A question for those who've played the Splinter Cell deom (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Holton]

I picked up the November issue of Official XBox Magazine... and there was no Splinter Cell Demo...

Is this the right magazine?

 

[Dan B]

I picked up the November issue of Official XBox Magazine... and there was no Splinter Cell Demo...

Is this the right magazine?

Right magazine, wrong month. It's in the December issue.


-Dan

 

[Paul_Fisher]

I can't find the December issue ANYWHERE. I know its suppose to be released on Nov. 5, but I've read many places that people have bought it on newsstands already. But I've been to books a million and barnes and noble, and no OXM.

 

[Andrew s wells]

Just picked up the magazine today.(barnes and nobel...in fayetteville, N.C...If we have it here, EVERYONE should have it ) make sure you call though...dont want any angry e-mails. Splinter cell is indeed everything its cracked up to be. VERY cool from whats on the demo. cant wait to get it... and panzer..(drools).. all i hoped a new panzer would be. Does go by pretty fast, but in the part just before you leave the cave, i noticed if you push in a different dierction the screen rotates (looks like there are a few ways to go) and this seems to have been left out of the demo. thats cool though.. the more saved for the full thing the better. call your stores to see if they have it now! toe jam and earl 3 is MUCH better than some of the reviews are saying. Ill be picking it up as well as house of the dead 3 (when i can afford it... just got shenmue 2!)

 

[Jeff Holton]

Rives...

Thanks for the info about ToysRUs on Cobb Parkway... I stopped by and picked one up after work...

The guy had them in a drawer under the register. When I asked if he had any left... he looked around slowly and nonchalantly reached under and slid it over to me... I felt like I was picking up a secret package... weird.

But the demo is definately sweet, can't wait to get my hands on the game.

Best parts of the demo:

1. The realtime shadows cast from the guards TV... awesome
2. making the lamp swing in the interogation room, and watching the shadowy goodness.

 

[Paul_Fisher]

Does anyone know if you can open a door while you are carrying a person? I find it very cumbersome to put a body down and open the door, then pick the body back up and walk through the door.

Anyone?

 

[pitchman]

I usually get my subscription copy around the 21st-23rd of the month, but haven't received mine yet.

 

[Brian E]

Got mine yesterday. From what I've seen so far this game is great.

 

[Dan B]

Here's some info on the Panzer Dragoon demo, & improvements made to the game since then, that were posted on the forum at this Panzer fan site: http://www.panzerdragoon.de/world.php

"Just to let you know, while the actual level is the same, the difficulty/speed/action/etc., as well as all the little details, are *very* different from the final version.
Especially the difficulty. " -Abadd
"This is great news- I like the demo, will buy it the day it comes out, and take the day off work to play it, but something still isn't clicking with me yet- the demo isn't that 'fun' -I had the same comment from the E3 build, and while the demo is much better, it still isn't as tight as Zwei or the first one. I think it is simply pacing, and it sounds like you are mentioning that is changing, so I greatly look forward to it.
My comments from before on the control still stand..." -Lagi
"The controls, I think, are perfect now. Highly responsive.
As for the pacing, you are partially right. Another issue that was changed was, well, ever notice how enemies hardly ever hit you until way later in the level?
There was never a sense of urgency in the game back when the demo was done. There was never a sense that you were *doing* something, rather than just sorta floating through the air, casually shooting down enemies, etc. And with a lack of things to do, the game feels like it goes very slowly... and it got downright boring at times (at least in comparison).
Which is why (presumably... how would *I* know, not being involved in the project) Sega and Smilebit decided to push the game back by a few months and revisit the overall game flow and pacing. Let me tell you... it's *quite* a different game.
I almost regret that the demo was released when it was. I hope people don't get the wrong impression of the game. It will be an experience like no other before. In fact, I think it's the best Panzer shooter yet. (too difficult to compare it to PDS, for obvious reasons)" -Abadd
"Another thing, though, is that the demo doesn't really give you any taste of the story. Any Panzer fan knows that one of the crucial things that separates any Panzer game from all the other shooters out there is the depth of the world and the story. PDO delivers all of that in spades. Some questions posed by previous installments in the series will be cleared up, and new questions will arise as well.
So, in addition to the varied level design and pacing, the new elements like dragon morphing and gliding (speed up/speed down), the game will introduce new characters, provide tons of story, and generally (hopefully) just knock your socks off " -Abadd
"Trust me... Someone spent a VERY, VERY long time playing through the old version of the game, analyzing EVERY second of gameplay, every line of dialogue, etc., and did everything they could to address all of the problems.
Someone indeed. " -Abadd
"Smilebit hopes that people understand that the delay of the game wasn't just an excuse because they were behind schedule, etc. No... they went back to the drawing board and tried to see whether or not Orta lives up to the standards that previous Panzer games had set forth.
I think many of the people who are playing it and claiming that it is fun are genuinely having fun, and I'm glad for them. But, I'm sure Smilebit has much higher standards than that.
Actually, Lagi, I'm glad you brought up these points. This way, the people of these boards can play the demo knowing that various things have been improved upon in the game. " -Abadd

I also read in a post at Team Xbox forums that the game's apparently chock full of extras such as all of the CG scenes & theme music & illustrations from the prior games in the PD series.
-Dan

 

[Romier S]

I also read in a post at Team Xbox forums that the game's apparentl

Not too mention that supposedly there is a fully emulated Panzer Dragoon 1 on there as well.

 

[Brian J Dupuis]

I have to say, I'm a little underwhelmed by this one. Let me put that into perspective: I've never played another Panzer Dragoon game, and I haven't seen the demo. But I find it difficult to believe that a self-described "rail shooter" could hold my interest. I guess I'll see how the demo goes, but I'm really not holding my breath for this one.
Course, until last week I hadn't even heard of Deathrow and now I own it, so who knows .

 

[Edan W]

I'm a bit late to the party but my impressions of the two marquee demos on the new OXM:

PDO: Never played a panzer game before but my impressions of this demo are that it was a little short and too easy ...so I'm not surprised to read the material Dan B posted. It just feels like a demo that was put together from game material that wasn't very close to completion. On the plus side this thing is gorgeous, very visually impressive and if they rework the difficulty and pacing, as it seems they have, this is going to be on my short list.

Splinter Cell: Wow! I cannot wait until this hits store shelves. I played through 5 times last night and did some aspect of the level differently each time (still haven't tried the split jump though). So much freedom to try different approaches to the same problem...some spotty AI in places though. This demo, as opposed to PDO, felt alot more complete and polished, like it was a reasonably good representation of the finished game.

 

[Dave Falasco]

Some thoughts on the Splinter Cell demo:

After all the hype, the demo certainly doesn't disappoint. Lots of great things to say, and most of them have been said, so let me bring up just the (very) few nits I had to pick:

* Split jump is maddeningly inconsistent. I spent at least 20 minutes trying to pull it off consistently, and I would say even after all that practice I was lucky to get it to work 3 out of 10 times. The other times I would just wall-jump and land on the floor again without doing the split.

* Just doesn't seem realistic that I can plug a guard but I can't take his gun. I went for a head-shot and missed on the initial guard, and in the resultant firefight I burned through most of my allotment of bullets (he kept ducking behind a wall for cover--great AI, BTW!). When I finally finished him off, not only could I not pick up his remaining bullets, I couldn't even pick up his gun. The same was true for all of the guards I took out. I ended up finishing the level like Jackie Chan by punching my way through.

* Without a scoped weapon, it is hard to see where the video camera in the morgue is, and it's hard to take it out in one shot when you do find it. This led to basically a trial-and-error approach, as I walked into the morgue knowing that there was a camera (thanks to the data stick) but not knowing where. Once I was discovered, the alarm sounded, I found the camera, and I then reset the game so I could take it out the next time. A zoom or even binoculars would have enabled me to scan the room in detail without tripping the alarms first.

Hey, these are small gripes, though. I loved the demo and I definitely plan on grabbing the game as soon as it hits the shelves. I'd be curious to hear if anyone else ran into these or other issues?

 

[Paul_Fisher]

Just doesn't seem realistic that I can plug a guard but I can't take his gun.

I was reading a thread on a Splinter Cell forum where the developers were answering questions, and this same question came up.

His answer was somewhere along the lines of, "In real life, a Sam Fisher, who is very specialized in training and his own weapons, would not pick up other enemies weapons."

Which I agree with, to a certain extent. A CIA agent will not pick up an enemies AK (or whatever) and start blowing people away. But your point about picking up more pistol ammo from victims is valid. I think that would have been a good idea.

 

[Brian J Dupuis]

Split jump is maddeningly inconsistent.

Yeah, I finally pulled off some of those and turned to my wife and said "watch this!"... I then couldn't do it twice in a row, finally pulling it off the third time. Inconsistent is the word here.

One other thing that I think I've noticed is button presses not registering. There are times when I swear I hit the A button (like in the menus to select data stick information to view) so I have to hit it twice, or when trying to open doors. Maybe I'm crazy and not being careful enough, but that's how it feels to me.

I am really enjoying the demo, and like others I'm trying to find new ways of getting through the level. Like the split jump and some of the pipe shimmying. I found that at the very front when you're finished with the first guard and the morgue technician, that hall contains a pipe. You can of course jump up and grab it and start shimmying (somewhat uselessly) down the hall, pull out your gun and hang by one arm, and all. What I just found, though, was pressing B while up there has Sam pull his legs up and shimmy with arms and legs so as to be more hidden. Cool! The other "new" move was using the white button to back against the wall, sneak up to a corner, peek around then pull out the gun and shoot from that position. I had been unsuccessful at that for whatever reason, so on rightward turning corners, it was a bit difficult with the right-handed Sam to snipe around corners, but this makes it a breeze.

Lot's of little goodies!

 

[Dave Falasco]

Wow, I didn't know about the pipe shimmy, and I knew about the back-to-the-wall but I didn't know I could snipe from there. Excellent--another reason to go back and play through it again!

 

[Brian J Dupuis]

You called it right, Dave, there's so many little hidden moves that seem so enjoyable to pull off. On the "peek and snipe" thing, I think you have to be actively peeking around the corner to be able to yank out your pistol in that position. Other things that I haven't tried yet are the silent falls... so when you're split-jumping or hanging from a pipe, you press Y to jump down and before you hit the ground you press B to make it silent.
One thing that I really wish was in the demo is Sam's rifle, with all the commensurate goodies like sticky cams, noisy cams, and other stuff. I think that would have been fun to experiment with as well. Though, I guess they have to save some toys for the full game. I'm heading to EB Games at lunch today to pre-order, just in case it's in short supply. I want this game!

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Sega/Smilebit really need to try to get a 2.0 demo out that really shows what the game is like.
Even if it is too late to get said demo out before the game ships.

 

[Edan W]

One other thing that I think I've noticed is button presses not registering.

It's not just you Brian...I had the same problem. I had to really make sure I pressed the "A" button hard to get Sam to open some doors. Also had problems opening doors stealthily, seemed very finnicky to me whether I could do it or not (more practice maybe).

 

[Brian J Dupuis]

Also had problems opening doors stealthily, seemed very finnicky to me whether I could do it or not (more practice maybe).

I think I might have finally gotten the hang of this after similar difficulties. I use the following technique: Go to door. Press and hold A button down... you'll get the Interact with "OPEN DOOR" lit. Press down on the left thumbstick and it changes to "OPEN DOOR STEALTH" or "STEALTHILY" or something. While holding down on left thumbstick, release the A button. Seems to work every time. I am, however, glad that I'm not going crazy with regard to the button presses not responding... thanks for verifying my (relative) sanity, Edan .
For those of you with Gamespot Complete memberships, go here for about 25 minutes worth of developer interview and in-game footage. Yummy! I'm going nuts waiting on this one!