E3 2002: Splinter Cell impressions

Though we had a chance to check out Splinter Cell a few weeks before E3, we didn't actually get to play the game ourselves. But now that we're at the show, we've been able to play it at Ubi Soft's booth on the show floor. In the game, you'll take on the role of Sam Fisher, an operative in the National Security Agency's Third Echelon Division--a group so secretive that the NSA would disavow it as a splinter cell organization if any of its operatives were discovered. As such, Sam is basically a one-man wrecking crew, capable of infiltrating installations and killing most of the people inside without making the slightest noise.

The E3 demo gives Sam two major objectives--to infiltrate an enemy compound to prevent a terrorist from running a program via his computer and to disable two surface-to-air missile launchers so that Sam can be extracted. The first part of the mission places you in a dark parking garage where the only sources of light are from a room off in the distance where a lone guard stands watch and from behind a slowly rotating fan which produces amazing lighting and shadow effects. At this point, you have to decide what you want to do with the guard located in the other room. You can try to run into the room so that you can take a better shot at him and risk detection, or you can try to pick him off from a distance with Sam's FMP 2000, a modular assault weapon. In this case, the easiest option is to just take him out from behind one of the vehicles, so all you have to do is take careful aim before you shoot. Scoring a head shot is especially important since it will kill an enemy immediately, whereas a shot to the hand, leg, or chest only incapacitates him for a few moments.

If you're moving around in the garage, you'll probably notice a small meter in the bottom right side of the screen that moves from left to right. This is Sam's stealth meter, and it basically gives you an indication of how well you're hidden in relation to any enemies within the immediate area. Keep that in my mind because you may think you're safely hidden behind an object when in fact a guard has a clear line of sight to put a bullet in Sam's head.

After taking out the guard, you can move into the next room and go over to his body. The game says that you have the option to either search the body or pick it up and move it into a secluded area so no additional enemies are alerted after seeing one of their fallen comrades. Searching enemies can be quite useful since many of them carry health packs and other items that Sam might need to use over the course of the missions. When you're done, you don't have to worry about moving this particular body because the area is cut off from other enemies.