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It's Splinter Cell!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

It's Splinter Cell. What else needs to be said?
It's one of my favorite game franchises of all time and this edition in particular has some new features. Video tutorials are great, team play is a great idea, but since I haven't had a chance to try it yet, I will not comment about it. The ambient sound meter is an awesome idea and I also like the new EMF vision and the ability to disable some elctronic devices temporarily.
This game rocks & I can't wait to try out Double Agent.

Far too easy...much easier than the previous games.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I have played all of the games of this series, and the previous two were much harder to beat than this one.

This one seems to focus more on attack than stealth. Fisher can make a LOT of noise before people notice...and even when they do, a headshot makes quick work of them.

The AI is stupid. I can whistle or make some sort of sound, and all of the baddies on the map will come to my location, where I can gun them all down. Area clear. yawn.

It's not a total loss, and the story is fun and interesting. For the price it is now, I would buy it (and I did). But I feel sorry for the people who paid full price.

Sam Fisher returns to the front lines with his most impressive outing to date.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Sam Fisher is back to stop the bad guys again and the Masse Kernels (from the first Splinter Cell) have returned as well. The game starts with a simple rescue mission to extract Bruce Morgenholt, an analyst who was working inside the government to help decipher the Masse Kernels, a powerful bit of coding that can give almost unlimited power and access to previously secured networks. Fisher gets in too late to rescue Morgenholt, but not too late to pick up a lead that traces a Guerilla fighter named Hugo Lacerda to a ship called the Maria Narcissa. It is discovered that Lacerda was just a pawn in an ever-expanding conspiracy that leads to the potential meltdown of global relations. (See what I did there? I baited you. Is there a nuclear reactor involved? Do terrorists take it over and wipe out half of Los Angeles or DC? Well, no answers here, my friend.) The only bit of spoiler that I will drop (and you know, of course, that every time I drop it, I must - absolutely must - drop it like it's hot) for you is to prepare for the unexpected. The story is very compelling and kept me on the edge of my seat.

There have also been a number of new gameplay elements introduced, as well as some fine-tuning of a few aspects to the game. One of the biggest new elements is the alarm system. No longer is Fisher limited to strictly three alarms per mission before the plug is pulled. However, this does not, by any means, mean that alarms are now meaningless. With each successive alarm, guards will take more precautionary measures, such as wearing flak vests and helmets and fortifying their positions rather than random, solo patrols. Fisher now also has an OCP function on his 9 mm that works in the same way as the non-lethal has for the SC-20K, with the left trigger button. The OCP serves as a temporary electronic-disabling device. Not all lights can be disabled; however, a good number of lights and many other things, including computers and retinal scanners can be tampered with through the use of this. Fisher has a new vision mode in his trifocal goggles that show items that can be affected with the OCP. This creates the perfect window to either sneak up on or even sneak by an enemy. Another function that is one of my favorites is the wireless scanner in Sam's goggles. This enables Sam to wirelessly hack into devices, say it with me now ... including computers and retinal scanners, from a distance while maintaining the cover of darkness. Some devices have secure areas that must be hacked through a mini-game in which a list of possible access codes is listed and a series of numbers jump-scroll (Let's just pretend that's an actual phrase. You get the picture though, right?) on the bottom of the screen. These numbers, once determined to be correct (even if they're correct, they keep scrolling through) can either be locked in or simply memorized in order to select the correct access code. Chaos Theory also includes an "ambient noise" marker on Sam's noise meter, which was near pointless in Pandora Tomorrow (where only a noise meter, but no marker was present) except to show if Sam was 100% quiet. However, if he registered a couple spots on the noise meter, there was no real way to tell if he could be heard or not. Now, it is possible to see if those minor noises that are made are masked by the rumbling of an air conditioner or if they will attract the unwanted attention of a nearby patrol. Two seldom-used, but still nice additions to the gameplay are the "break lock," which is a much quicker way to get through a lock, but extremely noisy, and "bash door" which allows you to knock out someone standing on the opposite side of the door, but again, attracts unwanted attention. (Guards can also do this to you, so be cautious.)

However, the biggest new features, far and away, are the ability to choose between knocking people unconscious or killing them while sneaking up behind them (Note, if, after interrogating someone, you decide to kill them I found it necessary to choke them out, take out any other hostiles in the room and THEN shoot them in cold blood. It sounds disgusting, but trust me on this one.) and the mission ranking screen. Each mission that Sam is on, he gets points deducted from a maximum rating of 100% for each enemy that he kills, time he gets discovered, or alarm that gets set off. Mission objectives now come in four categories: primary (which must be completed before extraction), secondary (non-necessary), opportunity (such as gathering data from a number or computers or tapping phones) and bonus (hidden). These objectives and rankings can really add to the replayability of the game. In addition, a few elements have been "stream-lined," such as the combination of the sticky and diversionary cameras into one item, the implementation of the laser mic into Sam's goggles, and, one of my favorites, the fact that ring airfoil rounds FINALLY no longer have to be a dead hit in the middle of an enemy's forehead in order to knock him out. An additional feature that I liked was the ability to switch firing hands for each of the weapons, which can both give you a better view around corners and protect your body with cover.

In light of the numerous new features added into the game (of which, I don't even think I covered all of them), it's a very nice surprise that Chaos Theory's difficulty wasn't watered down. As a matter of fact, as I was looking through the instruction manual and reading about all of the new features, one thought crossed my mind: "Wow. This game is gonna be HARD." Chaos offers the most compelling Splinter Cell story to date and packs many so many different gameplay features in. The graphics, while having a few little buggy moments (try crouching with Fisher, rotate the camera 180º and zoom in to get a close up and then walk towards the camera), are very pleasing. The music did get to me at a few points during the game because there is, for some reason, no option to fiddle with the music, SFX, and voice volumes. This makes having a conversation with someone (i.e. a rescued hostage) impossible during the traditional fast-paced "discovered" music. The addition of a short co-op mode and the still present online multiplayer adds a bit of value to the game. Overall, this is the best Splinter Cell of the bunch and I look forward to many more adventures with Mr. Fisher.

Overall: 9.0
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 9
Sound: 8
Value: 8
Tilt: 10

Oh the joy of Splinter Cell

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Splinter Cell, in my eyes, is probably one of the greatest video game franchises out there. There is nothing more fun than sneaking around guards in enemy territory, and every once and a while engaging in hilarious banter with them (one you grab them that is).

This game screams replay-ability for the variety of ways you can complete each level, and just the amount of fun it is to do it. Did I mention co-op? As long as you have a decently good friend it is more than enough fun to keep you occupied for hours upon hours.

The Splinter Cell games are the best games of their genre out there.

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