Hitman’s less gifted cousin has a lot of flaws that I need to point out, like a poor story that I didn’t care about, stupid AI painfully reminding that you’re playing a game, and dated visuals. Surprisingly, despite all that I do not regret playing Alekhine’s Gun, because its mechanics are solid and eleven locations are varied and well-designed. [05/2016, p.50]

It is hardly a spy thriller, but rather a madhouse with disguises and murders, so it’s best to avoid this chapter of Mr. Strogov’s life altogether.

You come at the king, you best not miss. Comparing Alekhine’s Gun to an AAA title like Hitman may seem unfair, but Maximum Games made the mistake of trying to defeat the ruler of the genre with its own weapons and they take a beating on every front. [May 2016]

Stealth games are meant to be challenging and should feel like a tense, punishing experience. But Alekhine’s Gun is stretch too far and instead punishes you because of its poor mechanics and terrible AI.

The bad news is that this entertaining and occasionally surprising narrative is wrapped around an inadequately polished Hitman knockoff.

Biggest problem of AG isn’t the story or lackluster graphics, but its incredibly poor AI. Should you cause an alarm, every guard on the level will blindly run to that spot, letting you shoot them one by one without even changing position. At some point, you start to wonder – why bother trying to stealth around if it’s so much easier to just kill everyone? [Issue#209, p.63]

Like the chess move it’s named after, Alekhine’s Gun puts its pieces in the right places, but then it fails to follow through with any quality or grace. It’s hard to feel accomplished after pulling off a clean kill when the targets lack the competence to even defend themselves.