NOT METAL GEAR RIP OFF... READ
I can see how you could be tempted to compare the 2, but I can assure you that these 2 games are very different.
1) the bad guys
Metal Gear Solid has many characters that span many stories. Revolver Ocelot, one of the main reoccuring bad guys, makes appearances in 3 games.
With Splinter Cell, enemies only make appearances in 1 game.
2) Main Character
In MGS, you play as Solid Snake, Raiden, Naked Snake, and Snake (MG1, MG2)
In Splinter Cell, You play as Sam Fisher
3) Technology
In MGS, the technology is usually ahead of the time of the game. In MGS and MGS Sons of Liberty, you can use nano communication to communicate with each other. In Snake Eater, you can use night vision and thermal vision, a concept that was was still in it's infant stages of development in the 1960s. Also, in one part of Snake Eater when you are walking don a stream, hovercrafts spot you from the air. Remember Snake Eater takes place in the 60s. Also, the Metal Gears are very advanced for their relative times.
In SP, the technology that you use is somewhat current to the time. Remember that most of Splinter Cell takes place in the near future and the gadgets and weapons available are not too far fetched.
4) Story
In MGS, the stories usually pertain to man vs. man (Snake vs. his brother, Snake vs. Ocelot), man vs. machine (Snake and Raiden vs. Metal Gear) and Man vs. Nature (Snake Eater has plenty of this type of struggle). The stories do not parallel today's world. Although terrorism exists in MGS, it is very much different than real world terror.
In SP, most of the stories parallel today's world. Consider that most of the stories take place in either Eastern Europe or Asia and deal with terrorism. The threats are not from big technologically advanced machines, but from things such as biological terror. In Chaos Theory, the story pertains to a kidnapping of an American computer scientist and the U.S. response, and to Korea and China breaking international laws, which could actually happen in our lifetimes.
5) Realism.
The realism in these games are loosely based on the technology and the story with other factors influencing them.
In MGS, bad bosses usually have some sort of power. For Example, in Snake Eater, one of the baddies can control lightning with his arms. Another can control swarms of hornets. In MGS, Psycho Mantis can look into minds. In MGS Sons of Liberty, Vamp can dodge bullets. In Snake Eater, weapons and gadgets that Snake uses were developed AFTER the 60s. Examples of this include the Binocs with distance readouts, night vision and thermals (although they were in developmental stages in the 60s) and the M16.
In SP, the bad bosses are human and have no supernatural powers. The technology avaiable to Sam can usually correlate with the times.
6) Gameplay
Although both MGS and SP are 3rd person platformers/ stealth action/ shooters, many differences between the 2 can be sorted.
In MGS, you do not give a command to open a door. You walk to the door and the character opens it. In SP, you comand Sam to open a door. In MGS, you must find the gadgets and weapons as the game progresses. In SP, you start each mission with a selected assortment of gadgets and weapons.
I'm positive that I have made errors here. If you find any, please be nice and respectful and kindly reply with a correction
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