I wouldn't say "vital" but I do think the first and Chaos Theory are the best in the series (particularly the last mission of the first that I'll always remember). I don't remember if Chaos Theory uses the checkpoint system, but I remember playing the original and feeling extremely accomplished and relieved everytime I hit a checkpoint.

i think it will aggregate high, i dont expect it to be 90 or above though.

if anyone does want a play through of the old splinter cells u will get them dirt cheap.

splinter cell 1 - pandora tomorrow and chaos theory are all 99p each at gamestation

only double agent will be around £7 - £10, im talking orig xbox version of double agent, 360 one was crap.

the above should give u a taster of SC

Well I'm not a fan of long games anyway. Expect for RPGs where the learning curve is more complicated.

5 Hours for single player is pathetic. I hope the Ghost Recon beta is worth it.

5 hours is fine IMO. The thing I would be more worried about is what people are saying about how bad the demo is.

well lets be realistic here. When a reviewer says five hours I usually find it to be 8-10. And he does mention that the co-op ads another 10-15 hrs, and it's playable as a single player campaign.

I'm more impressed with what is being called the best cover system yet and a real fast paced stealth game that actually makes you want to play it more than once.

Wow IGN gave it a great score. Can't wait to play it.

lets see...
only 1 review from a "big" site and its 2 days before the release..
and the reviews score was quite odd

i think this game will be a HUGE dissapointement, ubisoft didnt make that embargo for no reason, they know it isnt THAT good
the next reviews wont be so stellar, and in the end it will only have a metacritic of about 85%
you can quote me on this

It doesn't matter,I'm still buying it. lol