Part 2: Down On the Farm

Now that all that exposition is out of the way, it’s time to head to the Farm for some CIA training. The Farm, of course, refers to Camp Peary in Virginia, where the CIA carries out part of its field training.







Our trainer is Frank Milkovsky, long-time Agency vet and Director of Training
Charles Napier.



Sorry I’m late. Been one of those days. Name’s Frank Milkovsky, Director of Training. Got the other three started; now it’s your turn. Bruce wants me to start you with Image Analysis. I’ve got to attend to something, but if you follow the signs down the hall, I’ll meet you there.





While we’re waiting, we catch part of a new broadcast reporting that Russian presidential candidate Dubansky was assassinated. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xo...port_videogames

This is the latest in Image Analysis equipment. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, these puppies will give you War and Peace. Get someone’s license plate, cross-check their face, hell – you can even see if they’re an innie or an outie.

What we have here is a series of puzzles. You’ve got a couple of surveillance images, and I’ve got a couple of questions. Use the Image Analysis tools and your noggin, and we’ll see how you stack up against the others.





OK, this aerial shows a ranch house where some Mexican drug smugglers are having a little summit. Use the zoom and the O.C.E. to enhance the text on that brown sedan’s license plate. It should be one of our DEA boys who sold out to the bad guys.



This is our first test, and a good representation of what most of the game’s puzzles will be like. We zoom in on the brown sedan near the street and all those white buses.



Another layer of zoom will bring the license plate into view.



It’s pretty distorted, but it should work. We click the O.C.E . button to read the text. By the way, I haven’t been able to locate a meaning for O.C.E. Did they mean OCR (Optical Character Recognition)?



We report by clicking on the REPORT button, choosing an answer, and sending the message to Frank. Then it’s on to the next puzzle.





Holy Cow! You smoked that one! Damn! Asai did near perfect but you did even better. Bruce is gonna be real proud.



Two kinds of images here. The first one’s a sat shot of a Syrian military base in the Beqaa Valley. Second is an infrared of the same place. Use the overlay to see how many tanks have their engines running.



This is the satellite shot of the base. There’s a covered, tent-like structure and some vehicles outside.



This is the infrared shot. The red blotches are presumably active engines or other heat sources.



We can overlay the two images to combine them into one.





There are three outside the base that are obviously running, due to the dust they’re kicking up.



We use the overlay to see inside the covered structure, where there are three more large heat sources with turrets.



Nice job. Maybe you’ll make the Wall of Fame. All right, time to get serious. Dead serious. I want you to head out to the zone; Bruce and I’ll meet you there.



It’s time for some field training. We don’t get to run and gun very often in this game, but there are a few spots of action..



OK, basic stuff. There’s a squadron of men down there with one mission: drop you. Shoot, or be shot. Got it?

The best operatives rarely need to fire a weapon. When they do, it’s just once. You miss, you die.

Here’s your piece. Standard field sidearm, modified to shoot a laser pulse. Try these new target-tracking combat goggles. They track targets, isolate buildings, even generate real-time range readings. Use them to gain a tactical advantage.

It’s the only advantage you’ll have.

Remember, Thorn, targets are always hard. So use the double tap. Chest first to drop them, then the kill shot. Right between the eyes.

Forget headshots kid. I’ve seen point-blank hits penetrate, curve around the skull, and shoot out the other side. When you want the kill, go for the throat.

I stand corrected. Now, make me proud out there.



This is the shooting interface. The circular radar shows our position and that of enemies. We are the light blue dot, yellow dots are enemies nearby, and red dots are enemies with a clear line of sight. The white X is the objective. The movement arrows around the sides of the screen show the directions we can move.

There’s not much point to moving to the side, though, since this is pretty much a static shooting gallery and our goals are always straight ahead. We move up, targets pop up, and we blast through them. Not much to it.



There are only a few terrain models.



There are actually two missions here, but they both involve moving directly forward and shooting down enemies with no real subtlety or challenge, so we’ll skip to the end.





Here’s the video, but I’ll summarize for those who don’t want to watch. Jeffries ambushes us, then catches a bullet in the head.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xo...ruce_videogames





Without Jeffries, you’re running this mission. Get to Sterling’s office, pronto.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xo...fing_videogames

Here comes the main briefing. It’s really worth it to watch the video if you’re interested in the plot, but I’ll hit the high points.

Here’s the story. Two weeks ago the agency received intelligence from a well-placed source in Moscow code-named Birdsong. He predicted two assassinations – the first one, Fyodor Dubansky, a right-wing candidate for the Russian presidency. The second – our own President. This intel was initially classified as B minus, unreliable, and we didn’t act on it. Here’s B minus. video shows Dubansky assassination

With Dubansky dead, Russian President Polyakov faces serious competition in his reelection bid. Arkady Churbanov, an entrepreneur turned politician, will now get the conservative vote and build a coalition that could vote him into office.

Birdsong’s intel is now A plus, which means the President is in real danger. President Brooks is planning a high-profile visit to Russia. He’s going to sign a de-nuke treaty, the first one with real teeth.

He wants to give Polyakov a boost.

Yes, but if the situation doesn’t cool, I’ll have to talk to the President about postponing, and that is a conversation I do not want to have!

We can’t contact Birdsong except through dead drops, so Warhurst has the idea to see what clues we can find from the assassination video. If we can find out who killed Dubansky and how, we might be able to prevent another assassination.

Just get me answers and fast! Now this is my ass on the line!

Next time on Spycraft: The Great Game:

We try to track down who’s been poking holes in Russian heads, and we do a little cyber stalking.