Great game, been playing the story since I got it. Half-way through. Some observations:
- Great sound, really moody, adds to the atmosphere, reacts to being detected, good for a cue. Great sound acting.
- Story is well written, engaging, Sam Fisher is the supreme badass.
- Very good graphics, despite the aging and ubiquitous Unreal engine. Very good level design. Lots of places to flank, cover, hide, and come up from behind.
- Lots of screen tearing, not too bothersome. Noticeable, though.
- Control system is awesome, you can pretty much take cover anywhere, even when not up against anything. Moving from cover spot to cover spot is slick, with arrows that point in the direction you’re pointing and slick animations when you move. Controls rival/exceed my personal favorite, the Rainbow Six Vegas series.
- Shooting is crisp. Headshots kill, enemies sometimes require multiple shots in vitals (neck, torso) to die.
- Grenades and toys are fun and have good placement when thrown. Good explosions and sonic reverberation, especially with 5.1 surround.
- Good platforming. Sam moves smoothly, not like an idiot.
The new game mechanics are sweet and I’m hoping to see them in future games. I think they’re all good. That would include:
- the projection of current goals (with cool lighting/shadow effects)
- the projection of backstory effects during cut-scenes (which are not really so cut, they flow with the gameplay well)
- last known position (i think i’ve seen this in a couple games, not sure) great for creating a diversion, then flanking.
- tag and kill executions. There is a strange bug where if a guy is tagged, he can be shot, even through solid objects.
Overall, the game is really fun and a step forward in the right direction. The flexibility of choosing your path to kill made me want to replay a couple levels multiple times to see how cleanly I could clear each room. It’s possible to run and gun, but there’s a good sense of satisfaction to a well-executed kill. Playing on normal mode right now and looking forward to playing on realistic mode. Guessing the story mode is somewhere between 5-7 hours. Supposedly the infiltration and deniable ops mode add quite a bit of gameplay to the package.
Rating: 5 / 5
Let me start by saying that 70% of the game is absolutely super fun! If I could have given it 3.5 stars I would have, but that’s not an option, and this game just doesn’t deserve 4 stars. I’ve been a gamer since Asteroids was cutting edge, and can play witness to the amazing jumps in technology… This game (with it’s very few, but MAJOR flaws) is a step in the right direction.
That said, the ‘flaws’ cannot be blamed upon the programmers, but the designers. There was some extremely poor decision making at the managerial level, and I fear that it will hurt the title.
I have played about 2 hours and have enjoyed (about 70% of it) IMMENSELY. The graphics are crisp and the action is really cool. They continue to have issues with face-mapping, clipping, and screen tearing, but, well, they chose to use the Unreal engine… You do the best you can with what you have, I guess.
PROS: (There are many)
BUGS: I bought the game the day after release and have not had a single technical issue. The menus are intuitive and useful.
HINTS: I love the cut-scenes and the hints written all over the place. It was a little distracting at first, but now that i’m used to it, it really adds to the game-flow.
DIALOG: I like that the NPCs have more than 1 or 2 sayings. In the past they have had 2 sentences that they repeat endlessly. This is an error that has been corrected and it really adds depth to the game.
SCENERY: The colors (when you’re allowed to see them) are sharp and attractive. Color is what gives us depth-perception, and this game is rich and aesthetically very, very attractive… Most of the time.
CONS: (The list is short, but noteable)
STEALTH… The 30% where I’m in the shadows and the game goes monochrome and you lose your depth perception… Wait, MONOCHROME?!? Oh, give me a friggin’ break… Really? That’s the absolute BEST solution you could come up with? You couldn’t put a sliding scale indicator on the screen somewhere? The folks that made this decision fully deserve three stars. You know, I’ve been in shadows before in the real world and looking at things OUTSIDE of the shadows did not cause me to go color blind. VERY distracting, unrealistic, and a game-killer for me.
PLEASE*PLEASE*PLEASE patch the game to allow those of us with binocular, color vision to turn this absolute MISTAKE of a feature off.
LANGUAGE: I have not played a game with as much profanity since GTA: San Andreas. I was not expecting it, and really, it takes from the game play. I’m not worried that it will influence the little children playing, because really, if you’re young enough to be impressionable and your parents let you play this game, well, you’re pretty much screwed up beyond return already.
I don’t even mind the words, themselves, but rather the unrealistic volume of their usage… I’m an adult and I cuss, but I don’t cuss because I need another word to go into a sentence to make it longer. It’s like the writers went in and said, “Okay guys, we need to add 600 words to the script. Single-syllable, if at all possible… I KNOW! We’ll just randomly add words that end in ‘it’, ‘itch’, and ‘uck’!! Yeah, that will solve the whole problem!”
That’s it. 2 CONS, and lots of PROS. 3 stars? Yep. They earned it. It’s a shame, too, because the rest of the game is half a hair away from being bullet-proof. That said, I think I’ve had enough. I’m going to write this off as a $65 one-night rental and give it to a friend.
P.S. MONOCHROME?!?!? No, seriously, MONOCHROME??? Gimme’ a break.
Rating: 3 / 5
Sam Fisher does not fail to impress in his latest thriller!
Beautiful Setting, solid gameplay, fantastic AI and the over all feeling of being a bada** make this game a must buy for any third person shooter fan.
I love how the charecters I grew up with are againg with me. No longer do shooter protagonists have to be a twenty-something, generic meathead. Sam Fisher is greying, Middle aged man who would put any action movie hero to shame.
The only negative aspect of this game is the single player story length. Not that big of a deal in my oppinion.
Splinter Cell has been my favorite game series since it first arrived on the scene. The stealth action and gadgets not to mention it’s emphasis on avoidance and evasion game play made it unique. Sadly all that made Splinter Cell stand out is gone and it’s been turned into a hybrid rip off of Gears of Wars and Call of Duty. Killing is the emphasis in this game, so much so that the developers have even automated the process with the new “Execute” feature that allows you to select up to 4 bad guys and press one button to watch Sam kill in a slow motion bullet time splatterfest. Forget about catching and disabling an enemy, now Sam just goes for blood. You can sneak up on a guard but your options now are kill him or capture him then kill him or use him as a human shield then kill him. No longer do you hide bodies either. Just as with all the other first person shooters just strole into a room go on a killing rampage and exit the other side, rinse and repeat. Gone is any thought required to evade and/or capture. No need to hack or pick locks anymore either, that too would take to much time away from the killing! Sam’s rapages are aided by a new “duck and cover” style system that makes the game feel like a Gears of War rip-off rather then a Splinter Cell game. The levels are now much more arcade like and closed off similar to the Call of Duty series. This detracts from the open world feel of the previous games in the series.
On the plus side, gone are the simplistic busy work mini games that the developers either thought were really cool or tried to use a filler for the previous Splinter Cell Double Agent.
The language in this game is appaling, I’ve heard less “F-Bomb’s” at Eddie Murphy concerts. There’s little to no point of every other word being some variation of the F-Bomb!!! Was this written by 12 year olds that get a laugh everytime they hear the F word?
For real fans of Sam Fisher Splinter Cell Conviction will likely disappoint. It’s dumbed down and is no longer a stealth action game but has become a first person shooter. For those that don’t have the attention span and/or patients to play a thinking persons game and want dumbed down run and gun rampages this is your game.
I am a decent way into the new Splinter Cell game.
Graphics are top notch, most likely the best of the series. Gameplay is intuitive and fast paced. Mr. Fisher seems to have all his skills running on overdirve in this one, from his classic stealth moves to the takedowns, Sam is in top form. I love the new mark and execute moves, as well as the new takedowns. The cutscenes are vibrant, gritty and the level of realism is par none.
My only complaint thus far is the over abundance of profanity in this title. In games past, the cursing is kept at a reasonable level, thugs mainly looking for cover rather than throwing numerous foul ephitets at Sam’s ghost. In this version, the profanity is so over-used, I am having a hard time allowing even my teenager play this one. Society is not so jaded that we need to overlook this ridiculous amount of vulgar language, when it does not add anything to the game other than shock value. I hope in the future Ubisoft can forego this amount of language, and perhaps add more succinct dialogue in its place. Surely there are some mercenaries out there with collge credits?
Great game, too much vulgarity. I really wish i could have given this a five star.
Rating: 4 / 5
Great game, been playing the story since I got it. Half-way through. Some observations:
- Great sound, really moody, adds to the atmosphere, reacts to being detected, good for a cue. Great sound acting.
- Story is well written, engaging, Sam Fisher is the supreme badass.
- Very good graphics, despite the aging and ubiquitous Unreal engine. Very good level design. Lots of places to flank, cover, hide, and come up from behind.
- Lots of screen tearing, not too bothersome. Noticeable, though.
- Control system is awesome, you can pretty much take cover anywhere, even when not up against anything. Moving from cover spot to cover spot is slick, with arrows that point in the direction you’re pointing and slick animations when you move. Controls rival/exceed my personal favorite, the Rainbow Six Vegas series.
- Shooting is crisp. Headshots kill, enemies sometimes require multiple shots in vitals (neck, torso) to die.
- Grenades and toys are fun and have good placement when thrown. Good explosions and sonic reverberation, especially with 5.1 surround.
- Good platforming. Sam moves smoothly, not like an idiot.
The new game mechanics are sweet and I’m hoping to see them in future games. I think they’re all good. That would include:
- the projection of current goals (with cool lighting/shadow effects)
- the projection of backstory effects during cut-scenes (which are not really so cut, they flow with the gameplay well)
- last known position (i think i’ve seen this in a couple games, not sure) great for creating a diversion, then flanking.
- tag and kill executions. There is a strange bug where if a guy is tagged, he can be shot, even through solid objects.
Overall, the game is really fun and a step forward in the right direction. The flexibility of choosing your path to kill made me want to replay a couple levels multiple times to see how cleanly I could clear each room. It’s possible to run and gun, but there’s a good sense of satisfaction to a well-executed kill. Playing on normal mode right now and looking forward to playing on realistic mode. Guessing the story mode is somewhere between 5-7 hours. Supposedly the infiltration and deniable ops mode add quite a bit of gameplay to the package.
Rating: 5 / 5
Let me start by saying that 70% of the game is absolutely super fun! If I could have given it 3.5 stars I would have, but that’s not an option, and this game just doesn’t deserve 4 stars. I’ve been a gamer since Asteroids was cutting edge, and can play witness to the amazing jumps in technology… This game (with it’s very few, but MAJOR flaws) is a step in the right direction.
That said, the ‘flaws’ cannot be blamed upon the programmers, but the designers. There was some extremely poor decision making at the managerial level, and I fear that it will hurt the title.
I have played about 2 hours and have enjoyed (about 70% of it) IMMENSELY. The graphics are crisp and the action is really cool. They continue to have issues with face-mapping, clipping, and screen tearing, but, well, they chose to use the Unreal engine… You do the best you can with what you have, I guess.
PROS: (There are many)
BUGS: I bought the game the day after release and have not had a single technical issue. The menus are intuitive and useful.
HINTS: I love the cut-scenes and the hints written all over the place. It was a little distracting at first, but now that i’m used to it, it really adds to the game-flow.
DIALOG: I like that the NPCs have more than 1 or 2 sayings. In the past they have had 2 sentences that they repeat endlessly. This is an error that has been corrected and it really adds depth to the game.
SCENERY: The colors (when you’re allowed to see them) are sharp and attractive. Color is what gives us depth-perception, and this game is rich and aesthetically very, very attractive… Most of the time.
CONS: (The list is short, but noteable)
STEALTH… The 30% where I’m in the shadows and the game goes monochrome and you lose your depth perception… Wait, MONOCHROME?!? Oh, give me a friggin’ break… Really? That’s the absolute BEST solution you could come up with? You couldn’t put a sliding scale indicator on the screen somewhere? The folks that made this decision fully deserve three stars. You know, I’ve been in shadows before in the real world and looking at things OUTSIDE of the shadows did not cause me to go color blind. VERY distracting, unrealistic, and a game-killer for me.
PLEASE*PLEASE*PLEASE patch the game to allow those of us with binocular, color vision to turn this absolute MISTAKE of a feature off.
LANGUAGE: I have not played a game with as much profanity since GTA: San Andreas. I was not expecting it, and really, it takes from the game play. I’m not worried that it will influence the little children playing, because really, if you’re young enough to be impressionable and your parents let you play this game, well, you’re pretty much screwed up beyond return already.
I don’t even mind the words, themselves, but rather the unrealistic volume of their usage… I’m an adult and I cuss, but I don’t cuss because I need another word to go into a sentence to make it longer. It’s like the writers went in and said, “Okay guys, we need to add 600 words to the script. Single-syllable, if at all possible… I KNOW! We’ll just randomly add words that end in ‘it’, ‘itch’, and ‘uck’!! Yeah, that will solve the whole problem!”
That’s it. 2 CONS, and lots of PROS. 3 stars? Yep. They earned it. It’s a shame, too, because the rest of the game is half a hair away from being bullet-proof. That said, I think I’ve had enough. I’m going to write this off as a $65 one-night rental and give it to a friend.
P.S. MONOCHROME?!?!? No, seriously, MONOCHROME??? Gimme’ a break.
Rating: 3 / 5
Sam Fisher does not fail to impress in his latest thriller!
Beautiful Setting, solid gameplay, fantastic AI and the over all feeling of being a bada** make this game a must buy for any third person shooter fan.
I love how the charecters I grew up with are againg with me. No longer do shooter protagonists have to be a twenty-something, generic meathead. Sam Fisher is greying, Middle aged man who would put any action movie hero to shame.
The only negative aspect of this game is the single player story length. Not that big of a deal in my oppinion.
Highly Reccomend.
Rating: 4 / 5
Splinter Cell has been my favorite game series since it first arrived on the scene. The stealth action and gadgets not to mention it’s emphasis on avoidance and evasion game play made it unique. Sadly all that made Splinter Cell stand out is gone and it’s been turned into a hybrid rip off of Gears of Wars and Call of Duty. Killing is the emphasis in this game, so much so that the developers have even automated the process with the new “Execute” feature that allows you to select up to 4 bad guys and press one button to watch Sam kill in a slow motion bullet time splatterfest. Forget about catching and disabling an enemy, now Sam just goes for blood. You can sneak up on a guard but your options now are kill him or capture him then kill him or use him as a human shield then kill him. No longer do you hide bodies either. Just as with all the other first person shooters just strole into a room go on a killing rampage and exit the other side, rinse and repeat. Gone is any thought required to evade and/or capture. No need to hack or pick locks anymore either, that too would take to much time away from the killing! Sam’s rapages are aided by a new “duck and cover” style system that makes the game feel like a Gears of War rip-off rather then a Splinter Cell game. The levels are now much more arcade like and closed off similar to the Call of Duty series. This detracts from the open world feel of the previous games in the series.
On the plus side, gone are the simplistic busy work mini games that the developers either thought were really cool or tried to use a filler for the previous Splinter Cell Double Agent.
The language in this game is appaling, I’ve heard less “F-Bomb’s” at Eddie Murphy concerts. There’s little to no point of every other word being some variation of the F-Bomb!!! Was this written by 12 year olds that get a laugh everytime they hear the F word?
For real fans of Sam Fisher Splinter Cell Conviction will likely disappoint. It’s dumbed down and is no longer a stealth action game but has become a first person shooter. For those that don’t have the attention span and/or patients to play a thinking persons game and want dumbed down run and gun rampages this is your game.
Rating: 2 / 5
I am a decent way into the new Splinter Cell game.
Graphics are top notch, most likely the best of the series. Gameplay is intuitive and fast paced. Mr. Fisher seems to have all his skills running on overdirve in this one, from his classic stealth moves to the takedowns, Sam is in top form. I love the new mark and execute moves, as well as the new takedowns. The cutscenes are vibrant, gritty and the level of realism is par none.
My only complaint thus far is the over abundance of profanity in this title. In games past, the cursing is kept at a reasonable level, thugs mainly looking for cover rather than throwing numerous foul ephitets at Sam’s ghost. In this version, the profanity is so over-used, I am having a hard time allowing even my teenager play this one. Society is not so jaded that we need to overlook this ridiculous amount of vulgar language, when it does not add anything to the game other than shock value. I hope in the future Ubisoft can forego this amount of language, and perhaps add more succinct dialogue in its place. Surely there are some mercenaries out there with collge credits?
Great game, too much vulgarity. I really wish i could have given this a five star.
Rating: 4 / 5