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Dom Robinson reviews
Ubisoft 
- Price: £44.99
- Players: 1
- Widescreen: No
- Dolby Digital 5.1: Yes
- Xbox Live-enabled: Yes
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cellpits you as Sam Fisher, a National Security Agency operative in black gear – ajob that’s all hush-hush, as you sneak around interrogating the enemy, holdingthem hostage when others are pointing guns at you and knocking them out whenyou’ve finished, in 9 levels that are spread out over four countries.
Of course, you can try rushing in, shooting all you can see but that’s notthe way to get things done and you’ll also soon run out of bullets.
Something new I’ve not seen in a game is the way you can jump off more thanone wall in quick succession, resulting in straddling across two close together- just right for waiting for a baddie to drop down and knock out.
Lockpicking is also different to any other spy game I’ve played before. Insteadof waiting a fixed length of time, you now have to twiddle the left analoguestick several times as you can see and feel the inside of the lock. It doesn’tmake for a quick exercise, so I hope I won’t end up having to do this whenthere’s someone after me, but you never know.
The graphics and sound are first-rate here. There’s fantastic textures allaround, particularly with fire and when you get close-ups of certain things,such as when I turned round and saw my character’s hair – it was quite asurprise to see how well-detailed it was.
It also has what I can only describe as the niceswishy effect as he passes by netting and curtains – similar but not quiteas perfect asHitman 2‘scurtains in the confessional booth. I say not quite perfect because they alsohave a habit of swishing through solid objects. There’s also jagged edgesto be spotted from time to time.
When it comes to the sound, it makes great use of the positioning all aroundthe soundstage as you turn round to find out where exactly those footsteps youcan hear are coming from.
The control system takes a bit of getting used to. Largely it’s intuitive,but it’s not configurable and, as a result, is annoying when you press buttonsaccidentally because they’re not the same as other similar games, so when youexpect to continue to creep about, you instead jump up high and pirouette,making a real ass of yourself. Why couldn’t the programmers allow us to redefinethe controls? Sam also seems to lurch about a bit too much as he runs.
So, where does Splinter Cell fall down? Well, it’s an entertaining game,but it just doesn’t feel like it has the edge over my second-favourite gameof 2002,Hitman 2,as that game allows you to pretend to other enemy characters that you’re part ofthe scenery, as you blend in by stealing someone’s clothes, using their weaponsor trying out several different murder implements such as fibre wire and AK-47swhereas I’m just stuck with a pistol.Apparently there are more lethal and non-lethal weapons later on in the game,but I reckon some of these needed to be brought forward as I only manageda couple of levels into the game before my interest faltered. I might give itanother try after a while, and if I find it improved as I continue then I’llupdate this review.
I’m also looking to find more freedom of movement in terms of manipulating a lotmore various items than I can in Splinter Cell.Most of what I can find to play with early on is cans and bottles. You cantry and fool the enemy into thinking you’re on the other side of the areayou’re covering by lobbing it long and hard, but if you’ve got to wait forthem to pass by at certain points for you to progress then how does that makethem a useful tool all the time?
That leads me on to another niggle. I know I’m comparing again, but now I’mused to being able to complete missions in a variety of ways thanks to thegame mentioned above, here you have one set path and there’s not really muchof a way you can divert from it.
I also need a stealth game that makes me feel scared while playing it andtrying to evade the bad guys, but this one doesn’t do that. Examples over thepast few years including, yes, that one above, plusThief 2: The Metal Ageand the first Resident Evil game.
To end on a more positive note, for those that do get into the game more thanI did, there are extra features to be found, the like of which you’d usuallyexpect from a DVD rather than a game.
These include behind the scenes material such as production notes, info aboutthe staff and video footage about the cast, includingRobocop‘sMichael Ironside talking about how he voices the main character, Sam andan “interview” with Sam Fisher, off-duty, while various people walk aboutbehind him. I presume those are the people who created the game, getting theirmoment on camera. This interview is a very nice additional touch.
There’s also random facts about the game and trailers for other stealth gamesTom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and XIII.
Coming later in the year will also be extra downloadable levels throughXbox Live.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.