Intro
Splinter Cell is a classic game, considered one of the most influential of the stealth genre. The name of Sam Fisher and the sound of him putting on his night vision goggles are especially ingrained into the gaming zeitgeist. I never played this game when I was younger but knew of it vaguely, so when I saw it while browsing a steam sale I decided to pick it up. Let’s get into it.
Story
This game’s story has you playing as NSA spy Sam Fisher. You are tasked with stopping terrorists that are threatening the United States through cyber warfare and provoking world tensions to try and cause World War III. Pretty high stakes.
Gameplay
The main gameplay loop revolves around quietly defeating your enemies by knocking them out by sneaking up on them, using your various gadgets, killing them outright with silenced weapons or avoiding them altogether. Some of your gadgets at your disposal are tasers, decoys, and smoke grenades. Your gadgets are limited, so some of the game’s fun comes from deciding when, where, and how many to use them in any given situation. Once you defeat an enemy, you have to hide their body in a dark or isolated place so that other enemies won’t find them and be alerted. You can also alert enemies by being found, which will trigger an alarm and make all the enemies nearby start shooting you without hesitation. If you trigger an alarm three times, you automatically cause a game over. There are also cool spy moves you can pull off, such as interrogating your enemies and the ability to do various levels of parkour like traveling along pipes or jumping off walls. You also have a very neat environmental lighting and sound system. The lighting makes Sam harder to detect depending on how dark the area he is in. Use it to your advantage by attacking or avoiding enemies using the dark. You also can directly influence the system by shooting out or turning off the lights in rooms. Concerning the sound system, depending on how fast you are moving and what surfaces you’re traveling over, you create different levels of sound. This also can be used to your advantage as you sneak up on enemies or intentionally create sound causing the enemy to investigate. All these systems help you to complete your primary objectives which include things such as breaking into a rival agency, assassinating a high value target, or interrupting TV broadcasts. Sometimes the mission will have conditions such as not allowing you to kill a single enemy or even be spotted once. Finally there are some sections of the game where you are forced to go loud and engage in big gunfights with the enemy.
As cool as the gameplay sounds, you can get easily frustrated from how many of the game’s systems require much patience, like waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike or having to reset a lot to get a good outcome. Additionally, the game doesn’t hold your hand and expects you to find the solution to problems on your own. Other frustrations include not being able to open doors while moving bodies, bodies being found despite being hidden well and you having left the area long ago, parkour often feels very awkward, enemies sometimes spot you in darkness, your shots can randomly miss, etc. These things can kill the flow and immersion of the game but won’t stop you from appreciating the soul the main gameplay loop has. I also believe that the sections where you are forced to engage in head on gunfights aren’t that fun as the game’s mechanics don’t lend well to it. You lose health very quickly and the game’s guns aren’t meant for shootouts as they have low ammo and are meant for quick and precise kills.
Graphics/Sound
Graphically there isn’t much to say. It tried to go for a realistic look and well, you know how that goes, eventually every game that attempts that look ends up aging somewhat poorly. It doesn’t look horrible but it’s not that appealing. However the UI and sound effects still hold up to this day, it’s the reason the google sound effect is so iconic. The music fills you with adrenaline given it’s situational and will change depending on what’s happening. Together they help immerse you into that early 2000’s edge and make you feel like a spy.
Spiritual Value
What can we learn spiritually from Sam Fisher? I’d say patience. Patience really is a virtue, especially in our overstimulated culture. Phones are constantly feeding us fast dopamine and have ruined many people’s ability to do hard/meaningful things. I’m gonna be honest with you, it’s hard to even want to play games anymore given my attention span has been killed. It sucks. So let’s learn to be patient with the grace of God. Not just for nice things like being able to enjoy a game or our meals without our phones, but also for the things of God. Patience to suffer, patience for God to act, patience to grow in holiness, patience with the fault of others. Our beloved Holy Father tells us “There is no better witness to the love of Christ than meeting a patient Christian”.
Overall I really enjoyed Splinter Cell. It’s a game with a lot of soul and feels amazing when everything clicks.
Scoring: 80%
Gameplay: 3/5
Story: 3/5
Art and Graphics: 3/5
Music: 4/5
Replayability: 3/5
Morality/Parental Warnings
The game revolves around shooting and knocking out people though isn’t as violent as other titles. You can go through most of the game without killing anyone, but killing can be very efficient, and you are required to kill some people. Sam doesn’t like to kill unless he has to.
You can also shock people and use gas to make them go unconscious. There are various explosives you can use but there isn’t any dismemberment. The blood in the game is pretty tame. You often have to interrogate people/force people to do things with a gun pointed towards their head, but after you’re done you don’t kill them, you just knock them out. You often have to move around unconscious or dead bodies to not be discovered.
Finally, the game has a very geopolitical heavy story and some of the things you are required to do can be morally questionable but I wouldn’t say you are doing anything straight up evil.
