Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Splinter Cell originally released in 2002 as an exclusive for the original Xbox was then a brand new IP entering into a series of Tom Clancy-endorsed games. made by Ubisoft. This time however instead of focusing on action the game centered around covert espionage work. The game was inspired by the genre's mainstay Metal Gear and Thief series of games and during the development process was even dubbed the MGS 2 Killer.  However, Splinter Cell differentiates itself from its peers by exploring a more grounded and realistic approach to stealth in a modern setting. by putting you in the shoes of an NSA black ops veteran and series titular protagonist Sam Fisher. An expert in stealth tactics, a loving father, and a veteran of the business, He's tasked to spearhead a brand new agency initiative by the name of third echelon and find two missing CIA agents who only recently investigated a corrupt Georgian billionaire turned president by way of a coup. The story is mostly told through optional text files, dialogue snippets, and the intermediate cutscenes between missions which act as both mission briefs and details containing the story thus far.

When talking gameplay you have to first mention the game's excellent lighting engine able to render great-looking, dynamically moving shadows in real-time, and how said shadows are vital to the gameplay to an important degree by way of letting Sam sneak in and out of various light sources and completely conceal himself. The player can also shoot out various lights to try and move undetected, as well as keep from being spotted by cameras.
Aiding Sam is his plethora of various gadgets helping accommodate both nonlethal and lethal play styles. Starting with his trademark night and thermal vision goggles, a handgun, his trustworthy SC-200 rifle equipped with a scope, and all sorts of secondary ammo.

As far as movement goes Sam is pretty mobile despite getting in on the years and is still able to do all sorts of acrobatic stunts like a wall jump, a roll, and even a split when necessary. The moves themselves can be a little hard to perform due to the movement feeling pretty rigid and slow. Also, I think these moves are grossly underutilized as the game has a linear setup and there are only a few or so ideal ways to progress through each given level, couple that with frustratingly inconsistent AI, and you get left with very little room for experimentation overall.

And that's the best word I'd use to describe the first splinter cell-inconsistent. And it's a shame cuz there's some fine-level design on display here. Each level manages to offer something new and up the ante in terms of obstacles to avoid, more difficult patrol routes to take note of, different terrain, and big uncomfortable open spaces to navigate. It's all very well thought out and I like how it forces the player to adapt to the different situations often on the fly. Except for the case of the forced shootouts, which the game simply does not support mechanically. Thankfully there are only a few or so of them.

Playing through Splinter Cell in the current year was a bit of a harrowing experience, however, what kept me going was the game's terrific atmosphere built up by great lighting and a memorable soundtrack. There are many noticeable shortcomings however they didn't detract from the experience too much and there is some fun to be had here after all is said and done.

The game has fine mechanics, all the things such as Nightvision, Heatvision and the other tools at your disposal work great except the handgun crosshair for some reason. I don't understand why the bullets don't go where the crosshair points and neither i care to.

The thing which makes the game dull for me is what it does with those mechanics. It tells a trite story which is wholly uninteresting, the characters have little to no texture, the missions are so very linear that you might as well be drawing a straight line on a paper. It's the same thing over and over, no freedom, no alternate paths, no level interactivity and finally no atmosphere.

There are some questions which i ask myself while playing a game, What am I doing ? How does this game involve me ? What's it making me do and How do i feel after doing that ? This game doesn't answer those questions satisfactorily.

It's not involving me because i am following a linear path and not doing anything creative with the mechanics i was taught in the tutorial. There isn't much i am doing and there isn't a push to do what i am doing because the characters and the story doesn't interest me one bit. There is no sense of achievement in this game while there might be achievement. Yeah i cleared a level but it didn't take much effort, stay in the shadows, shoot the guy if it can be a problem, hide his body in the dark. This, this is the whole game.

I might be oversimplifying it all, reducing it to it's basic core but i can't help myself. The game doesn't work, When i am playing Classic Doom, I don't say that i am just killing demons over and over then quit the game because i am bored, I don't do that because the game mechanics and the activity in the game itself is very fun, Doom pumps you up, you can feel your heartbeats after clearing a difficult room, running full speed all times, killing demons, it feels good, it feels great, it's the best shooter ever. The point is, the activity in the game, what's the game making me do to move forward, to succeed, feels like an achievement and that's because of various reasons fitting for a Doom review to tell but again i say, the point is that in a game, the gameplay must be fun, must make you feel something, must involve you enough to use your brains and in a game like this where the character is voiced and defined, it should make you feel the same as the character is feeling.

But the game fails in all that, it's soulless slop in the name of stealth gaming.

Quando lançado, trouxe uma experiência distinta para o gênero, com sua trama de intriga política e stealth militar. Os efeitos de luz e sombras e a ambição são notáveis.

Mecanicamente, porém, está muito datado. O controle do Sam Fisher é extremamente robótico e atrapalha constantemente, o “radar” dos NPCs inimigos é hipersensível e a ausência de sinalizações ao jogador o torna frustrante.

É muito difícil prever quando o jogo vai te passar uma rasteira, e o jeito é ficar salvando 500 vezes a cada progresso que você faz. Não aguentei ir até o fim.

Starting with the triple punch of Metal Gear Solid, Thief: The Dark Project, and Tenchu in 1998, stealth slowly became a subgenre made possible by advanced lighting but it wasn't until Splinter Cell that it felt like it had a future. Splinter Cell continues to resonate with action and third-person shooter fans due to its elegant presentation, fluid action, and grounded military atmosphere. Returning to the original for the first time after many years, I was surprised to discover how many key elements of the series are present. Everything from night vision to shimmying with Sam's legs wrapped around a pipe started here; it just all lacks the polish future entries would have.

When you're not in conflict -- which is most of a Splinter Cell game if you are playing it correctly -- this 2002 debut plays well, but it falls on its face where it counts: those tense moments before and after you make contact with a hostile guard. For instance, knocking out a guard can be exceedingly difficult and awkward since they frequently manage to call an alarm in-between the first and second punch that knocks them out. The pistol is given a ridiculous lack of accuracy, forcing the player to patiently wait until the reticle is small only to frequently miss shots that were properly aimed. The biggest problem comes from broken AI and mission design that often results in alarms being triggered for no good reason. On the last mission I rage quit and never looked back after alarms were triggered when no one was present or when a body was hidden yet somehow found by no one. I even replayed killing everyone and somehow a ghost found a body and pulled a trigger. I watched other playthroughs and saw the same false triggers being pulled. In many ways, this game is broken.

I love a good challenge, especially in a stealth game. It can immerse you in the role of the hero who must carefully navigate hostile environments with unforeseen obstacles. But this debut makes the biggest crime against stealth games: it often adds challenge through broken elements that break immersion by waves of frustration. Things that aren't physically possible play against the player in ways that are unfair and not at all fun. Even when the game is working properly, you still must suffer through confused action elements that aren't supported well, here. Future entries would allow more fluid response to shoot-outs, but being forced to clear a room as you must escape isn't fun with the accuracy so bad and tools so limited.

If you want to revisit Splinter Cell's origins and have a good time, I recommend starting with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. Despite being made by the B-team (Ubisoft Shanghai), it smoothed all of the debut's edges while keeping the atmosphere and controls that made the debut so special on release.