Splinter Cell

Review - One of the finest action games of the year is finally with us...

(Decoding encrypted message… message follows): Mr. Fisher, our plan for recruiting operatives is moving along well. Using the name of America’s top-selling espionage author as a front, the training sim has hit store shelves with resounding success. Copy after copy is being snapped up by potential recruits, and the “Mother Company” has its tracking network in place. An entire legion of trainees should be ready around the time we make the “extra level” available. Little do they know that by downloading it, they will basically be signing up… (end of line).

Until recently, the undisputed king of “tactical espionage action” has come from the mind of Hideo Kojima. The ‘embodiment’ of his vision, Solid Snake, has led the charge (with the help of gamers across the globe) in saving the planet from terrorism on a massive scale. However, with the release of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell for the Xbox, it has become apparent that the sneaky, mullet-wearing individual of Japanese creation that we know and love now has an American counterpart, in the form of an older, wiser individual named Sam Fisher. Mr. Fisher is so adept at the same type of covert, world-saving operations that the title is bound to create thousands of armchair arguments about which one, theoretically, could kick the ass of the other.

Within the first five minutes of booting up Splinter Cell, players are drawn into a world of evil deeds and ne’er-do-wells with staggering graphical detail and realism. The visuals to this title are unparalleled. The environments, with their incredible shadows and lighting (which actually serve as a pivotal gameplay element), contain so much detail that it almost feels as if you are in control of a feature film. The characters move the way they should, in a fluid and completely articulate manner, and nearly everything and everyone around our hero reacts the way one thinks they would when being picked up, poked, prodded, choked, shot, or otherwise molested. When sneaking through outdoor environments that appear to be in the midst of their autumnal changes, you can almost feel the cold wind as you watch the leaves fall off the trees.

There is only one flaw within the title’s graphical presentation, and that would be in the clipping detection department. More than once will you notice the top half of the dead guard you just carried and dropped into a dark area seem to absorb into the brick wall, leaving his legs sticking out like a wicked witch who just had a house dropped on her.

Splinter Cell also makes fantastic use of its audio. The game contains a fabulous 5.1 Dolby Digital sound mix (with complete and accurate use of the center channel, for a change), and is another facet of the game that is actually an integral part of the gameplay. You will hear people chattering behind you, wind whispering over your head, alarms ringing a block away, shutters banging together from being under the wind’s control, and so much more. The music is mostly subdued (which is a good thing considering the game’s stealth theme), and heightens only in dramatic tension when a player has committed some course of action that has compromised the whole mission. Letting yourself be seen by a patrolling sentry kicks the tempo up a notch, for instance. The voice acting is also quite excellent, and the actors chosen to portray the characters (Sam is played by Michael Ironside) is spot on.