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Review:

24th December 2002:
Splinter Cell
It may be another Tom Clancy game, but this one is quite a bit different from the rest. Is this the Xbox's answer to Metal Gear Solid? We certainly think so.
Posted by Marc Hull - Xbox - UK and Europe

The Tom Clancy series of games made a big impression on the PC several years ago with Rainbow Six, a highly realistic team-based shoot 'em up where players were forced to figure out attack strategies before entering a mission, instead of going in 'all guns blazing' like in most other first-person shooters. However, since then there have been many sequels but none have made the same big splash. The problem really stems from originality - the first title was innovative for its time, but all the rest simply tweaked the formula. So, with their latest Tom Clancy game, Splinter Cell, Ubi Soft have taken a new approach. Instead of a team-based first person shooter, they've opted for a stealthy third-person game along the lines of Metal Gear Solid. It's certainly a risky thing to do, since other developers have tried to clone the Metal Gear games before and failed (remember Operation Winback?), but it would certainly take the series in a whole new direction.

The premise behind Splinter Cell is that two CIA operatives have gone missing while investigating the communications shortage in the Soviet Republic of Georgia. Fearing a terrorist threat, the National Security Agency has assigned a member of Third Echelon, their team of elite intelligence-gathering agents, to find the missing operatives. You play the part of this agent, named Sam Fisher, and have to fulfil your mission without leaving any trace of your presence. Every place you visit must be infiltrated using extreme levels of stealth to avoid detection, and without leaving any witnesses of your actions alive.

Fortunately, Sam has an incredibly varied range of moves that allow you to accomplish many of your missions without touching a single hair on a guard's head. Firstly, both of the Xbox's analogue sticks are used, with the left one controlling movement and the right one controlling the camera. The camera is entirely manual - you can set it to point in most directions around Fisher and it will stay there until you move it again, allowing you to get the best view of the action at all times without having to fight any automatic camera system. Pressing the B button makes Sam crouch, and you can also move very quietly in this mode, allowing you to sneak up on guards without them hearing you. The Y button is used for jumping, and is context-sensitive, so if you press it next to a ledge Sam will grab and climb up onto it, while pressing it next to a drain pipe will allow you to slide down it.

Although it may be tempting to kill guards from a long distance using your gun, once you start playing the game you'll soon realise that this method is too noisy, and ammunition is in such short supply that you'll want to only use it up as a last resort. However, it's always handy to be prepared for anything when entering a new area, and by tapping the X button Sam unholsters his current weapon and the game switches to a closer, almost first-person view with a cross-hair and accuracy marker showing where you're currently aiming. Unlike Metal Gear Solid, you can also move while in this mode, making it great for exploring uncertain areas since you can shoot any guards by a quick tap of the R-trigger.

Sam also has a wide range of gadgets at his disposal, and all are modelled on items used by real-life spies. Firstly, he's got night-vision goggles that can be activated at any time and allow him to see in very dark areas, where enemies might be hiding out-of-sight. He's also equipped with lock-picks, which you actually have to operate yourself, optic cabling for looking under doors and laser microphones for listening in on conversations. Later on in the game you also get other items such as thermal goggles, remote cameras and even a distraction device that you can attach to a wall and will emit an unusual noise, attracting the attentions of guards before releasing a poisonous gas to render them unconscious.

The levels in Splinter Cell are quite incredible, requiring you to make full use of your stealth skills and abilities while also containing secret areas and showing off the game's graphics engine to staggering effect. Quite often you'll begin with one or two objectives for each mission, but as you progress new objectives will appear and your mission status will be continually updated. Fortunately, you're not alone on your quest; as you complete tasks in each level you'll be given further information from your team via radio, and quite often there are vital hints on how to complete an area in your mission briefing and notes which can be accessed by pressing the Start button. Although initially the game might seem quite daunting, there's quite a good training area at the start of the game that helps you learn all of Sam's moves, and tapping the Back button at any time in the game will bring up a move summary without you having to refer to the game's manual.

Graphically, Splinter Cell is one of the best looking games on the Xbox. While it may not have the smooth finish of Halo, it has some incredible lighting effects that give every level an eerie atmosphere. Take, for instance, the first level, in which you have to first fight your way through a burning building to find a contact, then break into a police station to find the bodies of the missing CIA agents. The fire effects in the burning building are amazing, with all kinds of light bloom and distortion effects providing a very realistic look to things, meanwhile later in the level there are lights on the street with moths flying around them, and each moth casts its own shadow on the surrounding environment! There are also light beams that shine through windows and blinds that sway in the wind, causing their shadows to sway too; the attention to detail is simply staggering. Equipping the night-vision goggles also gives everything a whole new look, as everything switches to greyscale and the viewing depth is decreasing, with objects in the distance getting progressively more blurry the further away they are. Interference is also recreated in this mode, and there's loads of nice 'light bloom' effects when you walk into well-lit areas.

The game's sound is also of high quality. Although mostly silent, the music will fade in during particularly tense sections of the game, such as when you're spotted by a guard, and has many levels of tempo depending on how much trouble you're in, much like in Metal Gear Solid. The sound effects are also pretty good, with some great touches such as being able to listen in on guards' conversations and being able to hear the footsteps of approaching enemies. Gameplay is pretty top-notch; although the controls are quite tricky at first, you'll soon be performing all kinds of moves to avoid detection by guards and to reach secret areas. My only real gripe with the game is its difficulty; sometimes you'll keep triggering alarms for no apparent reason, and it will take quite a while to work out what you did wrong. A window showing the view of the guard who triggered the alarm would be a great addition, but I guess that will have to wait until a sequel. Fortunately, the game automatically saves your progress at certain points throughout each level, so you don't have to go all the way back to the start when you mess up.

Overall, Splinter Cell is one of the best games to hit the Xbox since its launch in March, and is certainly a good match for Metal Gear Solid 2. Although it may not be quite as cinematic as Konami's masterpiece, it has better graphics, more atmosphere and a wider selection of moves and gadgets, making it one of the best, if not the best stealthy-action game across any platform.

Marc Hull

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Review Summary:

Splinter Cell may borrow a lot from other stealth-based action titles like Metal Gear Solid 2, but it also adds loads to the genre, including a massive range of moves and gadgets that make playing the game very fun. Add to that a great graphics engine and a wide variety of challenging missions and you have one of the best Xbox games of 2002.

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