SPLINTER CELL (PS2, XBOX)


Espionage like never before...

By JAMES ANTHONY

When most gamers think of Tom Clancy titles, it's a safe bet to assume they'll conjure up images of the now ageing, but thoroughly entertaining Rainbow Six-based games.

In essence, these games offered a tactical, squad-based approach to anti-terrorism: Take a battle-savvy crew of unshaven, gritty, "I ain't got time to bleed" tough-as-nails, bad-assed operatives, insert into volatile situation, then enjoy the resulting fireworks.

The games have been a huge hit right across the globe thanks to their unique take on the FPS genre, though you may be surprised to hear that the latest Clancy game offers a new twist on the old theme.

You're going in alone…

Ubisoft Montreal - a team of coders who, after this showing, are well and truly on the electronic entertainment map - developed Splinter Cell.

They've crafted a game that could've gone down the same old path perpetuated by many stealth 'em ups already on the market, but somehow Ubi Montreal has managed to cleverly massage their title into something special, and herein we'll examine how.

But first, the plot: It's 2004 and you play a retired CIA operative, who also served as a Navy Seal; one Sam Fisher. At the start of the game, the National Security Agency (NSA) calls you in to join a new super-secret, money-is-no-object splinter organisation called "Third Echelon" - also the game's title during development.

It's your job to investigate what appears to be a minor blip on the geo-political radar - two agents are missing in the Georgian Republic, one after infiltrating the Georgian government, the other while trying to rescue the first agent. Hmmm...

Good old Sam is enlisted because the Third Echelon partners know that he's a tough cookie, an operative who can kill a man from twenty paces with nothing but the scowl on his face, a paper clip and half a jelly bean.

Now, while Sam has carte blanche privilege to do as he pleases - kill, steal, hack, trespass - if he's ever caught, the lovely suits at Third Echelon will deny all knowledge of his existence. In layman's terms, if you get caught then you're up shit creek with no paddle.

The game starts off presenting the current situation via nicely produced news flashes, which help immerse the player into the Clancy universe, and you'll have your own briefings with more relevant info as the level loads.

It is pretty cool to watch the news reports every few levels to see your handy work - for instance the assassination of a high-ranking commie slug - being described to the masses, which are always attributed to US forces or credible intel.

Indeed, the feel of the game is just right, with plenty of atmospheric cut-aways to your current situation, whether via the news, or from pilfered documentation, and Clancy has truly outdone himself with his finely scripted, err, script.

The game starts out innocently enough, but by half-way through you'll be "of course!"-ing and "dirty bastard"-ing, only to find even more twists and turns as the game nears its conclusion.

Along the way, you'll infiltrate high-security strongholds, including CIA headquarters, neutralise anyone who spots you, seize critical intelligence, destroy threatening data and equipment, and at the end of it all disappear without a trace.

While the story plays a huge part in making the game what it is - a truly engrossing and believable piece of military/espionage gaming fiction - the title's success comes from combining this with an accomplished audio-visual aspect.

To start with, Ubi Montreal took the Unreal game engine, tweaked the hell out of it, and voila - Splinter Cell is born.

The camera position is also new for a Clancy-endorsed game; this one uses the third-person perspective. Some third-person games - nay, a lot of third person games - have issues when it comes to camera positioning and 'snagging', not so in this one.

Environments are very lush, with more detail than you'd expect, and many of the levels are highly complex, involving realistically modelled structures with detailed architecture.

The eye-candy on offer is also well above par for the genre, with the most obvious and impressive effects to be found in the lighting systems.

Since day one, the Ubisoft spin merchants have been ranting and raving about the dynamic lighting effects, and until we saw the late beta versions, we were more than a little sceptical.

But, when it came down to it, the lighting effects were truly astonishing. If a hanging light is gently swaying, the beams of light will move in rhythm too, sporadically illuminating different areas in a room.

See a couple of moths dancing near a light? Look on the wall and you'll see their massive shadows dancing in concert. You must also be aware of your visibility too, which is imparted to the player by way of a 'stealth' meter.

Using vertex shading and Zshadow mapping, the emanation of light and creation of shadow is truly life-like, and even simple things like the multiple beams of light escaping between the gaps of a Venetian blind are quite remarkable, not to mention very cool.

While the lighting system creates a unique and ultimately believable world to explore, it also plays a large part in gameplay.

Example: There I was, only one bullet left in the clip. Sure, it was the start of the mission, but I had to scare off the flying monkeys…

I enter a room; there's one worker. He doesn't have weapons, but he's toiling away on his terminal, which happens to be dangerously close to the alarm switch. There's also a surveillance camera whirring away in the corner. Drat!

Can't shoot him, or the camera will see, and if I shoot the camera, he'll hear me and head for the alarm… Hmmm… Quite a conundrum.

But this is a great example of how the game can be conquered by using your own grey matter, rather than being constrained by traditional gaming barriers.

First, I shoot out the only light in the room and voila! The camera can't see me, I then flick on my night vision goggles and deftly snap the neck of the patsy before he even gets out of his seat to see who the wise-guy is.

Anyway, back to the graphics, and there's not many things to gripe about. I suppose there's a lot of creeping around in the dark, which can be hard on your oculars after 27 hours of non-stop play, but other than that, the attention to detail and overall production values are high.

While both PS2 and Xbox versions are very close in graphical detail, the Xbox won out with slightly sharper textures and fewer jaggies, or lack of full-scene anti-aliasing.

But then the Xbox has an Nvidia GeForce 4 equivalent video-card, so it's still a damn fine showing for the PS2 to even compete. There are minor differences in things such as HUD and menus, but both games are similar in execution.

There are differences between the PS2 and Xbox versions, and seeing as Splinter Cell on the PS2 is the more current iteration, it's fair to say that it's better off because of this.

Play the Xbox version and if one alarm goes off, it's game over, load yer game, curse the developers time. This becomes all the more annoying - nay, ludicrously irritating - when you've passed a checkpoint or area in a level that cannot be returned to, meaning sometimes you'll always be busted by an enemy at some point, who just happened to find a crumpled body that you, the player, physically cannot get back to in order to hide it.

The PS2 version, however, gives you a three-alarm system before it's game over, which basically negates this annoying oversight.

The PS2 version is also somewhat easier, and while it could have been that we'd played through the Xbox version first, perhaps making the PS2 version feel easier, there are specific areas where you'll encounter reduced resistance.

Moral of the story? Veteran gamers will want to get the Xbox version.

Rounding out the differences between both Xbox and PS2 version, the latter gets a few more cinematics, showing that Sam's not just a rough neck, but also a family man, and Sony gamers also get a whole new level - the Nuclear Power Plant - which is actually quite a solid inclusion, as opposed to a last minute rush job. To round things out, the Xbox title gets downloadable content, and it's pretty much even-steven at the end of the day.

Motion capture on both versions is tip top, with both Sam Fisher and all other NPCs moving with very real, very human movements. There's a lot of picking up bodies and moving them to darkened or hidden areas, and even this looks authentic, with Sam straining under the pressure of hauling around over-fed militiamen.

It's also pretty cool to interrogate and manipulate NPCs to use retinal scanners or unlock doors for you - Sam's sleeper hold/headlock is disturbingly authentic.

Texture detail is good, and there are few games today that look quite as polished. The environments are varied, from office blocks to oil rigs, and custom effects, such as pixel shading and texture rendering, make the game very pleasing to the eye.

Gameplay is right up there with the best of 'em, though at first the game will seem a little, how do you say, non-violent?

To start with, you have a silenced 5.72mm SC tactical pistol with a 20-round magazine and muzzle flare suppressor/silencer. While this is great for a while, even on the easier difficulty settings ammo is scarce and should be used with prudence.

While there are other weapons in the game, such as the 5.56mm SC-20K - an automatic high-tech M16 of sorts - a result of this low ammo situation means you'll have to either avoid being spotted or take out your foes in some other way.

Sam has plenty of gadgets to use, such as the optical-fibre camera that allows you to peek underneath doors and whatnot, night vision goggles and disposable lock picks to name but a few. He has lots of moves too, and one of my favourites is the drop attack. Simply hang from a high location - could be a balcony - and drop onto unsuspecting baddies from above to incapacitate them.

There's also lots of ledge hanging, pipe climbing, corner peeking, and what modern game would be complete without a human-shield/hostage move?

Like light, sound also plays a part in the proceedings. After logging a few hours with the game, you'll know when there's a camera around the corner before you even see it, thanks to their unsettling whirring-scraping noise.

You'll also be able to eavesdrop on errant guards having a chinwag, which is a nice touch, and there are very amusing moments where you'll hear (and sometimes see) the enemy getting up to a bit of mischief. It also lends the game a more true-to-life feel too, giving the evil henchmen a bit of personality and character.

While you will spend the majority of your time sneaking around, crawling into high-security areas and generally making sure that nobody knows you're there, the time will come when you'll have to give the enemy a taste of hot lead.

Aiming your weapon changes the third-person view point to a closer, over-the-shoulder view, and all your movements are slowed significantly. In essence, this means that you can't gun-and-run, another testament to the fact that this game is all about operating in a covert manner, not accruing a massive body count.

At the same time, the bulk of your ammo will be used taking out lights and cameras, rather than dispatching angry villains. Controlling all of the action is pretty straightforward and most gamers will have no trouble with the control setup, though the Xbox controller did lend itself better to the game than that of the PS2.

Look up covert on dictionary.com (we're too cheap to buy a real one) and it is described as "not openly practiced". This simply, yet accurately explains the crux of Splinter Cell, and how you must play in order to progress. So long as you stick to this credo, you'll be usurping the commie war machine before bedtime.

While Splinter Cell won't appeal to everyone - the game can be irritatingly difficult - it will please fans of the espionage genre, and those who dig the Metal Gear Solid franchise.

It's a tremendous game with plenty of original ideas, and tied in with stellar visuals and one of the most engrossing plots you'll ever experience playing a video game, it gets two thumbs up from me.

It's also one of those rare games that, while highly linear in approach, just begs to be played again and again thanks its clever puzzles and the various ways in which you can tackle a given situation. While the PS2 version is a little more polished in many areas, you can't go wrong with either version.

ORIGINALITY 90%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 90%
PLAYABILITY 85%
ADDICTION 80%
ENJOYMENT 95%