This will be good to finally get some hands on with it to see how the performance is holding up.

I pray we aren't getting a severely scaled down game compared to Chaos Theory. I've never really had the privilege of playing a brand new Splinter Cell game when it was brand new, I was always pretty late to the party.

I'm not certain, but have you guys seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pls9JChDarI&feature...

The game is really looking good. This vid has done a lot to alleviate some of my fears about the game.

I haven't seen that before. Cheers for the find, Optimus.

The game, when all is said and done, may not be perfect, but as long as it's of solid length and the various missions are well designed, I think I may give this one a early purchase.

definately buying this, it's a bit sad to hear the single player is so short, but the co-op (split screen no less) makes up for it. it might not be a day one for the same reason i've yet to pick up mass effect 2 (too many games on the go) but i'm definately going to buy it.

Great video optimus, looks great.

I agree completely, Simon. I want to feel as if it's possible to polish up our approach to getting things done to a meaningful degree and, naturally, the movement and combat has to click by feeling nice and natural.

Really liked the proximity mine, portable emp, mark and execute combo. I initially wasn't digging the way diving onto an enemy from up above looked, but I've definitely gotten use to it now.

Also, judging by the selection of weapons there, I'm obviously expecting some high action shootouts where using stealth and gadgets may be tougher to do, and seeing the situation that Sam is in, I guess it makes complete sense that we'd encounter such moments.

Looking at the sticky camera, I'm just imagining making it play some music just to get the guy's attention then exiting the sticky camera, then while he's pre-occupied with it, I sneak up on him and take him down.

nice demo overview.

http://www.incgamers.com/Videos/1278/IGTV-Splinter...

Awesome, and I agree completely, I hope that interrogation method like in the bathroom scene isn't too heavily overused in the game. They should keep it to a bare minimum.

The demo is up on the marketplace.

Direct link in case you don't find it in your region: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-AU/games/media/66ac...

I'm definitely buying this game, I love it. There are a number of ways from which to approach your objective. I like the different options that are available to you thanks to the gadgets. I can engage a decent amount of enemies however I wish usually. I played the demo about 3 to 4 times and did different things differently each time. You're rewarded greatly for learning your surroundings before trying anything risky.

I like that you can mark specific targets that you want to take out quickly even before having the execute capability. So shooting out a light, having the enemies react to that light being shot out and 2 enemies moving away from one of their allies leaving him alone to go check things out allowing you to quickly jump down and take out the one who is now by himself with hand to hand combat then quickly executing the 2 targets you designated beforehand is nice and feels really good.

You would think that the mark and execute ability would make the game way too easy, but that isn't the case at all judging from the demo. You have to really take care with what you're doing or else you pretty much get overwhelmed by enemies and slaughtered. It's been made more accessible, but I wouldn't consider that the same as it being dumbed down. For example, when you do get yourself into a jam now, you are much more capable of dealing with the enemies and shooting it out with them, as should be expected of a trained professional like Sam, but anyone will take notice of the fact that they haven't made it so easy for the player that they can pretty much take control of a situation like one could in a Halo, Call of Duty or even Gears of War game. So, while the player is much more capable of surviving hectic shootouts once you sorta blow your cover, you aren't so capable that it can ever feel like there are no consequences for being careless, if that makes sense. You've become more run and gun capable, without it actually feeling like the game has become too much of a shooter, which is a concern a lot of people, including myself, had.

The game feels pretty polished, more so than I was expecting in overall design and performance. For one, I absolutely love that in moments where you need to think fast, Sam automatically crouches for you so that you can get into a hard to reach player without you specifically having to hit LB to get him to do it, because I can see how in tense situations that could be annoying as hell if you should forget to hit the button.

Performance is great, I didn't feel like there were any major performance issues of note nor much tearing at all. In fact, the only signs of tearing that I could spot were very slight, and I do mean slight, instances of it during the bathroom interrogation scene. I've also gotten very use to the black and white transition when you are hidden in shadows and when you aren't. Works surprisingly well and is comforting to know for certain that you are concealed by shadows.

The cover mechanic is really well done, I think. I love how you move from cover to cover. The AI feels appropriately aggressive. There are times when you just hope that they'll be more predictable and stop snooping around, but then you notice that they change their patterns and really check those areas they haven't checked, which can usually lead to you getting exposed. It's nothing groundbreaking, mind you, but it's nice to see that the AI is persistent, even if they aren't rocket scientists.

I like how you have to specifically look down at something to interact with it, like picking up a gun or having to look at the bottom of a door before the peek under option becomes available. I also really like the button layout. It's just enough responsibility given to the player without seeming overwhelming or too much. It actually makes it feel like you have to learn and get use to things to get better rewards out of the system they've layed out.

I'm definitely buying this one when it comes out, and hey, the story actually seems like it could be handled better than in previous games, which is a plus.

The controls are going to take a bit of getting used to. Left bumper to crouch and stand seems a bit funny, and left trigger to drop isn't very intuitive for me. I think I'd prefer left bumper for doing hand-to-hand kills and B for crouching/dropping.

Also, the black and white filter for when you are hidden works well, but I tend to confuse it with the room just being dark if I've shot out some lights.

I understand what you're saying there Simon, it's something that I had to get use to. Gotta program it in basically. It's one of those things that I think are done intentionally to make it tougher in crazy shootout situations because they don't want it feeling too much like a pure shooter, and I suspect for other design related reason as well.

One way to look at it is this: If you personally had a choice between the two options.

Immediately have Sam transition to a stand and run whenever he wants to leave a piece of cover or things get a bit heated.

or

The current situation where you may want to get up and run out of there, but you have to specifically press a button before you are able to, otherwise you stick to your crouch in hopes of avoiding detection

From a design perspective and in the interest of giving the player a choice, I'd have to go with the second option of the two, even though there's a chance that it can be frustrating. The lesser of the two evils is the second option, I think, which is what they seem to have gone with for the game.

If you manage to land yourself in a certain amount of trouble that running seems like it may be a must to get out of there as fast as possible, then I instantly hit the LB button to stand and dart out of there to break their line of sight, then I try to get tricky from there on out and use whatever tools are in my arsenal to turn the situation back to my advantage. The current system, as much a pain in the neck as it can be sometimes, forces you to become better at reading the situation and reacting to it, which I suppose I can't complain about.

Yea, I also get what you're saying with regards to standing cover. It'd be cool if there were standing covers as well.

the visuals and performance arent as great as i expected/wanted them to be and i DO NOT like how forced the mark and excecute situations are. the developers made it out to be an option, but in reality, it isnt, there are about 10 instances where 2 enemies are facing each other and using any other method to dispatch them would be suicidal. and so you're forced to use the mark and excecute, which i'm not a massive fan of to begin with, sure splinter cell has never been a shooter, and i dont expect it to turn into uncharted anytime soon...but i'd like to be able to play the game how i used to...not have to rely on automated shooting (what is with ubisoft and automating everything in all of their games?).

but ultimately i can accept it for what it is and what it is trying to do, the performance issues (framerate, aliasing and screen tearing) are just plain terrible tho. and the graphics are pretty middle of the road, not the show stopper i expected it to be. otherwise i love it and i'll still be buying it.

as for the controls, i dont have a problem with them at all. having stand/crouch on the left bumper seems very natural to me. dare i say better then the original games control layout.

it's clearly a misconception the developers themselves have then since it was THEM who made out you could approach the game in the old, tried and true way, and that mark an excecute was just an option. if they hadnt have said that i wouldnt have minded, but the fact that situations are set up purely FOR mark and excecute, it basically throws all hope of approaching the situation the old way down the crapper.

it's a great game bar the crappy performance, facial animations and aliasing, but i'd have prefered to be able to use my own skills to dispatch foes...but since they've taken out some of the old mechanics (whislte distractions) it makes it virtually impossible, and thus you have to use mark and excecute. it's all well and good saying it's the way the game was made, but the game is limiting itself by doing so. it basically means that whenever there are 2 guys facing each other in the room, THOSE are the ones you have to dispatch with mark and excecute since no other way is really feasable. not without alerting them so they all split up. in the old games in those situations you at least had the option to lure them away from their enemy compadres with a simple whisle...i mean, why is that ability even removed? did fisher just forget how to whistle one morning?

Played it 3 times now and love it, day one purchase confirmed.

The sticky cam is in the full game, should be able to distract them with that.

but how many times. the sticky cam will probably replace the sticky cam/shocker form the first games (although you throw it in conviction rather then shoot it) so you'll no doubt have a limited amount. i just dont get why the whistle is gone tbh. seems like a stupid decision...and a pointless one at that. i cant imagine the ability to whistle would have broken their gameplay/mechanics in any way.

but whatever, i'll be buying it. i'm more gitted by the visuals tbh. they've really let me down. i thought this was going to be a 360 showpeice but it's not. i guess that's a spot reserved for alan wake.