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Sober
Nov 19, 2011


What is Splinter Cell?
Splinter Cell is a stealth-action game series where you play Sam Fisher, the grumpiest old US spy. In the world of Splinter Cell, information warfare is everything, or so the cinematics between missions tell me, and it's all up to Sam Fisher to sneak around to places where no others can. In fact, you have the Fifth Freedom, which is basically permission to do whatever it takes to protect your country. For a lot of people, this poster included, Splinter Cell might be one of the first stealth games they were weaned on. Others may have come from other camps, such as the MGS ones, or the Thief series. For Splinter Cell, at least, stealth is encouraged and is used to help you get around levels to complete whatever objectives you have but the series relies on gadgets to help you get around. Things like remote cameras you can shoot onto a wall (that also can produce noise and distract) or being able to fire non-lethal things to incapacitate the enemy. Or you can use sneak up behind them and decide someone's fate, whether that be a knockout blow, a gunshot to the head, or something else. The first game come out in 2002 (2003 on PC), so now the franchise is 10 years old and I also feel old.

The Games
(This is mostly about the mainline releases, I will touch on the side games on portables later)

Splinter Cell

Featuring:
  • The first appearance of Sam Fisher, what else do you need? Probably one of the first games that really relied on shadows as more than just eye-candy.
  • The coolest level where you infiltrate the CIA and you have to ghost it.
  • Some crazy plot which takes place mostly in Georgia (the country)
Should I play it?
If you are new to stealth, I might have to say no, unless you come in with a very open mind. This is especially true if you weren't much of a fan of games until the 360/PS3 generation, as the gameplay may be more aged than you might like. If you are intent on playing it, try finding the Splinter Cell HD Trilogy for consoles, or buy it on PC during a Steam sale or something.

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

Featuring:
  • The debut of Spies versus Mercs, an asymmetrical multiplayer mode. Terrible confession time: I was never much of an SvM player.
  • A really cool train mission, but everything else was rather hard to remember. Or I only played through the once.
  • President David Palmer/Snake Doctor as your handler (they had different VOs except Sam this game)
Should I play it?
Sort of the same answer as SC1, as SCPT is basically more of the same. Comes included in the HD rerelease, but for PCs, apparently shadows or something are bugged on modern systems. Your only option seems to be to find a boxed copy, if you really want it, but I found nothing particularly memorable about it. Probably safe to skip.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Featuring:
  • The goddamn gold standard for stealth games, in my opinion. Best levels, best music (Amon Tobin), best goddamn everything. The Sam Fisher head could've used some work in retrospect, but that is it's only bad mark I can give it.
  • A knife. You use it to shank fools if you so please. Or you can open up tents and stuff and sneak in. In fact, they vastly expanded the gadgets you could use and just generally made stealth gaming more accessible.
  • The voices in your ear not taking everything so goddamn serious: Sam joking about being set up on dates with fat girls via your communications expert, or having her tease you about being an old man, Sam just being grumpy the entire time, or joking about your handler being divorced way too many times while in the middle of a mission.
  • Co-op mode: ran concurrent with the game's story as you played two other different splinter cells. Also, your voice chat could be heard by guards, so whisper.
  • Did I mention it's the best loving Splinter Cell game, if not the best stealth game in recent memory?
Should I play it?
If you weren't paying attention, not sure if this is the game for you. Like I said, this is the best SC game to date, and probably the best stealth game to date (tied with a few others). Most levels are multi-layered and take advantage of the fact you can manipulate the environment with your gadgets or if push comes to shove, you can viciously murder everyone with your knife. Probably the most accessible game as well, though you might be a bit more fragile than you would expect from guy with gun games. You can essentially ghost through all the levels, no one ever even knowing you were there, which is the most satisfying thing to do. Or again, you can viciously murder the hell out of everyone, which is a fun thing sometimes. Co-op is a blast but supposedly the servers for that and SvM are no longer online or something. The characters also fortunately don't take themselves too seriously even with a war on the horizon or whatever the story is about. Comes with the HD Trilogy rerelease or can be found on most DD outlets or Steam for usually 3.50$ during a sale. Whether you are new to stealth, or somehow never played Splinter Cell games, start here. Be warned though, it is a bit hard to go back once you do (to the older games).

Splinter Cell: Double Agent

Featuring:
  • The only decent Sam Fisher head model. Oh, and a semi-hub level that takes place between globe hopping missions.
  • Two versions of the game - X360/PS3/PC and a Gamecube/Wii/PS2/Xbox version that are vastly different. I am told the latter is the superior version, but I only played the former on PC.
  • Day-time stealth: I guess I should give this game something, because there isn't much else I liked about the game. Stealth is simplified to 3 states - green/yellow/red for undetected, suspicious and alert. Maybe because of day time levels, maybe not.
  • You also manipulate loyalty bars but the Double Agent thing is a cover, but at least it provides some interesting X or Y objectives during missions.
  • The world's loving dumbest minigame that you probably want to just youtube or gamefaqs because it's not worth the trouble.
Should I play it?
If you enjoyed Chaos Theory, you might like it. It is the same thing as before, but you might not like it. The story takes some interesting twists and turns at times but not what you were expecting from a Splinter Cell game, though some of the double-agenting is fun at times. The hub building you return to between missions changes and you still have to sneak around it occasionally to do good-guy things. Unfortunately everything is overwrought and melodramatic because of the situation you're in. I have only played it once, so I might be wrong and it might be oodles of fun, but it comes off weak coming from Chaos Theory no matter what. You can find copies on 360/PS3/PC, though apparently the PC port is weak/inferior or something, but you should be able to brute force it. IMO, the weakest game of the series even though it's most like the previous, which is the best, and the following one which is nothing like it.

Splinter Cell: Conviction

Featuring:
  • HoboSam FisherPanther: The crystallization of "Panther" stealth, aka Predatory Stealth. If you've played the Batman: Arkham games, it's similar except you have a gun and you murder the poo poo out of everyone instead of knocking them unconscious. Seen by the hardcore stealth fans as the loving worst thing ever, the developers wanted to take stealth in another direction, away from "grandma" stealth where you sit and wait and move slowly and plan to "panther" where you might do some planning, but you end up viciously murdering everyone without them knowing (at least hopefully).
  • A storyline reminiscent of 24. You basically play Jack Bauer who wants revenge throughout the whole game, so some of it is memorable.
  • Mark and Execute: Basically an extension of Panther Stealth that most people find completely repulsive one way or another because it either makes stealth too easy by letting you murder up to three or four people at the press of a button, or it just makes games seem like they play themselves. Basically you can mark guards, a nice way to keep track of them. If you melee kill one, you can now 'execute' and whichever marked targets are in line-of-sight and range will get instantly murdered in a cinematic fashion.
  • Some cool interrogation scenes, projected text (think Fringe, etc.) in the missions.
  • Black and White to go stealth: some people liked it, most of the hardcore at it since it basically removed your night vision goggles (at least the mode), it looked hideous to most and it made their game/stealth accessible to those filthy common denominators.
  • Also they removed SvM, so you can get mad at that.
  • Very familiar guards
Should I play it?
If you like going on everyone, then you should. If for some reason Chaos Theory doesn't sit well with you, or you think the gameplay from it has aged too much to be fun, find someone to punch you in the junk, then try again. If it still doesn't appeal to you, I guess you could try Conviction, since it's basically Jack Bauer: The Game (not to be confused with 24: The Game on PS2). Certain elements like Last Known Position or going Black and White are supposed to make stealth more accessible somehow. Occasionally the work, but unlike stealth in the previous games, the whole point here is to sneak around mostly to figure out who to gently caress up, and then promptly gently caress them up. There may be an option to go loud with weapons, but that sounds suicidal regardless. The story/single player is meh, but the Deniable Ops mode (co-op or solo) is fun, or so I hear, as it plays more like Chaos Theory - get detected and you're done for/fail, featuring more sandboxy missions as well.


Coming soon:
Splinter Cell: Blacklist

I will expand on this later, but I am consciously optimistic about this game. It featyres Conviction's Predatory stealth and reintroduces ghost stealth (gadgets and all missing from Conviction are back) as well as an option to go loud for all those dirty manshooter fans. Also features a hub like the Mass Effect series where your base is a plane and you can roam around it and stuff. Also not featuring Michael Ironside as the voice for Sam Fisher, as the game is being done with mocap, so they had to get someone else to do them along with the voice. Though from all accounts, Ironside is either narrating the game and/or doing consulting on the game/Fisher.


Useful Links
The official Splinter Cell site
Splinter Cell on Wikipedia
The Splinter Cell Wikia
The Stealth Letters: Part 1 and Part 2, a talk with the designers on some stealth games ... about stealth. Featuring the designers on Mark of the Ninja, Monaco, Blacklist (which gives me hope they'll do stealth justice again) and Dishonored.

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Sober
Nov 19, 2011


Reserving a space just in case, maybe for the books or other stuff like other stealth game suggestions.

Utnayan
Sep 26, 2002


I really enjoyed Splinter Cell 1-3. Double Agent was an ok game, but as you said, the latter versions were supposedly very superior (I never played that version - only the 360 version which was underwhelming) and Conviction lost Merc Vs Spy multiplayer for a co-op story mode and turned Sam Fisher into Jason Bourne. I actually did my first and only midnight release pick up for conviction when it came out I was so fired up for it. All in all, it wasn't a bad game, just different for the series, but you could basically take Batman Arkham asylum, reskin it, and have Conviction.

The highlight of this series for me was Pandora Tomorrow playing with Goons that I still keep in regular contact with today, which then progressed a tad into Chaos Theory. But folks like HardKarma, Dextor, Dvlos, Megaman Jockstrap, Wafflezone, Dogen, and others I am forgetting - is absolutely * The * best time I have ever had in a multiplayer Xbox game. They also would give maps out for free and expanded the game a bit. But really, it was an awesome and fresh take on multiplayer, and I really hope it returns in all it's Pandora Tomorrow glory in Blacklist. With that said, it is going to be weird controlling a Sam Fisher without Ironside voicing him directly.

Utnayan fucked around with this message at Feb 6, 2013 around 21:47

Yodzilla
Apr 29, 2005


Sober posted:

The world's loving dumbest minigame that you probably want to just youtube or gamefaqs because it's not worth the trouble.

I thought for sure you were going to link to the mine building minigame but drat I must have blocked out the hacking one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=couhcrdC7Qc#t=266s

gently caress Double Agent. That was one of the first 360 games I owned and I hated every second of it.


e: I remember Pandora Tomorrow being mostly good but the last level was buggy as gently caress for me for some reason. Maybe it got patched at some point but I distinctly remember having to run through that level murdering everyone because they could see me through walls and all kinds of other crap.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way or another.



Great timing since I've just started trying to get into Chaos Theory and I'm struggling a bit with getting used to the keyboard controls. Is is possible (or even recommended) to try and "ghost" through the game on a first playthrough or should I just take things as they come?

Utnayan
Sep 26, 2002


Jerusalem posted:

Great timing since I've just started trying to get into Chaos Theory and I'm struggling a bit with getting used to the keyboard controls. Is is possible (or even recommended) to try and "ghost" through the game on a first playthrough or should I just take things as they come?

I would grab an Xbox USB Wired controller. It will play a lot better for you.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way or another.



Utnayan posted:

I would grab an Xbox USB Wired controller. It will play a lot better for you.

I had exactly the opposite reaction, I'd held off playing it for a year till I got a controller and when I finally got one, the game felt awful using it (plus not every action has an associated button). I actually prefer kb/m in most games anyway, I was just having trouble getting my head around all the various things you can do in the game, even after watching the video tutorials.

blackguy32
Oct 1, 2005

FLAVA FLAV!!!!!

I remember playing the Chaos Theory versus like mad. It was very fun initially, but after a while, people got super good and some of the problems with balance started appearing in the game. Like many of the maps were usually lovely for one side.

Sober
Nov 19, 2011


Jerusalem posted:

Great timing since I've just started trying to get into Chaos Theory and I'm struggling a bit with getting used to the keyboard controls. Is is possible (or even recommended) to try and "ghost" through the game on a first playthrough or should I just take things as they come?
The thing about games like SC or Hitman where everyone goes on about how the only true path is doing it a certain way are full of poo poo out super patient. For SCCT, it's doable since 100% really has a lot of leeway like allowing nonlethal takedowns ( though true ghosting is not touching anyone at all). Plus you can quicksave/quickload at will, but the charm of ghosting really comes from familiarity first, so just take it as it comes IMO. The levels are great enough that they warrant replaying.

Strachn
Aug 13, 2006



I'm super depressed about Ironside not being the voice of Fisher in the new game. I've grown so used to his gravelly sarcasm that it's going to be weird hearing someone else, it might not feel like Fisher any more

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Disciplined

One of the many great things about Chaos Theory is, like Deus Ex, the many different ways you can approach a mission.Also, I like my stealth games on the grandma side rather than the panther side - I like to take my time and either ghost through a level or knock everyone out.

It's true that Deniable Ops is a bit closer to old-school SC...I quite like it. I even made some melee-only Deniable Ops walkthroughs starting here, but my approach is fairly slow and methodical (i.e., probably boring). I thought the single player campaign for Conviction was pretty terrible, though. I disliked Double Agent but the first time I played it, I don't think my computer could handle it because the framerate was pretty dismal. That aside, it lacked a lot of the freedom of Chaos Theory...it really felt like you were being shoehorned in the way they wanted you to play the game. The obstacle course at the beginning was pretty goofy too.

Dice Dingus
May 3, 2010


Thank you for reminding me how many hours of my high school years I burned on running around blindly as a merc and getting completely ruined by my best friend while screaming like a slasher flick victim.

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Disciplined

Plank posted:

I'm super depressed about Ironside not being the voice of Fisher in the new game. I've grown so used to his gravelly sarcasm that it's going to be weird hearing someone else, it might not feel like Fisher any more

I suppose the 'official' explanation is that Ironside is a pacifist and he doesn't like the gun-happy direction the games are taking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqDIDMqxH1o

But the real reason probably has something to do with "gimme mo money!"

pengun101
Feb 14, 2012


Seventh Arrow posted:

I suppose the 'official' explanation is that Ironside is a pacifist and he doesn't like the gun-happy direction the games are taking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqDIDMqxH1o

But the real reason probably has something to do with "gimme mo money!"

Yeah, It's disappointing that he won't be in the new one, but on the other hand Blacklist still looks pretty good.

DEAR RICHARD
Feb 5, 2009

IT'S TIME FOR MY TOOLS


I actually just bought a copy of Chaos Theory last night for Xbox from Amazon. I figure $3.50 was more than justifiable.

Cinematic
Feb 26, 2006


One of my favorite parts of Chaos Theory is Sam loving with guards when he interrogates them. Some quality black humor, its too bad they kind of stopped doing that in Double Agent (maybe they didn't, that game is a blur to me) and completely stopped doing it in Conviction.

ARACHNOTRON
May 10, 2008


Chaos Theory co-op over XBL (or split screen I GUESS) was the best thing in the entire world, forever. Just two spies dicking around, doing whatever. Walking up behind guards and whispering into the microphone so that they freak and turn around, only to get punched in the face or knifed. Good times.

Dice Dingus
May 3, 2010


ARACHNOTRON posted:

Chaos Theory co-op over XBL (or split screen I GUESS) was the best thing in the entire world, forever. Just two spies dicking around, doing whatever. Walking up behind guards and whispering into the microphone so that they freak and turn around, only to get punched in the face or knifed. Good times.

I never had friends patient enough for me. I could spend a couple hours on a particularly good mission, just so that I could soak in the ambiance and do absolutely everything right.

Something about the way Chaos Theory depicted offices and other ordinary places in their brief abandonment by night coupled with that soundtrack are probably a big part of why I'm such a sucker for corporate espionage stories and other cyberpunkery.

skooma512
Feb 8, 2012


I've played the first 3 at least 5 times. They are very good games.

Just wish they didn't have the shadow bug on Pandora for PC. I don't feel like dusting off my PS2 just for that.

TyroneGoldstein
Mar 30, 2005

Yo that security guard looks like Malcolm X!

Seventh Arrow posted:

One of the many great things about Chaos Theory is, like Deus Ex, the many different ways you can approach a mission.Also, I like my stealth games on the grandma side rather than the panther side - I like to take my time and either ghost through a level or knock everyone out.

It's true that Deniable Ops is a bit closer to old-school SC...I quite like it. I even made some melee-only Deniable Ops walkthroughs starting here, but my approach is fairly slow and methodical (i.e., probably boring). I thought the single player campaign for Conviction was pretty terrible, though. I disliked Double Agent but the first time I played it, I don't think my computer could handle it because the framerate was pretty dismal. That aside, it lacked a lot of the freedom of Chaos Theory...it really felt like you were being shoehorned in the way they wanted you to play the game. The obstacle course at the beginning was pretty goofy too.

That's the great thing I found about Conviction. I played the story once (God that Iraq segment was absolutely atrocious. Just horrible), but deniable Ops became a really nice drink beer and play after work thing for me. It was a hoot taking out baddies in sequence. Still, it doesn't make up for the change up in the game format.

Edit: Also, those videos are great, well done!

TyroneGoldstein fucked around with this message at Feb 7, 2013 around 03:32

Sober
Nov 19, 2011


In regards to Ironside not being the voice anymore though, from what I could glean from videos from the devs, he's still there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlUnTcjlkd8#t=10s

I think it's more of him supervising the character of Sam Fisher if anything. It seems like he's heavily invested in Sam Fisher that he doesn't really want to see him turn into a generic action hero even if he can't really commit to doing the full mo-cap experience. Looks like they changed the voice actress for Grim as well too. Ah well, can't have everything I guess.

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Disciplined

Cinematic posted:

One of my favorite parts of Chaos Theory is Sam loving with guards when he interrogates them. Some quality black humor, its too bad they kind of stopped doing that in Double Agent (maybe they didn't, that game is a blur to me) and completely stopped doing it in Conviction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM3Cl5wBgNU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSBRvZz-0_o

Best game ever

Alteisen
Jun 4, 2007



I have no hope for Blacklist, the whole game just screams we want the Call of Duty audience.

No Ironside is just the icing on the poo poo cake.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way or another.



Wow, the mouse-wheel adjustment for walking speed makes a big difference in Chaos Theory. I made it through the lighthouse and got what I felt was a fairly respectable 75% score. I enjoyed the little touches, especially the guy who tells the story about the thunder storm when he was a child, and tells Fisher (if you choose to interrogate him) that he's been waiting for him to come out of the storm for him all his life.

In my end of level stats it said I killed somebody, when I made a conscious effort not to. Can people die if left out in the environment? Literally the only thing I can think of that might have killed somebody was that they were unconscious and left out in the rain with their mouth open!

Chafey
Jun 14, 2005

greenface does not understand


As someone who played through and beat every game up through Chaos Theory, I am so very, very excited about blacklist. I just couldn't play more than an hour of Double Agent, the gameplay seemed way too dated by the time I finally got around to it, and conviction was okay for a little while but I had way too much fun with MGS4 to really warrant more attention. I can't wait to knife through some more fools tents.

BIPOLAR EDIT: I'm actually really not that interested in Blacklist, I guess I saw some cliff climbing or something? Those instakill chains look kinda cool, I dunno though it's probably gonna just go under my radar when it's released.

Chafey fucked around with this message at Feb 7, 2013 around 11:11

LordPants
Mar 5, 2011

Four more years boys, four more years.


I used to get the "Nighty-Night" button and the "Break the fool's neck" button mixed up sometimes. I guess that could have been it?

Ninja fetus
Jan 22, 2005
Legalize murder

I'm not sure about this one. Conviction took the Call of modern warfare approach. It felt very little like Splinter cell to me and I hated it. Pretty much every succesful series gets the OMG EPIC CINEMATIC experience these days and I really don't like it.

DJ Ramshackle
Nov 26, 2009

Not really a DJ

not quite a ramshackle


I used to hate Pandora Tomorrow when it came out because I believe they swapped the jump and crouch buttons from the first game on Xbox so I would constantly gently caress up and get spotted. I do love all the games though, I even dug Double Agent. Chaos Theory reigns supreme. The choice with Shetland was badass.

GUI
Nov 5, 2005



I'm sure Blacklist will be fun on its own, but the fact that in the previews they more or less said that they made all the shooty and killing features before the non-lethal ones says a bit about the direction they want the series to go. There was also one of the people involved in the game in the GiantBomb forums last year talking about how they want it to be a blockbuster that appeals to a large audience, so I'm expecting Conviction but with the ability to not kill people shoe-horned in.
At the very least I hope they avoid making Sam a bloodthirsty red-blooded-American-kill-all-foreigners douchebag like the previews are making him look like.

rizuhbull
Mar 30, 2011



When the xbox came out Splinter Cell was one of the first games that actually felt next-gen. Plus it had that totally cringe-worthy "name of the game" opening. It was 2002's Dragula. But yeah, next gen. Lighting that affected gameplay, intricate character movements like wall jumping, so much attention to detail coupled with ridiculously high production values. Yeah it was on a bunch of platforms but if you really wanted to play it in all it's glory you needed it on Xbox.

I gamefly'd the HD collection a couple months ago. Way more difficult than a modern gamer would think. I beat it as a young teenager but gave up after a few tries during the CIA mission (I think it was). Games today really do spoil us. Even on normal, the original Splinter Cell will gently caress your poo poo. I think most of it's difficulty came from it's linearity. There was really only one, maybe two at most, ways to get through the sections. I remember Chaos Theory's co-op was worse if you had the PS2 version. Man, all those sweet co-op moves you could do with a partner. Why don't we have that in gaming anymore? It had so many features that no one bothers with now-a-days. It's sad how advanced games got, only to have it recess. Last-generation was the golden age of games . Pupils looked around, faces contorted, enemies would writhe and suffer on the ground (Hitman Blood Money). You could even give voice commands to your A.I. Squad in Socom, and they were pretty drat competent about it too! You could do all that with a $30 headset that came with the game. You didn't need no poo poo tracking $150+ bullshit (gently caress you, Kinect and Move).

Conviction is a fun game, but it's a bad Splinter Cell. It's the DMC of Devil May Cry. A good game on it's own, but a poo poo return. Splinter Cell had those Hollywood-climactic moments too, but they were always spread out, usually towards the end of the game. The contrast between stealth and wrecking fools was glorious. It's the rock show moment in Alan Wake, that big payoff. Plus it made the game's memorable. I remember reading the previews for Conviction. Ubisoft had all these ambitious ideas like melee weapons and whatnot. Someone should post that stuff if you can find it. I'd like to know I'm not the only one to remember.

rizuhbull fucked around with this message at Feb 7, 2013 around 12:07

Sober
Nov 19, 2011


The Bank mission from Chaos Theory is still fantastic, which I played last night. Infiltrating it is a bit one-way (well you could go through a front door I suppose), but as soon as you step inside, you pretty much have free reign of the building and a ton of objectives to do, some in any order you wish, others are objectives of opportunity. Hell, I must've replayed this mission like 4, 5 times and I never realized there was another path to get around, even avoiding an entire wing that I used to always go through to get to an objective - you can skulk around through some vents I never found to get where you want, which blew my mind that I completely missed it (or at least forgot about it).

Also the banter from Sam and the crew throughout the mission was just absolutely great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0902iSlnw0 one good playthrough, not too much commentary, all stealth on expert. The bank mission is so drat good.

Dice Dingus
May 3, 2010


rizuhbull posted:

When the xbox came out Splinter Cell was one of the first games that actually felt next-gen. Plus it had that totally cringe-worthy "name of the game" opening. It was 2002's Dragula. But yeah, next gen. Lighting that affected gameplay, intricate character movements like wall jumping, so much attention to detail coupled with ridiculously high production values. Yeah it was on a bunch of platforms but if you really wanted to play it in all it's glory you needed it on Xbox.

I gamefly'd the HD collection a couple months ago. Way more difficult than a modern gamer would think. I beat it as a young teenager but gave up after a few tries during the CIA mission (I think it was). Games today really do spoil us. Even on normal, the original Splinter Cell will gently caress your poo poo. I think most of it's difficulty came from it's linearity. There was really only one, maybe two at most, ways to get through the sections. I remember Chaos Theory's co-op was worse if you had the PS2 version. Man, all those sweet co-op moves you could do with a partner. Why don't we have that in gaming anymore? It had so many features that no one bothers with now-a-days. It's sad how advanced games got, only to have it recess. Last-generation was the golden age of games . Pupils looked around, faces contorted, enemies would writhe and suffer on the ground (Hitman Blood Money). You could even give voice commands to your A.I. Squad in Socom, and they were pretty drat competent about it too! You could do all that with a $30 headset that came with the game. You didn't need no poo poo tracking $150+ bullshit (gently caress you, Kinect and Move).

Conviction is a fun game, but it's a bad Splinter Cell. It's the DMC of Devil May Cry. A good game on it's own, but a poo poo return. Splinter Cell had those Hollywood-climactic moments too, but they were always spread out, usually towards the end of the game. The contrast between stealth and wrecking fools was glorious. It's the rock show moment in Alan Wake, that big payoff. Plus it made the game's memorable. I remember reading the previews for Conviction. Ubisoft had all these ambitious ideas like melee weapons and whatnot. Someone should post that stuff if you can find it. I'd like to know I'm not the only one to remember.

Thanks to you dweebs I popped Chaos Theory into my 360 last night, and you aren't kidding, I couldn't get through the Maria Narcissa without raising an alarm thanks to all those drat narrow corridors and fiddly angled lights.
But it also reminded me why ever since this game I've always loved the stealth class in any game that gives you option, Sam Fisher. The man who can slip inside anyplace, anywhere, and not just accomplish a mission quietly, but so quietly that nobody even knew there was an infiltration.
He's grim, nihilistic even (what else drives a guy with a daughter to go on one-man suicide missions?), but he makes his own fun.
Much more fun than ROGUE MAN ON THE EDGE DEAD DAUGHTER Sam from the recent games.

...Also, it's set in the near future of 2007.

lolasaurusrex
Feb 8, 2013


I'm actually half way through the first game as we speak. I completely ignored these games when I played on consoles, it's only now that I have a decent PC that I'm playing through them.

I agree that the first one is somewhat inaccessible. The keyboard controls are really clunky, it makes controlling Sam feel like a glass tank. The game itself is awesome though, which more than makes up for it.

I really enjoy playing as a character who isn't a cold blooded killer. The non-lethal approach is emphasised in the tutorial, which just isn't something you see these days. I'll be very disappointed if I get all the way to Blacklist just to find out the gave SC the CoD treatment.

Sober
Nov 19, 2011


There seem to be moments where you have to kind of shoot your way through, or the enemy knows you are there even in all the previous SC games when you cross a certain threshold in a mission.

The same guy I linked earlier seemed to be very good about stealthing through everything but even the first game has moments where the enemy will always know you are there (he actually cheesed a script on an earlier mission to get by, but obviously not the intended effect). Obviously Chaos Theory is probably a lot better about being able to ghost it but it's not like them adding action moments to the games are the devs viciously raping the series or anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ILf8kxGpM#t=1342s - SC1 spoilers of course

You got to shoot up fools here apparently as he said he spent hours trying to non-lethal his way through most of that mission, and no one else seemed to be able to figure a way out either.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way or another.



I think I spent roughly 4 hours total doing the bank mission in Chaos Theory trying to get it exactly right. Not because I felt I had to, but because I really wanted to. Getting through every objective without hurting anyone or alerting anyone (other than freaking out a couple of guards with whistles to lead them away from their workstations) or setting off any alarms was so satisfying. Are the other levels as good as the bank? Because that was a blast.

Nelson Mandingo
Mar 27, 2005



I was just talking to a friend another day about Splinter Cell. It's a shame that Ubisoft doesn't do a kickstarter for old school Rainbow Six games and a Splinter Cell with a serious focus on stealth. I'd chip in $60 for each of them. Chaos Theory really is the gold standard for a stealth game. Maybe the next Thief won't be utter crap!...I hope.


Probably my favorite moment of Splinter Cell Chaos Theory was in Kokubo Sosho. I always intentionally get captured so Sam can surprise his torturer. It's always a serious and hilarious moment. Imagine you were that guy, what utter terror you'd feel? I think what's even cooler is the fact you can avoid capture entirely. It really was just a good game.

Nelson Mandingo fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 07:23

Sober
Nov 19, 2011


Jerusalem posted:

I think I spent roughly 4 hours total doing the bank mission in Chaos Theory trying to get it exactly right. Not because I felt I had to, but because I really wanted to. Getting through every objective without hurting anyone or alerting anyone (other than freaking out a couple of guards with whistles to lead them away from their workstations) or setting off any alarms was so satisfying. Are the other levels as good as the bank? Because that was a blast.
Bank is absolutely top tier fun. There is a mission after the next (mission 5, aka Displace) has the same feel to the level, but not entirely open/non-linear as Bank was. I've almost finished replaying it (trying to ghost the end of Bathhouse is a chore IMO, flashbacks are hitting me again), but I can't recall if the last mission is like that or not, though the mission after Bank is still pretty drat good (Penthouse).

I wouldn't always completely expect large open buildings in Splinter Cell, that was always more of a Hitman (Blood Money) thing. Most of the missions area still fairly linear in CT, but usually with tons of paths to get to where you need to go, which is what I hope they are going to do right with the next game.

On a weird note, I did see there were ghosting videos of Conviction on Youtube, so it looks doable. (well, as far as it would let you ghost, there seem to be quite a few forced moments where you have to clear rooms to progress).

Sober
Nov 19, 2011


Double post to bump because I found some recent news on Blacklist:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming...cell-blacklist/

Talks a bunch about stealth coming back, about the Mocap/VO actors they are using (Sam and Grim are both replaced much to probably most of our chagrin), there's a bit on why features in Ubi games seem to melt into one another, and they talk about how Ubi is in charge of the Splinter Cell movie and Tom Hardy is in it.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way or another.



Ugh, 85% on the Displace level in Chaos Theory because I didn't use the EEV to listen in on the two guards talking about Milan Nedich. I DID listen to their conversation, just not with the EEV, and kind of assumed that it was just the start of finding out more about him in the level otherwise.

Does it change anything in the cutscene that follows or the Hokkaido level or is just extra added flavor to the game?

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Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Disciplined

As far as I know, it doesn't change any of the content at all.

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