Wow....this game fucking SUCKS lol. I didn't wanna skip any games in the series on my replay but this game is just so damn annoying and broken. I played it the intended way so there's no bugs or anything that I encountered. THe game is just inherently broken.

As is the case with every Splinter Cell, the story is terrible. So I'm gonna focus on the gameplay. There's minor improvements compared to the previous entry but that doesn't save it from being genuinely one of the worst stealth games I've played. The levels are dull and the enemy AI is some of the worst I've seen in anything that isn't Thief 2014 and that says a lot.

I'm a sucker for stealth games that utilize shadows as a hiding place. But unfortunately this didn't hit. I haven't seen Chronicles of Riddick so there could be a lot I'm missing here, however I've been told it's fine to play as its own thing.

There's a big issue I have with this game. Not only does it feel way too restrictive at points, but the stealth system is weird as hell and kinda broken. Maybe I'm too picky because Thief 1-3 really heightened my standards for what a stealth game should be, but I don't like how it feels less like, and idk if this makes sense, but it feels less like you can hide in the shadows and more like you're hiding in invisible boxes. Like you aren't quite hiding in the shadows.

The screen glowing blue while in the shadows feels too specific. It might be a lighting issue but there were parts that were way too well lit and I was still hiding in the shadows apparently. hence why it feels like you're more or less hiding in a box. I don't know how else to put it.

The thing with stealth games like Thief and Splinter Cell is that it feels like the shadow systems are dynamic and that makes it feel right. There's games where that isn't explicitly the case yet it works, like in Manhunt for example.

I dunno tho I just didn't vibe with this game.

This game is jankier than I remember. It's got good aspects to it but its certainly weak compared to some of the later games. Much like the Hitman games, you can see a clear concept here that isn't quite realized. The platforming is broken as hell and there's moments here that force you into combat and it's quite rough.

The story of Splinter Cell is something I care so little for as well. It's never well written, I'm basically only here for the gameplay lol.

This game sucks to play on PC, it took me atleast 30 minutes to get this in a playable state.

Anyway, all in all. I don't think I recommend it? It's not very fun, but it's still impressive and unique for the time. Though, I think stealth involving usage of shadows was perfected in the Thief games.