Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Comments by Kristan Reed

Tiitiz will be happy :)

You damn right im happy :))

Good review spot on but one thing :) I wonder if the AI was spot on it would recieve 10/10 here :) All though i dont agree with 100% scores in anything

I agree with everyting Ahab said about the stealth. I to was not a huge fan of stealth but I cant help loving it in this game. Because I love this game so much im even gonna get MGS2 when it arrives and see if i can like that :))

Thumbs up! even if it is a late review :)

/me wonders how he is going to get through a part in mission 7.

Well i`m looking forward to getting this on monday once the fairplay campaign is over with...dunno if it`ll do any good but cant do any harm.

One thing.. how does Sam Fisher manage to hide in the shadows with that trio of green glowing lights on his head and the PDA on his back, eh? Seems a bit incongruous to me.

Pretty good game. Nothing earth-shattering gameplay-wise but it's got some lovely graphical effects.

You have to think outside the box for this game, laterally not literally or something like that.

Anyway, fresh Xbox in hand I will be firing this one up to get back to the end of level 2 where I was last night when Xbox number 1 died a premature death.

hmm AI problems and no widescreen..?

looks pretty good but 8/10 seems fairer.. I didnt get Edge the other day but I believe it got 7/10 in there. I might have to go find it and see why..

10 quid says the PC version will have better A.I! Why? Because it is well known that console games are made to be easier to complete then their PC counterparts.

Razz - you are on mate... easiest tenner I ever made!

//rubs hands//
Egggselent

Of course pc version will be better. It always is. As long as you got a good pc :)
Roll on '03 so I can play this hehe

[cough] Buy or download [/cough]

The correct term is `try b4 you buy` :p

er.. yes. Also, I beg everyone forgiveness for not reading the review before submitting my first post, the game is hard already. Sorry.

Is there a way to run Xbox games in 60Hz without always having to access the Xbox main video settings and switching the option on and off all the time (like Gamecube's holding 'B' on startup)? The reason I ask this is because games like Halo, which don't actually support true PAL 60Hz (the game runs differently, as if the timing has been set to clip at 60Hz/ 30 fps, while actually refreshing at 50Hz resulting in frame skipping), and I find myself always wanting to play games in the best mode possible (smooth PAL 50Hz is better than jerky 60Hz, etc).

Also, I don't think Splinter Cell actually supports 60Hz. I run the game with the PAL 60 mode enabled and it runs & refreshes exactly the same as in 50Hz. Not that it matters, because the game runs and looks great in 50Hz. Just thought I'd point that out. And for anyone who cares, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind does not support PAL 60 either.

As for the game itself, I am really liking it, despite some minor annoyances. It has hooked me far more than MGS2, although I would not say Splinter Cell is the berating behemoth most Xbox fanboys would have you believe. The lighting effects are beautiful and the environments have nice variation. The animation is good, despite feeling slightly detached from the environments. Overall, a top game and easily one of the best Xbox game so far this year.

I'm so glad I don't have to worry about all that "50hz" shit you Europeans always talk about.

"Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind does not support PAL 60 either."

ROFL, you're lucky to get "10Hz" running Morrowind on ur average PC!! ;)

Jimbo dude...

http://www.eurogamer.net/eg_display_articles.php?thread_id=4
51&forum_id=1

check it ;) Will explain all

Level 1 eh? The police station, fucking hard. Anyway, Xbox 1 died after 4 days, see the thread.

hello Kristan : grovel mode on:

can you lend me a copy of the pc version, as soon as you get it, pretty please ?
i'll be your bestest friend:
grovel /bottom (arse) kissing mode off ;)

DIdnt like MGS 1 or 2 not even gonna try this game. Just find them bleeding annoying and boring.

A fair review...I think the only things that piss me off about the game are that sometimes you get into camera hell in tight squeezes, and the main character STILL does that "FPS/TPS shuffling into walls" thing that I put down as lazy program design..(hell, even GTA addresses this issue!! Why can't more games! Resi being the worst offender of course)

It's a great game, well into mission 3 and still enjoying it...

Peej

Hang on a minute. It does have widescreen. I just checked the difference and I can see wider

DIdnt like MGS 1 or 2 not even gonna try this game. Just find them bleeding annoying and boring.

Maybe it helps when I tell you that MGS and SC really don't have much in common. From what I've seen, SC plays much more like Thief, and due to the totally different camera (and general approach), it's really a completely different game than MGS.

edit: (btw: I hate MGS2 with a passion, but I can't wait to play SC)

st3ph3n what happened to x-box #1?? . New levels (live download)are going to be available shortly for splinter cell!!!!... One could conceivably make a game last a heck of a lot longer with downloadable levels and make purchases rather than rentals more popular! (of course I think splinter cell is a buy!)

The sad part is, there was supposed to be 14 levels in the finished product at one time. There are only 9 right now. So not only do you have to fork out money for the game and Xbox Live, you might very well be forced to pay for these level downloads as well.

Way to go Ubi.

Im more than happy with the current 9 missions anyhow. Taking me ages to complete

Ditto - they're not small levels are they. It's annoying that people without XBOX live are effectively "punished" but I guess these levels will crop up at some stage on a cover disc ...

Peej

there's no technical reason that extra levels can't be on a disk... but why would anyone buy them if they did that???

i'ld be extremely annoyed if i bought extra content that was later given away on cover disks.

I'm pretty sure Splinter Cell is Widescreen (16:9) on my TV too.

There is no widescreen mode chaps - I don't know what lies your TV is telling you, but my Tosh had a WSS, which is a "widescreen signal" detector. It automatically kicks into 16:9 when there's a widescreen signal, and Splinter Cell doesn't do this, whereas the likes of Halo, etc do.

Some TVs seem to stretch out the image automatically - which I can do manually if I want to - so maybe that's why you're all thinking it does have 16:9 support. The menus certainly has no mention of widescreen, nor does the box for that matter.

Wide or no, still looks and plays like a dream to me.

Love the rappelling down the side of a building...!

Peej

Your right no widescreen, I got it mixed up.

Ive checked it with the distance shown with a crate. I stand in 1 spot (marked with direct light) in normal to fit the crate in. Change to Wide screen, stand in same spot marked by light and I can see past the crates.

Now how is that not widescreen? BTW, tested on mission 7 start.

Yes, i to think Halo does not support WS but not 100%

Crap that it's not widescreen - the demo is poor for lack of widescreen I thought, now the full is the same :( I'm not buying it - ubi the wankers

yep, Xbox is most definitely set to widescreen. I've tested many other games and they work fine in WS. This is a full boxed retail copy, and we also had the same issues with a review copy.

Tiitiz - when you say you changed to widescreen - did you do that with your TV controls or in game. I say this, because there are no in game controls to flick it to WS.

How is it some of us are saying it doesn't support Widescreen and others are saying it does? This is making my head hurt.

As regards the downloadable content for non Xbox Live subscribers, Official UK Xbox magazine say in their latest issue that they will be trying to get as much downloadable content on their cover disks as is possible. Don’t know how it will work with payable content but the free ones should be available I guess.

Tiitiz - when you say you changed to widescreen - did you do that with your TV controls or in game. I say this, because there are no in game controls to flick it to WS.

lol, im no end user or a plain Dufus. I just load up mission 7 and check it.

Edit - TV im using is Philips 36inch 100hz

AA - I realise the Xbox will output a WS signal when it's available, which makes the whole thing even more confusing. You and others are saying it does flick to WS, and others are experiencing the same as me.
All I can say is that my copy definitely doesn't do WS. I'll check with Mugs too....

Nope, no widescreen in my Splinter Cell. I've been checking a bunch of AV forums too and they generally complain that it doesn't. However, the US version does do progressive scan as far as I know.

You see, that's wierd. Halo doesn't automatically switch to widescreen on my telly (and yes it does normally switch when it detects a widescreen signal - I've got a Tosh too). I always thought that Halo was a 4:3 game only but just played it in "stretched" format anyway. But I can confirm what Krudster says - Splinter Cell is definitely a 4:3 game only (but I don't think it looks at all bad when stretched.)

Forget this switching crap. Test it with the ingame image. That is how you can measure it properly. Just make sure of a fair test

I'm not sure how on earth you know when the Xbox is outputting at 60Hz or not. Any ideas people?

Nope...at least with the Cube it usually asks you aforehand if you wanna use 60hz mode.

There is some gizmo you can get from Fluke that'll tell you what's coming out of a scart (50 or 60 hz) but it probably costs an arm and a leg.

Peej

probably costs an arm and a leg.

Or some some money ;) Sorry rubbish i know

I'll get your coat...!

Peej

I am getting a few hours away from the real world to actually enjoy this game but you've gotta admit that the AI sucks. Run into a broom cupboard followed by guards, turn off the lights and stand still. The guards say "He just vanished!" like I am some super stealth guy, not just somone who's figured out the lightswitch.

Apart from that good fun all round , 'specially the end of the cia level, very atmospheric

Whenever I've ran into a room and switched the lights off the guard goes over and switch it on, I was quite shocked when they first did this!

Some times though, the AI is just goes really rubbish, but that is true for nearly every game ever.

**edit** Try a broom cupboard, they can't find the switch

(guard stupidity) It does give you some major advantages, I just feel it knocks the stuffing out of the atmosphere in places. Especially in the suspiciously badly lit CIA building. I mean, don't these guys pay the bills or what?

Gawd, talk about nitpicking. Sometimes I wonder if you guys will only be 100% happy with a game if the characters leap out of the screen and start dancing around all over your living-room floor...!

Tchoh! The AI ain't great but name one game where the AI IS human-like...!

Peej

Jimbo said:-

Even with my stealth meter at the highest stealth Guards have found me by pumping in to me

The guards perpetrate buggery upon you ? They are all homosexual ?