Number 47: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Ubisoft 2002 (PS2)
Intro:
Two operatives sneak into a base in an ex-Soviet nation via stealth and neat spy gadgetry to discover an army brewing underground, but they are caught and Sam Fisher, the game's hero, is suddenly called back into duty during what seems like a vacation. Each of the load screens here have text to keep the player's eyes busy, and the menus are simple lists on a background like the ingame pause inventory screen. The player is quickly thrust into a "test," which is really a guided tutorial.
Getting Going:
The guided tutorial tells the player everything they could possibly need very clearly without the risk of getting killed, so a botch just reloads the room and lets the player try again. Every skill is explained via momentary pop-up messages that pause the game, which can be recalled by accessing certain information panels on the wall. The player even gets practice conking out humans, which is important in how it trains the player to know how close they need to get to execute their grabs and interrogations as well as understanding what can get you caught and what counts as a successful sneak.
Fun:
This game is very stressful, as all stealth action games are meant to be: lots of nervous sneaking and hiding isn't looked upon too favorably by myself, but this game does make it fun by keeping the controls simple and the objectives clear. The early levels aren't terribly difficult on the Normal setting, though I had to run a couple scenarios over and over again after an environmental hazzard robbed me of about 75% of my life. The detectablility meter, borrowed recently by Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, helped a lot when the lighting on the screen seemed darker than the AI thought it was.
Visuals:
The models aren't going to turn heads anymore, but the lighting and the textures were great, and I started to wonder how they got the PS2 to do so much. The lighting and visor effects were great to see: light pours through latices and across the player, dust reflects light, fire and televisions generate their own light... Everything that should produce light, does, which makes the detailed textures pay off.
Intelligence:
I was frustrated a couple times by shoddy AI. Two shining examples of bad AI: I escaped one man by walking through a door which he was apparently unable to open. I stood outside the door when I realized I wasn't being followed and listened to the poor fellow hoot and holler after me, wanting dearly to open a door the programmers refused to let him touch. Soon after, I tried to sneak through a room but failed, getting the armed gaurds attention, but by running up the nearby stairs I either outsmarted him or he just wasn't allowed up those stairs.
Immersion:
While the levels are on a sort of rail, the music and detailed environments are a joy to experience. The necessity to constantly survey the environments made it even easier to lose track of time. Long load times, a product of the system's limitations more than the game's shortcomings, were for a short time remedied with informative text on each screen, but in the middle of a mission the load screens are barren, save for the graphic. Scrolling load progress down the screen as oppsosed to across a bar made the load screens much more fun to look at, but they still went on for a minimum of nine seconds and as many as twenty. This was further aggravated by needing to load fairly often.
Cameras:
The camera did a pretty good job: by focusing just above Sam Fisher's head, getting backed up into a corner doesn't mean getting a snout-full of pixelated textures. The camera was occasionally obstructed by Sam Fisher himself, and once in a while by certain plants, but the problem was limited to these situations. Adjusting is necessary, but the right stick is allocated to Sam's look abilities, making any tight spot just a quick spin away from being fixed.
Controls:
Simple controls combined with context-sensitive controls made moving Sam Fisher around mostly hassle free. Wall jumps got a little hazy, though, and I would've liked to see some control over the look sensitivity and Y-axis look inversion options.
Ideas:
Combining the political thriller Tom Clancy brand with Metal Gear Solid like stealth action was a great idea, since the Metal Gear Solid games are so strongly rooted in fantasy. The Metal Gear Solid part only really contributes to the idea of sneaking around: the level design and control mechanics made the game feel very different: instead of snooping around one boat, or one base, the player had to change scenery a lot, even in the course of one stage.
Memory:
This is a lot of fun, and Sam Fisher's character is very memorable by that three-eyed visor and gruff, no-nonsense attitude. The impressive lighting and unique style of action made this game stand on its own next to Metal Gear Solid titles as a much more serious and realistic experience.
Two operatives sneak into a base in an ex-Soviet nation via stealth and neat spy gadgetry to discover an army brewing underground, but they are caught and Sam Fisher, the game's hero, is suddenly called back into duty during what seems like a vacation. Each of the load screens here have text to keep the player's eyes busy, and the menus are simple lists on a background like the ingame pause inventory screen. The player is quickly thrust into a "test," which is really a guided tutorial.
Getting Going:
The guided tutorial tells the player everything they could possibly need very clearly without the risk of getting killed, so a botch just reloads the room and lets the player try again. Every skill is explained via momentary pop-up messages that pause the game, which can be recalled by accessing certain information panels on the wall. The player even gets practice conking out humans, which is important in how it trains the player to know how close they need to get to execute their grabs and interrogations as well as understanding what can get you caught and what counts as a successful sneak.
Fun:
This game is very stressful, as all stealth action games are meant to be: lots of nervous sneaking and hiding isn't looked upon too favorably by myself, but this game does make it fun by keeping the controls simple and the objectives clear. The early levels aren't terribly difficult on the Normal setting, though I had to run a couple scenarios over and over again after an environmental hazzard robbed me of about 75% of my life. The detectablility meter, borrowed recently by Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, helped a lot when the lighting on the screen seemed darker than the AI thought it was.
Visuals:
The models aren't going to turn heads anymore, but the lighting and the textures were great, and I started to wonder how they got the PS2 to do so much. The lighting and visor effects were great to see: light pours through latices and across the player, dust reflects light, fire and televisions generate their own light... Everything that should produce light, does, which makes the detailed textures pay off.
Intelligence:
I was frustrated a couple times by shoddy AI. Two shining examples of bad AI: I escaped one man by walking through a door which he was apparently unable to open. I stood outside the door when I realized I wasn't being followed and listened to the poor fellow hoot and holler after me, wanting dearly to open a door the programmers refused to let him touch. Soon after, I tried to sneak through a room but failed, getting the armed gaurds attention, but by running up the nearby stairs I either outsmarted him or he just wasn't allowed up those stairs.
Immersion:
While the levels are on a sort of rail, the music and detailed environments are a joy to experience. The necessity to constantly survey the environments made it even easier to lose track of time. Long load times, a product of the system's limitations more than the game's shortcomings, were for a short time remedied with informative text on each screen, but in the middle of a mission the load screens are barren, save for the graphic. Scrolling load progress down the screen as oppsosed to across a bar made the load screens much more fun to look at, but they still went on for a minimum of nine seconds and as many as twenty. This was further aggravated by needing to load fairly often.
Cameras:
The camera did a pretty good job: by focusing just above Sam Fisher's head, getting backed up into a corner doesn't mean getting a snout-full of pixelated textures. The camera was occasionally obstructed by Sam Fisher himself, and once in a while by certain plants, but the problem was limited to these situations. Adjusting is necessary, but the right stick is allocated to Sam's look abilities, making any tight spot just a quick spin away from being fixed.
Controls:
Simple controls combined with context-sensitive controls made moving Sam Fisher around mostly hassle free. Wall jumps got a little hazy, though, and I would've liked to see some control over the look sensitivity and Y-axis look inversion options.
Ideas:
Combining the political thriller Tom Clancy brand with Metal Gear Solid like stealth action was a great idea, since the Metal Gear Solid games are so strongly rooted in fantasy. The Metal Gear Solid part only really contributes to the idea of sneaking around: the level design and control mechanics made the game feel very different: instead of snooping around one boat, or one base, the player had to change scenery a lot, even in the course of one stage.
Memory:
This is a lot of fun, and Sam Fisher's character is very memorable by that three-eyed visor and gruff, no-nonsense attitude. The impressive lighting and unique style of action made this game stand on its own next to Metal Gear Solid titles as a much more serious and realistic experience.