[Review] Splinter Cell

[# Ret-H@CKer]

the only thing better than making fun of a game that doesn't live up to its hype, is playing a game that exceeds lofty expectations. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is not only the shining new superstar of the novelist's videogame brand, but it's a game that will put the Ubi Soft Montreal development house on the map. Ever since gamers caught a glimpse of the early screenshots back in the spring of 2002, the biggest question about Splinter Cell
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, right after "Is it really that pretty?" was "Yeah, but is it going to be fun?" Now upon the game's release, the answers to each of those questions are "Hell Yeah" and "Damn Right," respectively.
The key to Splinter Cell's success is that every single element of the game --including the story, graphics, sound and every minor detail in between-- is designed to focus your attention on the gameplay theme of espionage. You are in control of a highly trained operative and you're supposed to think like one. Even with all of the awesome weaponry and gadgetry you'll have at your disposal, your own mind is the most important piece of equipment in Splinter Cell and this is reinforced throughout the game. Few games have been this successful at immersing the player into a such a well designed simulation and maintained this feeling throughout the entire experience.

If Splinter Cell has a weakness it's that, as a single player only videogame, eventually it has to come to an end. But this is the best single player experience you will have had on your Xbox since a little game called Halo launched the system.

Story

You're in control of Sam Fisher, an ex-CIA, ex-Navy SEAL who's called into service at the request of the National Security Agency. The NSA, with its unlimited resources, has commissioned a new sub-agency called Third Echelon --the original title of the game-- to gather intelligence in the colder, more cruel geopolitical landscape of 2004. Third Echelon has the latitude to deploy Splinter Cells, highly trained operatives who are granted the "Fifth Freedom" to do whatever it takes to protect the four cornerstone American values: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. While we're not sure what part of the Constitution they're getting these from, we do know that Sam Fisher's Fifth Freedom means he can kill without regard to sociopolitical consequencess. The downside is that if Sam's ever caught doing dirt, the US government will disavow any knowledge of his existence. It's like James Bond's license to kill, but with an extra dash of ruthlessness because Sam Fisher is totally on his own.

As an operative of Third Echelon, you're only given the information you need when you need it. You're actually uncovering facts and plot twists as you proceed through the game. Your first mission in Splinter Cell begins innocently enough with you heading to Georgia (the republic, not the US state) to investigate the disappearance of two CIA agents. One had infiltrated the Georgian government before disappearing, and the other disappeared while investigating the disappearance of the first missing agent. Sam Fisher is sent in because they know he's a badass and won't be disappearing on anybody. From this simple beginning, you uncover facts and scandals that lead you all over the globe --including a mission through CIA headquarters in Virginia-- to find the information necessary to prevent World War III.

In very clever Tom Clancy style, the end results of your successful missions are presented through the filter of a 24 hour news network. The anchorman's top stories involving apprehended terrorists and disasters being avoided are all your doing but are attributed to generic "officials" and "authorities."

The TV news bits provide a nice overview of the story, but you're the one actually interrogating people, eavesdropping on conversations and intercepting critical email messages. It's all done in a very real world context. So when you figure out that the Chinese general and the Russian mobster are in cahoots, nobody actually says "You, General Xia and I, Mr Grinko, will come together to rule the world!" like it's some kind of comic book. Instead you overhear one half of a phone conversation where plans are being discussed and all of the bits of info you've gathered so far give Sam and Third Echelon a hunch of what's going to happen next and what needs to be done. The game will always breakdown and present the important information to you by way of a briefing from Third Echelon headquarters so you'll know what's going on, but the savvy Splinter Cell player who really wants to get into the game can just pay attention to what's being said. It's in this way the Splinter Cell remain linear without feeling confined by an obvious storyline. Yes the world is in danger and needs to be saved, but the who, what and why unfold as you go along.

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Gameplay
Stealth-based third person action games like this began with Metal Gear Solid back in the day, but Splinter Cell
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 represents the most recent evolution of the subcategory. Unlike many other third person games where you're a one-man army on the warpath, Sam is not equipped to stack up hundreds of bodies throughout the game. This doesn't mean that you can't mix it up with some fine displays of marksmanship and firepower, but it definitely is not the focus of the game. Sam is on the hunt for tightly guarded information and evidence, so the control, his equipment and the levels are designed around getting him into and through places he's not supposed to be, while allowing you to handle any unforeseen problems that could jeopardize the mission.

Hostile Environment

Sam begins most missions on the perimeter of his objective with a specific primary task at hand and an entire level of enemies and other characters waiting for him. As you proceed through a mission, your goal is to disturb those characters as little as possible and if you have to alert them, make sure it's on your terms so you can control the situation. This is the key to understanding Splinter Cell, because losing control of the situation usually means a sudden death for Sam, thanks to the good old one-shot, one-kill style Tom Clancy games are known for.

Enemies will react to Sam's gunfire, noises he creates, his shadow and bodies he leaves behind. A guard spotting a shadow or a glimpse of Sam as he ducks in and out of shadows will merely become curious and begin investigating the area in question. More severe actions like gunfire or a clear look at Sam will cause them to draw their weapons, sound alarms and/or notify other guards nearby. Like Metal Gear Solid 2 Substace enemies will mutter to themselves about losing their minds or seeing things when a quick investigation turns up nothing. Unlike MGS2, however, alarmed enemies don't simply give up and meander away after being shot at. The difference between the state of alarms and what you can get away with is extremely important because you can use this to your advantage by throwing cans and bottles to create distractions. Plus you're always given an unmistakable bass note audio cue whenever you've done something to alarm an enemy. Knowing the enemy and their tendencies sounds like something a real secret operative would have to do, so we're sold on its application in Splinter Cell.

You also have to worry about plenty of pesky cameras in Splinter Cell. Listening for their distinct beeping as you move into new areas can mean the difference between success and failure. Some cameras can be disabled with a well placed bullet, others are in bulletproof housing and simply have to be avoided if you don't want packs of guards swarming you in a matter of seconds.

Making the Moves

Sam has more moves available to him than your typical ninja and mastery over every single one of them, with the notable exception of the Van Damme split jump, is required. Moves to keep Sam Fisher quiet and undetectable as well as moves to get him up, over and through difficult obstacles are all at your fingertips and the game has a required tutorial to get you familiar with all of them.

When it is time to shoot, switching to a hybrid over-the-shoulder first person perspective and negotiating your accuracy meter as you move the reticule means instantly switching your thinking away from stealth mode into combat mode. This isn't as easy as you'd think, and it's an intentional move by the developers to stick to the spirit of the game: stealth. You can still move and aim when you hit X to draw your weapon, but it's all much slower for the sake of maximizing your accuracy?just like you'd have to do in real life. Besides you will end up shooting more lights and cameras than enemies in Splinter Cell, and they make for pretty easy targets. If that doesn't convince you this is a stealth game, then nothing will.

Physically interacting with characters is one of the highlights of the game and one of the things that will really make you feel like an invisible, invincible super agent. First off you always have to sneak up behind the victim whether it's a computer nerd on the wrong side of justice, or an enemy commander whose eyes are the key to a retinal scanner locked door. Interacting with the environment is contextual and always tied to the A button so that you'll get an on screen prompt whenever you have the opportunity to do something like flip a switch, pick up a can or grab a character. Grabbing a character will cause Sam to put an arm around their neck and his pistol to their temple, or if unarmed, he'll use a modified sleeper hold. The coolness of grabbing folks is increased when you also have the opportunity to interrogate them or force them to do something. Once grabbed you have to drag the victim over towards the retinal scanner or computer where you'll get another interaction prompt. Hit A and Sam automatically takes care of the rest. When you're done with the victim, hitting attack (right trigger) makes Sam quietly conk them on the head knocking them out. These character interaction sequences are extremely rewarding and thankfully are required throughout the game, especially on missions where you can't smoke anybody like your fellow Americans.

The camera system is perhaps your greatest asset. It's a third person game with a completely free-floating camera controlled on the right analog stick. It stays locked to the back of his head, so Sam looks where you're looking as long as it's behind him. But the camera can also "unhook" and swing 360 degrees around Sam's position. This way you can see things around corners and in other tight spaces where Sam couldn't necessarily see and, more importantly, nobody can see him. With no radar, this is the only advantage you'll have if you want to get sneak peeks at enemies. The free camera is the perfect system for a more wide open stealth game like Splinter Cell
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, where a smart cam worked best for a more confined, pre-planned stealth game like MGS2.

Slipping Into Darkness

Any discussions about the game's level design has to begin with a look at the revolutionary lighting and shadow system. This may be a single player game, but the light of Splinter Cell is the second most important character besides Sam Fisher. The lighting of each level gives it its personality and shapes the challenges that you're going to face. The one overwhelming instinct you'll have early on in SC, is the desire for darkness and quiet. The game becomes more difficult because it becomes tougher to find, maintain and create the darkness you desire as you face less hospitable places and more characters out there looking for you.

Shooting out lights is nothing new in videogames, but it's never been as functional as it is in Splinter Cell. Shooting out every light in a hallway will create total darkness to the point that your TV screen will have nothing on it beyond the HUD and the slight green glow of Sam's goggles and secure radio. Enemies will be completely blind and will walk with their hands out in front of them as they search for either a light switch or Sam, if they've been alarmed. Nightvision goggles will give you a huge advantage in the dark, but as you continue through a level and encounter new areas that aren't in total darkness, the lack of color in the nighvision display (everything is a shade of pea-green) can suddenly work against you if you're not keeping one eye on your stealth meter. Again, the realities of the tradecraft, at least as we imagine it, are well represented.

In later levels the subtleties of orange lights in the Georgian Presidential Palace or bright neon signs on far off buildings around the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar cast just enough light on Sam to barely make him visible. This is compared to the abandoned dummy high-tech company, where the skeleton staff means the majority of the building is dark. But there's all kinds of light in certain areas where workers are still buzzing about. You have to pay attention to the lighting situation at all times so you can come up with your on-the-fly plan of attack. To increase difficulty as you proceed from mission to mission game simply makes some situations more annoying than others (those orange lights are no fun), but you always have the tools you'll need to get by. It's really up to you to figure out your own way through the game.

You're on Your Own

In Splinter Cell, you're more or less dropped into a situation with a specific set of equipment and given an initial objective. Other than this, you have to learn to use your noodle to figure out what's expected of you. You're given a limited amount of ammunition and other goodies like grenades, sticky cameras and smoke bombs. However, you're never given clues or prompts as to when or where you're supposed to use these items. Unlike EA's recent James Bond games, there's no flashing icon or obvious camera zoom during a mission fly-by to point out what you need to do. And this is what makes Splinter Cell so enjoyable.

Your pistol comes with 40 rounds and your rifle will have 60 bullets when you begin a level but it's up to you to budget how they'll be used. If you insist on treating SC like a shooter and pump a dozen extra rounds into a dead body just to see him jump, then don't complain five minutes later when your weapon is dry and there's a chandelier and two cameras that need to be shot out. When you do encounter areas of the game with healthy stashes of ammo and health (there are only a handful throughout the whole game), this is usually your best indication that a firefight is nearby. You may have just survived it or it may be on the way, but that stuff is there for a reason.

Not having any guidance other than a few clues and an objective might seem like a good way to get lost and frustrated, but Splinter Cell even has an answer for this potential problem. Exploration is a big part of the game, but even when you're simply looking around for what to do next, you have to be mindful of your surroundings, stealth meter and enemies. It's almost like staying covert is the consistent minigame throughout Splinter Cell and it's something you're always doing as part of the process of accomplishing mission goals. All you may know is that you have to find and interrogate the gangster's chaffeur who's waiting in a parking garage and that this is all the matters to your bosses at Third Echelon. But you have to do all of the sneaking around and neutralizing so Sam can get there. This is the essence of what you're doing throughout the game.

In keeping the game's cinema feel, there are all kinds of events that Sam can trigger by reaching certain areas of a level. The levels are designed in such a way that you'll rarely miss one of these triggers since you're conditioned to explore early on in the game. Later in the game, hitting these event triggers become crucial because of time issues. In one sequence where you have to follow a pair of Chinese officers into a keycode locked door, you have to hide around the correct corner and wait there before they'll show up to even enter the room. Then you have to wait for the two men to enter the code and walk in the room, before you come out from hiding. The trick here is to get to the keypad fast enough to use your thermal goggles to check the heat signatures from their button presses. In a mechanic that will become quite familiar to you throughout Splinter Cell, you will at first waste many lives trying to figure out the correct sequence of button presses, since you can only see what buttons they pressed, not the order they pressed them in. The intelligent Splinter Cell operative would use only two lives in the process: one to watch the heat signatures as they change from hot to cool in the order that they were pressed and the second one to input the correct code and enter the room. So as we can all see, you are on your own in Splinter Cell, but you should be okay as long as you remember to bring your brain along.

Gear

On Sam's custom made Palm PDA, he's got mission objectives, notes and a hard data center. Briefings from Lambert, your Third Echelon contact, usually translate into mission objective as he relays new information to you over the course of a mission. The notes area is where you'll store passcodes for doors and other necessary info you'll need to get through the mission. This area has less and less information as you progress through the more difficult missions. The data center is where you keep all of your information files you've gathered via data stick from enemies, computers or Grimsdottir, you're intelligence liason at Third Echelon. The data, notes and objective sections of the PDA all work together to cross pollinate each other with information. For example, when you take a data stick from a computer or downed enemy, you'll get the entire text of the email message complete with date, sender, recipient, salutations and all that. These emails will sometimes have text that says something like "oh yeah Pete, I forgot to mention the new code for the maintenance closet is 6743, in case you need to get in there." It's cool being able to see the whole message, but the relevant information gathered from the email is also instantly sent over to your notes section where it will say "the maintenance closet passcode is 6743." This is how Splinter Cell
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 covers all of its bases to facilitate the experts and the newbies.

Tom Clancy novels are known for showcasing technology and gadgets that are just around the corner in our near future. Of all the cool gadgets in Splinter Cell, the diversion camera and sticky camera have to be among the top two coolest gadgets ever. Again, you're never given prompts on when to use these items, but shooting either of these cameras into an unsecured area using the secondary fire on your rifle is a great way to see what's going on without risking being seen. Deploying these cameras gives you a point of view from that camera and since you shoot it into position it's usually within Sam's line of sight. The sticky camera has zooming capabilities along with thermal and night vision, making it as effective as a second pair of eyes. The diversion cam doesn't have all of the recon functionality of the sticky cam, but it does give you a new point of view and tapping the B button causes the camera to make a whistling noise, great for drawing suspicious guards off your trail or into a remote area. But of course Splinter Cell goes the extra step and gives you a full dose of knockout gas on the Y button so you can quietly take down any guards that come around investigating that whistle. The catch with each of these cameras is that they're one use only. As soon as you pull the right trigger to return to Sam, you can't toggle back to that camera, so you have to make sure you see everything you need to see while you can. Plus Sam is totally vulnerable while you're looking through the cameras so it's best not to leave him exposed. Even with super cool 21st century gadgets you can't forget to use common sense.

The lock pick and fiber optic camera round out the gadgets you'll be using most often. The lock pick isn't too special in and of itself, but how you use it is a brilliant innovation. Engaging the lock pick on a locked door brings up an overlay of the pick and the lock's pin and tumbler assembly. Moving the left analog stick until you feel your controller rumbling is how you find the sweet spot for that particular pin, the pick is working on. You hold it on the sweet spot until you see the pin for that part of the lock drop into place. Then it's time to move on to the next pin and find its specific sweet spot. It takes time to open doors this way, so this yet another realistic system Sam has to handle.

Graphics

If you didn't know already Splinter Cell has some of the most impressive lighting effects, character models and animation ever seen in a videogame. If this title wasn't so fun, the visuals would easily be its strong point.

The lighting in Splinter Cell, as we said, isn't just some effect where you have lamp in a room but that room itself is actually lit by some mysterious off camera source. Ubi Soft Montreal has simulated the behavior of light to the point where everything is self shadowing, and the only way you're able to see what's going on in the game is because of the lighting device in the scene you're playing. Whether it's overhead halogens, a bank of monitors or the glow of a brilliant full moon, you'll always know where light is shining from and so you'll be able to anticipate where and how shadows will fall and which ones need to be shot out. The developers even simulated the different shines you get from banks of several halogens versus the harsh lighting from a single exposed light bulb in a dingy hallway. Light shines through trees, latticework and even chain link fences and falls on whatever may be on the other side. So when Sam is facing a giant glowing billboard whilst hanging from a chain link fence the fence will cast a network of shadows on him with the glow of the billboard lighting the negative spaces.

Sam Fisher is rendered beautifully even though his suit is stealth black from top to bottom. When you take the time to look, you can see his equipment straps and pouches drawn in exquisite detail right down to the snaps and buckles. Throughout the game you'll even notice Sam change into his short sleeved temperature controlled suit when he's in the tropical climate of Myanmar. On the last mission he dons a ski-mask that only leaves the eyes exposed. When he flips down his goggles, he's the spitting image of GI Joe's Snake Eyes. It kind makes you forget little details like Sam's graying temples and obvious five o'clock shadow that he sports the rest of the game.

Sam's lips move when he interrogates people or talks to Lambert, and you can even notice emotions creeping across his face if the camera is in the right position. But enemies speak and emote just as well, albeit not as often, as our hero. The movements of enemies tend to be noticeably stiffer than Sam Fisher's but they're still intricate and believable. An enemy investigating an area will lean forward with his rifle raised and creep slowly as opposed to strolling along confidently when they're not in alert mode. When you die you often get a glimpse of them turning their heads to speak into their shoulder-mounted radios to report the American spy they've just killed.

Sam himself moves with more stealth and cunning than most videogame ninjas you'll see. When he moves in crouch mode, the Unreal 2 engine is sophisticated enough that he appears to be timing shifting his weight from foot to foot so as to make less noise. The difference between walking and running in crouch mode is made clear not only by Sam's speed but by the fact that he uses one hand to hold his pistol in place to keep it from jostling and making noise. Sam can rappel down ropes and even slide down quickly like a SWAT team member by lunging away from teh building with both legs. When he draws his gun in this situation, the animation of him reaching for his holster and transitioning to the hybrid-first person perspective is as silky smooth as when he puts his sidearm back into his holster and we return to third-person mode.

The only problems Splinter Cell has in the graphics department are the clipping issues and occasional drops in framerate. The oil rig level, with its burning fires, attack jets and brilliant sunset-orange sky is pretty but it also taxes even the Xbox's processing ability since this is the level that chopped up the most in our opinion. The clipping can get bad when you start mani[CENSORED]ting that free camera in tight spaces or when doors open and close suddenly.

Sound

Splinter Cell boasts outstanding voice acting, an excellent score, superior sound effects and just some of the best application of sound in a videogame we've ever heard. Like everything else about the game, the audio is intended to re-focus your attention on the stealth action. You're doing yourself a disservice if you play this game with the sound turned down.

If you're hearing a lot of ruckus at any point in Splinter Cell, that usually means something intense, horrible or horribly intense is happening. This is because the music of the game changes up to match the mood of the situation you're in. A big gunfight will give you a heavy guitar track plus all of the bullets, echoes and yelling you might expect. Sneaking down an empty hallway is usually pretty quiet with background sound effects filling up the sound space to keep the game from feeling empty and boring.

Michael Ironsides is the voice of Sam Fisher and good old Jester has the perfect tone to play a secret operative who has seen it all. All of the characters in the game are all well done with inflections, accents and subtle emotions all coming through beautifully. Sam and his NSA contact, Lambert, chat with each other regularly throughout the game with varying levels of tension. You get the feeling that while Fisher is always going to follow orders, he still doesn't completely trust Lambert or his new bosses. That's some mighty fine character development for a videogame where you can't see the actors' faces.

Drama and comedy are a big part of what moves Splinter Cell's story and it's all done through voice. You can overhear some genuinely funny conversations that have nothing to do with the mission if you're in the right place at the right time and paying attention. There's a reason why the embassy chef let's a soldier spit in the pot of soup he's making, but you have to be patient and listen. Listening to the variety of conversations going on at CIA headquarters --be sure to check the briefing theatre-- is a good way to find out how that agency operates. Really, it's a good idea to slow down and listen whenever you encounter a situation where you can hear people talking in Splinter Cell. Sometimes you'll get critical info or a good chuckle. Either way you should be impressed.

One of the most important sounds of the game is the quick base note you hear whenever an enemy is alerted to your presence. It's a sound you'll learn to recognize even when there are conversations or other noises going on. Rather than a radar telling you that the enemies are on you trail, the alert music that follows this initial indicator is the only way you'll know what's going on and when it's safe to proceed once it stops.

All of these sound elements are coming to you through fine 5.1 audio. Not that you have to have a surround setup, but you really are missing out on that last piece of stimulation that really immerses you in the game if you're just using your TV speakers. Explosions are as shocking and nerve rattling as they should be with the subwoofer kicking in and all of the subtle sound effects like weapon reloads, typing on a keyboard, walking on broken glass and zipping down a line are better when they come from the right direction.

Verdict
This is the kind of game I imagined when I used to dream about the experiences next generation consoles were going to give us. Splinter Cell is one of the smartest games I've ever played in that it challenged me to lose myself in this world of espionage and to use everything I think I know about secret operatives to get through it. While there were plenty of times I would get caught in a trial-error-death cycle trying to clear a certain part of the game, I never once felt helpless or confused to the point where I was ready to blame the developers for poor level design or something. When you run into a difficult part in Splinter Cell that's just kicking your hide, it only means you're not thinking outside the box and exploring all of your options. It's not quite as open as a Grand Theft Auto game, but there are unorthodox ways of solving some problems. But in this world of super spies, there's no such thing as unorthodox, just do or die.
This game literally shines on the Xbox and has enough gameplay hours to satisfy dedicated Halo junkies who've been waiting for the next landmark single player game on the system. Since you can play with varying degrees of stealth and aggression, you'll have every reason to play through Splinter Cell multiple times.

I often found myself saying "Whoa, I don't know if gamers are going to be ready for that." But once Splinter Cell is in your system, and this game has a perfectly balanced learning curve, you will be ready for all it has to offer.