Developer: Publisher: Ubisoft Ubisoft Year of Release: Genre: 2003 Action

Introduction:

Splinter Cell, already a huge success on the Xbox, PC and PlayStation 2, finally launched on the GBA and GameCube a little over a month ago. Developed by Ubi Soft's ever-busy Montreal studio, this is an extremely ambitious attempt at making a deep and involving console hit a success on the Game Boy Advance. On first impressions, the developers seem to have got most of it right. Unfortunately, after completing the game's ten missions and watching the credits pass roll by you can't help but feel that there is something missing.

Story:

Splinter Cell follows the adventures of Sam Fisher, a top splinter cell operative deployed by the NSA's secret sub division Third Echelon. Sam has been brought into the field to investigate the disappearance of Alison Madison and Agent Blaustein, two CIA agents who have dropped from contact within seven days of each other. Fearing the two agents have fallen foul to terrorist activities, Third Echelon deploys Fisher and the mission soon escalates into a planned nuclear warfare by the said terrorists. Each new mission begins with a short briefing explaining the current situation in the story and gives objectives for that mission to the player.

Gameplay:

On a basic level, Splinter Cell plays very much like any other side scrolling platformer. Sam Fisher can run about, jump and grab onto ledges and pipes. Those who have played any of the console versions of Splinter Cell will know that the game features at Metal Gear Solid-esque use of stealth. The developers of the GBA version have mimicked this gameplay dynamic reasonably well despite the fact that the game has lost a dimension in the transition to 2D. All of the levels featured in Splinter Cell are swarming with enemy guards. All of these guards walk forwards and backwards on predetermined paths and won't act differently provided they don't see you. Upon sight, armed guards will attempt to attack with their weapon, be it a gun of some sort or grenades. Other unarmed guards will run to switches and sound the alarm. If the alarm is sounded, the player only has a few short seconds to deactivate it before the mission is compromised and lost. Rather than running straight in and shooing a much more stealthy tactic is required. Frequently this involves the player sneaking up on a guard from behind and taking them out with a sharp blow to the head.

In this version of Splinter Cell, the guards can't be killed, presumably so that the game retains an age rating that wouldn't exclude a large portion of potential buyers. Instead, they simply fall unconscious no matter what is done to them. Guards can be knocked out in a variety of different ways. The most frequently employed method is executed by following an enemy directly behind and pressing the B button. Also, if the player is located a good deal of distance above an enemy guard they can drop down to perform a drop attack, again, rendering the enemy unconscious. Of course, neither of these techniques can be used for enemies that are further away. For such enemies, the player is also equipped with two types of non-lethal weapon. The first and most frequently used of these is a silenced tranquilizer gun which fires single rounds that will instantly knock out an enemy when shot in the head. The second type of weapon, used a lot less frequently due to aiming difficulties, is a gas grenade. When these grenades explode they emit a large cloud of CS gas that will knock out any enemy that comes into contact with it. Whilst the two weapons available are quite varied attacks, the fact that the guards can only be rendered unconscious seriously hinders the suspension of disbelief. The said enemies are equipped with weapons capable of killing Sam Fisher, yet if they hit each other they simply fall unconscious. Similarly, guards that have been knocked out fall to the ground and stay there, they don't recover at all or react to anything going on around them. And really, were the comic Zz Zz Zz's needed?

Where the gameplay really starts to disappoint is when the missions become so tedious that the player starts to lose all interest in playing. Whilst the game initially eases you in with an optional but very comprehensive training level that teaches every gameplay feature, once the real missions start the game soon becomes immensely frustrating. Each of the nine full missions is broken up into a number of different sub sections of a fairly short length, and if the player dies a couple of sections in they simply restart at the beginning of the sub section they were up to. This could have made the game incredibly easy, but instead the player is regularly forced to play the same section over and over. This is frequently a problem in the stages that feature many unarmed guards that will set off the alarm. In such levels, there are so many guards to avoid that the player must memorize where each and every one is and its path of movement. The very strict supplies of ammo make these sections particularly hard as the player is then required to opt for the closer combat option, which isn't always practical. The problem is further worsened when the alarm inevitably sounded. Nine times out of ten the switch to deactivate the alarm is way too far out of reach meaning it is impossible to deactivate it before the mission is failed. The result: being forced to play the same section again and again until it can be played through perfectly.

Other sections in the game require similar perfection from the player. Most frustrating of all are the parts set in a meat factory where you have to swing from one meat hook to another. For some reason, executing such a task is a lot more difficult that it sounds, and the frequent missing of the next hook for no apparent reason results in repeated moments of instant death.

There are all sorts of other irritating flaws plaguing Splinter Cell that heavily detract from the gameplay. The much-hyped screen depth system allowing the gamer to duck in and out of the shadows 'just like the console versions' is a slow and clumsy feature that is rarely beneficial to the player. The control system can also be pretty frustrating at times. Splinter Cell is one of those games that require a double tap of the d-pad in one direction to enable running. In a game that requires fast reactions to be able to sneak up on and avoid enemies, this feature only makes doing so a lot harder than it should be. Finally, the night vision and thermal imaging view modes are fundamentally flawed. Whilst the effects look nice on screen, it's hard not to feel that these view modes are nothing more than a cheap gimmick. Rather than letting the player use night or thermal vision whenever they please the game will only allow them to be used in the areas they are supposed to be used in. Again, this doesn't help the suspension of disbelief, and it also makes it rather obvious when and where both features should be used.

It's not all bad though; Splinter Cell does have a couple of redeeming features that make it stand out a little. Much like the Metal Gear Solid games, the missions in Splinter Cell typically feature cameras that Sam Fisher must avoid. Equipped with what is called a 'Sticky Camera', holding the R trigger allows for the exploration of the environment with a free-roaming camera. In sticky camera mode, not only can the player search for enemies but they can also see the area that the aforementioned security cameras are covering (much like Metal Gear Solid's radar system). Whilst this idea is hardly original, it is incorporated well and adds a much greater stealth aspect to the game than the 'hiding in the shadows' feature. A couple of other nice touches are the lock picking and safe picking techniques that can be employed. During many of the missions the player will encounter numerous locked doors and safes. By pressing up on the d-pad when in front of a locked door lock pick mode is started. Here a short amount of time is given to pick the lock of the door by moving the pick arm backwards and forwards using the d-pad and pressing up or down to push the five pins that make up the lock in sequence. Opening a safe requires a similar process. Each safe has three dials that must be turned in sequence, once the gap in all three of these dials is aligned the A button can be pressed to open up the safe and receive the goodies that were locked up inside (usually a magnetic key card or some additional ammunition).

Lifespan:

The main part of Splinter Cell isn't particularly long, with one training mission and nine other fairly short missions. The earlier missions aren't too taxing for the gamer, but once a fair amount of progress has been made the frustration factor kicks in and completing a mission could take any number of attempts until it is finally passed. There are a good number of unlockable bonuses to be discovered. The easiest of these to uncover are bonus missions that are unlocked when certain groups of missions are completed with a rating of at least 60%. Additionally, a further five missions can be unlocked when connected to the GameCube version of Splinter Cell. Determined players will most likely play through to the game's rather disappointing ending (a sub-par Sniper Scope style shootout), but further playing to discover the game's unlockables is probably unlikely as it requires the replaying of many of those frustrating levels again.

Presentation:

Whilst obviously not up to the standard of the impressive console versions, the visuals featured in the handheld version of Splinter Cell impress in their own right. Background graphics are incredibly detailed and varied, ranging from outdoor oilrigs to the many camera-filled interior corridors. The character sprites are similarly impressive. Not only are the sprites large but also they are detailed and very smoothly animated thanks to a large number of frames of animation for each character or enemy. Much like the visual presentation of the game, the music and sound effects present are of good quality. All of the music tracks featured have that certain stealthy spy action game sound to them and help to create suspense and atmosphere during the course of most of the stages. Sound effects are clear and realistic, from the crackling sound of fire and burning wood in the first main mission to the short clips of digitized speech given to the enemies when they see Sam Fisher.

Closing Comments:

Despite the game's strong graphical aspects and atmospheric soundtrack, Splinter Cell is largely a disappointment. Whilst there are a good number of original gameplay features (original for the Game Boy Advance, that is), there is so much of the game that, given a little more thought, could have been better. Fiddly controls do not make for a good stealth-based game, and make sneaking up on enemies a lot more difficult than need be. Most players are likely to be turned away by the frustrating gameplay thanks to a flawed alarm deactivation system, which usually means the player will fail each mission time and time again because they can't reach a switch to turn the alarm off when sighted by an enemy. Overall, unless you are a huge Tom Clancy or Splinter Cell fan, the purchase of this flawed interpretation of a great console game would not be recommended.