My first impression of the Splinter Cell was bad. I downloaded the demo and was quite excited to play it. It only took me about 15 seconds to see if I could break the game’s mechanics. After the tutorial I marked (which is the feature in the game that allows you to execute enemies after doing a hand to hand attack) everyone in the room ran right into the middle kicked one of the men out and executed everyone else. It was a joke. I was on the normal difficulty just running and gunning having no problem at all getting filled full of non-lethal bullets. What kind of stealth game was this? It seemed more like 24 than it did Splinter Cell. Splinter Cell reinvented the stealth genre. Before it we only had Metal Gear which by today’s standard probably would not be considered a stealth game at all. So, I was kind of crushed. This was not the game that I wanted it to be.
While sulking, I searched online to see what other people thought of the demo. After browsing the internet for a while I began listen to some of my favorite videogame podcasts and Anthony Burch from Podtoid began talking about the game. He stated that he was having the same problems with the game that I was having. He said the game did not require him to be stealthy so he would not be. That was until he played it on the realistic difficulty. All of the sudden the game changed for him. It was a stealth game again. And when I played on realistic I changed for me as well. If you were seen you would be shot on sight. The mark and execute became just a pillar of my strategies rather than the god mode like feature it was before.
Splinter Cell did what they said it would; it reinvented the franchise. In my opinion, it was for the better. Every room is rewarding. You feel a real sense of accomplishment from clear one room. And not to go too far down another path, but the co-op is every bit as good as the single player. There is no better feeling in a game than clearing a room flawless with a friend. Though the game is a little short, it is a robust game and I hope these new action packet stealth ideas are implemented and refined in games to come.
Jeff Silva
Pierce Arrow Blogger
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