Thirith on 3/11/2008 at 12:27
Malleus, since you're the resident Splinter Cell expert ;), I'd be interested: what would you say were the weaknesses in Double Agent's design and story? I'm asking because I thought that both the design choices and the story had a lot of potential, but that they failed to realise this potential, mainly due to the technical issues. I'd like to hear your take.
poroshin on 3/11/2008 at 14:44
I think Malleus and I agree, SC1 was overall the best game.
NamelessPlayer on 3/11/2008 at 17:17
I didn't know that PC Splinter Cell titles had faster chorded movement like the old first-person titles of yore. (Remember tri-chording in Descent, or maybe just moving faster diagonally in Doom?) The controls never bothered me too much for whatever reason, though I did wish that I had one of those old Microsoft SideWinder Strategic Commander devices if they support analog movement (which the basic design seems to suggest).
BTW, if anyone's interested, I have the PC Collector's Edition of Chaos Theory. Serials should still be valid; I didn't get banned online or anything. Of course, you'll have to strip out the damn Starforce. Since the online community is full of arrogant twats that pissed me off big time, I haven't bothered to touch it in a year or two. I might as well sell it to someone who will enjoy it.
Malleus on 3/11/2008 at 19:56
Yes, all in all, SC1 is my favorite. One of the reason is Data Sticks. Readables. SC1 had a lot and they added some extra depth to the game world. I don't know why they ditched the idea.
Btw, just tested Pandora Tomorrow on my Gef4Ti4200 and the shadows are nicely blurred. They're still pixelated though.
As for DA, I found it hard to organize my thoughts on it, but here's the attempt. The design problems are mostly with the interface. I don't want to post a several paragraphs long rant about it, let's just say it's too flashy, annoyingly slow, unpractical, not optimized for the mouse, and all in all stinks of consolitis. The interaction icons flashing and making a 'cling!' sound on appearance were especially annoying, not to mention the 'Ssshhhhhhhing' sound that plays when an enemy gets suspicious. And you couldn't turn them off, of course. Levels are way too linear, especially compared to CT. Also, it makes no sense (storywise) to have certain levels in daylight (like Cozumel).
When DA came out, I hated everything about its story. The drama about Fisher, him no longer working for TE, all characters ingame, the JBA, the double agent concept, everything. I wanted my 'weak political thriller story' and my NSA agent back, I didn't want no dramatic hollywood movie, cause that's what it felt like. It felt like what ubi did with R6 and GR. At least SC still had the gameplay.
Objectively speaking, the old-gen version story kinda works, while the story of the PC/X360 version was quite disjointed. A few examples: PC version first level has nothing to do with the main story, Xbox version first level you are with Hisham, you see Emile, and you find out that they have some kind of chemical substance (all play an important part later). In the PC version, they don't explain where your equipment is from, in the xbox version Lambert poses as an arms dealer. It makes more sense, and right now, I would accept the story this way, if the game didn't have any bugs and the interface was right.
Jason Moyer on 4/11/2008 at 04:57
I have to disagree on the consoles having better movement than the PC version. I've played the first one on both PC and xbox, and I vastly prefer using the mousewheel to control movement speed. It just feels more precise.
Oh, and I'd put "best in series" as a tie between 1 and 3. 1 was a nice challenge, but ridiculously linear. 3 had much more open spaces, but wasn't nearly as challenging. 2 was garbage and I never even finished the demo for 4.
Thirith on 4/11/2008 at 07:17
Can someone remind me what was bad about the second game? I remember playing and enjoying it (I think), but apart from that my memory's blank. Something on a train, and something with bombs in a public building... Nah. It's gone. (The oil rig - that was the first game, right?)
Scots Taffer on 4/11/2008 at 11:37
It honestly amazes me that people can enjoy the "canned stealth" garbage that passes for gameplay in the SC series.
Jason Moyer on 4/11/2008 at 12:11
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
It honestly amazes me that people can enjoy the "canned stealth" garbage that passes for gameplay in the SC series.
How was Chaos Theory any more canned than any of the Thief games?
Scots Taffer on 4/11/2008 at 12:12
Didn't reach that one, sorry.
Jason Moyer on 4/11/2008 at 12:13
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
Didn't reach that one, sorry.
Ah, so you're dismissing the entire series without playing the best one? SC3 is a pretty awesome game. It probably wasn't as difficult as the first one, although that might be because, aside from entry/exit points, most of the levels didn't force you down a certain path.
