Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

"A new genre of gaming is born: Stealth."

Splinter Cell is a ''different'' type of game, in which I have not seen in quite a while. It is exactly what it says: Stealth. The game takes place in the future, where events are ''hypothesized'' to happen. The main character is Sam Fischer, who carries out missions that are given by his director. Sam, to make a long story extremely short, uses stealth as his main weapon to obtain information about a suspicious president. Don't worry, this is not nearly enough background to understand any of the story, so if you want to find out more, I encourage you to buy this.

Which System?

As you can probably imagine, XBOX is the system that you want to go with. Why? Take a look. The Xbox version has top quality graphics, as most gamers already know. Shadows are what catches the gamers eye. Xbox displays perfect shadows that really make stealth realistic. For example, if Sam wants to navigate without being seen, he must stay in shadows. Also, XBox has downloadable levels. This make the game not only longer, but provides challenging levels that only the Splinter Cell elite can beat. So, Xbox has the graphics and the length.

Playstation 2 lacks graphics big time. As we all know, it is an older system. This is going to play a major roll in graphics. Also, PS2 only has 10 missions instead of the 11 regular missions. This is also a negative aspect of the game. I would have to mention that there are more owners of the PS2 than the Xbox, but I don't think that it will override the Xbox positives. This is probably the last system you want to get Splinter Cell for.

Gamecube...well, it is more interesting. It has graphics in between the Xbox and Ps2. I would say the graphics are fine for the most part, just some minor shadow defects. It has equal 11 missions, but you cannot download any extra missions(negative). Although you cannot download, there is one secret level that is unplayable on the Xbox version. This is rather interesting.

The winner...XBOX

So, we need to hear a bit about the aspects of the the Xbox version of the game. Well, it is a perfectly fit game. Saves are given after completing some sort of challenging puzzle. This will sum up to quite a few saves throughout the course of the game. Most people do not like when you have to ''earn'' saves, but I think they make it quite fair. Don't worry, in most cases you will not have to travel far to complete certain tasks. Also, everytime you restart, you learn something new. This makes your gaming skills much better.

Again, this is a stealthy game. Those of you people who played Metal Gear Sold 2: Sons of Liberty have some similar characteristics and some very different traits. Both games have the ''alarm'' aspect of the game. That is, when men see you, they go for the alarm that will call for backup. In metal gear, NO PROBLEM! You can simply kill them all. But in Splinter Cell, there are more severe penalties. First off, each mission allows only a certain amount of alarms. This creates the ''avoid alarms'' warning. Also, your life is limited to great extent. You dont want to be fighting two men, as it is very difficult to kill them quickly. They can do severe damage to your health, and health packs are usually scarce. Once again, stealth is your best weapon, not killing. Don't set off alarms unless you have to.

So, you know that there are some similarities between Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Sold 2. Now, the differences. Splinter cell only has 2 guns. So don't expect the 5 or so in Metal gear. Also, you can hide bodies in Splinter cell, but not in Metal gear. This makes the game lengthy, but it's worth it, as the game only become more real.

The story is excellent on Splinter Cell. A lot of games have boring stories, or none at all. I would say the story all makes sense, and there are not parts that do not fit in. It is interesting because the game producers used a news cast to explain the story. This makes the information much more interesting and not so boring that you just want to skip it. This keeps the game flowing and is definitely a postive aspect of the game.

The game seems all too perfect, but there is one negative aspect of the game. The game is relatively short. Yes, there are a total of 11 missions, but they can go by very quickly. In reality, if you are an expert at this game, the game can be beaten in only 3 hours. That may seem terrible, but for a first timer, it would take close to 15 total hours. This is because many of the missions involve retracing, or redoing certain tasks.

Sound in this game is pretty good. The gun shots sound realistic, and when you walk over papers or glass, crunching sounds occur. This, again, applies to realism. Talking is clear and has a nice russian or chinese accent. This makes the game more interesting, and adds humor into the game. Overall the sound is Good = 9/10.

Overall, this game is a Golden Hit. What do I mean by that...take a look at the below:

Graphics 10/10 - Yes, the graphics are one of a kind. They display real life actions, and an excellent abiotic environment. This is probably the most positive aspect of the game.

Sound 9/10 - As I have said before, nice sound. Realistic talking, and interesting conversations.

Length 6/10 - This is a downfall. Not enough missions, and if you are a pretty good gamer, these missions will fly by like a 90 mile an hour tornado!

Story 10/10 - The story fits, and there is not a whole lot to say that wont give away the story. The story is displayed in an interesting way, and it is something to look forward to.

I am going to give this a total of a 9/10! This is a promising game, though it might fall a bit short of Metal Gear Sold 2: Sons of Liberty. It has a new style of play, that most gamers will enjoy. I hope this review has helped you get an idea of this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/03