Further memoirs of a Splinter Cell
Jul. 22nd, 2005 07:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tirsdenOkay, so I beat the game on Hard. I was vaguely disappointed that nothing special was unlocked by doing so. And the irony is I did it much faster than when I beat Normal. Of course, it helps to know the levels and enemy AI so well from the first time around. Ow, my head hurts thanks to all the blue fuzziness of heat sensor goggle mode. Ow.
Teh thoughts, part 2:
* Hiding bodies becomes crucial in Hard, as opposed to Normal where I only got one alarm due to somebody finding bodies after I passed a checkpoint (and that was on the final level). On Hard I got an alarm after the first checkpoint you get after the very first two kills (in the missing CIA spook's apartment in Russia or wherever the heck that was).
* Sheetrock walls stop bullets, but metal doors don't. (Learned from the "palace" corridor and the "hostage" freezer scenarios, respectively.)
* I used the heat sensor goggles a lot more this time around. Makes for better headshots, plus I'm more likely to hit light bulbs the first time.
* It's amazing just how much enemy chatter you get over the radio. Couldn't they bother with something better than cheap walkie talkies? And sometimes you only get snippets, like somebody is actually sending partially encrypted signals. Partially. This game is almost a better training tool for future dictators and terrorists, not special anti-terrorism agents. And now that I've posted the word "terrorist," this entire post has been logged at the NSA and somebody will read it. Hi. ^_^
* I have never used the split jump outside of the training level.
* I did a lot better on pretty much every checkpoint, even though this was supposedly Hard mode. Bullets might have hurt more, especially from Grinko, but I'm not really sure. I don't think he hit me in Normal. He FUCKING HURTS on Hard.
* I did a lot of "head shot and run" this time around. Especially in the freezer and the palace hallways. But then, there's quite a bit of room to run in those areas. Patience is a massive virtue in this game, and one kill is better than none, since the other guards will stop looking for you after a few moments.
* You've just killed a guy. His buddy runs over and makes a radio report that he's found a corpse. He wanders around looking for you for a moment, then says "It must have been a shadow" or "Must have been nothing" or another random phrase of the same meaning. The world should note: shadows kill! Hell, nothing kills. The guy just spontaniously sprayed brains out his head and died. Yup.
* I love how the heat sensor goggles let you see people through doors. Now if only I could put a bullet through the door and kill the guy on the other side. Damn fucked up game physics anyways.
* Back when I was playing Normal, I had the hardest time figuring out why I was failing the CIA mission right at the very end. Turns out I hadn't paid attention to what my orders were, and there were two friendly guys by the truck at the end of the level, not one. Colonel Lambert yelled at me a lot. Oops.
* Sobe Adrenaline Rush, official drink of the CIA. Says Splinter Cell. It's the only name brand I've seen in the game so far, and its logo is plastered on a vending machine near the first set of CIA computer geek offices. LOL. Hyper intell people, anyone?
And cuz I'm bored, here's some random observations on things that have nothing to do with the game:
* I watched my first consecutive five minutes of Friends earlier today (well okay yesterday for normal people) while waiting for a movie to start (Bad Boys). Ironically it was the final episode. I'm still unimpressed. I am not a Friends person.
* In Bad Boys, there's a great sequence in which Will Smith runs around streets with a gun while wearing a flowy dark shirt that's totally unbuttoned. Like THAT wasn't planned. The slow motion camera shots say otherwise. Heh heh.
* The Nationwide Insurance robot commercial is TEH SHIT! ♥
* Coke Zero. Who the hell thought of this name? Like anyone wants to drink something that's called Zero. You are what you... drink? "Check me out, I'm a Zero!" Yeah, I know it's supposed to mean that there is simply flavor and nothing else (like uh, what, sugar? I forget), but that's a stretch without their explaining it. At least they did that on one commercial. Honestly, I think this is a true oversight on Coke's part. And my apologies to anyone who actually drinks this product. RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!! *hic*
* The latest episode of The 4400 was excellent, and it had a really freaky moment. TV does good when it honestly gives you the chills, and I don't think I've felt quite that creeped out since The Pretender. And mind you, I'd seen this 4400 episode already, but they replayed it again yesterday. This time watching it, one of the times when Tom sees the black obsidian door, I really felt the freakiness. Maybe I needed sleep. I know I do now. But the night is young! Night... morning...... zzz......
Teh thoughts, part 2:
* Hiding bodies becomes crucial in Hard, as opposed to Normal where I only got one alarm due to somebody finding bodies after I passed a checkpoint (and that was on the final level). On Hard I got an alarm after the first checkpoint you get after the very first two kills (in the missing CIA spook's apartment in Russia or wherever the heck that was).
* Sheetrock walls stop bullets, but metal doors don't. (Learned from the "palace" corridor and the "hostage" freezer scenarios, respectively.)
* I used the heat sensor goggles a lot more this time around. Makes for better headshots, plus I'm more likely to hit light bulbs the first time.
* It's amazing just how much enemy chatter you get over the radio. Couldn't they bother with something better than cheap walkie talkies? And sometimes you only get snippets, like somebody is actually sending partially encrypted signals. Partially. This game is almost a better training tool for future dictators and terrorists, not special anti-terrorism agents. And now that I've posted the word "terrorist," this entire post has been logged at the NSA and somebody will read it. Hi. ^_^
* I have never used the split jump outside of the training level.
* I did a lot better on pretty much every checkpoint, even though this was supposedly Hard mode. Bullets might have hurt more, especially from Grinko, but I'm not really sure. I don't think he hit me in Normal. He FUCKING HURTS on Hard.
* I did a lot of "head shot and run" this time around. Especially in the freezer and the palace hallways. But then, there's quite a bit of room to run in those areas. Patience is a massive virtue in this game, and one kill is better than none, since the other guards will stop looking for you after a few moments.
* You've just killed a guy. His buddy runs over and makes a radio report that he's found a corpse. He wanders around looking for you for a moment, then says "It must have been a shadow" or "Must have been nothing" or another random phrase of the same meaning. The world should note: shadows kill! Hell, nothing kills. The guy just spontaniously sprayed brains out his head and died. Yup.
* I love how the heat sensor goggles let you see people through doors. Now if only I could put a bullet through the door and kill the guy on the other side. Damn fucked up game physics anyways.
* Back when I was playing Normal, I had the hardest time figuring out why I was failing the CIA mission right at the very end. Turns out I hadn't paid attention to what my orders were, and there were two friendly guys by the truck at the end of the level, not one. Colonel Lambert yelled at me a lot. Oops.
* Sobe Adrenaline Rush, official drink of the CIA. Says Splinter Cell. It's the only name brand I've seen in the game so far, and its logo is plastered on a vending machine near the first set of CIA computer geek offices. LOL. Hyper intell people, anyone?
And cuz I'm bored, here's some random observations on things that have nothing to do with the game:
* I watched my first consecutive five minutes of Friends earlier today (well okay yesterday for normal people) while waiting for a movie to start (Bad Boys). Ironically it was the final episode. I'm still unimpressed. I am not a Friends person.
* In Bad Boys, there's a great sequence in which Will Smith runs around streets with a gun while wearing a flowy dark shirt that's totally unbuttoned. Like THAT wasn't planned. The slow motion camera shots say otherwise. Heh heh.
* The Nationwide Insurance robot commercial is TEH SHIT! ♥
* Coke Zero. Who the hell thought of this name? Like anyone wants to drink something that's called Zero. You are what you... drink? "Check me out, I'm a Zero!" Yeah, I know it's supposed to mean that there is simply flavor and nothing else (like uh, what, sugar? I forget), but that's a stretch without their explaining it. At least they did that on one commercial. Honestly, I think this is a true oversight on Coke's part. And my apologies to anyone who actually drinks this product. RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!! *hic*
* The latest episode of The 4400 was excellent, and it had a really freaky moment. TV does good when it honestly gives you the chills, and I don't think I've felt quite that creeped out since The Pretender. And mind you, I'd seen this 4400 episode already, but they replayed it again yesterday. This time watching it, one of the times when Tom sees the black obsidian door, I really felt the freakiness. Maybe I needed sleep. I know I do now. But the night is young! Night... morning...... zzz......
