What do you like in a Stealth Game, and which one does it best?

[silverleaf81]

I never really play stealth games, but i do remember my warm early childhood of sleeping over my friends house, staying up late and playing lots of games, like Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow on Gamecube. We didn't have a memory card, so we had to redo from the start EVERY time. One time we managed to get really far...and then gave up.

Edit: I play plenty of Fallout, i guess that's the most sneaking i do.

 

[Harkonnen64]

For me, I always prefer the kind of game that doesn't insist you kill/defeat everyone you encounter, but encourages your moving past them silently. Hence I wouldn't consider Splinter Cell to be my favorite stealth series. To be honest, I'm not crazy about Stealth Shooters in general.

Having owned and played the first 2 Splinter Cells, I can say that the first ones didn't often encourage you to engage the enemy and in many cases it posed more of a risk going after them than sneaking past them. Though there were some clear "action" sequences, they usually revolved around you getting the hell out of wherever you were rather than being a one man army storming a castle.

Then we get to Conviction. Haven't played it myself, but I've watched a friend play it a bit and it's totally not a stealth game; it's an action game with a little stealth, though my friend is in denial about that. I'd say the biggest issue was they ditched health kits for wait-and-heal. Now I don't have an issue with that in straight forward shooters, but this is supposed to be a stealth game. In the first two games, a single guard with a full auto assault rifle could kill you and if you lived, you could only hope there was a health kit up ahead. Flash-forward to Conviction, and you're shrugging off dozens of bullet wounds between encounters, so you don't even need to be stealthy; a pretty glaring issue for a supposed stealth game.

 

[Wayneguard]

Thief: Deadly Shadows with the minimalist mod is the best stealth experience I've had yet. TDS by itself is decent but the minimalist mod just takes it to a whole new level. Outside of that, I love Tenchu for the roof hopping ninja action.

 

[Nydestroyer]

I know its not all the way stelth but i like the blends of sly cooper and yahtzees artoftheif oh and of course every assassins creed game i had forced combat when your subosto be an awesome assassin guy XD

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

I think Batman: Arkham Asylum did stealth really well. You come in the top of a room and you get the scan an area for enemies. You then get to decide what tactics to take. You plan out in your head, like "OK...hang that guy from a gargoyle...wait until his friend comes and jump from the shadows...grapple onto this ledge." It's really fun to have those strategies and teaches that to be truly stealthy, it requires planning and patiences. And that you need to be Batman.

 

[MeatsOfEvil]

What I like best in a stealth game is when things go wrong (to a degree) and I have to react and adapt to the new situation. I found this to be the most fun in Hitman: Blood Money. I'd always bring my silenced pistol along with no intention of using it, but should something go wrong there is nothing more satisfying than quickly tying up loose ends. It's almost like dynamic added objectives - shoot the guard before he can report you, hide the new body, etc.

 

[Drunkbot]

I think the Hitman series in general does well with stealth, and does one better than most other stealth games by also allowing for subterfuge.

I wish more games in general had subterfuge. Especially with how many protagonists are morally ambiguous, or limited to two absurdly divergent choices any time they do make a moral decision. Solutions to dilemmas that are peaceful yet unethical would enrich the moral range quite a bit.

edit- I am also okay with violent, ethical solutions. I shall smite my enemies with a righteous vengeance.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

Splintercell chaos theory was the ultimate stealth game. Multiple routes and strategies, and the level design was glorious.

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.

It was possible to go through the entire game without killing a single enemy.

Hitman: Blood Money and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. I am in love with these two games and they embody everything stealth should be, in my opinion.

Hitman: Blood Money.

Just the amazing variety of ways to pull off each hit, some stealthy, some not so much.

Have yet to find another stealth game with as much replay-ability, not many games in other genres have this either.

Hitman: Blood Money.

You want to sneak in or charge in with a Spas-12? You can choose.

You want to poison the cake, snipe from a tower, rig the chandelier to drop onto an unsuspecting target? You can do it.

The best stealth game is the one that allows you to choose how you do it like Hitman or Thief II.

Linear crap like Splinter Cell are fun once in a while but quickly loses steam afterwards. On the other hand, I'm still discovering new and interesting ways to kill my targets in Hitman: BM.

I've been super interested in getting a really good stealth game recently. I am torn between Hitman: BM and Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.

I am looking for a deep stealth game. I want to have the ability to never been seen. Also I'd like replaybility and a variety of choices in gameplay.

Can anyone help me make me decision ?

Also, I don't care about graphics too much, but has SC CT aged well?

Thanks guys.

OT: I've only played AC2 and Batman AA that are stealthy and I liked AA better since you were the hunter

 

[MeatsOfEvil]

I got chaos theory on steam recently. It's still a lot of fun, although the shooting is inaccurate even at medium range. Don't get it just for the online play though, you'll probably need to vpn lan play for it to work. Blood Money is an awesome game though, one of my favorites. I'm not helping am I lol.

 

[Weslebear]

-snip-

Since you want to replay it has to be Hitman, Splinter Cell games while offering decent stealth are often very linear and set just so you can conveniently stealth through the levels.

On the other hand Hitman: Blood Money is incredible for replaying, you will want to go back through missions over and over and over tweaking your favourite tactic to get the most out of the mission, or changing it up entirely every time. Each level is of a decent size and everything is made to feel like you it really is just you against hundreds of possible witnesses. Plus the variety in setting and each mission themselves is great, off the top of my head the games goes through mardi gras, villa, nightclub, theatre (my favourite level) and a mountain top exclusive resort among many others. You can also collect all the weapons in the levels to have fun with on other ones, as well as being able to upgrade the main set of weapons when you need some heavy backup.

Be warned though some of them can be damn hard when your new to the game it takes a lot of replaying and testing out things to find out how to get the best score in a mission, and there is always more than a few ways of pulling that off.

 

[Angry Camel]

Has already been said, but the Batman AA stealth was great fun. Having the thugs start off smug and wearing away at it by picking them off is huge fun. Also, being able to return to hiding is very valueable (played Far Cry today, and stealth in that game is borderlining on non-existant).

My best stealth memory was in Far Cry 2 (amazingly), when I crossed a sizable portion of the map without firing a shot, snuck into a base, fired one bullet into the VIP and ran off (for the short distance the sprint function lasted anyway). So I'd prefer any stealth games that demand no unneccesary contact: Get in, do it, get out.

Favourite would still be Batman AA, for obvious reasons.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Strangely I think Bethesda games do Stealth gameplay really well I love playing stealth in oblivion and fallout 3 and I'm excited for Skyrim as they say they have focused on it quite a bit. Dead Money, by Obsidian on the same engine is a really nice piece of stealth and survival gaming I think that's why I loved it.

I'm looking forward to Deus Ex too.

I love stealth games they are really my thing.

 

[Thespian]

-snip-

-snip-

Okay, apologies to both of you, it's been a while since I played the older SC games and Conviction really is, as was said, lacking in the stealth department. I'll give the older ones another look.

 

[CRRPGMykael]

Batman: Arkham Asylum
James Bond 007: Blood Stone
Hitman: Blood Money (if that counts)
Sly 3: Band of Thieves (it's extremely cartoonish but I grew up with it and I love it, it's completely based on stealth,along with a little combat)
The very first Splinter Cell is on the list too,I guess

 

[northeast rower]

Choice. Choice is what I want. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory did this well, where you had multiple loadouts, multiple (optional) objectives, and many, MANY paths. I still play the game today and find new ways through certain levels.

 

[Audio]

I felt Tenchu series does it pretty well; however for the best experience.. Theif series.
looking forward to Deus Ex too

 

[Katana314]

Here's what I like.
1. Fast pace. Spending 30 seconds in one position watching a guard walk by is not my idea of fun. It breaks some realism to allow the protagonist to run about full-speed without any noise penalty, but the amount of fun it can generate easily makes things better.

2. Binary determination. Are you VISIBLE or INVISIBLE? Are you meant to take out ALL enemies, or NONE of them? Will this attack WORK or NOT, and WHY? Many stealth games before Batman tended to have many "grey areas". The visibility meter, guards with different levels of awareness, different rules on who to take out (in some games, it's very unstealthy to take out every guard, but it's also impossible to accomplish the mission without some kills). Also, many games have your attacks on a guard either work perfectly or completely fail, entirely on the minor basis of whether they were facing a few degrees more to their left.

3. Information. If I have the extreme disadvantage of being alone, and forced to use silent attacks (usually even limited to close-range attacks), and I cannot be spotted when attacking someone, I kind of like having some perks on my end. Some easy way of knowing what's happening where, so I know how to respond and what traps to lay, makes the game much more fun. No one likes being snuck up on when they're supposed to be sneaking.

4. No pattern-recognition. This is meant to be something we learned in old arcade games; when someone can only beat a level by memorizing a series of button presses in the right timing, then it's no longer fun.

5. LOGICAL information for guards. If a guard heard a noise "over there"! Then he heard a noise RIGHT THERE. He should NOT home in on wherever the player currently is, at all. I'm reminded of a time in Splinter Cell I threw an object to the opposite side of a room to distract a guard. He stared at the point of impact...then walked straight towards me. Even if all guards have spotted the player and you're in combat, the game should not instantly decide that all guards should constantly be aware of your position. Splinter Cell Conviction got the right idea: Even in intense combat, it is commonly possible to disappear from your last known position.

6. If darkness is a big part of the game, keep your promises about destroying light sources.
AvP, 2 minutes in: Destroy light sources to make areas dark.
AvP, 2 hours in: The bad guys have invested in BULLETPROOF LIGHTS!!! And lots of them!!
Splinter Cell Conviction, 2 minutes in: Turn off or destroy lights to make areas dark.
Splinter Cell Conviction, 2 hours in: Destroy all 17 of these lights in this tiny office area to make half the room dark, whereas the 87 lights in the main hallway will still spill in. Then mercenaries will detect you in the dark anyway.

 

[jSalamanca32]

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory stands (to me personally) as the greatest stealth game of all time.

It had just the right blend, the optimal strategy was always to avoid contact and leave no traces, but if things got sticky, Sam Fisher is not afraid to stick some dudes in the throat with his Kabar. There seems to be this massive misconception that SC is about killing, which is not. It only got to that point in Conviction, which, if any of the negative reaction towards it shows, that direction probably will not appear in the next SC.

 

[Zeema]

in which you can defeat 8 people in a room and remaining stealthy

picking them off one by one