Splinter Cell

[American Viking]

I'm a big fan of the Splinter Cell series. I own most of the Splinter Cell games and I've beaten all the base games. I love them because they take a "realistic" approach to the stealth genre, unlike Metal Gear, and there's nothing else out there quite like it. Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory are the best in my opinion, with Chaos Theory leading the way. Splinter Cell: Double Agent was okay but nothing special. Splinter Cell: Conviction brought the SC series into the action genre if you ask me. The only redeeming qualities of Conviction are the badass Krav Maga takedowns, Michael Ironside, and decent graphics. I really feel like it wasn't really a stealth game, nevermind a SC game. Then Blacklist came out. Blacklist brought in more badass takedowns, a cool knife, more realistic movement (not climbing) but that's about it. Blacklist, not only butchered Sam Fisher's character, it basically turned the series into action stealth. Sam doesn't feel like Sam without Ironside providing vocals, and it damn sure don't look like Sam. I'll never for the life of me know why they didn't just give us a new agent instead of ruining the Sam Fisher character. Now Fisher is 50, but he moves and sounds like he's 25 thanks to the way the game was made. And did I mention the scoring system makes not a bit of sense. They give Fisher a plethora of guns to choose from and a Karambit, but if you want the highest scores possible, a "ghost" score, than you can't use lethal attacks and you can't use nothing but a taser gun and a non-lethal bow. That's beyond stupid. Needless to say, Blacklist is my least favorite Splinter Cell, and with all of the negative attention the game received, it's not a surprise that Ubisoft haven't announced any info about a new game since Blacklist released.

 

I'm really hoping they return the game to the original 3 games' format. Bring back computer hacking, rappelling, file cabinet searching, etc. All the things that made Fisher the super sneaky spy we love. Get rid of Mark and Execute which has no place in a game where you are meant to be "invisible", the monkey climbing abilities, and return the game to the shadows.

 

What do you folks think?

[BUT THE BENZ]

I guess I liked Pandora Tomorrow the most, Conviction changed the franchise for good and worse but I still got myself to play it through, Blacklist I couldn't get myself to play for more than 3,4 hours or something...now it's rotting on my computer.

 

The series offered some intense stealth combat, maybe to some it still does...I can't find much excitement in this franchise anymore though. Same with the Hitman series btw...that last installment...oh god it was, IS, so horrible!

[iiConTr0v3rSYx]

Loved Chaos Theory, played co-op for hours.

 

Conviction was ok and I didn't enjoy Blacklist.

[TJGM]

I never got a chance to play the Splinter Cell games on PS2. My first Splinter Cell was Double Agent on the Wii (basically the same as the ps2 version except with the Wii remote and controller), I thought the co-op was pretty fun along with the single player. If some of you missed Double Agent on the PS2/Wii, the gameplay was similar to the original games compared to Double Agent on PS3, which kinda started the entire revamp of Splinter Cell games if you ask me.

 

About three years ago I bought the HD version of Chaos Theory and I thought it was absolutely amazing, I seriously thought it was so satisfying to complete missions without getting detected at all, it was an amazing experience. I then decided to buy Double Agent on PS3 and the port was so f*cking terrible it was unreal. The game ran at like 15 frames per second in almost every situation and the gameplay simply wasn't enjoyable at that fps, I made it to the skyscrapper mission I think before I gave up.

 

After my disastrous experience with Double Agent, I thought I'd get my Splinter Cell fix by buying Pandora Tomorrow in HD. I booted it up and once again, I ran into frame rate issues and without finishing the first mission, I quit the game and uninstalled it. (I also hated how Lambert sounded )

 

I still haven't tried the original game, and after my experience with Splinter Cell ports I don't think I will. I played Conviction and while the story was great, the gameplay wasn't Splinter Cell at all. I never bothered with Blacklist since they got rid of Ironside, it was the worst decision they've ever made and I wouldn't be surprised if it kills the series.

 

tl;dr Chaos Theory was amazing, all the other Splinter Cell ports on PS3 are absolutely terrible, Convictions gameplay wasn't like Splinter Cell at all and Blacklist got rid of Ironside, which has basically killed the series.

[waterboy1975]

i really like splinter cell. Have not played the new one

[uNi]

Chaos Theory was the best one, still play now and then, and the co-op is amazing.

[SpooferJahk]

Still say Splinter Cell starts and ends with the initial trilogy of the series. They really were stealth gaming at its finest and the only other stealth game that can be in the same room as Splinter Cell is the initial Thief trilogy.

[Input]

The first 3, as most people have said, are a complete work of tactical stealth art.

Chaos Theory being my all around favorite.

Those 3 were as true to stealth genre as you can possibly get. It took me quite a few tries in some areas because I was just too reckless or impatient.

Conviction? Meh. The Deniable Ops thing is fun when you just feel like enjoying the game how you want. The rest was playable but nowhere near as in depth as the prior games.

Blacklist? Haven't even played. Got it for a few bucks on steam during the sale, but never bothered to install it. I hear its pretty sh*tty so I have no interest in playing it.

The first 3, along with the all the Hitman games before Absolution are the best stealth games on the market I'd have to say.

[tuareg]

Pandora tomorrow, chaos theory and the original version of double agent. Those games were phenomenal.

[Osho]

All Splinter cell games up to Chaos Theory are easily the best. When you have a level designer like Clint Hocking ( also the creative director of the masterpiece Far Cry 2 ) behind the original SC and Chaos Theory with the sense of giving more freedom to the players rather than assume them as absolute retarded to figure out the challenges without any handholding in each level, the series really meant a lot special to me and appealing as well. It is one of the reasons I stopped buying any SC games after Chaos theory.

[Kiffster]

I love all the games, but Chaos Theory is by far the best, followed by the first two. The series went a little downhill with Double Agent and Conviction (even though they were still good. I actually think Conv is better than DA), and I really enjoyed Blacklist. Great game except for the crappy fps parts

[Dingdongs]

I actually like Double Agent more than Chaos Theory. Conviction I didn't like really but Blacklist was pretty good. It did bring back the stealth element that Conviction trashed.

[Kiffster]

DA is my least favourite. Buggy, messed up stealth system and shadows, very bad AI, hated the timed HQ parts and stupid puzzles, too much daylight, and off the top of my head, the cruise ship is probably the worst mission in the entire series.