Splinter Cell

[rook]

I've just pwned a game called Splinter Cell and I thought I would review it here.
Although it has some very hard levels Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is DA BOMB. It is a first person shooter game but mixed with a new genre called stealth games. It not stupid like all the other shooting games, just pop in and fill you opponents with bullets, this game has a variety of ways to be solved. You cannot kill anyone you see in front of you, unless you are told by Lambert (your, kind of like, boss) some characters need to be interrogated for useful information and others give you keys to end the mission. Now let's move into the plot of the game...

It is the year 2003... In response to the growing use of sophisticated digital encryption to conceal potential threats to the national security of the United States, the NSA (National Security Agency) has ushered forth a new dawn of intelligence-gathering techniques. this top-secret initiative, dubbed "Third Echelon", marks a return to classical methods of espionage, enhanced with leading-edge surveillance and combat technology for the aggressive collection of stored data hostile territories. When intelligence deemed critical to national security cannot be obtained by traditional means, Third Echelon is granted clearance to conduct physical operations
Denied to exist by the U.S government, Third Echelon deploys units known as Splinter Cells: elite intelligence-gathering forces consisting of a lone field operative supported by a remote team allowed the use of "Fifth Freedom": the freedom to spy, steal, destroy, extort, and assassinate to protect America. Like a sliver of glass, a Splinter Cell is small, sharp and nearly invisible.
March 10, 2004: The CIA contacted NSA officials regarding the loss of contact with Agent Alison Madison, a CIA operative monitoring widespread communication shortages plaguing the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. A second operative, Agent Blaustein, was inserted into the Georgian capital T'bilisi to locate Agent Madison, only to drop from contact seven days later. Fearing for the lives of American agents compromised at the hands of a suspected terrorist effort, Third Echelon has activated Splinter Cell operative Sam Fisher to locate the missing agents and evaluate the situation.
You must leave no trace on the physical or political map. Should you be captured or killed, all knowledge of your existence will be denied. You are Sam Fisher. You are the Splinter Cell.

I have only tried the first sequel, but I’m so excited to try the other parts
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow - 2004
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - 2005
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent - 2006
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction - TBA

[hotmale]

Thanks for the review.

[LOBster]

Which version platform did you play it on, PC or console?

Yeah, even though it's a couple years old and a standard staple in video game styles now, many claim that Splinter Cell was the first to introduce stealth play, and then many titles followed suit in that genre (more or less effectively implemented of course), e.g. Alias, Rogue Agent, Chronicles of Riddick (highly acclaimed, positive reviews. I started it, but haven't finished yet), among countless others.

I also believe that across all media (in the USA, at least) the theme of special forces units (or cells) is becoming increasingly popular in recent years, especially with hit TV series like "24" and now the new "The Unit" (now airing in season 2), etc. I find those can be habituating if you start watching the series. Of course, perhaps the godfathers of all stealth/spy them shows are the old classics (from the 1960s), "Mission: Impossible", "The Avengers", and the "James Bond" series. (I grew up on those as a kid.)
Does the TV series "Alias" count among the "special forces" or "stealth/spy" genre? I guess so. I loved it too.

It's interesting (and perhaps predictable?) how such titles often seem to cross over and be adapted for video games, movies, TV, remakes, etc.
In last couple years some reports say that annual video games sales have out grossed new Hollywood movies revenues, so many "studios" race each other to license and produce popular titles in the other media. I wonder if anyone has an official count how many original video games and comic book titles have been produced and released as feature length cinema movies, compared to vice versa (original movie stories remade into video games)? That would be an interesting statistic to see.
Anyone have any sources on that (I can't access IMDB here, btw.) ?

Cheers!
(Maybe someone will produce a movie or video game version of that long running hit TV show?)

LOB

~~~
"Sometimes a rose... is not a petunia."
- Guru Tru Yahu

[rook]

I forgot to mention 2 things in the review
1) It has a rather different camera view than the shooting games too, it doesn't show you only the gun and the aiming symbol in the middle, it shows you the whole character from the back (thats because it's a stealth game and you need to see a better view of where the character is moving to... you might understand what i'm sayin when you play the game)
2) If you have a PC and a Console i highly recommend getting it on the PC, because there are alot of buttons that are included in the game and the console controller isn't good enough. i asked my friends who had it on console and they hated the game so much, most of them didn't even complete it, and i read some other reviews that had ratings for it on PC and Console, where on PC it was 8.4 and on console it was 7.1.

[LOBster]

[LOBster]

And speaking of Tom Clancy...

I recall they crossed over his Jurassic Park series to video games, but those flopped didn't they?

Anyway, I've always been a fan of the "theater of the absurd" and movie parodies (go Weird Al Y. !!!), and was wondering why the video games industry hasn't developed a strong sub-genre of parody titles. Couldn't you just imagine having a fun gaming party dicking around with parody titles like "Jurassic Pork", "Splinter Hell", "The Cat in the Hat Strikes Back"... I mean the recent game series of LEGO Star Wars : The Video Game is apparently an industry success, right? Then there was that "Spy vs. Spy" (Mad magazine cartoon) games series conversion across multiple console platforms.
Why not "Predator vs. Gumby" or "Alien vs. Mr. Bill"?
Got any of your favorite ideas up your brainstorm to share with us?

I guess the cross-over game characters experiment has begun...
didn't they put a Halo space marine character into one of the latest fighter games, DOA4 or whatever? I'm all for that!! Put Homer Simpson in the next Half-Life episode release, or Halo 4, I say! Just to have the purists get their panties all in a twist. (Maybe there is a little anarchist in me after all? ) They don't have to be overt startup integral components of the games, but could be deeper unlockables, or maybe even Easter Eggs that aren't publicized. I think that would be a motivation to beat the game, just to play the spoof versions afterwards.

OK, enough brain burping for now.

~~~
"The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese."
- G. K. Chesterton

[rook]

Now that you have mentioned half-life, i hate it so much, this game sucks, i don't why everyone likes it. they should put the genre for it as Puzzle game instead of shooting game, every 10 steps you find a new puzzle to go to the next place... soooo frustrating.

[ResanizeReexy]

yes, Double Agent is the one that broke the camels back. the fact that the levels would start over when caught sometimes just killed it for me.

I love the idea and concept of Splinter Cell. but the gameplay just doesnt measure up all the time.