****ing hell that was very short demo.
Here is the review(not mine as i was too tired to write one so got this from Ubisoft forum.)
Lead Up
I'll admit that in the beginning, when the whole story about a reworking of the Splinter Cell franchise was released I was a little excited. Especially after seeing the 2007 ubidays videos and the others shortly released. I'll admit the new ragged homeless fisher was a bit off, but from the gameplay it appeared that Splinter Cell was going to be more sandbox stealth than ever.
And then everything went dark, for a long time we just sat their waiting for more info. As I am sure most of you know during that time a certain game in the Metal Gear Franchise was released, being called one of the greatest stealth actions games ever. We got word through the grape vine that everything was being changed again for Sam Fisher and his crew and compatriots.
So at this point I was really worried, had Sam Fisher and his blend of stealth action been erased from gaming history. Were we relegated to just be happy with the awesome experience that was Chaos Theory. And to a lesser extent, the PS2 and Original Xbox Double Agent.
Well along came the stunning E3 2009 video... I was shocked, it almost appeared that the game literally played itself. Mark and Execute, albeit similar to adrenaline fueled reflexes and years of combat training all rolled into one button press. Was disappointing, though it looked a lot more hectic and the gun play didn't look bad, they never showed a lot of it. As if it was hiding, or pretty non existent. Then the announcement that you could no longer hide bodies came, that was hard to comprehend. So yeah Sam Fisher has gone 'rogue', but all conventional wisdom would suggest that something from the beginning of the franchise would not just be casually thrown out as it had seemed to be... Aside from the fact that bad guys usually tend to notice when their fellow bad guys disappear.
And then more waiting, waiting to play the demo that the PRESS always seem to be able to touch. I was getting worried that once again another company would forget about their true target audience and make us wait for the actual game. Which nowadays with pre-order exclusive DLC is a catch 22. Do you pre-order and buy for some DLC and risk a bad game, or do you wait and risk never getting the bonus items...
Analysis and Afterthoughts
Well now after playing the game, I'm relegated to the fact that I will be picking it up Day One. However that is not without some pro's and con's.
Mark and Execute is not as plentiful as I originally feared. I was worried that throughout the whole the game I would be CQC'ing my way to pretty yes, though challenging not fallout 3 V.A.T.S ripoffs. Albeit though the option is their for the skilled player.
Gunplay is still good. In my opinion no splinter cell title can stand alone unless you can fight your way through it. Now yes Rookie and Normal are a cake walk, but Realistic is a great start for Sam Fisher veterans the world over. The one negative though is that their seems to be no way to adjust the sensitivity of the aiming controls. Please Ubisoft rectify this issue, not all of us want to M&E our way through this game.
Stealth though it has been relegated to the Jason Bourne or James Bond variety, which is somewhat of a let down. It is still very much a stealth game. Again for veterans of the series Realistic is the only difficulty you should be interested in.
The Gadgets aren't too bad, I am in a love hate relationship with the Sticky Camera. I mean ya it can explode but what happened to the sleeping gas? The Portable EMP, I was worried. But I am happy to see a restriction on it. And the frag, and EMP grenade are useful tools.
In conclusion I have to say that its a fun game, it may not be Chaos Theory which inevitably will **** of many. But its a good start to breathing new life into the franchise. I would love to see more of the levels, and if its possible to ghost the entire the game. Now I just have to wait and try to decide which DLC I choose to pursue.
