Gaming Target - Game Boy: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Written by Tim McGrew on March 26, 2003

Full Review: Now players can take their stealth espionage action anywhere.

In this day and age with the advent of the Internet and videogame related magazines and television shows, Splinter Cell should be a stranger to no one. Sam Fishers' exploits were regarded essentially as the Xbox's killer app for the holiday season this past year, but the many without one of those green and black monstrosities have been relatively Splinter Cell free. Thankfully, Ubisoft has already ported over this excellent mission based stealth title to the PC and they have also begun working on versions for the Playstation 2, the Nintendo Gamecube, and of course everyone's favorite little handheld, the Gameboy Advance which is the topic of our discussion today. Although Splinter Cell has been world renowned primarily for its graphical content, that doesn't mean our little 32-bit handheld can't pull off this beautiful little game with its own degree of excellence and finesse.

To start off, Splinter Cell for the GBA has been made into a side scrolling action title replacing the game's original beautiful lighting engine with flat sprites and hard shadows. Although on paper this sounds horrible and practically a travesty to the game's original content and concept, it works beautifully on the little handheld displaying excellent sprite work of which key frames were actually brought over from the 128-bit version and a few camera filters to display the rather unique night vision and thermal vision effects required in so many levels. To put it simply, the game translates to the handheld in a truly excellent way that no GBA enthusiast or Splinter Cell fan should be without.

Getting down to the nitty-gritty for those of you unfamiliar with the concept of Splinter Cell and the game's protagonist, Sam Fisher, it is basically your job to save the world. Sure that sounds clichщ and derivative, but it's just what the doctor ordered for this particular brand of stealth espionage action. As Sam Fisher, your basic job will be to utilize your surroundings which include the shadows, climbable poles, ropes, and your arsenal of weapons to essentially disarm the threat of terrorism and its many forms throughout the globe as an integral part of an off the books organization of the NSA known as Third Echelon. Trekking through roughly eleven levels of espionage action, you'll have to use your gadgets as quietly as possible and your wits to outsmart the enemy and save the globe.

The game is basically a mirror of the missions present in the Xbox version of the game including a training mission which will hone yours and Sam's skills for the future undertaking of the project. Although from the onset you'll feel a necessity to breeze through the missions given its side scrolling perspective, but this is definitely the worst way to proceed given that the game penalizes such hasty actions with rather quick deaths at the hands of the enemy. The game also comes equipped with a noise meter which will need to be kept within very low limits to avoid the acute hearing of the guards constantly patrolling the area. Aside from staying quiet and eliminating the opposition, you'll have to pick locks, obtain vital political documents, rescue hostages, and kill the enemy at every encounter as a true instrument of global espionage.

Aside from all of this, the game also features connectivity aspects with the Gamecube version being released this coming May. Although many weapons will take advantage of the handhelds screen on the Gamecube, there will be a few features that will be unlocked upon linking the two systems together, namely five all new missions exclusive to the Gameboy Advance making picking up, or at least renting, the Gamecube version absolutely necessary to get the full enjoyment out of your little handheld system.