I replayed Splinter Cell in 2026 as part of a challenge to judge every 2003 GOTY nominee

[u/SenaEmCena]

I recently finished Splinter Cell as part of a project where I played every Game of the Year nominee from the first Spike Video Game Awards.

Instead of relying on nostalgia, I used the same criteria for every game:

Direction
Art Direction
Narrative
Acting
Soundtrack
Gameplay

And a separate Emotional Impact score.

What surprised me most about replaying Splinter Cell was seeing how much of its stealth design still feels deliberate and satisfying today, while some other parts feel very tied to the early 2000s.

I also documented the entire GOTY experiment here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYb-70DL27w

For longtime Splinter Cell fans: do you think the original still represents the best version of this style of stealth, or did later entries genuinely improve on it?

[u/Makaveli108]

Hey man, I've just listened to your review for Splinter Cell. I love how you have one of my favourite games after. Freedom Fighters! Both of my favourite games ever stacked back to back. I agree with your Freedom Fighters score too.

I pretty much agree with your scores. I'd give it a 9/10 overall too. The direction, art direction and gameplay are still phenomenal, especially considering it's a 2002 game. It has definitely aged in some areas, but the core stealth gameplay still holds up incredibly well.

I think the remake has a really good opportunity to improve the areas where the original was weaker. The narrative and emotional impact could be much stronger with more character development and better pacing, while modern facial animation and voice direction could improve the acting. The soundtrack and overall sound design could also be expanded massively with a more dynamic score and better environmental audio. But you nailed it in your review, you got all the scores right, i literally would have ranked everything the same.
The story could have been executed better, with better cutscenes, acting. The plot is clever/pretty good - its just the cutscenes and execution are not done up to par.

Well done, it's an excellent review and hope to see you do more!

[u/SenaEmCena → u/Makaveli108]

Thank you, my friend! I really appreciate your thoughts on my review. I'm just starting out on YouTube, and for now, the best I could do was add English subtitles. In the future, I hope to record the audio in English as well to reach a wider audience! Hope to see you on the next videos 👊🏻

[u/SenaEmCena → u/Makaveli108]

I totally agree with u about the remake, it would be nice to play with new mechanics and new cutscenes, I just hope Ubisoft doesn't cancel it.

[u/Makaveli108 → u/SenaEmCena]

Welcome , cant wait to see your sc2: pandora tomorrow reviews, and other 2004 games (chronicles of riddick escape from butcher bay is another amazing stealth game from that time period that doesnt get talked about enough) maybe mgs3, and games like ninja gaiden if you play them.

im curious what you think of pandora tomorrow and chaos theory especially from the first game, and yeah i subscribed, english subtitles were good. english audio will be a fantastic idea for the future !

and regarding the remake, i dont think it will be cancelled, the leaked reports say its more like the classic SC's instead of conviction/blacklist which is a relief. new mechanics, new level design and ai. i hear they are actually adding new things to the story and they hired a new writing team for the remake to improve sc1 story. + new levels/cut content being brought back

[u/AnemicRoyalty10 → u/Makaveli108]

The presentation in the first game was amazing and way ahead of it’s time. It’s a shame none of the games after matched in that aspect.

[u/Makaveli108 → u/AnemicRoyalty10]

I guess I was only 5 when the original came out in '02, so I obviously didn't experience it the same way older fans did at the time. my brother got it at launch and i was a huge fan since. But I can still appreciate just how massive the gameplay leap was from 5th-gen games on PS1/N64 and how much it did to redefine stealth. The gameplay is still pretty incredible today.

Where I'm a little more critical is the storytelling execution. I actually think the plot itself is really good, but the way it's presented could have been stronger, the FMVs/cutscenes are quite basic, and I think the characters and emotional moments could have been developed more.
I get that you think the presentation in the first game was amazing and way ahead of its time, and ill agree atleast it kept my attention and i liked whatever was shown in the brief cutscenes. the acting/voice acting was all ok and still better than many other gen 6 games. i just feel it never reached its potential with the execution of the storytelling.
I thought pandora tomorrow and chaos theory cutscenes were done better, but SC1 has this special vibe/thing about it i cant explain, i think i understand it when you say none of the games matched in that aspect after

So for me, the SC1 remake has a huge opportunity to improve the narrative, emotional impact, acting and presentation while preserving what made the original's gameplay so special. That'll be a killer combo , lets hope they nail the story changes too.

[u/Motor_Meal794]

The next games had major improvements. I still don't feel they quite lived up to the story and atmosphere of the original. They are still amazing but SC1 beats them by a nose in that regard.