Splinter Cell

Sam Fisher is a CIA Black Ops Agent codenamed "Splinter Cell" who is recruited to infiltrate the Georgian government in an effort to locate two missing US spies. He soon uncovers a political conspiracy involving presidents, hackers and so on and so forth.

Games are not known for their plots but to be honest "Splinter Cell" has a pretty good one - it's a good starting place for a Tom Clancy novel and one can imagine that Clancy had the idea once, considered it unworthy compared to his other stuff and tossed it aside and later decided to use it as a game. It's never expanded upon fully as most of the time is actually spent on gameplay, not plot...but it does have one of the best video game stories of all time.

I liked the voicework by everyone's favorite villain from "Total Recall" (Michael Ironside) but the best part of this game was the beautiful rich textures and actual gameplay. In "Splinter Cell" you do stuff I've never seen in other games - stalking villains instead of shooting them. I do like shoot-'em-ups but it's come to a point now where new stuff is welcomed - and this is great! You can climb through windows, pick locks, open doors, stalk people, grab them, interrogate them, hold them at gunpoint (and use this as a neat defensive trick when surrounded by numerous villains), etc - and instead of just using a lockpick, for example, you really do pick the lock by pressing keys on the computer keyboard! And to open doors you don't just walk up to one, you have to manually push it open.

The graphics are great, fluid movements on characters...one of the best games of all-time!

when i first got it as a gift i barely played it. i couldn't stand the training level because they were quite difficult for me (that should tell you that i'm not a gamer). but after a while, once i got used to the game, and played the police station level for a while, i started to love this game. the graphics are amazing on the xbox. i also have the ps2 version and there are slight differences between them. at first i used to think that the game sucked because you only get a certain amount of bullets. however the purpose of the game is to use your gun as a last resort. you have to distract, sneak around shadows, hang above people (y-split). i compare it to goldeneye for the n64 because splinter cell and goldeneye, in my opinion, made the consoles look much better. i spent a LOT of money on the james bond games looking to emulate goldeneye but after i found splinter cell and timesplitters 2, my search is over.

This review is for the PC version. I haven't yet played any of the other titles of this franchise, nor have I even looked at any of Clancy's books relating to them(if there are any). With that said, I have read some of his novels, and this definitely is a product by him... for better or for worse. It is nearly only a positive thing; this is masterfully done. The by far best things about this are how vital, and how amazingly sensitive, light and sound are in this. I have never in any other game seen anything quite like it, and certainly not before this came out. You are literally more likely to successfully hide almost right in front of someone, if in complete darkness, than further away, to the side, when well-lit. As a help, you're supplied with a meter, that tells you in no uncertain terms exactly how much in the shadows you are. The amount of noise you make is determined by how fast you move, as well as on what. You can walk regularly, as well as sneak, and both have degrees of speed to that type, adjusted with the mouse wheel. That's one of the ways control differs from the norm, and as soon as you've gotten used to it, you'll be grateful they made it this way. The graphics and animation are incredible, if not entirely as smooth as that of the recent(not first) Prince of Persia trilogy that this slightly predates and was also made by Ubisoft, then again, they're close. And this is their initial attempt, and they hit so much of it right out of the park that we can forgive the couple of clumsy things to it, the biggest being the awkward jumping. Even the simplest of moves requiring it are made tougher than they ought to be, and you know that famous, nifty position where your legs are all that's keeping you up, between two surfaces, that everyone has at least heard of being in this? It's the main reason the leaping is so odd, and I can't claim there was a single place I used it. There are other cool acrobatics(and they completely rock, with no exception), though they seem terribly underused, and every last one is specific to the places you can use it. That's right; there's not one level of this that isn't linear(meanwhile, they're invariably fantastically well-designed), so there is absolutely no freedom of movement. Proceeding in this too often means "figuring out what they intended for you to do". Not only that, no, you spend much too long *just finding out where you're supposed to go*. That works for a lot of VGs, heck, it was a massive step up from the classic side-scroller and such when it originally came about. I'm not arguing that fact. What I am pointing out is that this is stealth(it surpasses others in most areas, not all). Plus, you've got a team backing you up, would it kill them to at least let you know the basic *direction* you're going in? Yeah, you get a map, however, unless you make sure you know where you are at all times(and how would you), it can prove utterly useless. Allow me to draw a comparison to the Hit-man series, I'm certain I'm not the only to do so. In each of those, while maybe not always, they offered multiple solutions, and you can go back and try out something else, and if it makes sense to do, you may very well be allowed to pull it off(especially in Blood Money, it got greater). You're told what you are to do, given an in-depth satellite view of the location, and from there you can soon think of ways to do it, and start actually *doing* those. Why not here? There is no replay value. This goes back and forth between being too easy and equally hard, and can be frustrating. The rigid military precision that Tom, and his work, is infused with can be irritating in this, and sometimes shooting is overly difficult, and enemies don't seem to have any problem with it. With that said, the two weapons, fitted with silencer and flash suppressor, pistol and SC-20K(to know it is to love it) are a ton of fun to use(when the time is right), as is all the equipment. Diversions that can also render foes unconscious, a reusable reconnaissance camera, the Sticky Shocker, and that's not the only *launchable*(!) stuff you get to use. Optic cable for looking under doors, wall mines, lock-picks, flares, grenades, and I could go on. The tactical opportunities is another thing where this really shines. Night and Thermal Vision(and trust me, it is perfect) demand mention, as well. Don't get me wrong, the game-play is magnificent. The AI is beyond reproach. Responsive and eternally as smart as they're meant to be. The music is well-composed, aids in that it changes when you're in immediate trouble, and you may frankly find yourself humming the kick-ass theme to yourself. There are next to no bugs or stability issues. The "humor" is really the usual silly stuff, fortunately, it's seldom in this, and the tone is an earned maturity(this never talks down to you) not ruined by the many bad-ass lines and moments. Sam Fisher, who you're taking on the role of, is voiced by Michael Ironside, who owns the crap out of every vocal emission(including the freaking *death scream*), since that is one of the things he can just *do*. He doesn't go overboard. The acting/audio is all marvelous. This has an interesting and immersive plot. Every character is credible. Realism is through the roof, and it almost always does pay off. This respects its audience. Inbetween the well-written and nicely varied missions, you see bits of faked news reports, that adds loads. This ranks tension higher than action, and you'll get to do some awesome infiltration. I recommend this to anyone that sounds appealing to. 9/10

Even though the game-play is great the story implies a world view which gives me the creeps. The essential freedoms and the human rights can only be protected if the "good guy" break undermine these rights? Terrorist and unliked politicians have to be executed. Not even the government is being informed...because it is just the right thing. Even though many games use these ideas the normally don't promote them in such a naive propagandistic style.

With such naive distinction between good and evil implicating that the end always justifies the means, promotes fascistic ideas. it is a shame that such a great game is being destroyed down by the infantile world view of its designers.

game-play 4.5 out of 5 story ought better be banned

This is the first Tom Clancy Video Game I've ever played.

I'm familiar with his video games, but this one interested me the most.

Splinter Cell is taken place in an alternate late 2004. The story is similar to the real world. Including Terrisum, World in Crisis, and a war between the middle east and the USA.

You play Sam Fisher, a highly trained Agent for the NSA(National Security Agency). Your mission is to enter enemy territories and find out info and secrets on the terrorists. It's a challenging task including sneaking around in the dark, hacking into computers, disable security cameras, threaten terrorists to spill the beans, & killing off terrorists. Mission Failure is not an option in the NSA.

There are 9 missions in total with a very long game play. You can play this game for hours till you succeed in stopping the terrorism from rising.

The graphics in it are very well done. Photo realistic backgrounds, people, and objects. The light/shadow is top notch. A few cool gadgets to use, a few weapons and special Night/Thermal Vision goggles. The voice acting is great to. Plenty of catch phrases from Sam Fisher.

Those who like Tom Clancy, Stealth, or Shooting related games will like this title.