Closing Comments-
This is the kind of game I imagined when I used to dream about the experiences next generation consoles were going to give us. Splinter Cell is one of the smartest games I've ever played in that it challenged me to lose myself in this world of espionage and to use everything I think I know about secret operatives to get through it. While there were plenty of times I would get caught in a trial-error-death cycle trying to clear a certain part of the game, I never once felt helpless or confused to the point where I was ready to blame the developers for poor level design or something. When you run into a difficult part in Splinter Cell that's just kicking your hide, it only means you're not thinking outside the box and exploring all of your options. It's not quite as open as a Grand Theft Auto game, but there are unorthodox ways of solving some problems. But in this world of super spies, there's no such thing as unorthodox, just do or die.
This game literally shines on the Xbox and has enough gameplay hours to satisfy dedicated Halo junkies who've been waiting for the next landmark single player game on the system. Since you can play with varying degrees of stealth and aggression, you'll have every reason to play through Splinter Cell multiple times.
I often found myself saying "Whoa, I don't know if gamers are going to be ready for that." But once Splinter Cell is in your system, and this game has a perfectly balanced learning curve, you will be ready for all it has to offer.
-- Aaron Boulding
Presentation
The Tom Clancy realism, great voice acting and well integrated storyline will convince you that Jack Ryan's got nothing on Sam Fisher 9.0
Graphics
Revolutionary. Splinter Cell has raised our expectations for what kind of lighting and animation can be done on Xbox 10.0
Sound
Exeptional score and the sophisticated application of sound and music to gameplay are all kicked out in glorious 5.1. 10.0
Gameplay
The definition of stealth-action.You get to do so much cool covert agent stuff in this game, enemies of the state shouldn't be allowed to play it. 10.0
Lasting Appeal
Can be played multiple times with varying degrees of aggression, so it has lots of legs for a solo-only game. 8.0
OVERALL SCORE (not an average) 9.6
sweet
IGN Splinter Cell review
Linear Mode
