Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell®

Still great stealth game, doing many things better than many newer games. Of course graphics doesn't look awesome anymore (though it looks quite nice for a game which could drink legally in the US), but at its release it was something entirely else. Light and shadows never seen before at the time. The graphics, however, isn't the only interesting thing in the game. Visibility and noise systems in the game go beyond simple bright - you're visible; dark - you're invisible and crouched - you're quiet; running - you make noise. No, the game has more levels of visibility and noise (and quite ingenious movement speed control with the mouse roll, letting you precisely control your movement speed and noise). Something you don't find in modern action games with optional stealth or even some stealth games. AI is quite nice with occasional glitch, like when some guard spots broken lamp and gets so engrossed that never gets from his curious state back to normal state and is just looking at the lamp all the time. The plot is fairly straightforward (in a good way). More Tom Clancy's techno thriller than Kojima's convoluted and full of idiosyncrasies plots of Metal Gears. And I liked that this version includes some bonus missions absent on release (Kola Cell, Vselka Infiltration, Vselka Submarine) The one thing that I feel hasn't got old very well is the linearity of some levels. Do you need to get through door secured with a retinal scanner? Oh, look, some colonel with the clearance is already coming your way. The only way you can get around keypad lock is to wait until someone who knows the code uses the keypad so you could use your thermal googles to discover the right code? No worries, someone will use the door as soon as you'll need them to. All in all, a good start of a great series. And darn, Ubisoft, just give us Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory on GOG already!

It's a nice game, but for someone who was trying to get a Thief fix when it came out it was a big let down : It is *much* too linear in many places. If you finished all the Thief's and Deus Ex's, then it's kind of okay.

I put three stars simply because GOG does not allow half star ratings. This game is a 3.5/5. Simply put this game is fun to play. You have avoid being seen most of the time while disposing of enemies in a stealthy manner. The story is forgettable and feels as though it came from a bad Hollywood action movie but if you are playing this game for the story you are doing it wrong. While the action is fun, it does feel a bit repetitive at times. Certain sections of the game feel like trial and error where you make a mistake but then reload a previous save and attempt to do something in a new way to see if that works. I personally felt like there was a learning curve as well. In the first few levels I wasn't doing too well at all but once I got the handle on it I was capable of doing entire missions without taking any damage. Got it for about 2.49$ and it was worth every penny. If you ever see it on sale and want a fun action game then this is the game for you.

I remember being amazed at not just the technical advances in light & shadow but how they're incorporated into the gameplay. I'd replay the same section again and again because of the various ways I could complete it. Do I lure the guy out? Do I jump above him into the darkness and wedge myself between the walls? Do i just shoot him in the face? I even remember just marvelling at how good the thermal vision graphics were. Today it's a lot easier to see the issues. There are games with way more freedom than this today. There IS freedom there, but more how you deal with moment to moment enemy encounters and so on, not really in the way missions pan out). The graphics have dated, although the importance of light & shadows on gameplay, the usage of the different vision modes and slower pace still work well. The shadows have that, now retro, early, sharp 'pitch black' look, so that they feel more like physical objects than actual shadows, but it adds to the charm. There are lots of linear and scripted sections that, while they serve the story in the sense that they make you feel that you are slipping between seismic events and getting deeper into the thick of things, they conflict with the desire for free-form stealth gameplay. There's also a limitation on that 'freedom', especially in areas that force combat upon you, or send you down a series of specific paths. The immersion breaks from time to time, however for an 18 year old (cries) game, I think you can forgive some of it's flaws. The story is well told and acted. It's a bit convoluted, but the main thing is you really feel engaged with the urgency of the missions thanks to the back and forth between the voice-in-your-ear. The series climaxed with SC3, and I'd say for story and immersion factor (as well as it being a landmark game), this is the next best one in the series.

Really good stealth game my only issue is the forced fight sequences that occur very rarely apart from that a wonderful game that I would reccomend for any person that loves the stealth genre.