Stealth Action Redefined...Sorta

Well, after months of waiting, all of us GCN owners can finally get our hands on the Console Game of the Year for 2002, Splinter Cell. The game centers on the adventures of one Sam Fisher, your typical bad-ass stealth ninja spy.

Graphically, Splinter Cell is above average. The game is using a version of the Unreal engine, which honestly doesn't mean much to me but it says so in the game's credits so I thought I would mention it. Polygon counts are respectable, as are most of the textures, but these aspects of the game's visuals are so-so. The best-looking part of Splinter Cell's graphics are the lighting effects. There are numerous light sources, all casting different shadows that can be interacted with by both the player and the AI.

Mentioning these shadows brings me to Splinter Cell's gameplay, which centers on stealth that is accomplished by staying hidden in them. There is a light meter that indicates the level of ambient light around you, and hence your amount of concealment. Other than light, sound also plays a part. If patrolling guards here you, your best bet is to retreat into the shadows and wait them out. Eventually, they will get tired of looking and abandon their search. Since Splinter Cell is a stealth-based game, you don't usually have enough ammo or health to go in with guns blazing. There are times that this is required, of course, but most of the time you are required to sneak around to accomplish your mission. There are a number of levels where getting spotted even once or killing a single person will result in failure. Fortunately, Fisher is equipped with all manner of nifty gadgets to help get the job done. Many of these can be launched out of the 40 mm grenade launcher that is attached to your rifle. They include non-lethal rounds such as the Sticky Shocker, a sort of long-distance tazer, and the Spy Camera which, as the name suggests, is  a camera used to spy on things.

While Splinter Cell's briefings and cut scenes do a good job of putting the player in the mission, there are a few problems I had with the gameplay. For one, this game is extremely linear. The player is almost never given exploration options. Normally, the only door that is open is the path forward. I honestly wish that a few more routes and options were built in. Also, the saving options are annoying at times. Some spots in the game are really tricky, especially the first few times around. However, the checkpoints and save points are spread pretty wide, which may force you to watch the same cut-scene many times as you try to get past the sequence that immediately follows it. It is especially frustrating when the game saved immediately before the cut-scene. Things like this drive me crazy! Why couldn't they have put the save point AFTER the cut-scene? Oh well. These are pretty minor quibbles, really. The part where Splinter Cell really shines is the fair amount of strategic thought involved in each mission. The game forces the player to plan the use of his or her gadgets accordingly. For example, do I want to drop this guard with a Sticky Shocker, or can I sneak past him instead and thus save my non-lethal round for later?

Supporting this gameplay is a control scheme that, while a little problematic at first, eventually came to feel pretty natural to me. The left analog serves to move Fisher, while the right analog stick controls the camera. The A button is the universal action button and the X and Y buttons control jumping and crouching. The Z button is used to activate one of several different night vision scopes at Fisher's disposal, and the D-pad cycles through menu options.. Splinter Cell is mostly played from the third person perspective, but when a gun is pulled, the camera moves over Fisher's right shoulder into a pseudo-first person mode. Believe me when I say that it takes time to master all of Fisher's moves and maintain a good view of what is going on with the camera, but I honestly feel that Ubi Soft did a good job in this department.

The sound of Splinter Cell is above average. While the music is fairly scarce, the sound effects and voiceovers are very nice. As far as GBA goodies are concerned, a GBA hooked up to the GCN can serve as a map and a triggering device for booby traps. Also, from what I understand, this linkup can unlock levels in the GBA Splinter Cell game. Unfortunately, due to the linear nature of the game, the map feature isn't of much use.

In the end, I found Splinter Cell to be a fun game, but I didn't feel that it lived up to all its hype. Perhaps I feel this way because this is the GCN version (which is supposedly inferior in the graphics department) and not the original Xbox version, or perhaps this is some of my Nintendo fanboyism showing, but I simply wasn't wowed by this game. Splinter Cell promises to be a revolutionary stealth action game, but I don't feel it delivers on that promise. Regardless, this game is the first and currently only game of its genre on the GameCube, and it is pretty fun to play. I recommend this game to those of you who are fans of the Metal Gear games. Other gamers, you may want to rent or borrow this one first and see if the gameplay appeals to you.

By: Andy Rucker