Splinter Cell (UbiSoft, PC, MA15)

By PETER ELEY

(Herald Rating* * * * *)

Splinter Cell is possibly the second-best Xbox game after Halo, combining nail-biting excitement, superb graphics and a Tom Clancy-scripted plot.

Now UbiSoft has ported it across to the PC and without that graphical loss of quality and control seen in many games that have jumped platforms.

The game is highly Americanised and National Security Agency operative Sam Fisher kills lots of enemies of freedom-loving people.

He heads a top-secret unit called the Third Echelon which has been granted the right to kill to uphold what Americans see as their basic rights of freedom, justice and democracy.

That stuff apart, Splinter Cell is an outstanding game. It belongs firmly in the "stealth" genre. The ability to move without being seen by your target is essential to success.

The lighting is terrific, with amazing real-time shadows that give the game atmosphere.

Fisher has lots of gadgets, such as night-vision goggles which pick up heat radiation, and lots of stealth weapons.

The console game only lets you save at certain moments, which can be annoying. This version lets you save at any point, a much better idea given the number of times you will face becoming another statistic.


n Command and Conquer Generals has been banned in Germany because that country's Ministry for Family Affairs says it glorifies the war in Iraq.

Generals had been under development for the best part of two years before its release in February and uncannily its content mirrors parts of the present conflict.

The US is portrayed as laying seige to a Baghdad controlled by a terrorist army, which bombs its own citizens with anthrax warheads. The terrorist army is badly equipped, relying on flatbed trucks with mounted machineguns, angry mobs and suicide bombers, while the US has high-tech gear.

The game portrayed war as the only way to resolve conflicts, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Family Affairs.

Electronic Arts said the company thought the German Government had banned Generals because of the political dispute between the US and Germany over invading Iraq.

* Email Peter Eley