Title is the shorter version, but I need to rant. I’ve been playing Splinter Cell since 2005 and absolutely love this series. Hell, I speedrun Chaos Theory and Double Agent for fun. But for nearly two decades I have somehow never playing Pandora Tomorrow. I do remeber playing some of the first level when I was younger, but never past that. I recently got the game on my Xbox XS and game it a shot, and holy hell it was rough.

Firstly is the visuals. I will never fault older games for looking janky, it’s the nature of the hardware these games were made on. The only thing visually I cannot understand is the lighting. The first Splinter Cell didn’t have amazing lighting, but Pandora Tomorrow has lighting that feels wildly inconsistent and generally bland. Again, small thing but it bugs me a bit.

Audio. How on Earth this audio got greenlit is beyond me. The voice acting is just plain bad, save for Ironside I feel like the rest of the cast phoned in their performances. Sometimes the actual audio quality reflects a phonecall from the early 2000s. Grainy, mixing issues, and a lack of variety in the enemy VAs. It reminds of when you watch old youtube videos in 240p then randomly a 1080p ad plays and you feel the whiplash of audio differences.

Story. It’s not great. It’s not bad either, but definitely feels weaker compared to the first game. Out of all the Splinter Cell titles this one is the most forgettable.

Gameplay. The only category I think genuinely got some improvement, and it is wasted here. Better control, more actions, more equipment, all wasted on poor level design and NPC interaction. I don’t feel satisfied using anything new in this game because the levels don’t ever lend themselves to the players equipment, leading to basically only using guns, shockers, and airfoils. Anything else that can be used is either very situation dependent or just taking up space in the quick select slots.

Overall, this game is just lackluster. I remeber hearing so much hype around the train mission in France and then being incredibly let down. I have some patience for bad Splinter Cell games, I remember Essentials on the PSP.

That’s all. Just needed to get it out of my system.

There's a few videos going around right now, but I thought this one summed it up. Ubisoft as a company is flushing themselves down the toilet right now, and I wouldn't expect to see anything Splinter Cell for years and years, if at all.

The key points here are that Ubi is holding back their talent by basically putting restrictions on what their devs can create, in order to not offend anyone. Then there's the fact that they are prioritizing management roles over developer roles, and on top of that, the people in management don't know sht about what the gamers actually want, and don't care, and it has been clear in the past that they don't care about player feedback. Then you have the obvious, shtty workplace culture at Ubi.

In terms of a new SC game? Even if there was one, you can bet it would be bad. And any remakes are just going to be at the bottom of the list until Ubisoft starts selling acceptable units of video games. Hell they couldn't even get the Japanese AC game that everyone's been wanting for years right, and all they keep doing is trying to defend themselves about the way they have been bastardizing Japanese culture in AC Shadows. They only used the feud Japan era for profit. SW Outlaws turned out to be a mid game because of all the reasons listed above and more, especially the part where they can't offend anyone, so they play it safe. An open world SW game with a criminal underworld could have been a 10/10, but instead it was a 6/10.

I've been on a stealth kick ever since discovering the original Thief trilogy. I got Splinter Cell on sale on Steam and while the game is very linear, this didn't bother me too much, as the stealth mechanics, atmosphere, lighting and visual style really immersed me in the game. I heard Chaos Theory was the best Splinter Cell game, so I bought it and I disliked the attempt to go for more realistic lighting and characters, I also feel like the game is just as linear but attempts to create the illusion of being otherwise. I dunno why, but in my opinion, Chaos Theory lost the magic of the original.

Currently playing Pandora, and it's not as good as the original, but I'm enjoying it a lot more than Chaos Theory. I'm surprised it's so hard to get a physical copy or find it on sites like steam and gog. This post isn't an attempt at trolling, or a dig at fans of Chaos Theory, just wanted to share my own experience with the series. I like Chaos Theory, it just doesn't hit the same sweet spot for me. Does the series stick to its stealth roots throughout the later games in the series?

There are so many aspects to the Two Birds One Stone mission that make it feel like the perfect SC experience. I am the highest ranking Echelon class, with all the Echelon gear, and when I take a boat to the initial platform in the darkness and the rain, with Amon Tobin playing in the background, it feels so much better than any previous Splinter Cell mission. I love quietly taking out the security system and taking all tangos down, especially through the dark offices, climbing up to disable the AA guns… and the big battle at the end… everything about it is perfect. The lighting, the scale of the environment, everything. I play this mission often and it’s fun and exciting every single time. I love it.

CT doesn't have the mysterious and tense vibe that SAR and PT have. The atmosphere in SAR and PT is so unique, it's unmatched. I don't feel this vibe in CT, it lacks something. SAR and PT have way more memorable environnements and OST. Honestly I think CT's OST is overrated.

SAR and PT's atmosphere + CT's level design = perfect Splinter Cell game

Holy cow, it's been many years since I played Conviction, but I don't think I'm even going to finish it this time.

I am generally an easy to please person when it comes to games, movies, etc. but wow this game is absolutely horrendous.

The storyline is ridiculous, Sam doesn't act like Sam at all...Sarah is alive now? C'mon - oldest trope in the book.

The movement is atrocious, it's like they decided to add Gears of War magnetic chest-high walls into every bit of movement possible but somehow make it as clunky as physically possible. I'm constantly stuck on walls while trying to unstick myself so I can run, which leads me to getting shot like a fish in a barrel.

Aiming your gun is a chore, the shots land before you even get your gun up which looks ridiculous....shooting around cover means you're actually clipping through solid cover half the time. It's got an arcade feel to the shooting.

The guns are somewhat accurate on the first shot, but any sort of quick follow up shot is somehow less accurate than SP1 which I didn't think was possible?

Every single enemy in the game is loudly yelling/talking shit to Sam the entire fight? Annoying.

Sam is now 53 years old in Conviction and he's somehow now spiderman speed when climbing pipes and jumping between cover???

As soon as I loaded up the game for the first time and saw "Powered by Unreal", I was dreading it....I swear 90% of games on Unreal Engine feel terrible when it comes to movement etc.

The text/videos playing on the environment is just corny and it really seems like they're trying too hard to emphasize "he's really struggling mentally" and trying to look flashy while doing it.

Yeah I'm really not liking this game at all, I just quit playing it for the night after dying to the cops for the 10th time while chasing the shooter through the VP's speech area. Trying to chase this guy while taking cover from the cops and moving between cover to somehow use hand to hand combat on them in the middle of the day is incredibly annoying.

I get what they were going for with this game but it's just too far off the Splinter Cell formula for me to even take it seriously.

Sorry for the rant but it's genuinely annoying to play the first three games which are absolute PERFECTION and I hold them in such high regard (then don’t get me started on DA…) and then load this shit up and it's just completely wrong.

CV should’ve the option to skip cutscenes

BL and CV are good

I grew up on the original splinter cells.

There was a clear, significant evolution over the three, with Chaos Theory being the peak.

After that, it all kind of went to shit with double agent. It wasn’t what anyone had gotten into the franchise for to begin with.

They probably could have done another Sam based storyline for the 4th game and then maybe had considered having him train an apprentice for the 5th if fatigue set in (which I doubt it would have).

Instead, they thought it would so genius to change the formula.

They gave us double agent, which may have some cool aspects by itself, but’s not what I nor many others wanted in a splinter cell game.

The reason I pin so much fault with this game is because it marks the break in what splinter cell should be.

Then, they continued this with conviction. They didn’t realize the original vision for conviction, which had Sam looking like a hobo and getting into fist fights and throwing chairs, but they still brought him into a splinter cell experience that I think hardly anyone asked for.

Blacklist tried to bring things back, but people were so mad and turned off that initial sales were poor. In retrospect, it’s a cool take that probably should have been the game for Sam’s apprentice had they traveled down the timeline I laid out earlier.

Now we’d be at the point where the series was doing great and a lot of anticipation for the sequel adventure for Sam’s apprentice, which we hopefully would have grown accustomed to in the first game.

Instead, now we’re hoping they don’t cancel it.

You can argue “well people don’t want to buy the same thing over and over,” but that’s bullshit. Were sales of chaos theory so bad? No. They were the highest. What makes you think it would have been worse on a 4th game? Also, look at call of duty and Madden.

You can argue that they “should still be able to experiment to bring fresh experiences.” Yeah, but they can do that with spin off games that test the waters. Come up with new characters and see what fans like or don’t like. Don’t just steer the entire ship in a new direction cuz you think it could be cool.

This same logic applies to other franchises. Imagine if they just made the pirate game everyone asked for instead of making something no player asked for.

Now we’d see why Ubisoft is in the position they are in.

Edit: I should specify I’m talking mostly about the 360 version.

Ok first hear me out on this: I don’t get what is wrong with an open world splinter cell. Anything can be made great if it’s done right. I mean MGS 5 is still considered one of the best open world games of this generation and that game is a stealth game. Imagine if they make a watch dogs meets metal gear solid kinda open world. I wouldn’t mind it as long as it doesn’t get in the way.

Also, Ubisoft is right when they say that they need to make the game different enough from the last game so it feels fresh. There aren’t a lot of interesting ideas for splinter cell and the open world industry is booming right now. It can be a great way for new fans to get into the new game. I have a feeling that watch dogs and assassin’s creed fans will really enjoy the new game. I get that spies vs mercs will be in the next game but that isn’t interesting enough. I am open for something fresh and interesting to be introduced to splinter cell. We need longevity in the next game.

We can’t just reserve splinter cell for the “stealth community” because Ubisoft won’t make any money off it then. It will be great for splinter cell to be on par with other games and a traditional “12 mission single player campaign” isn’t going to cut it. I want splinter cell to grow and we can’t be so excluding to non-splinter cell fans. The gaming industry is growing and I don’t want for only hardcore splinter cell fans to play the next game. I don’t think there is anything wrong with an open world splinter cell and as long as it’s done right, it will be fine.

EDIT: Couple users pointed out some issues I was misinformed on. I didn't realize this was a different studio and that the game isn't mostly stealth-based.

Removing my original points to prevent any misinformation, my bad yall

I just beat SC1, was okay, didn't exactly fell in love with it, the level design and enemy AI by the end was making me tear my hair out.

I played 1 through GOG, but my friend has all of them on Steam, but I can't play Pandora Tomorrow cause it checks with Ubisoft Connect and since I don't have the game on my own account, I can't play it.

Is it really worth it to play Pandora Tomorrow or should I just skip to Chaos Theory? (that's the one I really want to play)

"Did Sam get captured in Kokubo Sosho?"

"Does Sam shoot Shetland?"

Why do you care? Splinter Cell is not a "lore rich" world. If you want an in universe reason for there being no canon... None of these games officially happened. Sam doesn't exist. That's the whole point of the Splinter Cell program. The only choice that the games make an official call on is Lambert dying after Double Agent, and even then I took it to mean he died from his wounds regardless of Sam shooting him.

What enjoyment do you get out of obsessing over insignificant details like this? Sam made whatever choices you made him make.

So Rockstar dropped the new trailer 20 minutes ago and Jason looks like Sam Fisher

Unpopular opinion I’m sure.. but mostly pure speculation. I’d love to hear community’s thoughts. Die hard SC fan since Pandora here, and I of course recognize Ubisoft shits on the series any chance they get, but it’s kind of our fault too. When they WERE developing more into the franchise, we bitched and moaned about voice actors changing, or different elements that old school DIDN’T have and a multitude of other things. It’s okay to complain , I encourage it, but at the same time I don’t think we fought enough for the franchise and gave up on it. Who knows, if we had come together as a community sooner they might not have been so afraid to touch the series again in fear of failure. Unfortunately, the other side of things is that Ubisoft did not give newer installments (looking at you Blacklist) the launch they deserved, and before we knew it the franchise started to circle the drain. SvM was a huge part of the series’ success, and blacklist classic SvM was actually an awesome experience especially playing with the right people. Old school fans were way too stubborn and overly critical, and refused to adapt just because it wasn’t chaos theory or PT. I get that nostalgia is a big factor, trust me, but just because they made BL SvM and hell, the gameplay in general more fast paced doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve a chance. Each installment had something unique and I think Ubi was experimenting and trying to give it a modern stealth playstyle. I personally didn’t mind the way they did Blacklist, the mechanics, combat and movement were pretty smooth and I actually liked it even as an old school fan. They could definitely mix old school and new school elements without changing the core of the game itself, but I think we gave up too fast. I think if we had been more patient, Ubi MIGHT have worked with their fans a bit more. But it’s hard to say and I’d love to hear some thoughts on this even if you disagree, or even agree with SOME points I made.

I just wanted to share my thoughts on Chaos Theory and am interested in your takes on it. I absolutely loved playing through the first two SC games, always going full stealth, very satisfying. Controls and Sam's movement were great (on PC), graphics still hold up thanks to the art direction etc. Great games, almost no issues with them.

After finishing them I installed Chaos Theory and was prepared to be blown away (since its so highly praised) and.. I could not get into it at all. Everything felt kinda off. The new graphics engine looks very glossy and rubbery, Sam's movement animation is very awkward (the way he freezes his stance when you stop moving), he feels "heavier" to control, ragdoll physics look silly (although I understand why they were put in and at the time it sure was impressive). I finishes the game but it felt like a chore at some points.

I wanted to ask, does anyone think the same way as me? Or maybe these things I mentioned are actually not flaws for you?

This is the worst mission in the first 3 games BY FAR. I always heard Chaos Theory praised to no end and expected so much from it, only to be met with this fucking embarrassment of a mission. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS BOMB SECTION??? THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO. THEY SEE ME INSTANTLY AND SHOOT ME WHEN I CAN'T SHOOT THEM.

I thought that this game allowed you to go for a pure ghost playstyle but guaranteed you have to manipulate the AI in such a stupid way that it becomes ridiculous speed running bullshit.

I haven't raged this hard at a game since Martyr Logarius in Bloodborne back in 2022. This is genuinely fucking enraging. There's nothing I can do. Fuck the developers for this shit. Both Seoul and this mission should have just been removed from the fucking game. They took it from an 8/10 down to a 4/10 for me.

At least from Ubisoft. If they make it, you know what your gonna get: focused on action, fast-paced, and dumbed down controls. I don’t really care about the lack of Ironside’s voice, but the way Sam moved and behaved in the newer games was just off, it was closer to an Assassins Creed character then the Sam of old. If you like the story and his character then just read the books, they are good.

But for a game, it’s time for a fresh take from a new team. Bring back the slow-stalking, hacking, gathering intel, and a complex storyline with Information Warfare themes where killing is rarely the objective. I thought DA was an awesome idea, just lacking in execution (ubi’s decision to have 2 versions didn’t help) so I’d love to see something like that. If anyone knows of anything already in development please let me know, I will definitely throw some cash.

If Ubi wants to make another game like Blacklist, then that’s great, and I’m sure some people will enjoy it, but they really need to keep the Tom Clancy and Splinter Cell logos off it. It’s gotten stupid, and we’ve seen it enough already with Ghost Recon and Rainbow 6. I’m not a purist or a stuck in the past gamer, I just honestly think they fucked up something really good when it comes to Splinter Cell.

Face it guys, splinter cell was good for it's time but look at these games

https://youtu.be/ruCk-3u9t7I?si=z5QgLHKeaq7vyJRI MGS snake eater remake footage from Xbox showcase

https://youtu.be/ofUi9DR9sc4?si=YtSqzCh1SpV4Bbqh Perfect dark footage from today's Xbox showcase

Splinter cell has to be way better than these games, and the original SC1 had very short linear levels. Great stealth gameplay for the time, but too linear short and scripted. The story and plot needs too many changes.

The game will most likely be a reboot and to get it up to mgs standards is going to take awhile.

I'm sure its been said a thousand times but I want to discuss this with people. I've been playing through all the splinter cells, I played both version 2 and then version 1. and version 2 has its flaws but is overall Solid especially some of the middle and last level.

but good lord version 1 is such an unbelievable piece of crap. Should have been delayed or not released.

the basics of it are broken like the cover system does not work properly. Im not sure if they needed to go through and add trigger zones to all the cover to tell the enemies not to see you or if they already did that and it just doesn't work correctly or what but its so broken .

every once in awhile you will see the cover system work correctly like you're in a shadowy area or hiding and then they see you and they start shooting there and then you move to another cover and they're still shooting at the first one, which is how it's supposed to work but that happened to me maybe twice in the whole game.

most of the time you're hiding behind something and an enemy sees you anyway, doesn't seem to matter what color your meter is and then all of a sudden six enemies starts unloading into your location and their bullets clip through everything. like you can be on the other side of two metal walls and you'll still get slaughtered.

JBA headquarters which is design like crap in both games is worse here and I spent so much time trying to find objectives in this horribly designed building and the only thing that ever happens that's cool is when you're trying to break into emils safe and then he comes into the room and you have to hide under the desk other than that nothing else you do in jba headquarters is great and the layout is unnecessarily confusing.

also you can't interrogate moss or most of jba at the end and even when you can they say like two things, version two lets you have a whole conversation with the main bad guys and you can interrogate Emil in v1 but not if you sneak up behind him, only if you do a corner takedown and then he only says two things to you anyway.

like when I got to the bottom level and I just saw him walking around with a handgun I was like oh that's it, he's just, here? so lame in comparison to version 2 where he has a giant machine gun on the other side of a laser grid on a snowy roof which is super epic.

it's also really weird how like the two versions of double agent are so completely different. like email existed back then. they could have shared things. Weird crossover stuff which might be cool if both games were good, like you get a little bit more of every relationship and like at the beginning of version 1 you call moss, moose and he threatens you, but at the end of version 2 when you grab Moss, Sam says hello moose, which is so weird because he never calls him that in v2 before that it's like a call back to a different version. also the scenes from the end of version 2 with Enrica in the snow and Sam losing his mind after the train robbery, are in the credits of version 1 but those levels are not in v1.

oh the level design of most of these levels sucks. even with the map a lot of the time I got lost trying to figure out where to go.

and the snow Russia? level in version 1 is so awful they can all shoot you from like so far away it's so bad. I really liked the level in version 2 but its awful in v1.

the only things I liked in this game was Shanghai is a genuinely great level but that's because there's like very little action in it, it's mostly just sneaking around a hotel during New Year's and then propelling in the rain down the side of the building like that's awesome like that level is great but there's barely any action in it which is why it's good because all the actions sucks. But the heavy atmosphere is good. The graphics are good sometimes beautiful but that doesn't matter because the game sucks. New york is pretty but so what if I'm having people unload through two metal deck hulls and killing me a million times.

the cruise ship level was ok. If the ai didn't make everything tedious because you're constantly getting blasted to bits when no one should see you like if this game had decent cover and AI this would be a good matbe great level.

I mean I did have some fun, flash banging people and I like the Sonic emitter well I like the idea of it, I've always thought that Sam should be able to throw bullets to distract people or something like that so its a good add.

I feel like all the extra time they got to develop this game, they spent on animations and graphics and they should have made sure that the core of the gameplay worked before doing that. it's such a wonky frustrating piece of crap.

someone at Ubisoft should have played this game and said either this needs to be delayed a year or just released version 2 on the Xbox 360 instead and maybe include the Shanghai level as a bonus or something. Because this should not have been released in this state

the bomb defusal/ bomb making mini game is so bad that it's the final boss of the 'last' level -not counting new york- they should have just removed it, it completely sucks.

oh you know what I forgot to talk about the night vision filters. so this game barely has any shadows in it anyway but the filters on the goggles are horrible. like the heat vision doesn't work at all, it just turns everything purple. it doesn't look like heat vision, it doesn't make the enemies glow it's just broken. and the night vision is a green blurry mess that is completely useless and has big thick scan lines, so it doesn't help you see it makes everything worse. I just turned up the brightness early in the game and I never had to worry about ever using the goggles.

Good lord what a piece of crap.

please discuss this I just want to hear anything you have to say about this game