An official web-based scavenger hunt has sprung up for fans of the Mission Impossible series. To celebrate the release of the upcoming third movie, Paramount Pictures has launched a campaign in which players become “agents” who solve a series of missions by seeking out clues hidden across the internet.
The first mission, released this week, led players to a hidden clue in the movie’s Super Bowl ad. A new mission will be revealed each Monday at 5pm PST, leading up to the movie release on May 5th. The clues point to solutions embedded in various partner sites, and yield keywords that hint at aspects of the movie’s plot.
The game is competitive, as players earn points based mainly on how many missions they complete and how speedily they do so. The ultimate super grand prize is a paid trip to the US movie premiere, but a multitude of other prizes will also be given away. The first 15,000 agents who complete the entire game will get a “special prize.” Mysterious.
For this particular movie, a web-based interactive campaign seems natural. The director, J.J. Abrams, is the creator of the television show Lost, which offers ARG-like webpages that expand on the show’s universe.
Players have reported some problems with the game thus far, including difficulties logging in and submitting the completed mission. Technical difficulties also resulted in the first mission launching a day late. Hopefully the game developers will fix the issues for a smoother run in subsequent weeks.
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