Splinter Cell......How This Fantastic Game Should Cause a 50 Dollar Splinter In Your Wallet!!!
Written: Dec 18 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Incredible Weapons and accessories; unbelievable graphics and animation; awesome sound system with Dolby 5.1
Cons: Great plot and story, but it gets old after playing through it once
The Bottom Line: Greatest strategy/first person shooter ever made with an impeccable arsenal of graphics, sound, gadgets, AI, gameplay, and anything and everything that you would ever want.
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| tyny03's Full Review: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell for Xbox |
The story of this game evolves around Sam Fisher, a member of a top secret group of the National Security Agency (NSA). This group works alone to terminate groups of people known as terrorists. They have access to all the latest equipment and gadgets, and Sam Fisher must try and infiltrate the Soviet Union in an attempt to prevent a world war.
This follow up from the Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear series cannot be passed up on. The game has evolved by tenfold over the past couple of years into what we now have as Splinter Cell. Let me discuss a couple of areas, the first of which will be graphics.
Graphics:
Bar none, this game has the best graphics in the video gaming industry right now. Forget all those times when you could somehow peer through walls to kill your enemy. Now the lighting and shadow are nothing less than real life. The light and dark textures of the animation cast shadows on the characters depending where they stand and in what proximity they are to the light. This struck me as absolutely amazing. Another aspect of graphics to awe at is the fact that instead of using motion capture to animate the characters, Splinter Cell is the product of the hand drawn method, making what you see even more real.
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 brings this game to a new level with the incredible sound that it offers. Not only is the overall sound great, but the gameplay sounds are even better. You can hear bullets fly by your head, enemy guards trying to sneak up behind you, and you can also hear how loud you are as you try and ambush a guard. This adds to the strategic component of gameplay, allowing for more than just running and gunning.
Controls:
This part is always hard to learn on such an advanced system as the xbox, but the training program is unbelievable. It goes through practically anything that you would ever need to do throughout the game, so no one should ever complain about the controls. Just take a little time to practice and you will be perfect. To give an inkling of how amazing the controls can be when mastered, Sam Fisher has at his capability to walk, run, tip toe, crouch, climb, hang, peer around a corner, go down zip lines, sneak behind guards and so much more.
Gameplay:
While most first person shooters are like Quake or Unreal, this one has its emphasis on stealth actions rather than the act of killing people (but killing is of course needed). There are a ridiculous amount of cool gadgets that come along to help Sam Fisher keep out of the guards' sight so he can covertly complete his mission. When needed, guns are available to take out the enemy. The strategy needed for such a game is tremendous, but the rewards to completing it are enormous. There are multiple difficulty levels, the hardest one being impossible as no one is ever going to beat it unless they are just plain crazy.
Minor Issues (let me emphasize the word minor):
Certain controls will have to just become familiar. While I have been playing this game nonstop, I still can't master the art of sensitivity. What I mean is that the character's movement and how fast he goes and how much noise he makes is dependent on how hard you press the analog stick. As easy as it sounds, one slight slip up and the AI is on you like a pack of dogs, making you restart wherever you left off. It really does take a while to get used to.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID: tyny03
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Reviews written: 9
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