*** Official Splinter Cell (X-Box) Review & Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Romier S]

Apparently, MS only has the exclusive rights to this game through the end of the year, so GameCube/PS2 versions could be coming out in the future.

Its been like that pretty much since the game was announced. Nothing new here.

 

[Micheal]

Whew! I finished the CIA level last night, what a challenging level! (On "hard difficulty" anyway.) You really have to trust the shadows and watch the routine of patrolling guards before you make your move. There are so many different ways to accomplish your objectives, I'll have a lot of fun playing that level over again when I'm finished the game.
I finally got to play with the Sticky Cam on the next level, what a great little gadget. It has Night and Heat vision, you can zoom in and out and it and you can place it wherever you like.
Splinter Cell is really tough on the "Hard" difficulty setting but the feeling you get when you finish a level (especially the CIA one) is a feeling of great accomplishment. It wouldn't be the same if I was able to just roll through the levels without breaking a sweat. (Literally )

 

[ethan_l]

how come some shadows have extremely smooth looking
lines while others are very jagged?

 

[Fred Bang]

I just tried the Military Defense Mission (second one) with Hard setting, and didn't really see any difference with Normal. Do you guys know what's supposed to be different? (Maybe you die faster when shot, but I didn't get hit!)

 

[Luis S]

Anybody finding the game kinda easy? I dont consider myself a great gamer at all but I plowed through the fist three levels easily (must be my MGS training kicking in ) And sam realy needs more ammo. 1 clip in the gun and a spare? That seems like traveling a little too light.Should have about 4 clips no? Anyhoo of to play some more

 

[Micheal]

Luis, are you playing the game on the "hard" setting? If so keep playing, it gets tougher. If not, switch. I rarely fire a shot so I'm not worried about ammo.
Fred, this was taken from the chat session with UBI Soft. Not sure if you saw it.

I find the levels pretty tough on the "hard" setting. If I played it on "normal" first and then on "hard" I'm sure it would be a lot easier because I would know exactly where to go and what to do. I would just have to be a bit more careful.

 

[Luis S]

Micheal,
Funny thing is Ive been switching between both normal and hard,and much like Fred Im not noticing any big change.Like I said maybe Solid Snake got me ready cause sneaking past the chumps in this game is pretty easy thus far. And the only reason I ask for more ammo is basically to be able to shoot anything that moves Whats the point of such an interactive enviroment if I cant shoot the crap out of everything with no worry? Im hoping for some codes myself,or maybe a cheat device like gameshark.Then its no mercy....

 

[Jay H]

How on earth does one get to the "South Hall" I'm just started the second mission, I got the info from V man's driver in the basement and I need to get to the south hall to disable the laser things in the courtyard but I can't get out. Things I've tried at the checkpoint:

1) Jumping to pipe above balcony. Go right, alarm sensors, Go left, dead end. Pipe goes up but I can't get the guy to go up. Is this possible?
2) Go back to the balcony from the room you initially rapell to. Get on pipe that leads to the roof. I cannot get back to the roof but this is the roof you start off in so not sure if that is a dead end anyway. I can climb the pipe to the roof, but it wont let me go on the roof or right or left.
3) Go up the freakin' elevator shaft by jumping on the crossbeams. There's a hole in the roof but how on earth does one get there. I've tried jumping on the cable to no avail. It was a bitch just to get there, there's a medikit at the top and a disposible pick.

I hate games that make you redo stuff over and over and over and over... I spent at least 45 minutes running around and trying to do stuff. Pain in the ass to begin with cause all it is a test of one's dexterity on the controller.. not fun.
I tried gamefaqs.com but they seem to only have a walkthrough of the demo. I hope the rest of the game isn't like this.
Jay

 

[Joel Mack]

Jay:

From the room you initially rapell into, go out into the hallway and down to the next door on the right.

From that room, open the door out to its balcony.

You should see a short cutscene that should point you the way you need to go.


If that doesn't help, give a shout, and I'll try again...

 

[Jay H]

Yes, that balcony is where the checkpoint is, I see the open window to the left when facing the courtyard and I can shoot bullets in there and somebody stirs but I can't get there.

I've cleared that whole area of soldiers, the garage downstairs is a dead end too. I've checked about 5 times.

This is the balcony I describe where I can get tot the pipe/ledge on top of the balcony but when I head to that room with the open window, an alarm goes off and boom the mission is done. I've tried to shoot out the lights on the pipe/ledge but that doesn't affect the alarm. I'm supposed to deactivate the courtyard lasers but I can't get to the place because the lasers keep getting triggered!


Is there some switch somewhere I'm missing?

Jay

 

[Jay H]

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH
I am not going crazy.. I finally found info on this after a long and hard search on the 'net:
http://www.gametalk.com/talk/xbox/sp...l/55878837.htm
There's a few more threads about alot of other players havin the same problem... I think it is a gameplay bug and we're just beta testers... Somebody posted about trying not to shoot out the lights
in the previous room to the locked battery. Somebody posted in other threads bout trying to put the bodies in complete darkness. Somebody also mentioned trying to use the disposable pick instead of the reusable one to get into the balcony.. I spend like 1.5 hours just trying to get around this blasted thing and it's a bug.
I like the game otherwise.
Jay

 

[Micheal]

Jay, if the alarm keeps going off because someone finds a body (not properly hidden) that's not a bug. It's part of the game. I really don't think it matters what lockpick you use but I can't be sure.

Anyone have this problem?

 

[Jay H]

It is a bug or really bad AI, if a guard finds a body, one would think he would pull the alarm, not wait til I'm half way to the next area! I can wander around the whole place for years on end, but as soon as I get half way from the corner to the window with the chef, the alarm goes off and mission is over.
It is a DEAD end if you can't get to the south wing, that's a bug to me. Plus, at that point, there is nobody to find a body, I've either knocked everybody out or killed them (The first run). There are two posts on that link I posted of other people having the same problem.
Anyway, I got through it, I'm at the next checkpoint after that now. I'm now even through the whole next mission, and on the CIA level.
Here's what I did differently than before:

Instead of killing the guard that wanders downstairs after you interrogate Grinko's driver, I knocked him out. The reason I killed him the first time, because he surprised me in the stairwell, I guess I was faster than the first time and met him in the stairwell, instead of when he was just standing by the elevator shaft. The second run, I knocked him out and stuck him in the shaft.
That's it! that's the only thing different. I didn't kill anybody in that section, I still blew out the lights and I still used the lockpick, not the disposable one. I guess the solution to this is not to kill anybody.

 

[Mark_Arelius]

Hey guys , Im not sure if this helps but heres what I did to get to the south hallway

I just have NOT Killed 1 person the entire game and drag them to dark places, but there is a camera above the door at the end of the hallway so stop outside that door and aim up and shoot it out, once you pick the lock to go out on the balcony jump up on the railing and then face the wall and jump up again and grab the gutter and shimmy to the right to the open window


Hope that helps, now for my question after making my way to the huge double staircase with the 2 guards at the bottom and the retnal scan, anybody have good advice on those 2 at the bottom of the stairs , If I take out 1 the other comes a running and I want to keep from killing anyone the entire game if I can!

Oh and THIS GAME KICKS serious ass........8.6 and scored lower than MGS2? yeah I will listen to future reviews from that guy

 

[James Zos]

"It is a bug or really bad AI, if a guard finds a body, one would think he would pull the alarm, not wait til I'm half way to the next area! I can wander around the whole place for years on end, but as soon as I get half way from the corner to the window with the chef, the alarm goes off and mission is over."

If I remember correctly, that was exactly the kind of thing the review (that was attacked in this forum) criticized. The reviewer pointed out that there are trigger points in some areas, and guards will only react once you hit the trigger point.

 

[Howie D]

I had the same problem. All I did was go back and hide some of the bodies in a darker areas and was able to make it through. Same thing happened again towards the end of the CIA mission.

Gamertag: SPAZ

 

[Micheal]

I find that if you follow the instructions to a "T" that you won't run into any problems.(i.e. not killing guards on certain levels or hiding them properly.) I know that I haven't run into one problem and I make sure to do exactly what the mission directives tell me.
Mark, knock the guy out at the desk (If I remember correctly), then a higher ranked soldier will show up and you can force him over to the retinal scan. (If I'm remembering the correct level..?)
Best game I've played in years.!

 

[Masood Ali]

If I remember correctly, that was exactly the kind of thing the review (that was attacked in this forum) criticized. The reviewer pointed out that there are trigger points in some areas, and guards will only react once you hit the trigger point.

Trigger points are good for general plot direction, but they seem to have overdone it with this game, possiblity making up for holes in the AI (as I would think that coding a trigger point is much easier than coding an AI mechanism).

 

[Chris Rock]

Can you shoot out the panels where they pull the alarm? I haven't tried that, just wondering.

I just passed this part that you're talking about.

 

[Mark_Arelius]

Mark, knock the guy out at the desk (If I remember correctly), then a higher ranked soldier will show up and you can force him over to the retinal scan. (If I'm remembering the correct level..?)

Yep that was the part, but I got it about 1 AM last night and stayed up till about 2:30, quick 3 hours of sleep and right back on it.

I had to shut it off though because it was making me think I had found video heroin or something, I cant remember being this addicted to a game ever