A few days ago I was reading The Mac Weekly, and noticed a wide variety of articles appealing to many groups here on campus. Liberals, conservatives, gay people, straight people, vegetarians, religious folks, sports fans, music nuts and cinemaphiles are all represented in this, the voice of Macalester. But one group was left out: the geeks.

Until now. Here, once every two weeks, you'll read my always-100%-correct analysis of the newest, coolest or worst computer or console game (or other nifty gamer-related item) I've been playing around with in the last two weeks. I'll be objective, fair and overly opinionated about each and every item I review, so tune in for the best and worst of the gamer world. That said, let's jump right in, with a spiffy stealth-based action game.
 

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – PC, X-Box, PlayStation 2, GameCube (reviewed on PC)

In Splinter Cell, you play Sam Fisher, an infiltration expert who’s just joined the top-secret National Security Agency sub-division Third Echelon, an organization that spies on anyone, anywhere, to protect the freedoms we hold dear. The recent disappearance of two CIA agents in the nation of Georgia, a former Soviet Union Republic, requires your specialized skills. You’ll creep, crawl and climb your way around the globe in search of clues—from the Chinese Embassy, to off-shore oil-rigs, to the CIA headquarters itself.

Game play consists of sneaking around some of the best-designed levels ever, taking out or avoiding guards, cameras and gun turrets, using a wide variety of useful tools. The included night vision, lock-picks and med kits are all standard stealth-action fare, but Splinter Cell delivers unique goodies like thermographic vision, a laser microphone (for spying on distant conversations), an optic cable (for looking under a door to clear a room) and the most truly bad-ass P90 weapon system ever.

Gamers who are used to shoot-em-ups will have to change playing styles—attract the attention of more than one guard, and you’ll be lucky to survive. Enemy AI is the best I’ve ever seen in a stealth-action game. If you turn out a light, they’ll hurry to turn it back on in confusion—shoot out the bulb, and when the light switch doesn’t work, they’ll become alarmed. Additionally, Tom Clancy’s influence can be felt in the welcome inclusion of non-lethal forms of subdual—it’s much more silent to knock a guard out than to shoot him, and in a few levels killing any of the guards aborts the mission.

Graphics quality is top-notch. Splinter Cell has the most advanced dynamic lighting system ever—light shining through latticework casts the appropriate shadows and fades around the edges just like real shadows should. Shoot out the bulb, and the shadows of the room change to match. Character models move realistically, even in direct interaction (such as when Sam hefts an unconscious guard to drag him into the shadows). Especially impressive is the thermographic vision, which lets you see the heat signatures of the world around you—hot objects like light bulbs, radiators and living bodies glow orange, while walls, tables and corpses are a cool blue.

Sound is vital for success—one crunchy step on a gravel driveway and the mission’s blown. Luckily, it’s all beautifully rendered and enemy chatter, silenced gunfire and padded footfalls sound realistic and crisp, due to Creative’s EAX technology.

Splinter Cell can be frustratingly challenging at times. The AI is very intelligent, and the situations you’ll be placed in require quick thinking and split-second timing. The quick-save feature alleviates this somewhat, but less hard-core gamers may find the repetition required overwhelming. The game also has very little replay ability and once you’ve beaten it, there’s very little reason to play it again.

These minor quibbles aside, I heartily recommend this game because it’s the best stealth-action game out there…at least until Splinter Cell 2.

Highs: Beautiful graphics and sound; lots of fun gadgets; inventive gameplay

Lows: Repetitive; very challenging; no replay value

Rating: 92% - Excellent
 

I review all computer games on the following system and performance may vary: AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 1.8 Ghz; 768MB of RAM; GeForce 4 Ti4200; Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer