Splinter Cell is a pretty well-liked series of stealth games. Personally, I like them for their depth and realism. Where Metal Gear Solid relies more on just watching enemy patterns and using distractions, Splinter Cell relies more on staying silent and in the shadows, and it's a welcome deviation from the norm; but there are three things that don't translate well onto a system like the GBA: Stealth, shooting, and 3D graphics. Since this game has all of those things, it would be a terrible idea to port it onto the system. For reasons that still remain unknown to me, they did it anyway. Now, the GBA has a lack of stealth games. Honestly, I like a good stealth game once in a while, so this might be a welcome addition to the tiny pile.

To start with, I really dislike the graphic style that is used in this game. It's the exact same style that was used in Max Payne's GBA port where it seems like they just took the 3D models from the console versions and turned them into 2D sprites. They look very grainy and it just looks off from the well-designed backgrounds which were created specifically for this version of the game. They are animated very fluidly, but it would've looked at least a hundred times better if some original graphics were created. With the way that they're been turned into sprites, most of the detail is gone to the point that nobody has a face anymore. It's unfortunate that this seems to be a very common trend in GBA ports from console versions of games.

The music really didn't hold my interest. It fits the situation well enough, but it was just generic background music that was composed in a rush to get this version out on store shelves. I completely forgot about most of the music that was there. What I did remember only stuck in my head because I had to hear it so often. The sound effects are very similar to the music. They're just as tinny, generic, and forgettable as the music tracks. You have your gun sounds and grunts when people die and get knocked out, it's all very forgettable. There are only two or three different noises for the enemy detecting you, so every enemy has a similar voice regardless of appearance.

The gameplay really starts to show why this type of game doesn't work very well on portable systems. Since a 3D third-person stealth game would've been literally impossible on the GBA, it's been reduced to a 2D sidescroller with elements of stealth. Most of the actions that were possible in the console versions are possible here; although they're cut down to fit on a 2D plane. Unfortunately, the weapons and items aren't so lucky, and there are very few of either in this version. To put things into perspective, the only two weapons you have are a tranquilizer gun and gas grenades. The gadgets that aren't automatically used are thermal goggles, which let you see lasers, and night-vision goggles that aren't useful because you can see just fine without them. Things are already looking pretty shallow compared to other versions of the game, even if you take into account the limitations of the hardware, but it gets better.

For a game like this, you'd think you could knock on walls, right? Well, you can't. Neither can you whistle or do anything else to attract attention without alerting the enemy. The stealth elements feel very bare-boned, like they were just slapped together at the last minute. The only remotely stealthy move Sam can still perform is hiding in the shadows. There's also something new for this version, at least to my knowledge: a danger meter, that fills up depending on how close you are to an enemy. I suppose they had to add this feature, since the screen size is small enough that enemies can see you from across the screen. Aside from that, there's also the sticky camera, which acts totally different than it did in any other game. Instead of sticking to walls or doing any of the other cool stuff that it did before, now it just lets you move the camera around independently of Sam. They really forgot what game they were working with, didn't they? Last time I checked, using a variety of gadgets was a major selling point of Splinter Cell games.

This game's difficulty has...issues. Let's just put it that way. It's some of the most inconsistent difficulty I've ever seen in a game. Most of the game isn't too difficult, but then the game will throw an obscenely difficult part at you completely out of the blue before going back to being easy again. This happens throughout the entire game. Even the tutorial has a moment like this, where you have to land a perfect grenade toss to hit a target that you have to use the Sticky Camera to see in the first place.

Later in the game, you'll have to chase after a guy who's always at maximum running speed, and you have to somehow shoot him three times before he escapes. This doesn't sound so hard by itself, except you have to stop to be able to draw your gun, and you can't run with it drawn, AND can't hit anything that's off-screen. Let's not forget that the guy runs so fast that he can outrun the bullets! So the only way to shoot him is to wait for the time when he's climbing on pipes and can't outrun the bullets; however, the controls will still screw you up, because you have to stay perfectly still to draw your gun and fire while climbing. I lost count of how many tries it took me before I was able to beat this part. Ten? Twenty? Thirty? Who knows, I wasn't keeping count. The previous part of the same level was an incredibly easy adventure through an oil plant where there's no alarm to raise and all the enemies have pathetically ineffective grenades for weapons.

This game also doesn't have especially great replay value. There isn't too much about this package that'll leave you coming back aside from the total lack of alternatives if you want stealth on your GBA. Once you defeat the missions the game gives you, there isn't any extra objective or optional missions or anything of the sort. Considering the very limited options you have to get through the game in the first place, it probably won't be any more fun the second time through.

In conclusion, this is a good example of why certain games just don't work on portable systems without a lot of work. Max Payne managed to change its mechanics and make third-person shooting work on the GBA, but Splinter Cell just doesn't put in the required effort to make a good stealth game on the GBA. It just ends up being a third-rate copy of its console counterpart. It seems like they just wanted to squeeze a little bit of money out of the portable market, so they just made this as a rush job on a low budget to get something out on the GBA for people to buy. If you're looking for stealth on the GBA, you might want to keep looking before you take a look at this one.

Final Rating - 5 obscenely hard chase sequences out of 10

I felt the same for the most part about this game, however I found it superior to the original Splinter Cell personally, not for this game's goodness, but for the other's badness (if that's even a word). I really was severely disappointed in the first and only Splinter Cell I played on console, but this being a console to handheld port (and myself having not played the console version first) caused me to go into the game with extremely low expectations. Still I did it, and I ended up pleasantly surprised. Now the game is decent at best, and bland at worst, but it isn't bad at all for a console to handheld port of a game this old. Those never turned out good.

Really I found the stationary sniper levels to be a bit forced, frustrating (especially since the game neglects to tell you that you can speed up the sights movement with the B button I believe it was), and really dumb. I mean this guy is a super stealthy special agent with tons of advanced training, and when two guys are shooting at him (and hitting him), he doesn't have the sense to move? Yeah, bad idea for a level.

Anyway, enough ranting by me. Nice work on the review.

Eirinn : Thank you for the comment! I saw your review on this game, too...can you give me a few tips on how to improve? Because your review was much better and much longer than mine.

Also, I kinda forgot about the sniper levels. It's probably because I was more focused on the ridiculously hard chase sequence.

NovemberJoy : i agree with you on this, i LOVED the splinter cell on console, and HATED the game boy advance port. i don't even know why eirinn down there hates the console version, but the console is far superior in my opinion. this was a good long review, keep up the good work.

noahs_brother : Thank you for the comment! I haven't played the original Splinter Cell, but from the games that I've played, I have a good idea of what Splinter Cell should be like.

That was an excellent "rant!" You structured your argument well and used ample detail to show how terrible the game was. You pointed out at the numerous short comings, showing how you were disappointed.

janus : I wasn't really intending for it to be a rant, but thank you for the comment anyways! I suppose it did end up looking like a rant by the time I was done talking about the game from my perspective.

Well your review was good and detailed as well. And thank you for the compliment.

All I really do is try to make the review fun to read. I toss in a little humor to make it as much about entertainment as information, because people tend to get bored of reading pure information after a bit. Kind of like instruction manuals that we never read. Lol Too facty.

Also breaking each category into multiple paragraphs helps add length (in a good way) and make it breathe more and thus be more digestable. Like this:

Graphics:
The sprites look like they are 3D models compressed into 2D sprites and so forth and talk and stuff.

The Backgrounds look recycled and uninspired, and Eirinn has awesome hair and yadda yadda.


Sound:
More stuff.


You get the idea. Kind of making subsections for each aspect of each category (graphics: sprites, backgrounds; sound: SFX, Music; etc). The additional spacing and clear separation of each portion makes it easier to pay attention to the review as a whole by making it feel more like several bite sized pieces instead of a few bigger portions. Also I may have used food terminology too much to describe things. Sorry about that. Lol


But really the best thing anyone can do is just be themselves and make their reviews feel like they had fun writing them. Those are the best kinds of reviews, and that's what I was working on capturing myself when I had to finally step down as a reviewer. I don't think I was the best, but as long as you keep trying to get better, you're doing something right.


And yes, the chasing was awful as well. -__- In fact the entire level that you chased that guy in was bad I thought.


noahs_brother : Well I know the original was obviously well liked, and I really figured most would disagree with my sentiments on it. No game is good for everyone, and that one just wasn't for me. I will admit I loved the concepts of sound and darkness, as well as hiding the bodies. It just didn't mesh well for me for some reason, despite my love of stealth games. That's just me though. My apologies if I came across as insulting the game or being offensive at all.