It’s been a while since I’ve been involved in any stealth operations. Of course I mean in terms of video games, or do I? While you ponder that, I’ll move on. Coming off the heels of playing Cold War, it is a pleasure to step back into the universe of Sam Fisher. Ubisoft’s latest chapter in the exciting and continually innovating stealth-action series returns boasting many new improvements. Putting back on my mask and night vision goggles while simultaneously settling into my recliner to ensure the future of democracy and apple pie has never been sweeter. Let me tell you why.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the tri-lens goggles and the man underneath let me briefly fill you in. Set in the not-too-distant future, Sam Fisher is a black ops (or unacknowledged) agent for the NSA. Despite his age (late 40’s) he is their best agent and he dons a pure black suit with his night vision/thermal/ and now electromagnetic goggles along with the best spy toys that there is. Sam has to our knowledge stopped World War 3 twice by taking out a ruthless neo-terrorist/dictator and stopping a bomb of sorts from detonating inside LAX. Now, as Japan threatens to re-militarize, and volatile nations are threatening each other, Sam needs to save the world once again.
It is significantly easier and more enjoyable to sneak around in the dark this time around. For one thing, Sam has been given a knife (who knew this would be a good thing to give to a neo-ninja?). This is actually a great improvement because in the past if you happened to be seen you would lose half your life before getting your gun out or getting close enough to punch or elbow your enemy. Now not only can you kill the people that you want to stay down but with and even without your knife, dispatching two enemies with minimal fuss is actually feasible without having to desperately seek out a med kit afterwards. Secondly, you can now not only sneak around on a hanging pipe or on a ledge but you can also actually grab any guards nearby either by holding them in a headlock from upside down or pulling them right over the ledge respectively. Also in addition to all these things you get the streamlined versions of certain things like having the audio-scope and binoculars combined and new mini games like the data hacking of computers, locks, and scanners. If you liked Sam before, I can guarantee this time you’ll be best friends, or else you just might be knocked up onto the NSA’s Target of Opportunity list.
Guards this time around have gone back to school and taken those extra training courses on detection so you will need all of your skills past and present in order to get by. If in the past you got by using your ammo and hoping to take out all guards before someone hit an alarm, you’re in for a cruel wake up call here. Where as Splinter Cell 1 and 2 were like a slow dance in high school, Splinter Cell 3 is waking up the next morning and realizing you will pay the price as your hot date the night before suddenly brings you onto the Samba circuit. Clearing a room here is a subtle dance where you need to sneak around and silently take out every element and praying to whatever deity you pray to that nobody heard you, or else the rest of the mission just becomes a lot harder. Let me ask you a question: how do you clear out a guard while another is patrolling right in front of him? Do you shoot him? No, too noisy. Do you run up and knock both of them out? No, because the second guy you’re supposed to take out has already started firing his gun, therefore harming you and/or alerting other nearby guards. Here’s what you do, then: you stalk that sorry bastard in the back of the line and sneak up so close to him you can smell his scent. You grab him from behind, sneak back into a dark corner, take care of him, and let that other sorry pest wait in fear until the last moment you let him stay conscious.
Historically, Ubisoft has been at the forefront of innovation. With the Splinter Cell series we visualize an after-hours world where the difference between light and dark and the shades between determine how successful the mission will be. This must be exactly the feeling at the Ubisoft offices as well, as we see every new game in the series boasting graphical improvements. Here we get far greater detail on what has been laid down in the past games. Shadows are noticeably improved and the figures no longer turn away and therefore allow you to see actions such as movement of guns, etc. Something I couldn’t help but laugh at because of the almost anal attention to detail is on the computer screens in the game. You actually see a black boot screen on the computers as you turn each of them on. Other than that, you can notice new textures in the trees and on the environments in general.
Positional Audio has always been one of the best assets of the SC series because as any fan of spy movies knows, its all about the hushed conversations going on behind closed doors. Well no, I suppose it isn’t all about that, but it’s through the audio that you know that you are seconds away from getting caught even so much so that the sweat is lining your palms and your forehead. It’s enough that I need to take a breath right here, whew.
You’ll hear characters’ conversations as you walk past or as they get closer just the right balance is struck. Not to mention that the content of conversations is sometimes quite funny in its own right. I couldn’t help but laugh as during the one conversation I heard, Ubisoft gives themselves a pat on the back in regards to one of their other titles. Gee, that’s almost as cheap and gimmicky as I am!
On a side note, I have to say I also enjoyed the character development as it pertains to Sam this time around. Voice acting here is superb as Michael Ironside delivers Sam Fisher as the tough guy that we’ve come to know and love; in this game we get a little more humor too, as Sam and Grimm his computer tech have little clever in-betweens. It is quite the nice touch. Of course it wouldn’t be Sam without his almost Bond-esque witticisms but I personally wouldn’t enjoy the game nearly as much without them.
Now I feel I should take some time to mention the latest and greatest updates in the world of spies vs. mercs. This year, the already great entry to the series has been hammered down a bit, as we are given more interactivity within levels and refinements to the character classes. The uber-powerful mercs are now without some of their vision modes, making it a bit more bearable for the spies to lay the hurt down. Also, the grenades are reduced to the simple flash or frag for each group.
With the countless hours that those connected to Live will undoubtedly spend in battle, there is also a new option, Co-Op! If you’ve ever wished you could defend the world together with a buddy, here is your chance! After a short training period you are given a handful of levels to traverse with a buddy. This of course adds to one’s arsenal, as your buddy can hold the rope while you rappel down a wall or be a human stepladder as you need to get to those hard-to-reach places, like vents. It wouldn’t be a typically designed game, however if this didn’t open yet another book of challenges where one can only win by teamwork; Dual-Retinal scanners anyone?
Along with these two great options for multiple players the original game of course takes near 25-30 hours to beat depending on your speed and amount of retries. This of course brings me to my next point -- difficulty. It’s no secret that Splinter Cell is excessively difficult for certain gamers. However, now not only do you have your hard, harder, and hardest difficulties which no Splinter Cell game would be complete without, but now you get an Easy difficulty to make things a little more accessible. So if you’ve been unable to enter into the world of the NSA before, they’ve lowered the standards just for you. There hasn’t been any better time to don the black mask, so why not give it a shot now? It’s better in the dark.
