… And almost getting Metal Gear solid as a result - I am glad I resisted.
Having seen screenshots of it it looks childish or ‘unintelligent’ compared to SC.
If they don’t release a sequel to SC I am going to run at them with big guns, screaming like homer simpson.
How much you enjoy Metal Gear depends on the strength of your tolerance for cut scenes. If you made it through Final Fantasy X you should enjoy Metal Gear. The plot’s much more sci-fi than Splinter Cell, which is good or bad, depending on your preferences.
Currently I’m very angry at Splinter Cell, because of that Chinese guard I’ve got to choke-hold to bypass the retinal scanner. The one on the balconey you can only get to by shimmying alone the pipe behind the big Chinese flag. Sumbitch always turns around, sometimes while I’m still dangling from the pipe. I’ve been stuck here for close to two months now.
I did that bit first time. His friend comes over, which forces him to be looking the other way.
Are you doing the crouch-when-you-land trick? Before you land, press the crouch button, that way you land silently, and he doens’t turn around.
I had no really big problems during the game, but most parts were challenging.
Oh and BTW, I am talking about the PC version, which could be different, but I would imagine not.
MGS2: Sons of Liberty is one of the best games I’ve ever played. The graphics are top notch- think FFX. There are SOOOO many cut scenes it is almost ridiculous. If you don’t like cuts I don’t reccomend MGS2.
It is not at all childish- it is acually pretty sophisticated. The storyline is far from one of those “stupid” storylines that some games have. Actually, it is quite gripping. One of the better storylines I’ve seen. It isn’t as realistic as SC, but only because it involves “Metal Gears”, big military robot machines. It is very cool actually.
Trust me- there’s nothing more sophisticated than running through a mechanical “colon” completely naked while your boss sends you messages in gibberish.
A lot of people complained it was too short which is rubbish. Granted, there isn’t a lot of replayability since most of the game is video. You could probably beat the game in under 4 hr without video. If you really, really tried on Easy. And there are only two “levels”. One is pretty brief, one is very long.
There’s also MGS: Substance which is Sons of Liberty plus tons of other goodies. Virtual Reality Training and a new character to play on the second mission I believe. I think it just came out on PS2.
Do you mean before his friend goes through the door? I thought about dropping while the door is open, but getting to that point in the game is such a PITA that I haven’t really experimented much. All the online FAQs about the game (and your in-game boss) said to jump him after he lets the other guy through, but he always detects me, even using the crouch button when I drop.
They really needed to include a way to disarm people in this game. A NSA commando ought to be able to take a pistol away from a startled guard with whom he’s literally standing chest-to-chest.
Splinter Cell, IMHO, is way over rated. I had it on Xbox and ended up selling it because it was just not fun. My biggest complaint aobut that game was that the environment is just WAY too ambigous. There are so many things that you SHOULD be able to climb on, but you just can’t. Good example is the oil rig level. I was trying to get in there and kept trying to climb across pipes and what not and couldn’t figure it out, and then I fell into the whole in the pipe and walked in. I musta stood on that hole 10 times and never fell in, then BAM! Pisses me off. And the controls are so iffy sometimes that its hard to tell if you can’t climb on something or if you are not hitting the button at the right time.
My second big complaint, which is almost as big as the first complaint, is that Sam Fisher’s aim is HORRIBLE HORRIBL HORRIBLE!! You can sit 6 feet away from someone and line up a head shot and not even hit them! And god forbid if you have to move or track someone with your gun, because hte reticule gets so big from just the slightest movement that you have to either take a few hits from the enemy while lining up your shot, or unload your clip and spray and pray, which hurts too because the ammo is so limited. And save it, because I don’t want to hear how this a “stealth game” and they don’t want you to “run thru killing everyone” because that is not what I am asking for here, I just want to be able to shoot like a veteran soldier, which SF does not.
IMHO, MGS2 is much more fun than SC. Its also not on as tight of rails as SC is.
Actually Miller I am not so sure anymore. Now I think I shot him with the silenced pistol (while hanging behind the flag). Try that, but if you say you’ve tried everything, you’ve probably already tried that.
Stinkpalm I think the ambiguity is a good thing. Makes a refreshing change from games where the route or next step is bleedin obvious.
I agree about sam’s aim though. That guy would have trouble shooting the side of a barn whilst inside it. There is a trick to it - aim very slightly too high, and to the left a tiny bit. Workes for me.
Or, use the alternative (the bad aim encourages this) - sneak up and grab the character and knock them out.
I think you misunderstand what I was saying. I don’t mean it was ambiguous in telling you which way to go, I mean specifically the environmental interactions. If there is a table sitting there that you SHOULD be able to crawl on, then you walk up to it and can’t, but then you walk a couple feet over to another identical table and you CAN walk on that one, that is ambiguous. There is no good reason that you can’t crawl onto the first table. A good area to show what I am referring to is in the first level, I think, after you come out of the burring building then get past those 2 guards in the alley you come to an area that is in the middle of a buch of buldings. There are a bunch of tables and ledges that you can’t grab or crawl on even though you should be able to. There are alot of areas in teh game like that.
Oh I see Stinkpalm
I had that problem at the end of the level in the garden of the chinese embassy. Having finished my tasks I went everywhere, even tracing my steps back to the beginning (and killing guards that I had snook past previously on the way) trying to find a way out, trying to climb walls, shoot windows, open doors, until I found the way out (a side wall)
I just finished this game yesterday morning (PC version). I, too, am suffering withdrawal. I heard that there will be at least one downloadable mission for XBox Live, any word on the PC end?
RE: MGS
I loved MGS and MGS2. In fact, the MGS series is what made me a HUGE fan of this (hopefully!) budding genre. But the bottom line is, Sam Fisher would kick Solid Snake’s ass. Well, maybe not in straight-up fisticuffs, or a shooting match, but Snake would be dead before he even knew Sam was in the room with him.
Heh. As I was posting this, a coworker came to my desk and I just gushed for 5 minutes about this game. I guess I will just have to play again on a higher difficulty. 
I forgot; the MSG series created the single greatest organization name ever: the La-Li-Lu-Lei-Lo
I always cracked up when they said that.
Or was it La Lei Lu Li Lo, or La Lu Lei Li Lo. I forgot.
If you are looking for another stealth type game, get the new Tenchu 3. Its pretty good. I love grappling hooks in games and this has the best of any game ever. The only problem with the game is the camera. I had to fight it the whole time I played it, but its a pretty good game none-the-less.
Of course, YMMV, but I hated Splinter Cell and loved MGS2. SC I thought relied too heavily on trial and error, and I often felt like I had to die several times to figure out what I was “supposed” to do. It felt like the game was unnecessarily hard. And this was the PS2 version–which was supposedly much easier than the Xbox version.
I do think it’s hard to compare the games, though. I think they are apples and oranges, and their distinctly different styles will appeal to different people–just like MGS and Syphon Filter for the original PS1.