Sneaky Sam Fisher

It’s a big role being a secret agent, but someone has to do it. Many of us already have stepped into the shoes as Sam Fisher as the world’s greatest spy, and
Ubisoft has brought us another story for Sam to fight his way through. This is the fourth game in the Splinter Cell story, and it delivers like the rest of them. It is one of those games that is worth the sixty dollars that you pay. This is a game that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and most people will find it to be well worth the money they spend on it.
The strengths of this game out-weigh the negatives so much that most everyone will enjoy this game. It is very similar to the last three games because it is a sequel, but it brings some fresh, new ideas to the table to make it feel like a new experience. The story in this game is a pretty good one, it submerses you in the life style of a double agent, and it brings the danger to life.

Graphics/Environments:
First of all, the graphics in this game are quite good for a multi-platform game. Usually developers do not spend too much time on the graphics for each system, but it looks as though Ubisoft spent enough time to make the whole game look good. Every environment such as a cruise ship, or when you are running through the streets of Kinshasa, look good, and have a unique feel to them. You are never stuck in one environment throughout the whole game. One time you are on a ship in the Bering Strait, and the next you are in the secret facility of the terrorists. The facial animations are pretty detailed, and the bullet and particle effect are good as well.

Controls:
The controls in this game are phenomenal. They are very similar to the past games, in the fact that it is third person and the camera can be rotated three hundred and sixty degrees. All of Sam’s movements are very smooth, and it doesn’t take too long to figure out how to be a master at controlling him. Aiming your weapon and changing weapons is an easy task, and you can become very accurate after just a couple of minutes. Changing from sneak mode to normal mode is as easy as it has ever been, and grabbing and talking to AI is just a single push of a button. Be prepared to have all of the tools that Sam has carried in the past games, plus some. In this game there are plenty of gadgets that you can use to get the job done. In some cases it takes a couple of seconds to scroll through all of the gadgets that you have, but the menu they have set up to do this is pretty nice so it does not turn out to be too big of a deal.

Story:
In this game you join a terrorist group, but you are still working for trusty Lambert and the NSA. This is where the fresh feel comes in during this game. You have to try your hardest to keep the JBA or the terrorist group happy, along with the NSA. Doing a job for one will make you lose trust with the other, therefore you have to balance out how you handle every job given to you. It all comes down to the choices that you make in this game, and some of them are some tough ones. You have to choose who lives and who dies a couple of times, and this can be very tricky. Most people probably just think that it will be easy to always do the right thing for the NSA, but the game gets you and makes you really think about who you want to save. There are three different endings involved in the game, and your choices depict which one you will get. One of them is a whole lot better than the rest, so be wise with your decisions to get the most out of the game.

Multi-player:
This game continues to deliver the fun multi-player of spy vs. mercenary online or system-linked. This is still the very fun game-play that was seen on Pandora Tomorrow. Multiplayer helps add to the hours that will be spent on this game, and makes it more worthwhile to buy. You can find yourself playing online quite a bit, and completing co-op missions system-linked with your friends. With the campaign taking no more than around seven hours to complete the multiplayer really adds to the game to give you more for your dollar.

New Additions:
Some of the new features include hacking, some clever little mini games that are involved in your missions, and some very nice new gadgets and ideas. In the headquarters Sam has to get passed a variety of locks. They have retinal and fingerprint scanners, along with voice activated locks. The game provides new gadgets to scan the members voices and fingerprints, and later on in the game when you start taking the members out you can scan their retinas. In this game you have to hack a few safes, and a lot of doors. You also have to hack a few bombs along the way. The safe hacking is a very good idea, and it can be mastered within one or two safes. Then, what I thought was a good idea about this game were some of the mini games. There are some like assembling mines, or encrypting an e mail. These are kind of fun little games that help you gain trust for the terrorists, and they are a brand new feature that has been added to the game.

Problems:
One of the things that I found wrong with this game is some AI issues. Now I know that this is very hard to get perfect, but some of the movements and patterns of the AI are quite frustrating. They will be gone, and just because you enter their room they will come back in to do a workout; even though they just left the room. Then, when you are caught in a restricted area they tell you to leave, and even if you are doing exactly what they are telling you to do, they still get mad. This is a little frustrating, but it is not that big of a deal. I also found a few glitches along the way, but none that were too big of a deal.
The only other thing that I didn’t like about the game were the mini games that went along with the missions. The obstacle course was ok the first time, but when they ask you to do it again it was a little discouraging. Also, many people will get frustrated with the e-mail game, because it can take quite a few tries. The one that I didn’t like the most was assembling the mines. I believe they ask you to do this twice, and even though it was easy it is just a little on the boring side. These mini-games were pretty good ideas, but they take away from the action just enough that they should have probably not been put into the game.
Some people may consider the multi-player to be a problem in the game, but I really do not think it is that bad. A lot of my friends will not play the multi-player with me, and all they ever say is that it’s too slow and hard. Multi-player is not that big of a weakness in my eyes, but it is one of those hit or miss type game-plays. If you have enjoyed it in the past you will enjoy this one, and if you didn’t like it you will still have the same feelings towards it in this game.

Conclusion:
Overall this is my favorite Splinter Cell game ever, and it is one of the best games on Xbox 360. This is a game that fans of the series will enjoy, and it offers a lot of game play. This game has everything that anyone could have wanted out of it, and it brings a new, fresh, feel to the Splinter Cell series. This is what I liked the most because it was same old Sam Fisher, but he was in a deeper and trickier situation than he has ever been in before. This game is well worth the money that you spend, and every fan of the series will enjoy this game.