FYI, Gamestop has a great deal going on, if you trade in 2 Xbox, GC, or PS2 games, you can get the following for $10 plus tax: XBox Splinter Cell MK Deadly Alliance Medal Gear Solid 2:Substance PS2 Tekken 4 Madden 2003 Tony Hawk 4 GC Mario Sunshine Mario Party 4 Starfox Adventures I am planning to trade in WWF Raw and UFC Tapout for Splinter Cell, not a bad deal IMO. Also, there is another great deal at Electronic Botique where u trade in 2 XB,PS2, or GC games, u can reserve the pre-purchase the following games for free. XBox Malice Brute Force Star Wars Knights of the Republic Batman Dark Tommorrow Panzer Dragon Orta PS2 The Getaway Batman Dark Tommorrow Malice Primal Midnight Club 2 Pride FC The Sims Dragonball Z Budokai Devil May Cry 2 GC Zelda Batman Dark Tommorow The deal is only good till Tuesday and u need a coupon out of the flyer that u can get in the store. Great deal IMO but none of the XBox games interest me.
Since I don't have an Xbox, and don't plan to buy one anytime soon (if ever), I'll probably pick up Splinter Cell when it comes out for PC. There's already a Splinter Cell PC demo floating around the net.
U can use Live without the mic. Just dont plug the mic in. I usually dont play with the headset and just have it set on mute. U can pretty much the headset anywhere. I have seen it at multiple Gamestops I have stopped by this weekend.
I went and got Halo and Splinter Cell today! Its pretty sweet, splinter cell i was in the tutorial or whatver u wanna call it before u get to the first level and it froze on me it asked if i wanted to save and it wouldnt let me select yes or no, that was at my friends hopefully it works when i try it again.
Ghost Recon doesn't work on PC. I tried on three different computers. I exchanged 5 of them and they all didn't work. Well I can't return it. What a waste! It's supposed to be a good PC game. NBA2k3 is better than NBA LIVE 2003!
I have spent several hours playing Splinter Cell on XBox since Christmas. This game is fun and addicting. I've heard people complain about the cut scene graphics. They aren't that bad but they aren't great. It is the gameplay and in-game graphics...especially the "Sam" character himself...which really shine. At first, I didn't think I would like this game and, starting out in training mode, it wasn't that great. It actually took me a few hours of playing to really get comfortable with all the controls and begin thinking in more ways accustomed for this type of gameplay . The gameplay is suspenseful and requires strategy. The save checkpoints seem often enough so your not playing this really long level and die at the end only to have to start the level over. If you die, then you just try that section again a different way until you get it right. However, I do find that you can get through the game without using alot of the features. The split jump...for instance. While you can use this and there are levels designed for this to be used, you can just as easily get by without this albeit with less excitement of being above your enemy and falling down on him for the knock out blow. Also, one of the rifles has a zoom but, so far, I haven't needed to use the zoom feature and I'm more than halfway through the game. I also have not had to use the wall explosives anywhere but I have used a few frag grenades. I find a good balance of when stealth is required and when it is not required. You can come out blazing and expect some other enemies to come at you because of all the noise...but there will only be a few and if you have enough ammo you can deal with them. However, if your low on ammo, then a stealth approach is required to sneak up on your enemy and take him out. Hiding bodies is sometimes key to completing a level and not sounding an alarm. Sound too many alarms in the game....and your game is over. This isn't much of a problem since you can begin at the last save checkpoint. All in all...the game is very enjoyable. I haven't played my MGS2 yet so I don't know how it compares. The only game I've played that is even similar to Splinter Cell is Deus Ex for PC. In many ways, Deus Ex was better EXCEPT for the player control and graphics and what the player could do(i.e. no split jumps, climbing walls, scaling fences, hanging from pipes, etc.) . I expect when Duex Ex 2 comes out for XBox...it will be much better than Splinter Cell. That is still a few(or several) months away. Splinter Cell is definitely a good game and very fun. I would turn it off when I got stuck only to turn it back on an hour later because I was so addicted and enthralled I had to return. It has a lot of variety on the many levels and well-designed maps with well-placed cut scenes and save checkpoints. Some tasks are timed and you must hurry while others you just need to complete some objective. Managing/accessing your inventory is a breeze and player controls are excellent. Barring the cut scenes which seem about average, the in-game graphics are pretty good. Enemy AI is only average, however. Hiding from the enemy is no problem at all and they are not very smart. However, they will hear you if you creep up on them too fast. They rarely miss when they fire at you and you can only take so many hits before your dead. On some levels, the mission doesn't allow you to kill them but only knock them out or stealth around them. This gives the game variety and makes it more challenging. Overall, a very enjoyable experience. I have heard people say it is better than Halo. Since the AI and graphics are not as good as Halo, I would beg to differ. But, the fun factor is right up there and possibly greater than Halo. SC keeps you busy and doesn't feel like a short game. I'm not sure how many hours I've spent but I've spent quite a few. I feel it is definitely worth the $50 . Although, you could probably rent it for a week(or rent it twice if you must) and play through all of it if you are a hardcore gamer. I doubt I will play it again once I finish it on Normal difficulty. It is fun while it lasts, however.
