Perfect Stu
07-10-2002, 11:57 AM
Premise:
The storyline should definitely do its part to carry a third person action title, but with pedigree like this, Splinter Cell hast that aspect more than covered. You'll play as Sam Fisher, an operative with the ultimate clearance by the U.S. government to use whatever means necessary to ensure the safety and well being of this land of the free and home of the brave. You are the splinter cell operating just on the fringes of the group The Third Echelon, which is itself an elite field operations unit at the service of the National Security Agency. Like all good espionage games, there's something wrong going on and you have to get to the bottom of it.
Preview:
The list of things Sam Fisher can do in Splinter Cell reads like a list of "cool stuff they should let you do in videogames." You're the ultimate covert operative, dressed in black with utility belts and straps filled with awesome toys and gadgets, so I was delighted to find out that they also let you do fundamental physical tasks that make covert operatives even more deadly. Perhaps a couple of comparison with Hideo Kojima's masterpiece can illustrate it best.
Solid Snake/Raiden could hide behind corners and boxes and wheel around for a shot at the bad guys. That was cool, but Sam can hide behind corners and still shoot bad guys by reaching his pistol around the corner and barely peeking his head out, thereby staying covered.
When walking down narrow passageways, say 5-6 feet wide, Fisher can jump up off the floor and wedge himself between the walls with his legs spread wide open and a foot on each wall. Think back to the worst, okay any, Jean Claude Van Damme movie where he'd do the splits to avoid danger, and you'll get the idea. In fact maybe Jackie Chan's wall-wedge-splits move is a better example because he'd continue to kick ass while in that position, just like Sam Fisher can do in Splinter Cell. Raiden/Snake, when walking down a narrow passageway, can get shot. Does this splits move aid Fisher in any way? Not sure, but it looks damn cool to be up doing the splits between two walls and firing his rifle at enemies.
Other real time moves we observed included a shock attack on two guards that happened to be standing in a puddle of water. Sneaking up on them, Fisher fired a tazer weapon at them and by the time they turned to react to the shots, they started convulsing and collapsed. This is one of many nonlethal, and therefore important moves, you'll have at your disposal in Splinter Cell.
In fact a tremendous amount of your abilities in this game revolve around the options you have in dealing with situations. You have the firepower and the tricks to go toe to toe with enemies whenever you're ready, but you also have the stuff and the skills you need to be quick, stealthy and nonviolent. You can pick up and hide dead bodies that you've created to keep your activities hidden and such. You're a badass secret agent, but you do have limits on how much killing you can do in Splinter Cell. Depending on the mission there can be caps on the number of armed enemies you can drop and on the number of innocents you can kill. This suggest that you can waste some civilians if you feel like it and not get in trouble, but you can't kill anybody, soldier or civilian, that's critical to you completing the mission. The kicker is, you won't find out until you complete the level that you went over your kill limit.
One mission we saw featured a computer geek all alone in a room and the mission was to get some crucial date from him. The only problem is he's the only who can get it for you so you can't kill him. Using your special means of coercion, like a gun to his head, he'll eventually help you out. Once he does, he's literally your biatch and you can do what you want with him...within reason of course. As soon as you get the data though, you have to destroy the computers, which of course alerts the guards and now you have to worry about escaping unharmed. The style of gameplay can change that quickly.
Climbing is going to be a huge part of Splinter Cell. Fisher can jump up and grab ledges and edges of structures, walkways and most anything that looks like it can be grabbed. He can climb straight up vertical beams and polls that blend in perfectly with the environment so there's no discoloration, flashing or glowing around climbable objects. You'll just have to learn to keep your eyes peeled and know your skills.
The game is entirely in the third person perspective. When you go to aim with your weapon, the camera zooms in quickly to a nice over-the-shoulder perspective to make things easier. In fact, the "smart" camera system seems to have conquered most of the problems you can get in a third person game where the environments vary from tight hallways, to giant chambers and everything in between.
We fully expect a devastating arsenal of weapons to compliment the great assortment of gadgets and toys we've seen so far. So far, we've only seen a silenced pistol, the tazer weapon, a sniper rifle and a futuristic looking assault rifle based on the one the angry blond haired terrorist Karl used in Die Hard. Given the history of other Tom Clancy games, cool weapons should be the last thing we have to worry about.
Now that the fuse has been lit, Splinter Cell should heat up all the way through the summer and into the fall as one of the most anticipated games for the Xbox. Oh did we mention your Microsoft console is the lead platform for the game? As in it will have every kickass feature Ubi Soft's Monreal studio can think of because it will be the version that will set the standard. So start saving those chips and go ahead and move this to the top three of your most wanted list. I know I have.
-from IGN.COM
Screens:
http://xboxpix.com/splinter-cell_16.JPG
http://xboxpix.com/splinter-cell_33.JPG
http://xboxpix.com/splinter-cell_35.JPG
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/splinterific6.jpg
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/splinterific15.jpg
http://xboxpix.com/splinter-cell_37.JPG
(Notice the spectacular lighting effects)
The storyline should definitely do its part to carry a third person action title, but with pedigree like this, Splinter Cell hast that aspect more than covered. You'll play as Sam Fisher, an operative with the ultimate clearance by the U.S. government to use whatever means necessary to ensure the safety and well being of this land of the free and home of the brave. You are the splinter cell operating just on the fringes of the group The Third Echelon, which is itself an elite field operations unit at the service of the National Security Agency. Like all good espionage games, there's something wrong going on and you have to get to the bottom of it.
Preview:
The list of things Sam Fisher can do in Splinter Cell reads like a list of "cool stuff they should let you do in videogames." You're the ultimate covert operative, dressed in black with utility belts and straps filled with awesome toys and gadgets, so I was delighted to find out that they also let you do fundamental physical tasks that make covert operatives even more deadly. Perhaps a couple of comparison with Hideo Kojima's masterpiece can illustrate it best.
Solid Snake/Raiden could hide behind corners and boxes and wheel around for a shot at the bad guys. That was cool, but Sam can hide behind corners and still shoot bad guys by reaching his pistol around the corner and barely peeking his head out, thereby staying covered.
When walking down narrow passageways, say 5-6 feet wide, Fisher can jump up off the floor and wedge himself between the walls with his legs spread wide open and a foot on each wall. Think back to the worst, okay any, Jean Claude Van Damme movie where he'd do the splits to avoid danger, and you'll get the idea. In fact maybe Jackie Chan's wall-wedge-splits move is a better example because he'd continue to kick ass while in that position, just like Sam Fisher can do in Splinter Cell. Raiden/Snake, when walking down a narrow passageway, can get shot. Does this splits move aid Fisher in any way? Not sure, but it looks damn cool to be up doing the splits between two walls and firing his rifle at enemies.
Other real time moves we observed included a shock attack on two guards that happened to be standing in a puddle of water. Sneaking up on them, Fisher fired a tazer weapon at them and by the time they turned to react to the shots, they started convulsing and collapsed. This is one of many nonlethal, and therefore important moves, you'll have at your disposal in Splinter Cell.
In fact a tremendous amount of your abilities in this game revolve around the options you have in dealing with situations. You have the firepower and the tricks to go toe to toe with enemies whenever you're ready, but you also have the stuff and the skills you need to be quick, stealthy and nonviolent. You can pick up and hide dead bodies that you've created to keep your activities hidden and such. You're a badass secret agent, but you do have limits on how much killing you can do in Splinter Cell. Depending on the mission there can be caps on the number of armed enemies you can drop and on the number of innocents you can kill. This suggest that you can waste some civilians if you feel like it and not get in trouble, but you can't kill anybody, soldier or civilian, that's critical to you completing the mission. The kicker is, you won't find out until you complete the level that you went over your kill limit.
One mission we saw featured a computer geek all alone in a room and the mission was to get some crucial date from him. The only problem is he's the only who can get it for you so you can't kill him. Using your special means of coercion, like a gun to his head, he'll eventually help you out. Once he does, he's literally your biatch and you can do what you want with him...within reason of course. As soon as you get the data though, you have to destroy the computers, which of course alerts the guards and now you have to worry about escaping unharmed. The style of gameplay can change that quickly.
Climbing is going to be a huge part of Splinter Cell. Fisher can jump up and grab ledges and edges of structures, walkways and most anything that looks like it can be grabbed. He can climb straight up vertical beams and polls that blend in perfectly with the environment so there's no discoloration, flashing or glowing around climbable objects. You'll just have to learn to keep your eyes peeled and know your skills.
The game is entirely in the third person perspective. When you go to aim with your weapon, the camera zooms in quickly to a nice over-the-shoulder perspective to make things easier. In fact, the "smart" camera system seems to have conquered most of the problems you can get in a third person game where the environments vary from tight hallways, to giant chambers and everything in between.
We fully expect a devastating arsenal of weapons to compliment the great assortment of gadgets and toys we've seen so far. So far, we've only seen a silenced pistol, the tazer weapon, a sniper rifle and a futuristic looking assault rifle based on the one the angry blond haired terrorist Karl used in Die Hard. Given the history of other Tom Clancy games, cool weapons should be the last thing we have to worry about.
Now that the fuse has been lit, Splinter Cell should heat up all the way through the summer and into the fall as one of the most anticipated games for the Xbox. Oh did we mention your Microsoft console is the lead platform for the game? As in it will have every kickass feature Ubi Soft's Monreal studio can think of because it will be the version that will set the standard. So start saving those chips and go ahead and move this to the top three of your most wanted list. I know I have.
-from IGN.COM
Screens:
http://xboxpix.com/splinter-cell_16.JPG
http://xboxpix.com/splinter-cell_33.JPG
http://xboxpix.com/splinter-cell_35.JPG
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/splinterific6.jpg
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/splinterific15.jpg
http://xboxpix.com/splinter-cell_37.JPG
(Notice the spectacular lighting effects)