Let me say, first off, that my view is unbiased; this is the only version of Splinter Cell I've played. And let me also say that this game has made it into my all-time top five... by no means an easy task. The game is simply amazing. Set in 2007, the world is on the brink of war after the Koreans do something bad (no spoilers.), and Third Echelon's best man, 50-year-old Sam Fisher is sent in to set things right. The first thing you'll notice is the top-notch visuals... indeed some of the best on the Gamecube. The lighting and shadow effects are stunning. It's kind of a shame that you will be using your night-vision goggles through half the game (unless you cheat and turn up the brightness on your television), which sort of dampens the eye candy... sort of. The next thing you will notice is the thrill of the kill. There is just nothing more satisfying than successfully sneaking up behind an enemy and grabing him without his partner even noticing. Once you grab an enemy, you can sometimes interrogate them for valuble information (unless they just cry on and on about how they don't want to die... pansies), and then you can either kill them or knock them out. Aside from a couple of don't-kill-anyone-or-else-you-don't-get-a-cookie missions, whether or not you use lethal or non-lethal attacks doesn't really affect the gameplay, but it is nice to have the option. The game only has ten missions (sorry if I'm wrong, I don't feel like going back and checking), but each one of them is well-polished and at least thirty minutes long. Some even take more than an hour to complete, resulting in an 8 to 12 hour long game, so there's still plenty of game time. That isn't even factoring in the co-op gameplay, with four unique missions each lasting about an hour. The co-op alone is enough to recommend this game, it has to be some of the best co-op I've ever played... and if your teammate starts getting annoying, you can shoot him. Sweet. Bottom line, this is the best stealth experience out there, and with 2 player co-op to boot... you just can't go wrong with Splinter Cell. 9/10
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