New Splinter Cell: Less Stealth, More Accessible

[Marik2]

The stealth is still there, just faster.

I dunno. That's a LOT of killing for a stealth game.

Well I'm pretty sure you can play the game without killing anyone. I don't think the game will force anyone to go Rambo style. You have to remember that Fisher is no longer tied to the government, he is pissed off and the gameplay perfectly reflects that.

 

[FoAmY99]

Well, perfect example is of course Mass Effect 2. Gone are the immersion and the epicness of the game and replaced by generic shooting and whatever.

Well, Splinter Cell, you won't be missed. Back to Chaos theory + Co-op.

Well then you forget that the vast majority of people hated the combat and Mako driving spots in ME 1 so they underwent an overhaul.

Getting back to Splinter Cell, obviously Ubisoft felt that more and more people were beginning to dislike the dominance of stealth in the gameplay, so they're trying a different approach. Maybe its not the right one, but they're trying to give people what they want. In my opinion the stealth of Splinter Cell is one of those "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" things.

 

[Mr. Mike]

Well this new-age stealth seems pretty interesting to be honest. Never played any old-school stealth games, but making it more about quick execution in the shadows versus waiting for the guy to turn around on his patrol appears as though it'll make it more accessible to the wider audience. Bummer for the old-school stealth nuts.

And it's a bummer I won't be getting this; don't have a 360, PC's too old, and even then, I'm not getting sucked into the maelstrom of Ubisoft's ridiculous DRM.

 

[aaronmcc]

i'm still gonna get it cuz i love sam fisher. if it's shit i'll just trade it or sell it on. it can alledgedly be completed in 5 hours, which is disappointing.

 

[Gh0st1y_H]

Can someone explain to me why everyone is so angry at the changes? The stealth is still there, just faster.

I don't like the "Ghost" feature. It looked pretty streamlined right up until the Ghost feature popped up. I think Ubisoft is making this game too easy.

Advertising is usually aimed at mainstream audiences though. It's possible that Ubisoft is going to make certain parts of the game more catered to the hardcore fans of the franchise. Metal Gear Solid 4 introduced Metal Gear Online making hardcore fans more pleased with the online portion than the fan-service the story turned into.

Ubisoft could just be making games too easy at this point though. Assassin's Creed 2 was just too easy to be considered more than an unsatisfying waste of time.

My entire post is just speculation on how things are going. I'm withholding judgment until I see the finished product. I'm excited but wary of this new release.

 

[Mr. Gency]

Can someone explain to me why everyone is so angry at the changes? The stealth is still there, just faster.

Thank you.
I'll still by playing this with a stealthy attitude...

Unless I'm playing it with my dad, who probably won't consider stealth until we're stuck.

 

[Oilerfan92]

Bought this game. Love it.

I see that many people are judging this without playing it. I never was the biggest SC fan. But from what i know, this is still SC. The stealth aspects are still in, and you can go around planning and executing your plans. Or you can IF YOU WANT TOO. Be more gung ho.

Jesus people, dont judge so quickly

 

[Mr. Gency]

Spoiler: Out of context quote

Ubisoft could just be making games too easy at this point though. Assassin's Creed 2 was just too easy to be considered more than an unsatisfying waste of time.

Well It was still enjoyable advancing through the story. If you want Assassin's Creed 2 too be hard, play the game with no armor, no up your med-kid pouch so you can only carry five at a time.

I may try that my self.

 

[Marik2]

Can someone explain to me why everyone is so angry at the changes? The stealth is still there, just faster.

I don't like the "Ghost" feature. It looked pretty streamlined right up until the Ghost feature popped up. I think Ubisoft is making this game too easy.

Advertising is usually aimed at mainstream audiences though. It's possible that Ubisoft is going to make certain parts of the game more catered to the hardcore fans of the franchise. Metal Gear Solid 4 introduced Metal Gear Online making hardcore fans more pleased with the online portion than the fan-service the story turned into.

Ubisoft could just be making games too easy at this point though. Assassin's Creed 2 was just too easy to be considered more than an unsatisfying waste of time.

My entire post is just speculation on how things are going. I'm withholding judgment until I see the finished product. I'm excited but wary of this new release.

From the look of this review it looks like the game is fun and challenging it doesn't look too easy, just right. Shame about the length though.

 

[internetzealot1]

Still getting it. Besides, they needed to change something. Double Agent's gameplay was dated.

 

[Kasawd]

Eh, I'm kind of split on this game.

While the game is fine to play, fluid and capturing, I find the new stealth system to be annoying.

I'm a big fan of the old "Wait and strike" Splinter cell games where I derived pleasure by murdering everyone in my wake while not alerting a single guard. Waiting for the precise moment to remove all threats with gadgets and a polymer blade(I assume. Won't set off metal detectors and why would splinter cells not get nifty knives?) really boosted the immersion for me. While I can still murder everyone, it isn't as satisfying. Using an auto kill move that can shoot through objects with a weapon that doesn't run out of ammunition isn't fun, for me. Counting bullets and using guns as a last resort in these games gave it a nice taste of realism.

Also, I loved the interrogation of minor enemies in the previous games in order to obtain information about the area.

Still this game is actually quite good. It's just not SC, to me.

I'm a real stealth nut.

 

[almostgold]

I think it looks better. Yeah I said it. I wouldn't buy another slow-paced stealth game. I will buy this all-out shoot-em-up action game. Deal with it.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I was even more pissed to hear that the single player campaign is 5 fucking hours short!

And that is why it ain't getting my hard earned cash! My home net connection is rooted at the moment so co-op etc does nothing for me.

 

[joshuaayt]

Yeah. I heard that Nintendo told Gamefreak to remove pokemon from Black and White versions, because, for newcomers, there were just too many to get their heads around.

 

[ImprovizoR]

As previously stated, the stealth is still there, and you can still go through a level without killing anyone. Hell, I propose that stealth is actually better in conviction. Yea, I said it. Wanna know why? Because the stealth is actually kinda difficult for a change. In the previous Splinter Cells (minus DA), you had light and detection meters (also known as easy-mode stealth), you could stand right next to a guard and they wouldn't notice the floating green lights, and there was essentially only one linear and correct path through the levels. Now the stealth is more difficult and requires more thought, which I thoroughly enjoy. Have fun with your conspicuously dark mansions and missile bunkers and your easy-mode meters, I'll take the difficult stealth any day.

I agree 100%
Look at Hitman for example. It's a great action game and you can chose to kill everything that moves or to do it stealthy and not kill anyone which is a lot more difficult. In previous SC games stealth was the only option. You didn't have the resources to fight your way through the level. Now you can, but you don't have to. And if you chose to do it stealthy it will take more time and it will be harder. It's better like this, people are just too narrow minded when it comes to gameplay changes in familiar titles. Or maybe they would still rather play MGS with bird view camera...

But 5 hours long campaign? It took me up to 20 hours on previous SC games and the replay value was still great then. I don't care about co-op, deniable ops or MP, I want Sam's story!

 

[SnippyWings]

Well i'm going to play it on the hardest difficulty to make sure i'm forced to use some form of stealth.
As for length I will be playing through the co-op section (hardest difficulty) with a friend so hopefully that will add some hours.

 

[Cucipher]

New Splinter Cell: Less Stealth, More Accessible

In an effort to make it more accessible, Max Beland of Ubisoft Montreal says the studio decided that the best way to improve the stealth gameplay in Splinter Cell: Conviction [http://splintercell.us.ubi.com/conviction/] was to get rid of the stealth gameplay in Splinter Cell: Conviction.

Accessibility is almost as important as gameplay these days. For every hardcore gamer willing to blow an entire night in a marathon gaming session, there are many more who just want to fill in a half-hour while they're waiting for Lost [http://abc.go.com/shows/lost] to start. For game publishers who want to play in the big leagues, that's the holy grail: Not a small following of devoted fanatics but a broad, mainstream audience who thinks a game is kinda fun.

So it is that Beland, the creative director on Splinter Cell: Conviction, joined the project in early 2008 with a mandate to "fix the things that weren't happening." Chaos Theory [http://www.ubi.com].

"Although Chaos Theory was an amazing game, I think the issue that Ubisoft identified was that, out of everybody that is attracted by the fantasy of playing Sam Fisher, when they actually get to play it, we lose a lot of people," Beland explained to Edge [http://www.edge-online.com/news/ubisoft-felt-splinter-cell-was-too-hardcore]. "Stealth, I think, has always been delivered as very hardcore gameplay."

"We did a lot of playtesting, a lot of consumer research, we talked to a lot of gamers and there were a lot of themes that were coming back all the time: Stealth is punitive, stealth is slow," he continued. The obvious solution? Kiss that hardcore stealth goodbye.

"Sam's back as the guy that he should have been all along. Sam is a guy who's fast, he's quick on his toes and he can run without making a lot of noise. He can be hanging on a ledge and not have to be moving at one centimeter per minute," Beland said. "Sam is a panther, not a grandmother."

It's impossible to argue with his assertion that stealth gameplay is inherently slow and not particularly appealing to a wide-ranging audience. But I still feel a little sad at the prospect of losing one of the few, and first, "true" stealth games available to fans of the genre. Sam can still shoot out lights and skulk through shadows but when you can just shoot people in the face, what's the point?

Splinter Cell: Conviction was released today for the Xbox 360 and comes out for the PC on April 29.


Permalink

Wow! This is terrible journalism!

This is not news. This is an opinion piece. An unsubstantiated, unqualified, subjective piece of writing. If that was what was intended, then that's cool! But dont for the love of god call it news.

Who is the writer to claim what is and is not a "true" stealth game?

I really enjoy most of the content created by the Escapist but since when did sweeping generalisation and opinions become part of a news article? That's for comments surely?!?

I had to go back and check if it was the same guy who wrote the article about the kid who spent all the money on Farmville/Facebook - and indeed it was! Another article full of unwanted, unnecessary and finger-wagging opinions. Andy Chalk - either you need to get funnier and get a review column or check back and see what the definition of "news" is.

I for one am looking forward to the game, and I have enjoyed stealth titles for years. Obviously there will be controversy when things are changed, but games have to evolve and improve through experimentation just like anything else. Who says stealth has to be a game of tiny steps? Can this new approach not lead to some excellent developments in the genre in years to come?

 

[Interference]

Splinter Cell never really cut it all that well with me. I played 1 - 3, tried the demo of 4, finally tired of the franchise and reinstalled Thief 2: The Metal Age, a game that the Splinter Cell series has never quite bettered. A game that was stalking the shadows when Sam Fisher was still in his Action Man underpants and has fewer polygons in a whole level than Splinter Cell: Conviction has in one character mesh.

Making stealth faster does seem to be missing the point somewhat. Stealth done right basically boils down to:

1. Spatial and personal awareness. Knowing how visible you are, who can be taken out without anyone noticing and where the next sneaky way around the enemy is
2. Interesting things to watch while you wait for that vital gap in the patrol route. Guards talking, artwork, the moonlight dancing across the waves in the bay. That sort of thing.
3. Baffling the hell out of the guards. Knocking them out, distracting them, putting the fear of buggery up them, or simply getting away with your mission objectives while they remain none the wiser.

I mean, more accessible? Gentlemen, have you not heard of this thing called "The Difficulty Setting"? Lightweight gamers have been getting along just fine with "Easy" for years. Except the pretentious ones, who won't pick "Easy" unless it's called something self-delusional, like "Casual".

 

[Tdc2182]

Seems they'll follow the same path of Mass Effect 2.

"We need more sales in the frat boy contingency. Remove some or most of that ridiculous substance and replace it with fanservice and/or dumbed-down game mechanics."

Here is the thing. Sentences like this are said like it is a bad thing, but people never push past what what theses kind of sentences are hiding, "We are going to make our game more appealing to more people." How is that bad thing?

Now I did think that ME2 was dumbed down, but that was because I liked the redicoulously long choice of guns.

As for Splinter Cell, The game rewards you too much for not being stealthy. It needed to incorporate being able to play it more stealth, or more actiony. It aimed too much in the direction of Jack Bower style action

 

[Tdc2182]

snip

Wow! This is terrible journalism!

This is not news. This is an opinion piece. An unsubstantiated, unqualified, subjective piece of writing. If that was what was intended, then that's cool! But dont for the love of god call it news.

Who is the writer to claim what is and is not a "true" stealth game?

I really enjoy most of the content created by the Escapist but since when did sweeping generalisation and opinions become part of a news article? That's for comments surely?!?

I had to go back and check if it was the same guy who wrote the article about the kid who spent all the money on Farmville/Facebook - and indeed it was! Another article full of unwanted, unnecessary and finger-wagging opinions. Andy Chalk - either you need to get funnier and get a review column or check back and see what the definition of "news" is.

I for one am looking forward to the game, and I have enjoyed stealth titles for years. Obviously there will be controversy when things are changed, but games have to evolve and improve through experimentation just like anything else. Who says stealth has to be a game of tiny steps? Can this new approach not lead to some excellent developments in the genre in years to come?

You don't read much news, do you?