Playing Splinter Cell Esstentials now really does hit differently. Back when I originally played it was easy to see why I didn't get very far and I dropped after a few missions. When I orginally played it, the series still had entries coming out for it and didn't become the dormant franchise it is now. Conviction was out for a little while and Blacklist was around the corner. This was all before Sam Fisher was relegated to being a crossover character in other Ubisoft franchises or had it's mechanics or ideas pop in other franchises by the company. It'll be a miracle if that remake ever comes out. However due to me watching Splinter Cell Deathwatch a few months ago with no SC game on a modern platform and I also randomly got interested in playing portable spinoffs for franchises I liked, I decided to jump into Esstentials again and beat it this time.
Upon beating the game, it is very easy to see why the game got the lukewarm reception it did. Controls are awkward even when playing on a controller with the PPSSPP emulator. Where you need to press down on the d pad to switch between camera controls and regular actions Sam Fisher can do leading to lots of "stop and go" with the movement. For example, you want to crouch and then turn the camera? Press down, switch to camera mode to turn it, then press again and press circle to crouch. Climbing on a pipe or want to fully climb on then get off? Press triangle, tap it twice, then press down to view the camera position yourself and press down again and hit circle to get off. There was no way into emulator configuration to have right stick controls at all times.
The contextual command menu now pauses every time you activate it, creating a bizarre dissonace between the player and the game world. The movement controls can feel awkward and unresponsive even when not playing on the PSP analog nub.
Many of the levels are reused from past titles or are themed after them. With the only big standouts in the main campaign being Colombia, Steel Factory and NSA HQ. Colombia being the first real mission and by far the longest. Every mission after isn't as long. NSA HQ being an incredible mission where it feels like a playable interactive thriller where Sam has to infiltrate his home turf with only Grim being his geniune lifeline.
The story is also very incoherently presented and requires you to play Double Agent even if you play either version, it's almost impossible to decipher what is going due to how quickly every plot point is being thrown at the player.
In spite of all this, I still got more enjoyment out the game then I thought I would. It's like watching a decent adaptation of a source material that hasn't gotten updated in years if not decades even if it is sub par, the things I liked about Splinter Cell is still there. The darkness system which is stealth game design that the industry especially in bigger budget games have all but forgotten now.
Sam being very agile and nimble like being able to climb and interact with very ledges and handholds just gives him and the player of feeling like a super cool sneaky ninja.
There is also other interesting aspects like how it feels like an inbetween of the first two games and Chaos Theory. You got the look of the older games and much of the same movement but you have Chaos Theory's knife and some it's animations like the instant knockout and kill as well as the grab. Door bash from CT manages to pop up. Double Agent's hacking mini game would also pop up here.
The devs were smart in that taking out enemies from the front when they alerted causes Sam to get hit by their bullets so you can't spam this. It's only effective when guards are unaware.
The guard interrogations are also really fun and entertaining too.
That is pretty much Splinter Cell Essentials in a nutshell much of what I find endearing about the game is stuff that is done better in other games in the series but me being a fan searching for a new experience made me tolerate all this stuff. It comes back to what I said about how it's like a decent but sub par adaptation or a brand new entry to dormant or obscure series. Me already being a fan makes me put up with this stuff a lot more than someone who doesn't have an already established attachment.
Overall, it's worth checking out for if you are curious fan of the series like myself. It's functional enough to get to the end if nothing remarkable.
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