Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy HD Review

Splinter Cell has been around for almost ten years now. Ubisoft has decided to re-release the original Splinter Cell trilogy on the PS3 with updated HD graphics. While the franchise has had its ups-and-downs (more recently it would fall in the latter), the original three are remembered fondly as some of the best games of the last generation. Game Freaks 365 gave the first three games a 9.7, 9.8 and 9.3, respectively. How well are these Xbox classics holding up?

The only noticeable difference with these ports, aside from a lack of multiplayer, are the HD graphics. As should be expected from a game that was released in 2002, the graphics have not held up well. While it was impressive for its time, especially the lighting, we have seen improvements by leaps and bounds with next-generation hardware. Pandora Tomorrow looks slightly better, but the only game that really looks decent is Chaos Theory. All three of the games have a lot of slowdown.

The point of Splinter Cell is to sneak around through missions without alerting guards. You can complete entire missions without killing anyone if you are patient enough. This is the way that the game is intended to be played. If you go out guns blazing, expect to replay the same mission endlessly. Unfortunately even when you are being extra cautious, the enemies are way too aware in the original Splinter Cell and in Pandora Tomorrow. It gets to the point where it can get quite annoying.

Chaos Theory is a lot better with its AI. You get a lot fewer cheap deaths than in the other two games. While the enemy will sometimes do dumb things like walk into a dark room slowly after hearing a noise, allowing you the opportunity to walk behind him and grab him, you can at least predict their actions rather than be the victim of what seemed like almost random AI behavior in the first two games. I also think it is cool that the guards in Chaos Theory will come at you with flares, flashlights and some will even have night vision. It adds an extra challenge to the game.

The first two games lacked a handy way to knock out opponents once they became alerted to you. If you decided to punch them after they were aware of your location, it took two hits to take them out. Chaos Theory allows you to knife them even when they face you instead of throwing a weak punch that would get you killed. It makes the game a lot easier, sure, but it is also pretty realistic if you think about it. A spy is probably going to make the most of his knife and wouldn’t hesitate to use one if an enemy got up close.

The lack of multiplayer is a definite letdown. These games were well-known and liked for these modes. Even without it, though, you should easily be able to get a good ten to fifteen hours out of each of these games. At the discounted price that Ubisoft is asking for this trilogy, I would say that over thirty hours of single-player content is a pretty fair deal. It really just depends on if you have played these games before or not. There’s not much reason to play them again, but for those that haven’t had the chance, I definitely would recommend it.