I
miss when stealth
games were dark. Like
literally dark, as in the
only way to see where
you’re going is to flip
on a light switch or slip on some
night vision goggles. I realised how
under-appreciated darkness is
recently, during my first go at the
original Splinter Cell.
And wow, I’m glad to finally be here.
It took me a while to acclimate to its
hardline ‘every guard alerted at once’
stealth rules and nonexistent
checkpoints, but once I learned to
hammer F 5 to save constantly,
Splinter Cell’s movement puzzles
finally clicked and I started to feel
cooler as Sam Fisher than I ever have
as Solid Snake or Corvo Attano. And I
think the game’s shadows have
everything to do with it.
Decades later, the use of darkness
is still a stroke of genius. When Sam
saunters into a shadow, he almost
completely disappears. Shadows get
so dark that I can actually believe a
guard could breeze right by Sam
without knowing he’s there. I can
barely see him, and I’m the one
controlling him!
SHADOW WARRIOR
It’s so simple, but Splinter Cell’s
shadows fly in the face of modern
stealth games where a level set in the
middle of the night is still bright
enough to see perfectly.
In fact, not seeing is core to the
challenge of the game. Guards are
just as invisible as Sam in darkness,
and you can’t tag them through walls
like in the later games. The game
forces you to slip on the night-vision
goggles to keep track of surroundings,
but even this isn’t a perfect view. The
green filter washes out the contrast of
shadows on the ground, making it“I forgot how fun sneaking around is
when you’re not packing eight guns”
easy to accidentally step out of safety
and get spotted.
I forgot how fun sneaking around
is when you’re not packing eight guns
that can instakill everyone around
you. Instead, you have two guns that
are better at turning off lights than
turning off humans. The silenced
pistol you start the game with is so
bad, in fact, that it’s common to aim
straight at an enemy head and miss
completely, kicking off a firefight that
either ends in a flurry of random
bullets or, more commonly, hitting F 8
to reload to where it all went wrong.
That’s OK though, because
Splinter Cell is way more fun when
I’m passing by guards completely
unnoticed or listening to them talk
about the weather in a split-leg
foothold above them. Having the
option to tear through modern
stealth games guns blazing is nice,
but Splinter Cell is one of the only
series that really puts your back
against a wall. I really hope Ubisoft’s
upcoming remake doesn’t change up
this formula too much. Splinter Cell
would suddenly be a very different
game if Sam could fight off three
dudes at once or, god forbid, the guns
were actually good.Sneaking around a classic in SPLINTER CELL
SPLINTER CELL IS WAYMORE
FUN WHEN I’M PASSING BY
GUARDS UNNOTICED
MORGAN PARK
THIS MONTH
Spread my legs on a wall and
shot some baddies.ALSO PLAYED
Portal 2FAR LEFT: I don’t know
what to call this early
2000 s aestheticother
than ‘good’.LEFT: Believe it ornot,
Sam Fisher is in this
screenshot.