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Splinter Cell Review
Mark Simons
13/06/2003
Sam Fisher in a small box, to find out how the guy copes come this way...
To avoid hearing about Splinter Cell if you're even the least bit interested in video games would be very impressive after the masses of coverage it's been getting all over the place, but there must be some of you out there still, so let's start at the beginning...
You are Sam Fisher, NSA agent, a hard man with some funky moves. But this is more shimmy up wall, hide before jumping down, breaking a neck then hiding the body as opposed busting out some body popping. That's right, you are thrust into the murky world of covert ops. Where if you die no-one knows, and if you succeed in your mission, well no-one knows either, but you do, and that's all that matters. The storyline is pure Tom Clancy, mainly because it is a Tom Clancy story, so you get a contemporary ânear-futureâ setting, some very plausible situations and interesting characters.
The presentation of the plot is not integrated into the game to the same sort of level as the Metal Gear Solid games, but this does have its benefits. It doesn't feel that most of your time is spent watching cutscenes, waiting for the action; you can just skip them, get into the game and start having some fun. Which is what it's all about at the end of the day, is it not?
The missions in Splinter Cell require numerous attempts before you crack them, unless you're on some sort of higher gaming plane, or you make it easy... This trial-and-error approach was one of the few misgivings leveled at the title when it made its first release last year on the Xbox. Having some very devious levels that require you to put all of your training, and we're talking experience gained in other games, as well as what you learn in this one, means that you really take on the role of Fisher. Well, we say take on the role, in so much as you are aware that if you make one little mistake you'll have to try all over again. Thankfully there are some well thought out checkpoint locations within the levels, the deft placement of restart pointâs means that the one more go factor is kept high throughout.
The nature of the game is such that if you die after trying to figure out how to do something, or just after you do it, which is quite often the case as you, or perhaps it is just this reviewer, get a little careless and die when you're on a roll feel like you can take on the world and stumble on something that is endangers your life very rapidly. The point is that when you die you often know what to do, so that you can quickly get to where you were, and beyond with minimal fuss. This is down to a number of factors, level design being one of the keys. When attempting something for the first time it is wise to be cautious, i.e. slow, but if you know what's coming and where to go you can whizz through rather quickly.
Splinter Cell is stuffed full of gadgets, gizmos, guns and moves. The lock picking is genius, as are all the different forms of night vision, heat sensitive, infra-red goggles, along with gadgets such as the optical wire for looking under doors - all very cool and nice to discover for yourself. One thing you learn early on and is so very sweet is the technique for wedging yourself up between two walls. This allows you to hide above the heads of your enemies and then drop down and silently snap their necks. Wall jumping in Mario was never this deadly.
Pretty much every part of Splinter Cell is done well. Graphically this is one of the best games on the GameCube, sure we have got into some debates about which version looks best; gotta give it to the Xbox, but that does not mean this is port is bad in any way. We're sure that if the bulk of development time was spent on the GameCube then that would have been the most impressive version. Lighting effects cast accurate shadows over everything, and are hugely impressive, as are the animation and detail levels on objects and characters. The effects for the various goggle modes, night vision et al, are great, actually being the most realistic out of all the graphical effects.
Sonically things are on a par with the graphics, surround sound, good dialogue, useful sound effects and lots of them at high quality; it's about what we expect these days. Some headphones or surround setup will just throw you right in the middle of the action and also be useful as you can speed up your reactions if you can hear where they're coming from...
Ensuring the presentation and design are up to such a high standard just tops off this gem of a game; the underlining gameplay is so strong, the feeling of wandering around, gun drawn, finger pulling down the shoulder trigger, ready to fire, but not knowing who will come from where is a very tense and exciting experience. The emphasis on stealth and the way this is implemented, a lovely little light meter at the bottom corner of the screen, means that you're always thinking about a lot of things, but still having to keep alert as to what is going on right now.
The GameCube version does link with the GameBoy Advace game to unlock extra levels for your pocket, we were thinking that there could have been more interesting things to do with the link, using the GBA as a PDA for your character for instance. But we're not going to turn our noses up at this bonus feature that gives you more for your money. Provided you have both versions of the game and the correct connections naturally.
