Genre: Stealth/Action
Developer: Ubi Soft Montreal
Publisher: Ubi Soft
# of Players: 1 Player
Memory: N/A
ERSB: Teen
Released On: November 18th, 2002
Also On: PC, Playstation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance
Features: Progressive Scan, Dolby Digital 5.1, XBOX LIVE downloadable content
Introduction:
Ever since Metal Gear Solid for the original PlayStation, gamers have yearned for a great stealth game. There have been a few that were pretty good, but nothing that would eclipse Metal Gear Solid, that is up until Ubi Soft Montreal made a little game, and not only is it as good as MGS, it’s better. Even the creator of MGS, Hideo Kojima, says he wished he could take ‘Splinter Cell’ and slap the MGS name on it. Is it really that good? You’re damn right it’s that good.
Presentation:
Ubi Soft must have learned from the best, because this game has some of the highest production-quality I’ve seen in a while. But let’s not forget this is a Tom Clancy game, so we’ve kind of grown to expect that. The thing that will blow you away are the small details you’ll notice in the game. Every single thing will act according to your contact with it. You walk through a curtain, the curtain sways. You walk into a freezer, you see your breath. One of the coolest things that add to the realism is the voice-acting. As you may know, actor Michael Ironside provides the voice of operative Sam Fisher, and he has an amazing tone about him, and after you play it, you couldn’t imagine Sam without that unmistakable voice. Even the voice-acting of the various NPC’s throughout the game are in-tact, but the focus really went on Sam’s voice. You might be weary about the story of the game, and while it’s a tad clichéd, you just have to take it for what it is. When you’re playing, you don’t worry yourself about the story overall, you just want to focus on the immediate tasks at hand. And to complete those tasks, you’ll have to rely on a lot of things. At different times, you may need to use your night-vision goggles to find a switch, or you may need to use your static cameras to peek around the corner or check under a door so you won’t risk being seen. It’s just a culmination of so many things that honestly makes this game feel like a big-budget summer movie.
Gameplay:
Undeniably the main point of any game is to have enjoyable gameplay, and just like in every possible category, ‘Splinter Cell’ more than delivers. As you’d expect, most of the game requires an intense use of stealth, and while that might seem like it will make everything seem slow-paced, you really get engrossed and start to appreciate the amount of patience and skill it requires. Sam can do just about anything you want him too, from sliding down a zip-cord to holding yourself up between 2 walls via Van Dam-style splits, where you can then proceed to fall down and hit someone over the head, knocking them out, then carrying their limp body to a dark room or corner. Anytime you need some info, check any computers you see, or even take a scum-bag hostage, interrogate him, then knock him the hell out with a shot to the back of the head with the handle of your pistol. And you’ve never quite seen so many cool gadgets. Don’t feel like taking the direct route of knocking someone out? Shoot them with an electrified dart, which stuns them, and run up and give ‘em a swift elbow to the jaw. Good family fun. You’ll see the standard sneaky moves, like backing up against the wall, climbing over fences, ducking and rolling, all the cool stuff, but Sam just looks so much cooler doing it. Since the bulk of the game requires heavy, heavy stealth, they’ve given you a nice, easy way to show your visibility. There’s a small bar, on one end it’s black, on the other end it’s white, and the closer the marker is to the black end, the harder it is for enemies to see you, and vice-versa with the white end. With that feature, you really get a sense of how amazing the shadows are and how they are essential for victory.
Visuals:
Oh. My. Goodness. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best looking game to be released, on any system, ever. I can’t count how many times I’ve literally paused, just to take a look at the amazing detail the world of Splinter Cell has to offer. It’s almost hard to believe how great the lighting is. Saying ‘Splinter Cell’ has the best lighting ever is an extreme understatement. I mean, it really, really needs to be seen and experienced to believe it. The textures of various buildings, materials, and everything else look almost photo-realistic, and like I mentioned earlier, the shadows are out of this world. You literally see a shadow for every single thing the light is touching. And the way curtains/blinds/etc. sway when you walk through them is perfect. You walk through slow and soft, and the curtain will barely move, but if you run through it with force, it swivels like crazy. You’ll be amazed at the shadow of the moonlight glaring through a gate, the shadow of a tree from a gleaming full-moon. There’s really not much you can say other than ‘Splinter Cell’ is the best looking game ever made, and only first-hand experience can do it justice. The lighting will simply blow your mind.
Sound/Audio:
Sound isn’t a huge variable in the grand scheme of things, mainly because there’s not a lot of noise going on. Almost every mission consists of you breaking into somewhere, so obviously you’re not going to be running around in the Chinese Embassy at 3:00 AM rattling pots and pans, so most of the audio is squeaks from your shoes, a guy humming while he’s walking, doors shutting, and the low-key kinds of things. It also contains a great soundtrack, made by techno-gurus the Crystal Method, and it fits surprisingly well. It keeps the mood low and serious, but leaves you pumped enough to pay close attention to your missions. The game does support Dolby Digital 5.1, so the sound will be amazing automatically, but as it is, the audio is the lesser of the ‘pizzazz’ the game has.
Final Thoughts:
It’s hard to really give a good impression because the game has so many important elements to it, and you really need to play it for yourself. I can’t imagine anyone not being able to find something that keeps them wanting to play Splinter Cell. I think I’ve made it clear that I love this game, and so does almost everyone else I’ve heard from. This game was undoubtedly one the best games of last year, on any platform, and it’s undoubtedly one of the best games I’ve ever played.
