I bought the game the other day, no clue how far through I am yet. So far pure Splinter Cell goodness (minus the swat turn). The AI are probably the greatest let down of the game. They are way too sensitive and will pick you up a mile away. On one such occasion, merely turning on a computer two rooms away caused guards to rush to my position. A newly introduced system, similar to lock picking is hacking. The explanation in the manual is way to complicated, considering all you have to do is highlight a number and press X when it lights up.

One quite annoying new inclusion in the game is the side-missions. Essentially it is a variation of collecting a certain quantity of intel from around the maps. For example I had to scan 6 crates which were scattered through the level, or tag the cameras with a tap for the "donut dippers". They aren't compulsory, but the way they are included is somewhat stale and you feel oblidged to complete these tasks.

The levels themselves are simply stunning, to the point where I said to myself "Wow! That would be great for my dream home!" (Whilst in a traditional Hokkaido home). Each level is compacted into what in the real world would be roughly the size of a block. At first it may seem confusing, but I haven't realised the genius of it, there is literally infinite ways to complete each mission.

Even stranger is the Splinter Cell Movie Trailer. Very little is revealed other than there will be a movie...

I'm pretty far into it and look forward to writing a review of it for www.australiangamer.com pretty soon. I don't think the AI is that bad, if you turn on a computer in a room thats completely dark, it switches on the monitor, which lights you right up. You can swich off the screen when u hack into a computer and leave yourself in the darkness which is the way to go.

The side missions are a great way to get more out of each level, however they did become slightly confusing as the level progressed, to the point where i would go 'why was i supposed to do this again?'

I actually think the biggest problem with the game is the fact that its so difficult to actually tell sometimes if you are in the cover of darkness or not. I know there is a meter thing in the corner which tells you, but when your against a wall, in full light, and it says your in darkness ... well, thats just dodgy.

Yes there have been quite a few dodgy light situations. And it took me a good two levels to work out the pistol had the electronic disturbance thing. As for the computer thing, they were in a totally different room, down a long corridor. They didn't stand a chance of hearing me let alone seeing the light from the monitor.

I also worked out I'm about 4 levels from the end, and considering its roughly an hour per level, thats not bad at all.

I just finished it a few days ago on Normal, and man, I loved every bit of it. Yes I do agree that the AI can be touchy at times, but it also be clever. For example, if you whistle close to them they will check it out, but if they think it's too dark or you whistled from a certain height, they'll take pot shots in your direction to see if anyone's there. Very cool.
I'm planning to do it all over again on hard and try to get a better rating for the missions as I managed a 65% average on Normal. My highest rating so far is 93%.

Have either of you played multiplayer? That mode alone could be a game by itself! It's so addictive!

I played co-op for a bit, but my friend was shit at it so it wasn't all that fun...

Well I played co-op with a more capable and willing friend the other day and it really did fail to meet expectations. Now I realise he wasn't the greatest of players, but never the less UbiSoft should have acknowledged that the second player was always going to be less than up to scratch with the game. So rather than creating two divergent, and rather simplistic tasks for each player to complete, they essentially have one player following the other on a virtual leash. With only 1 mission objective, the only reason we would have to split up is to search the labyrinth level for the right place. But quite often when the right area was found, there were just as many issues in trying to regroup so that a co-op move could be performed to continue through the mission. This has been made worse by the fact that the ECP (an electronic jamming device most commonly used to temporarily take out cameras) no longer has a delay, meaning players have to leap-frog past cameras, jamming it for one another. Now I have one last friend that would be willing to join me in playing co-op, and he is quite capable having played through the two previous games, so I think I'll give it a go with him before I completely lose faith in the co-op mode.


***SPOILERS BELOW***
Single-player wise, I'm going quite well. The game is great so far, but I've hit a snag. I know its possible to shoot down those hovering scanning things, they show Sam doing it during the loading screen but I can't seem to do it? I jam it so it remains motionless then pump a few shells into it and nada. I even replicated the circumstances during the loading animation and nothing...

You know, I tried the same thing and got the same result with the one at the start. I don't know whether you need to shoot them on a specific spot, but I managed to bust one open later on in the level.
Are you using your shotgun attachment to get them down?

Apparently you can use shotgun or sniper, but neither worked.

Odd. Maybe the loading screen movie is incorrect? I might try it again and see if I can destroy it.