Quick Look: Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy HD

Chaos Theory is a bonafide classic game, as far as I'm concerned. It represents the pinnacle of the Splinter Cell series (at least to this point), and had one of the most bitchin' game soundtracks ever, by Montreal-based Amon Tobin.

It was also pretty slick graphically for the time, and had a pretty good story. I'd even say the graphics still hold up reasonably well today, as serviceable.

Unfortunately I think Double Agent was a misfire, and while Conviction was much better, it still didn't have the same series magic. Michael Ironside's drunken slurring didn't help, nor did the irritating combat against other splinter cell agents towards the end of the game.

I'd like to see them continue the series, but only with a completely new set of characters, and a serious rethinking of the gameplay to freshen things up. Sam Fisher's story is over.

- Scott

I think you guys need to turn the gamma down a bit. Or maybe that's me.

Lambert can sell me Allstate insurance.

@Delta_Ass said:

And the PC version of Chaos Theory definitely had multiplayer. Vs and cooperative.

Yeah, if anything the PC versions of most multiplatform games will have multiplayer longer, if for no other reason than the fact that console networks tend to outright disable games after a number of years. Of course the amount of people playing might not be all that great, but it's still there.

So just another bunch of half-assed ports with a $40 pricetag slapped on the 'box'

No thanks.

Wow, I thought the recent Resident Evil ports were half-assed, but this is setting the bar even lower. Good job Ubisoft!

I loved these games back in the day. Chaos Theory remains one of my favorite games of all time, and its surprisingly awesome multiplayer was one of the few that I regularly played over Xbox Live. That said, this looks like a pretty half-assed porting job. Even if it had the multiplayer it'd be a tough sell.

No multiplayer in Chaos Theory is shameful. Seems kind of like a sloppy quick port job all around. :C

@Scotto: I agree 100%! Well put, man!

Who turned off the nightvisiooon?

Well, at least Playstation people now FINALLY have fully working Splinter Cell games :P If you don't know, the PS2 ports were the worst versions since Xbox was lead platform.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPMx86wXaKY

won't let me embed for some reason

I think chaos theory is one of the best games ever made hands down. I get that these games aren't for everyone but no other games have the bad ass quality that these do, i really hope they make another.

@Googly said:

Who turned out the lights?

Thanks, I was looking at the commentaries in hope of finding this.

Ryan shouldnt say "I took that spray to the face earlier."

Only if I can play with an original Xbox controller.

I enjoyed chaos theory the most and it looks like they removed the splinter cell movie teaser from the extras....lol.

Damn, the multiplayer in chaos theory was so good too, shame they've done such a poor job.

@penINC said:

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

Jesus fuckin' Christ - you guys actually did a QL of a multiplatform title on a PS3! Wow! Now that's a premiere on GiantBomb!

It's Playstation only, dude.

Also the Dark Souls Quick Look was on PS3 & that was multiplatform.

@shinluis said:

@Googly said:

Who turned out the lights?

Thanks, I was looking at the commentaries in hope of finding this.

I turned out the lights! Haha!

NVG confirmed.

@AssInAss said:

Well, at least Playstation people now FINALLY have fully working Splinter Cell games :P If you don't know, the PS2 ports were the worst versions since Xbox was lead platform.

Gamecube versions were ports of the PS2 versions, so they were the worst. Gameboy connectivity aside.

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

Jesus fuckin' Christ - you guys actually did a QL of a multiplatform title on a PS3! Wow! Now that's a premiere on GiantBomb!

I think they've addressed this before, explaining that their capture gear works better with the 360 hardware.

While Chaos Theory is my favorite of the series, I played the SHIT out of conviction. I can't wait for a new Splinter Cell.

@Mercanis said:

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

Jesus fuckin' Christ - you guys actually did a QL of a multiplatform title on a PS3! Wow! Now that's a premiere on GiantBomb!

I think they've addressed this before, explaining that their capture gear works better with the 360 hardware.

I think it's because developers send them 360 builds 90% of the time. Also this collection is only for PS3 I believe.

I know FOR SURE, those lights on the xbox version collided with you. This must be crappy playstation porting.

Light through the bridge?...None of these are the xbox versions are they...

Yeah, when these games came out, I played them all on consoles, but I finally beat them all straight through last year when I bought them all on PC. The games are amazing, aside from how the story is told.

@Benny: @Benny said:

Damn, the multiplayer in chaos theory was so good too, shame they've done such a poor job.

It was awesome! Nostalgia is all up in my face watching this video...

Why did they have Ryan do this? I thought he hated Splinter Cell?

Weird.

They pulled inverted aiming and multiplayer from this title. No sale and nobody should support Ubisoft's shameless greed.

edit: posting at 7:30am can cause confusion. I mixed up Ubisoft with Eidos because they were both euro and I wasn't awake yet. Still hate'n on it for being a lump of crap tho.

I still have all these on PC but it's cool to see them HD'd I guess. The 3rd one isn't THAT old though haha

My favorite was always the second one, but the third one is pretty awesome too. Even has a very tiny moral thing where you can choose to help certain people in certain ways. It's kind of cool.

Anyway, cool quick look. My only thing is the PC controls are so much better so even with mine being old and the first and second not looking right on HD monitors it still plays fine. That's all that matters to me =)

@Buzzkill: Deus Ex isn't a Ubisoft title, so buying it wouldn't support them either.

I can't decide if I want to play this... I loved the first Splinter Cell, but I never really played any of the others. Played a little conviction, but never finished it either.

Did anyone play the PS3 or 360 port of Double Agent? Was it any good?

What happened to the light? Weird!

@Vlad_Tiberius: Why don't you crawl back to 2002 or go comment on the latest IGN article in the '10 reasons the Xbox 360 is a better console than ... ' series.

I thought all of these HD collections were bad, but now, it has gotten even worse and companies are just spitting out straight ports with nothing new added like this. How about spending the time and money on new IPs instead?

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

Jesus fuckin' Christ - you guys actually did a QL of a multiplatform title on a PS3! Wow! Now that's a premiere on GiantBomb!

I think they've addressed this before, explaining that their capture gear works better with the 360 hardware.

These are the only really good Splinter Cell games in my book. But if you wanna play them, I'd really recommend the PC version, the controls are great there.
Also, why is it that it's Ryan playing this...? : /

@Buzzkill said:

They pulled inverted aiming and multiplayer from this title. No sale and nobody should support Ubisoft's shameless greed. I'm glad I skipped Dues Ex now so it didn't support them.

What are you even talking about? Deus Ex is Eidos/Square-Enix.

@atomic_dumpling said:

@Mercanis said:

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

Jesus fuckin' Christ - you guys actually did a QL of a multiplatform title on a PS3! Wow! Now that's a premiere on GiantBomb!

I think they've addressed this before, explaining that their capture gear works better with the 360 hardware.

Ah yes, the infamous Playstation Optical Output Protocol.

I believe you're talking about the patented Sony Hexadecimal Input Transmission.

I hate watching people play chaos theory cus they always do it wrong :P

Weird!

@atomic_dumpling said:

@Mercanis said:

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

Jesus fuckin' Christ - you guys actually did a QL of a multiplatform title on a PS3! Wow! Now that's a premiere on GiantBomb!

I think they've addressed this before, explaining that their capture gear works better with the 360 hardware.

Ah yes, the infamous Playstation Optical Output Protocol.

I believe you're talking about the patented Sony Hexadecimal Input Transmission.

@walkingcarpet said:

I can't decide if I want to play this... I loved the first Splinter Cell, but I never really played any of the others. Played a little conviction, but never finished it either.

Did anyone play the PS3 or 360 port of Double Agent? Was it any good?

The first Splinter cell was great when it first came out, but for me it didn't really blow out before Chaos Theory, which in my opinion is the best Splinter Cell game, and it still holds up pretty well. If you liked the first one then you will probably like the others, and definitely Chaos Theory.

And as for Double Agent - Yes, it's a good game, but i remember having some problems with it when the 360 couldn't install games to the harddrive years ago (Loading issues and sounds cutting off). It could be my system though, but that's just my experience with it. But yes it is a good game and i think it had one of the best missions in the Splinter Cell franchise too, at least in my opinion.

It's a shame this franchise took a 180 and focused more on the action because of people like Ryan Davis and the mainstream who can't appreciate patience. Not to say that Conviction is bad or anything, but just a bit different.

"Fisher, escort that fake leg! I'm pulling you out!"

Damn it Fisher! I'm pulling you out!

Who turned down dee multiplayer?

@Wiseblood said:

@Tebbit said:

@atomic_dumpling said:

@Mercanis said:

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

Jesus fuckin' Christ - you guys actually did a QL of a multiplatform title on a PS3! Wow! Now that's a premiere on GiantBomb!

I think they've addressed this before, explaining that their capture gear works better with the 360 hardware.

Ah yes, the infamous Playstation Optical Output Protocol.

I believe you're talking about the patented Sony Hexadecimal Input Transmission.

Or maybe it's the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) that's on all of the PS3's HDMI output, even for games.

Maybe it's the fact that this collection is only available on the PS3.

These games did NOT have that janky lighting on the PC. Man that's odd.

Also, Pandora Tomorrow multiplayer on the hospital level remains something special. It's a pretty unique kind of gameplay that nobody else has pulled off and I even think they did a worse job in Chaos Theory.

I never understood GB's hate for Ironside's voicework.

The man is utterly amazing as Fischer. Seriously one of the most awesome voices ever in a video game. In the Pandora Tomorrow part Vinny says Fischer just got drunk at this point, and I thought everything he said while interrogating that dude sounded cool as fuck.