Splinter Cell GCN Review
Splinter Cell isn't perfect or revolutionary, and has some downright questionable design flaws. That said, it is actually pretty enjoyable, if you're patient.
You play as Sam Fisher, a Third Echelon operative who uses stealth. You have to discover what Georgian terrorist Nikoladze is up to and you discover that something that might lead to war.
The first thing you will notice about the game is the graphics. They are quite good. There are lots of shadows and light effects. The night vision is impressive, and so is the thermal vision. The only problem with the graphics is the frame rate. When guards start shooting, the frame rates drops considerably. It isn't that big of a problem, though. Just in case you're wondering, the X-Box version does look better, but guess what? The PC version looks the better than all of the console versions.
The sound is usually good, though some sounds are low-quality, like glass breaking and the guards' whistles. Where the sound really rocks is because of Sam Fisher's voice. Michael Ironside does the voice of Sam, and he does a great job. Sam is sarcastic and makes wisecracks. The music is good, with most of it being appropriate.
The gameplay is all about stealth. You cannot rush the guards and fire blindly. Instead, you use the shadows and sneak around, dispatching foes quietly. You'll have to hide the guards' bodies in dark places too, as you don't want to raise any alarms. The levels are usually designed well, except they are mostly trial and error. Expect to die every level. In the oil rig level, you have to find a certain pipe to progress and get to your objective and it's not fun. The controls themselves are excellent, and they quickly become intuitive.
All in all, I enjoyed SC even despite the trial and error gameplay. It's the only stealth game on GameCube for right now, and it's decent. Defnitely worth a rent.
Score:8/10