Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (Xbox) review "The average American person has four basic freedoms. Freedom of speech, worship, freedom from poverty, and from want. But one man in the NSA has another freedom...a fifth freedom. He is Sam Fisher, operative of the Third Eschelon in the National Security Administration, USA. "

The average American person has four basic freedoms. Freedom of speech, worship, freedom from poverty, and from want. But one man in the NSA has another freedom...a fifth freedom. He is Sam Fisher, operative of the Third Eschelon in the National Security Administration, USA.

Roughly one year in the future, the United States is under threat by a maniacal Georgian ruler, and a conspiracy that goes miles underground. It is up to Sam (the player) to stop the conspiracy and any other threats to the American people.

As Sam Fisher, you will do things that you never will in your real life. You will collect intelligence that is of national priority. You will steal secrets. You will assassinate enemy leaders. This is no mere game. This is an experience. To get your job done, no matter what, you have a variety of moves. You can put your back to the wall, split jump between walls in corridors, shoot out lights, knock out guards, and roll to avoid fire, just to name a few. Sam's world is amazingly interactive. If you find a bottle, you can throw it to distract a guard. If you find (or produce :]) a body, you must hide it, in case another should find it. Different filters of lenses must be applied on your night vision goggles to get through certain puzzles.

There are too many things to say about the gameplay in just this little review. And did I mention the graphics yet? The lighting is the most advanced I have ever seen, and it is an intricate part of gameplay. Shadows are your best weapon in the spy business. Explosions are true to life, as are bullet marks, blood splatters, fires, etc. Then there is the sound. If you have surround sound, or at least two speakers, you will have an advantage over the game. Sound is as much of an important tool to you throughout the game as sight is. Last of all, immersion. This is like playing a Tom Clancy novel. You will not want to put it down at all until you've beaten it twice. The only downfall is the occasional glitch, such as the ''head through the door'' glitch. What's even funnier, however, is when the guard on the other side of the door doesn't seem to think that a half of a head through a door and a fist through a wall is a bad thing. Despite these small errors, they won't detract from your game.

Community review by xboxaddict318 (March 31, 2003) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.