I played Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and suddenly everything clicked. In truth, I found the first two Splinter Cells a chore – a good looking chore, but a chore I was happy to avoid working my way through. Where Metal Gear Solid 2 gave you scope to experiment, play and simply had fun, Splinter Cell wanted you to conform and play the game the way they meant you to. But the more I played, the more I grew to hate the way the game funnelled you through one way of doing things, and if you stepped out of line, it was back to the last poorly placed checkpoint. I admired the smooth animation, the stunning lighting, the way Sam seamlessly pulled off a range of cool special moves.

Like everyone, I was amazed by Sam’s first appearance on the Xbox. For years I dismissed him not so much as the poor man’s Solid Snake, but as the spy hero for those who preferred lovely graphics at the expense of decent gameplay. I used to despise Sam Fisher – there, I’ve said it. ”’Platforms: Xbox 360, Xbox, PS2, PC – Xbox 360 version reviewed.”’

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