Quick Look: Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy HD

"Because of people like Ryan Davis-", says certain poster below....unfortunate.

Chaos Theory was easily one of the very best games released last generation and still holds up surprisingly well. It was the reason I was always on the Splinter Cell side of the whole SC vs MGS better stealth games debate.

What's with these HD ports? no soft shadows, poor lighting, bad anti-aliasing. It's like they just upped the resolution and thought, "fuck it, fans, give me your money.."

Not saying they're all this bad, just recently with the RE's they seem to be declining in quality.

40$ lol

Rose tinted contacts Vinny? Don't you mean brownish tinted contacts?

The lack of Invert Y is annoying me.

But, I'm too huge a Splinter Cell fan to not enjoy replaying them for the hundredth time. And with trophies too. It's enough for me, I think.

I wonder which assets they are using since these games look way better on PC than they do here (I'm guessing it's not the PC assets). The framerate in particular is pretty terrible at spots.

@CornBREDX said:

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 =)

That's funny, because I always hated the PC controls and thought the console ones were way better :p

This seems like a poor HD update and no multiplayer. I like all 3 of these games but this doesn't seem worth it.

"I took that spray to the face earlier." -- Ryan Davis

A buggy Ubisoft game? No way!

"I took that spray to the face earlier"

@Vonocourt said:

@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.

Oh haha that sounds like an Inception of bad ports!

I played the hell out of 1 and 3 on my Xbox back in the day, but I went back to them a few years ago and could not play them at all. Not that they were unplayable, but I was so bad at playing them after experiencing newer games and the last two MGS games.

@Rawrz said:

Chaos Theory was easily one of the very best games released last generation and still holds up surprisingly well. It was the reason I was always on the Splinter Cell side of the whole SC vs MGS better stealth games debate.

"La le li lu lo"

"War economy"

"The System"

"War economy"

"Age of Heroes"

"War economy"

*farts*

No little fishers :(

Weird thing is I've never played a Splinter Cell game except for the latest Conviction one, so I can't judge these games.

No offense Ryan but having you demo games like this is painful to watch. It's kind of like giving Jeff the latest Madden and expecting him to know - or care - what the hell is going on. I can't account for the quality of this particular package but these were all great games that should really be played by someone who doesn't openly say they don't care for the genre. Sorry but it had to be said.

Chaos Theory is still the high water mark of stealth games IMO. I loved the Thief series and have high hopes for the new one but SC:CT struck that great balance between game mechanics and atmosphere and the characterisation of Sam as the world weary veteran was spot on. There is also something about the way you move in that game. The analogue controls made every action super precise and makes you feel every bit the cold-as-steal predator Fisher is at that point. The more to a more crowd pleasing action experience for the later games never interested me and it now seems that stealth is a dirty word with most industry figures. A real shame as some of the best games I've every played have been stealth based.

I really loved this series on PC from the beginning. Then Double Agent came out (a poor port of the first primarily console-focused release) which crashed my PC to a black screen at least every 15 minutes and dumbed down the already pretty simple mechanics. By the time Conviction eventually came around they'd lost my interest. It's sad really.

@Winternet said:

@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.

It was my mistake: I thought this was a multiplatform release. But hey, I guess this was enough of a reason for anybody (not just me) to be bashed over the internet by some jerk-off geeks that have nothing else to do all day.

Third Echelon bitches!

Is this HD collection just a port of the PC versions? If so, gonna have to get it on the next Steam sale. These were by far my most played games on my old Xbox, aside from Halo.

Wow what horrible ports. The light rays definitely did not clip like that in either the first or second game.

awful QL, more stuff like the Dark Souls ones please.

The first one was the only one I played and I remember really liking it. I never bought any of the others so maybe this might be for me.

Just realised this is the second video in a week where Vinny has named some random NPC 'Frank'...

i just realized Lambert in Pandora Tomorrow is the All State guy, that's really cool.

Damn it @Ryan, leave the night vision on!! I want to see what's going on.

Also, NOBODY TELLS SAM FISHER HOW TO LIVE!!

@Afroman269 said:

@TepidShark

@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.

People still continue to care which platform a game is being played on? Must be some weird thing with people who only have one console.

No, genius, it's because people wanna know which platform has the best version to buy it for, since they don't wanna buy the same game for all the consoles they have.

Yeah, it's a "weird thing" to see people care about their money...

I love these games, i have all 3 for the original xbox......so as interesting as this set is I'll stick to those :D

@Vlad_Tiberius: You're only seeing one console version for a game in each Quick Look (save a few exceptions), so it's no different than if it was on the 360. If one's better than the other, the crew will say so in the Quick Look.

so you can get splinter cell caos Theory for $40 on the 3ds or you can get all 3 splinter cells that ever existed for the ps3 for $40.

Tough choice.

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

@Winternet said:

@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.

It was my mistake: I thought this was a multiplatform release. But hey, I guess this was enough of a reason for anybody (not just me) to be bashed over the internet by some jerk-off geeks that have nothing else to do all day.

Who's bashing who?

I know these are the PC versions of the 3 but I'm so use to the PS2 versions and playing the Xbox version of the first felt alien like the pistol crosshair which I feel was made better for the PS2 version as well as level layouts. I'm afraid to pick this HD collection up purely because of this issue.

@Vlad_Tiberius: You mad. If people want to find out which console has the best version it's not hard to do a little searching on the internet. If you care that much about your money, it's very little work.

I never played these originally, heard a lot about them though.

Still going to pass on this.

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

@Afroman269 said:

@TepidShark

@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.

People still continue to care which platform a game is being played on? Must be some weird thing with people who only have one console.

No, genius, it's because people wanna know which platform has the best version to buy it for, since they don't wanna buy the same game for all the consoles they have.

Yeah, it's a "weird thing" to see people care about their money...

Who said anything about buying the same game for every console? If there are any significant issues with a specific platform version of a game, GB will be sure to point them out.

I really want to take default avatar users seriously but then I read comments like this.

weird

Both Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory had multiplayer on the PC.
Pandora came with competitive objective-based multiplayer, Chaos Theory the same + an extensive awesome coop-campaign.

@ashkanhoss29 said:

Wow what horrible ports. The light rays definitely did not clip like that in either the first or second game.

Yeah, I don't remember that happening either. I'm tempted to pop in my Xbox copy and looking for myself, but I doubt they did clip through you. I remember playing with the lighting for ages. I would stay and watch the light play over me through a chain-link fence and screw around with the useless split jumps.

And Chaos Theory. Man, what a good game.

I wonder if pure stealth games have to do with something Jeff was talking about on one of the Jar Times, where kids will get a lot more out of some games simply because they have a lot of time to waste. I definitely did not mind playing parts of Chaos Theory over and over trying to get the perfect run, or just knifing everyone in sight.

@bkbroiler: Yeah they discussed that on the bombcast as well when they were talking about Dark Souls. I remember being 12-15 when I played though the three splinter cell games. I barely had any money to spend and enormous amounts of free time, so I would end up playing and replaying through those games many times, each time trying to trigger less alarms and knock out less enemies. Now I have money to spend and barely any time. I think I have about 4 games still in plastic wrap and a ton more unfinished.

The lighting in the PC versions was awesome, shame the shadows don't work right in the first two anymore (changes to directX I think)

@Landon said:

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

@Winternet said:

@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.

It was my mistake: I thought this was a multiplatform release. But hey, I guess this was enough of a reason for anybody (not just me) to be bashed over the internet by some jerk-off geeks that have nothing else to do all day.

Who's bashing who?

I'm bashing all of you, right here, right now.

I've played both the PS2 version and 3DS version of Chaos Theory. From what Ryan showed of this first level. The level design is a lot different from the versions I played. Must be an Xbox or PC change.

Huu tern owt dee liets?

@Winternet said:

@Landon said:

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

@Winternet said:

@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.

It was my mistake: I thought this was a multiplatform release. But hey, I guess this was enough of a reason for anybody (not just me) to be bashed over the internet by some jerk-off geeks that have nothing else to do all day.

Who's bashing who?

I'm bashing all of you, right here, right now.

Whoa, you're like a crazy hyena. Are you in a biker gang?

@Landon said:

@Winternet said:

@Landon said:

@Vlad_Tiberius said:

@Winternet said:

@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.

It was my mistake: I thought this was a multiplatform release. But hey, I guess this was enough of a reason for anybody (not just me) to be bashed over the internet by some jerk-off geeks that have nothing else to do all day.

Who's bashing who?

I'm bashing all of you, right here, right now.

Whoa, you're like a crazy hyena. Are you in a biker gang?

aarrrrrr Get bent!

Chaos Theory is amazing, as long as u can deal with the controls. I played it so much back when multiplayer had a community

I only played Pandora Tomorrow on the PS2, loved that game.

@Vasta_Narada: @Vasta_Narada said:

@Vlad_Tiberius: You're only seeing one console version for a game in each Quick Look (save a few exceptions), so it's no different than if it was on the 360. If one's better than the other, the crew will say so in the Quick Look.

I'm curious: could you point out those "few" exceptions for me, because I don't remember seeing ANY multiplatform title being played on a PS3 on this site?

Honestly, I feel like they use the PS3 only for its exclusives, and even then it feels either like a special occasion or a chore for them to film. What's more disturbing is that even the way better PC versions of certain multiplatform titles are still being played on the 360 and that's a shame. Take the current Mortal Kombat game, for example: the PS3 version offers Kratos as an exclusive character ( an unfair stunt that shouldn't have happened especially in this day and age) and you still show me gameplay from the 360 version?! Come on...

I don't want them to just TELL us which version is better; I want them to SHOW it to us as well, because they have the equipment and they're supposed to be professional videogame journalists and afficcionados here, not some weird stupid kids posting videos about their toys on the freakin' Youtube, for fuck sake!

It's not like I'm asking for the moon here! And, after all, it's 2011: all the current consoles have already gained some years, they're not "next-gen" anymore, therefore no console should be treated like a novelty here, especially on a website that's all about videogames! How would you have felt as a gamer back in the day seeing classic multiplatform games being played solely on Sega Mega Drive and only a "few exceptions" being played on SNES or vice versa?