Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Video Game Review (About In Description)
1The only thing better than making fun of a game that doesn't live up to its hype, is playing a game that exceeds lofty expectations. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is not only the shining new superstar of the novelist's videogame brand, but it's a game that will put the Ubi Soft Montreal development house on the map. Ever since gamers caught a glimpse of the early screenshots back in the spring of 2002, the biggest question about Splinter Cell, right after "Is it really that pretty?" was "Yeah, but is it going to be fun?" Now upon the game's release, the answers to each of those questions are "Hell Yeah" and "Damn Right," respectively.
The key to Splinter Cell's success is that every single element of the game --including the story, graphics, sound and every minor detail in between-- is designed to focus your attention on the gameplay theme of espionage. You are in control of a highly trained operative and you're supposed to think like one. Even with all of the awesome weaponry and gadgetry you'll have at your disposal, your own mind is the most important piece of equipment in Splinter Cell and this is reinforced throughout the game. Few games have been this successful at immersing the player into a such a well designed simulation and maintained this feeling throughout the entire experience.
If Splinter Cell has a weakness it's that, as a single player only videogame, eventually it has to come to an end. But this is the best single player experience you will have had on your Xbox since a little game called Halo launched the system.
Story
You're in control of Sam Fisher, an ex-CIA, ex-Navy SEAL who's called into service at the request of the National Security Agency. The NSA, with its unlimited resources, has commissioned a new sub-agency called Third Echelon --the original title of the game-- to gather intelligence in the colder, more cruel geopolitical landscape of 2004. Third Echelon has the latitude to deploy Splinter Cells, highly trained operatives who are granted the "Fifth Freedom" to do whatever it takes to protect the four cornerstone American values: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. While we're not sure what part of the Constitution they're getting these from, we do know that Sam Fisher's Fifth Freedom means he can kill without regard to sociopolitical consequencess. The downside is that if Sam's ever caught doing dirt, the US government will disavow any knowledge of his existence. It's like James Bond's license to kill, but with an extra dash of ruthlessness because Sam Fisher is totally on his own.
As an operative of Third Echelon, you're only given the information you need when you need it. You're actually uncovering facts and plot twists as you proceed through the game. Your first mission in Splinter Cell begins innocently enough with you heading to Georgia (the republic, not the US state) to investigate the disappearance of two CIA agents. One had infiltrated the Georgian government before disappearing, and the other disappeared while investigating the disappearance of the first missing agent. Sam Fisher is sent in because they know he's a badass and won't be disappearing on anybody. From this simple beginning, you uncover facts and scandals that lead you all over the globe --including a mission through CIA headquarters in Virginia-- to find the information necessary to prevent World War III.
In very clever Tom Clancy style, the end results of your successful missions are presented through the filter of a 24 hour news network. The anchorman's top stories involving apprehended terrorists and disasters being avoided are all your doing but are attributed to generic "officials" and "authorities."
The TV news bits provide a nice overview of the story, but you're the one actually interrogating people, eavesdropping on conversations and intercepting critical email messages. It's all done in a very real world context. So when you figure out that the Chinese general and the Russian mobster are in cahoots, nobody actually says "You, General Xia and I, Mr Grinko, will come together to rule the world!" like it's some kind of comic book. Instead you overhear one half of a phone conversation where plans are being discussed and all of the bits of info you've gathered so far give Sam and Third Echelon a hunch of what's going to happen next and what needs to be done. The game will always breakdown and present the important information to you by way of a briefing from Third Echelon headquarters so you'll know what's going on, but the savvy Splinter Cell player who really wants to get into the game can just pay attention to what's being said. It's in this way the Splinter Cell remain linear without feeling confined by an obvious storyline. Yes the world is in danger and needs to be saved, but the who, what and why unfold as you go along.