellent spy protagonist.
6 Cate Archer From No One Lives Forever
As far as early-aughts first-person shooter spy games go, No One Lives Forever is one of the most iconic, with its stylish 1960s aesthetic and clever implementation of stealth mechanics. Playing as Cate Archer (code-named: The Fox), you'll have to sneak around various exotic locales and AI that is capable of hearing you and spotting your footprints. Cate Archer doesn't just have the style of a spy, though. She also has numerous devious gadgets, like lipstick grenades, a barrette doubling as a lock-pick, a belt-buckle zipline, and many more.
5 Sam Fisher From The Splinter Cell Series
There is a case to be made for Sam Fisher being the stealthiest spy in video games considering he hasn't been seen in a new game in years. That aside, it's hard to deny that the acclaimed Splinter Cell series doesn't provide one of the more robust espionage experiences in gaming. Unlike some other video game agents, you won't catch Sam Fisher conducting his business in a tuxedo. The Splinter Cell games have a real groundedness and sense of realism, even if Fisher's three-lens goggles do seem a little excessive.
4 James Bond In Any James Bond Game
Of course, no list of spies in any entertainment medium would be complete without James Bond, the one secret agent who needs no introduction despite his continual impulse to introduce himself. The oft be-tuxed legend has graced numerous video games' box covers with 1997's classic, Goldeneye, perhaps being the most renowned. But there is a case to be made for Everything or Nothing, Bond's first video game foray into a 3D third-person perspective, being one of his best roles. It's a stellar game with an engaging cast and an excellent couch co-op mode to boot.
3 Ada Wong From Resident Evil
Plenty of great characters fight their way through the zombie hordes of Resident Evil's Raccoon City and other T-Virus-infected locales. Leon's got lovely, floppy hair, and Claire is perennially as cool as a cucumber in the face of monstrosity, but Ada Wong, the cold-blooded corporate spy, is arguably one of the best characters in the whole series. It took a while for her to be a playable protagonist in a mainline Resident Evil game, but with her ambiguous motives and lethal skills, she is certainly one of the most compelling spies in video games.
2 Snake From Metal Gear Solid
When it comes to spies, there is only one video game series that can truly live up to the "Tactical Espionage Action" label, and that is the one and only Metal Gear. Few games are as idiosyncratically creative, bombastic, silly, and moving all at the same time as the Metal Gear games are. Few games feature such technically masterful stealth mechanics as well.
Snake has had more missions than he has had code names (and the guy has had a lot of codenames), but one thing that never changes is how satisfying it is to crawl around in a box. For his most spy-like outing, though, check out the middle section of 2009's Metal Gear Solid 4, which sees Snake don a trench coat and sleuth around a shadowy Eastern European city.
1 Agent 47 In Hitman
Is Agent 47 a spy? Technically: no. He is, as one can assume, a Hitman—albeit a high-class one. That said, it is hard to find a game that more fittingly has you doing espionage. In the series' most recent iterations, you'll do much more than simply whack your final target. You'll have to actually spy on them and learn about them in order to pull off the games' delicious puzzle-box-like hits. Agent 47 might not be as totemic a figure as the likes of Snake or Bond, but blending in is exactly what a spy should do. Few do it as well as this beloved bald-headed assassin.