Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

UPC: 008888510130

Platform: Xbox

Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Category: Action

Style(s): Stealth

Synopsis: Combining the stealth, tactics, and action popularized in both the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon franchises, Splinter Cell represents a new Tom Clancy series featuring a single character instead of the team-oriented play found in Red Storm's successful squad-based shooter games. The title alludes to the secret organization players are part of, an offshoot of the NSA called Third Echelon, whose members rigorously serve to protect America using whatever means necessary. Players embark on a series of nine missions to eliminate potential security threats by covertly infiltrating and destroying the data and communications critical to cyber-terrorist operations. The lead character, Sam Fisher, must conduct his missions without being detected, or risk being disavowed by his agency and left to his own devices. A key feature in the game is a horizontal stealth meter, which changes according to Fisher's overall visibility within a level. Players must stick close to shadows, avoid light, and move silently or else patrolling guards will sound the alarms and attack. While Sam is equipped with a silenced pistol, bullets are limited, so players must decide whether to shoot an enemy or to save ammo for shooting out lights or video cameras. Bodies left in the open can be spotted, so care must be taken to relocate them to a more inconspicuous locale. Since the game is played from a third-person perspective, players have a varied selection of moves with which to guide Sam Fisher. He can crouch, mantle onto objects, climb, shimmy, roll, rappel down buildings, and grab enemies, as well perform splint jumps up narrow corridors, drop attacks, or position his back to the wall to hide, peer around corners, or shoot a target. Fisher can even move hand over hand or pull his legs up to crawl along a pipe or similar object. The nine missions each begin with a cut-scene detailing the story in a CNN-like news report. Players will receive their objectives via voice communication during the game and can refer to their wrist-mounted Palm computer for notes and details on their mission. Data such as door codes can be downloaded from terminals located within the region or on guards, and additional gadgets such as sticky cameras, gas grenades, lock picks, laser microphones, a night vision headset, and wall mines can be used to help. More items are available for specific missions, ranging from infiltrating the CIA to exploring a police station, Chinese Embassy, Georgian Defense Ministry, and more. Additional missions can also be downloaded via Xbox Live. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Package Contents: Registration Card

Controls: Joystick/Gamepad

Brief character bios, a complete move list, descriptions on gadgets and equipment, as well as helpful hints round out the full-color manual. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

The lighting effects are nothing short of spectacular. Even curtains and cloth move realistically in this game, and guards will smoke, scratch the back of their leg with the opposite leg, and perform a variety of other believable animations. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

One of the big selling points of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six series and its many spin-offs has been each title's consistency in delivering real-world authenticity with an invariable feeling of tension, making each mission a nerve-wracking exercise in covert action. Splinter Cell, the first Clancy action game to focus solely on an individual rather than a heavily armed team, is made even more intense, since you are alone without anyone to watch your back. There is also a greater sense of control within the environments, since nearly every button on the controller is used to guide the lead character's movements, from a third-person perspective instead of a first-person view. Though the stealth aspect of play will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Metal Gear Solid 2, most will forget about Konami's flagship title within minutes of walking, crawling, slinking, and climbing their way through Splinter Cell's beautifully designed levels, each highlighted, literally, by the most convincing use of light and shadow yet seen in a video game. Unlike Rainbow Six or Metal Gear Solid 2, players can perform an impressive number of acrobatics. Players will move hand-over-hand across pipes, with the option to pull their legs up and crawl to avoid detection; vault up narrow hallways and straddle the walls with both feet as guards unwittingly walk underneath; tuck and roll to quickly hide behind a crate or obstacle; slide across zip lines; rappel down buildings; climb lattice, vines, chain link fences, and ladders; back up against walls to peer around corners; and crouch to minimize sound while walking and avoid detection. Jumps can be softened by quickly pressing a button just before landing, and players can aim their pistol while dangling from a pipe several feet above the ground. Enemies can be grabbed from behind and used as human shields, interrogated for information, or knocked out using the butt of your pistol. Bodies can be picked up or dragged into inconspicuous places to prevent guards from sounding alarms and reviving their fallen comrades. Of course, Sam Fisher isn't without other means at his disposal. The lead character has just enough gadgets to make James Bond or Ethan Hunt slightly green with envy, but all equipment is rooted in actual technology to add credibility to the game. Players can switch on night vision or thermal vision goggles with a flick of the directional pad, and items such as frag grenades, wall mines, sticky cameras, and gas grenades can be used at various points to complete missions, divert attention, or to help navigate the surroundings. Fisher also comes equipped with a pistol and can eventually acquire a multi-purpose assault rifle. While technically billed as a shooter, Splinter Cell relies far less on aggression than on one's ability to quickly scan the environment for hiding spots or to listen for audio cues such as footsteps, whistling, or humming. Players can and will kill enemies during the course of his nine missions, but each can be completed without the loss of life if players are careful. Forcing the issue of stealth is the intentional design decision of bullets being limited in the game, meaning every shot counts. One of the primary ways of neutralizing enemies is not firing at them, but sneaking behind them while crouched -- being careful not to make too much noise, lest guards investigate and sound the alarms. Many times players will lurk in the corner of a room under the cover of darkness, monitoring the horizontal stealth meter to ensure their character is invisible to surrounding guards or enemies. The meter depicts the amount of light where Sam is currently standing, so players can quickly determine when to retreat further into the shadows so they remain undetected. Light is used more effectively in this game than in any other, as players actually have to think about flipping light switches while entering rooms to get a jump on their enemies. If an enemy is in the room while a player sneaks and throws the switch, he will walk toward it and attempt to turn it back on, giving Fisher a few seconds to activate the night vision goggles and take him out. The AI is quite believable in the game, adding to the challenge and fun of the missions. Guards will respond realistically to noise, which can be to your advantage when picking up and throwing a can or bottle across an alley. Levels are enormous, often taking place outdoors as well as indoors, and are fortunately broken down into a series of perfectly spaced checkpoints that lets players save their progress. A majority of gameplay is trial and error, as there are many different ways to get from point A to point B without alerting the guards, but players have to worry about constant patrols -- both on the ground and on balconies -- as well as security cameras and even automated turrets. Shooting the lights out in a hall can help players get past an area if they are having difficulty timing their way across certain sections, but getting past certain doors requires key pad codes found on computer terminals or on certain guards. Players will even have to "borrow" high-ranking individuals in order to pass retinal scans. There are, however, some strange features in the game. Sam never carries a knife in his missions, and players cannot pick up ammunition -- or guns for that matter -- after knocking out a guard. There's no way to break necks or perform disarm moves as in Dead to Rights, which would seem normal given Fisher's extensive background. Apparently his SEAL training is also a little fuzzy, as hitting the water means instant death. To be fair, these concessions were made to make the game more involving. The scope had to be focused on stealth and not blast-a-thons, since Fisher is expected to get in and get out of areas without calling attention to the rogue American roaming around the secret-laden hallways of embassies, palaces, and defense ministries. Each area poses something new and exciting. How does Sam get by the guard standing in front of a well-lit elevator? One method might be to carefully walk along the dark edges of a room and reach for a nearby soda can, retrace your shadowy steps, and toss it toward the opposite side of the room. Congratulations, you have just made the guard stationed at the elevator to investigate the noise and now have a few seconds to reach the elevator, press a floor button, and hope no one sees you. The music will change whenever Sam is in danger of being caught, and guards will spread out and search for him -- making comments like "I swear I heard something. Maybe I'm losing it." While stealth is certainly not new in games (even Spider-Man uses a similar stealth meter), Splinter Cell distinguishes itself in its authentic feel, like so many of Tom Clancy's novels. There are no outlandish laser guns, mutants roaming the hall, or cybernetic ninjas. There aren't huge exclamation points over an enemy's head when they suspect something, and there's no map detailing where you are in relation to guards. The storyline is based on real-world politics, making the missions seem even more daring. This is one of the few games to elicit a feeling of suspense without resorting to shock techniques found in survival horror titles like Resident Evil. You are consistently outnumbered in this game, and each time an enemy spots you, and they <I>will</I> spot you, a surge of adrenaline shoots through you as you quickly try to take him out, hide the body, and get out of sight until the coast is clear. Each mission becomes more involving than the last, requiring full command of Fisher's many moves, whether it's avoiding searchlights, disarming a bomb, picking a lock, or hiding the body of a cook in the freezer. Bon app?tit. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is one of the most impressive games released on the Xbox, one of the rare titles where turning off the lights is often more effective than squeezing the trigger. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Players don't get to choose their armaments before each mission, and there are no statistics after a mission, which would have been an incentive to retry levels over again. There are multiple difficulty levels, however, and the capability to download new missions via Xbox Live. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Guards will talk to each other, the orchestral score heightens the mood, and Fisher speaks with an angry hiss voiced by actor Michael Ironside. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

The game feels like a Mission: Impossible movie in many ways, which is a good thing. The stealth aspects in this title make Metal Gear Solid 2 seem like a glorified game of hide-and-seek. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

the game requires Joystick/Gamepad.