Summary
It’s no secret thatSplinter CellandMetal Gear Solidstand as two of the most iconic and influential games in the stealth action genre. Over the course of their existences, each game has offered a realistic and suspenseful narrative baked into tight and sometimes unforgiving gameplay segments.
In a lot of ways, both Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid have a lot in common, and that wasn’t by accident, either. That’s because, as it turns out, the developers of the original Splinter Cell title looked toward Metal Gear Solid for inspiration.
In an interview for Games Radar’s “Retro Gamer” magazine, Francois Coulon, who served as the director for the first Splinter Cell title, shared how Metal Gear Solid helped influence Ubisoft’s stealth adventure. “MGS showed us how stealth mechanics should be done,” Coulon said. Those mechanics, as Coulon noted, involved “clear rules,” which provided the player with knowledge of the setting and what to do.
MGS “Was Perfectly Executed,” Splinter Cell Director Says
Continuing the interview, Coulon opined how in Metal Gear Solid, and later Splinter Cell, players have a clear indication of when they’re successful, as well as when they fail. That clear indication helps players avoid blaming the game for failure, instead understanding where they failed.
“It is a complete and consistent set of rules that set the way for any stealth game. Remove one of its elements and the experience will be dull, frustrating, or ridiculous. MGS was perfectly executed in that regard. No frustration - you know when you lose and you don’t blame the game for it.”
Indeed, Splinter Cell made great use of its sound and light detection meters to help players better understand where they stood within the environment. Any deviation from absolute silence and darkness would result in alarms being raised by enemy AI, and thus impacting the mission. In other words, while players had to keep Sam Fisher in the dark, they themselves were not in the dark about what was being asked of them.
Coulon also brings up an interesting point about how the elements work together to craft the experience. That’s because later Splinter Cell titles, namely Blacklist and partially Conviction, took a more action-oriented approach rather than stealth. Players had access to more tools and were not penalized for going guns blazing. In many ways, those titles served as a stark contrast from the Splinter Cell of old, and were generally panned by critics and fans for deviating from that formula.
It’s an interesting discussion,particularly as Ubisoft attempts to navigate a remake of the original Splinter Cell. Meanwhile,Konami has re-released the first group of Metal Gear Solid titlesand is concurrently working ona Metal Gear Solid 3 remake. Both are seeking a return to form, while also striving to be modern entries.
