Splinter Cell Essentials for PSP Review

Bravo. Tango. Alpha. Sam Fischer here. I’m back. Well, kind of. I’m having a few flashbacks to my other three games and I’m predicting the future better than Agatha from Minority Report with some missions from my upcoming tour of duty in Double Agent.

So if you guessed Splinter Cell: Essentials for the PSP is mostly a rehash, then you’re on the right track to not buying this game. Oh, there are many other reasons that will dissuade you, but the aforementioned rehash is strike one.

You play Sam Fischer, who’s recently disappeared on his own and is being accused of fraternizing with known terrorists. While visiting the grave of his daughter on the anniversary of her death, U.S. agents ambush Fischer and take him in for questioning. They blame him for all sorts of nasty things, like killing civilians, but what really ticks him off is being accused of treason. That’s the last thing you charge Sam Fischer of.

The flow of Essentials runs pretty much the same throughout. After you get caught at the cemetery, agents peruse your files, trying to find hints of your terrorist activity. They have the tampered files, but do give you a chance to tell your version of the events, which plops you down in the mission. Mission after mission follows the same boring presentation in which you have to regale the agents with your version.

Not having played a lot of the Splinter Cell games, the missions took anywhere from 30-45 minutes to complete. There are 9 regular missions and 3 bonus missions you can unlock. So can you do the math? The game is short, about five hours. Veterans of Splinter Cell should easily shelve this game in 4 hours or under.

The actual missions are mostly linear. Every once in a while you’ll have to backtrack to grab some gear or hack a computer. Otherwise it’s point A to B. You’ll sneak through the levels dispatching enemies with your gun, knife or your body (falling on enemies knocks them out, which is more satisfying than you think), hiding in darkness, waiting, sneaking some more, finding cover, waiting, and—oh yeah—being stealthy.

In your quest to being stealthful, this game gives you plenty of options, which have corresponding indicators in your HUD. The light indicator tells you how well you are hidden in the darkness or how easily you could be seen. Staying near rock walls and crouching through brush keeps you well hidden. The two noise gauges indicate A) How loud you are and B) the noise levels of your surroundings like enemy footsteps or running water. The sound is easily the strongest part of the game. The ambience meters have a left and right gauges and to experience the true stereo sound of this game, you need to play with headphones.

I give the controls in Splinter Cell: Essentials a big strike two. There’s all kinds of maneuvers you can do, like a stealth turn, or a corner peek, but there’s too much to do. The controls are almost a direct port from the console versions and knowing that make me cringe.

One major flaw was operating the camera system. The camera does not follow you from behind nor does it adjust itself to your turning. While not in weapon mode, you find yourself tapping the Circle button to constantly center the camera behind you. This got annoying because there’s a chance you’d miss some baddies approaching you until it was too late. Combine that with using the analog control to precisely and effectively position yourself to frustrating.

When you switch to weapon mode, movement transfers to the four buttons. Not too much complaint here, though I’ve never liked the outline of Fischer on the left side of the screen. I know, I know: he’s right-handed, but just give me a first person view then.

The graphics will impress you…when you can see them. Most of the missions occur at night, but a lot of your surroundings provide even more shadow so you don’t know if you’re running into a bush or Jose’s beard. When you do get to witness what the PSP is pushing you’ll find heavily detailed bad guys, desks with calendars, really rusty barrels (bring your Tetanus) and other richly polygonal landscapes and items. It’s too bad you walk around with semi-Helen Keller eyes most of the time.

What’s strike three, you ask? The Artificial Intelligence of the enemy. Don’t mind the fact that these guys follow one pat around a campsite and only talk about other people’s sisters. You can walk right up to one of them in 5% light and they won’t even notice. Or how about following them on a wooden walkway for their entire patrol without hearing your government issue boots clodding along? This is what’s called disposable help. The best part is when you knife someone and as they go down, they fire off some rounds. Reflexes, right? Pretty normal, I think. The problem comes when his buddy is a mere ten feet away and doesn’t bother to come running. I thought henchmen were suppose to back each other up? I guess I’m spoiled on James Bond movies.

Splinter Cell: Essentials isn’t essential. Period. It’s short, easy, and difficult to see --- I don’t know anyone who enjoys those types of games. Sam Fischer should not have been accused of treason. Instead, bring Ubisoft into the little interrogation room and ask them why they thought people would waste cash on this rehash.

• Video Game Violence Statistics
• History of Video Games Timeline
• Top Strategy Games

• Street Fighter Characters
• Free Online Horse Games
• Nintendogs Cheat Codes: Unlockable Breeds
• Street Fighter Characters 2
• Play Zuma Online for Free

• Category:Video Game Reviews
• SSX On Tour Review