The golden age of stealth games back in the late 90's & early oughts. Splinter Cell is a slow paced methodical game where hiding in the shadows is encouraged. Unfortunately the game does throw some scripted action scenes at you but for the most part you can ghost many parts of the levels. Works great with modern hardware & on widescreen. The visuals look great if dated but you can appreciate the lighting & ambience that went into the level design. Very scripted linear level design but it is so well done. The overarching story is classic Tom Clancy inspired. Some great ambient music as well. If you are on a budget or nostalgic or just want to experience peak stealth gaming from the early 2000's then get this game. No Ubisoft nonsense just DRM free goodness from GOG.
PROS ------- -Well optimized, will run great on high settings -Great gameplay & level design with focused linear maps -Good voice acting -Great feminine Lara model. -Serviceable story that at least tries to be coherent. -Great visuals that hold up by todays standards. -Minimal but decent mods available on Nexus Mods. CONS -------- -Over reliance on QTE(Quick Time Events). Takes away player autonomy. -Too many "disaster" cutscenes. Used to pad the game runtime. Takes away player autonomy. -Very few tombs. They are basic rooms with very little puzzling. -Mature subject matter. A bit more gory then previous TR titles. BOTTOM LINE ------------------ This is a good game & a steal if you get it on sale. Probably the best 5 bucks you will ever spend. It was realeased in 2013 but still holds up today. It's a lot of fun & entertaining for the average 12 hour gametime.
This game has a bit of a learning curve. Check out some youtube videos if you feel like you aren't progressing. You can also tweak some things in the ingame options menu like setting the stamina cost to low or off if you want more fast paced combat. Don't sweat it if you die alot even on easy and normal difficulty. Several quests can be completed without combat and early game you are better off running away and avoiding enemies. This game has some jankyness with the controls but don't let that turn you off from it. The open world is beautiful and unique with large expansive areas to compliment the jetpack mechanic. The different factions are interesting and they do add to the replayability of the game. Voice acting may not be the best but there is lots of funny dialogue. The ambient exploration music is actually very well done. Elex has some rough edges but IMO this roughness adds charm to the game.
