Good enough.
I've never played a Splinter Cell game before and I usually avoid stealth games as thats not my style. However, this game I gave a chance as I heard many good things about it and it seemed the only bad stuff was from die hard nerds who didn't like this little detail or blah blah.
I liked the first 1/3 part of the game where I think stealth was the main focus of the game. It was a simple game of hide n' gun. Then they started adding gadgets which were alright but I didn't want to spend half the game setting up traps when a few minutes of careful aiming would do the job.
I disliked the middle 2/3 part with the green lens goggles. You would think if they got something so techy, it wouldn't be blurry or full of static. I didn't get that and only used it when I had to. I still only used the frags, mines, and flashbangs as the other stuff just wasn't up to my style. I found in this part that checkpoints seem to be every other major battle so it would get annoying sometiems if you got snagged by the environment and died.
I did my best in the third 3/3 part to stick with the stealth but it turned out to just be easier to throw the stuff mentioned above and gun down the AI. Sure I would sneak a little here and there but then let loose with the biggest gun I could find. I'm not sure what else you could do when you have eight AI in a small area with little cover. I wanted to get it done and not make it a tedious trial and error with a gadget.
The game didn't feel too long but I never got that feeling that I was close to the end of the game/story. I guess this series never really does have a end but no cut scene for the end? Come on, let me know wtf I did. The visuals were nice but not awesome. The music did the job of stepping up the tempo during fights. That marking system I never really got. It seemed to work some of the time and I could never figure out what the deal was. I wish the whole point system was a bit easier since it forces you to play a certain way if you wish to unlock points. I think a better system would have that stuff plus basic points for head shots, silent kills, gadget kills, ect ect.
To me the game was good and fun at times but really seemed to lose the thrill at the end. I was always wondering why I couldn't get a sniper rifle. A couple environment issues with aiming could be fixed with a bit of moving around but nothing too bad. The game is worth a go if you can get your hands on it for the right price.
