Ugh...how did anyone like that? I miss the ability to aim freely. It's semi replicated when you're in cover mode, but I found myself not being able to shoot like I used to. All the games had the same firing system. That and I found myself jumping over shit when I was trying to do something else. I dunno, it's just unnatural after having owned and played every other Splinter Cell ever from the first Xbox on.
It's not that you can't aim freely (you can) but there didn't appear to be a zoom mode, like pull left trigger to aim down the sights. Some of the controls are a bit unconventional and it also didn't help that the demo didn't offer much of a tutorial. Instead it threw up one of those "here's a picture of what all the buttons do, memorize it". It really just throws you into the game. I didn't even use half of the equipment available.
The demo was pretty short and the second part took me a few tries but I think if I played the game more I would get a better handle on the controls and the gameplay system and possibly enjoy it. It started to click towards the end once I found a way to complete the second part.
There were a couple of cool moments in rooms of three enemies where I marked two of them, performed a 'death from above' move on the third and instantly executed a takedown of the first two (where Sam automatically shoots them). You can't use the mark and execute feature until you do a close-quarters takedown but you can still mark them beforehand.
Unfortunately, despite the streamlined controls, I think trial-and-error will still play a large part in making progress like most stealth games where a few failures and memorization of the stage will be necessary to move forward. It's not necessarily a bad thing since it's traditionally part of the genre but it is there.
The graphics were decent but it looked rough around the edges. Some of that may be part of the stylized look they are going for but it certainly isn't the best looking game. There was a lot of screen tearing in the opening interrogation scene.
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