Its all about personal preference i think. They are both have similar points when it comes to stealth, some original for both sides. I personally prefer SC, especially Chaos Theory. I havent tried out double agent yet though.

MGS is fun in the sense of a better storyline, but i dont think the stealth element in MGS is as crucial to the gameplay as in SC. In fact i always felt the stealth element in MGS was very much water down, when you compare it to SC.

Example: in MGS you pretty much have to stay out of the guys line of sight, wait for him to turn his back and move. SC sometimes you cant do that, and have to rely on lighting situation and other tactics of getting around guards. This is especially important in missions where you cant off guys.

Though if your looking for quicker fast paced action, MGS is where to go. I do admit i loved being able to sneak behind a guard and stick him up. that was always a cool feature.

Splinter Cell is an interesting series and it certainly has it's appeal. I didn't enjoy the first one very much but loved Pandora Tommorow's online mode. I wish I could re-live those days and nights where I was glued to the screen.

That being said, my favorite game serie is Metal Gear Solid, bar none. I recently played the first installement again and it's surprising as to how well the game's atmosphere and presentation have aged. The graphics and gameplay not so much though...
I played through Metal Gear Solid 2 and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was a great game with a lot of interesting moments. Seeing Snake from Raiden's perspective and eventually fighting with him back-to-back was a great experience. I wasn't bothered too much with the story. I don't see how many people can call it over the top when there was a floating psycic in Metal Gear Solid 1. It's the game's style to be over-the-top and it fits great. It never takes away from the overall quality of the story - which is phenomenal.
Metal Gear Solid 3 is great! There's not much I can say about it. The story, graphics and presentation are great. I welcomed the new CQC-gameplay with open arms. Subsistence merely perfected one of last generation's games with greater control and multiplayer component.

Splinter Cell is a great game and very fun to play. But in terms of greatness, it doesn't come close to MGS.

iberz said: I know a bunch of Sony fanboy's are probably gonna want to butcher me now, but I had MGS 2 for my Xbox and personally I thought Splinter Cell was better. Now am I the only person on this whole site who think Splinter Cell: Conviction will be better than MGS 4.(There will probably be a few yes's). No but seriously I think people don't ever give the Splinter Cell series the credit it deserves. It was the first REAL stealth game and sadly the sales are never as good as they should be.

First Splinter Cell: Nov. 18, 2002

First Metal Gear Solid: Sept. 3, 1998

hmmmm... looks like you were wrong. Get you facts right before you post. MGS was the first stealth game compared to Splinter Cell. And its sold a ton more.

I only played the first Splinter Cell so if later games have changed improved on it then good but I personally found them way too linear, with generally one way (or a few similar ways) to go about doing things or else you get discovered. Also, I hated missions when you couldn't raise the alarm even once as it was hard to continue to explore to find a better way to proceed and quite frustrating.

However, despite these faults I still enjoyed the game and will eventually play the rest of the series, but I preferred MGS.

kber81 said: iberz said: Now am I the only person on this whole site who think Splinter Cell: Conviction will be better than MGS 4. Ok, I can understand your feelings. Personally I like Syphon Filter (PSP) better than MGS:PO. It's still awesome game though. Even if SF has the edge I would really miss playing Portable Ops... If you like Splinter more it's fine but I think you try to convince yourself that lack of MGS4 on X360 isn't painful. I'll be able to check both games out on my PS3

 Conviction is X360 exclusive (temporarily at least...)

 MGS4 is PS3 exclusive...

 

So u (probably) won't be able to check out Conviction on your PS3... But MGS4 sounds like cool stuff too!

 

I've played Splinter Cell 1,2 and 3 on the Gamecube and have no experience whatsoever with MGS... (Although i still want MGS2: The twin snakes on the Cube cuzz it's rare and good!) So i'd go for Splinter Cell but that's just because i know the series better and had lots of fun playing it! 

Morgyn said: Splinter Cell, the original was an awesome game. Not better than MGS, but probably better than MGS2. The rest of the splintercell series has dropped in my opinion, the last on the 360 was frankly poor, then again I thought MGS3 was weak too. Personally I don't hold out on either being any good =P

I'm going to echo this sentiment.

MGS was very cool and revolutionary, but the series has just been dropping since. Someone said the games felt contrived, and thats exactly what has happened. The original did have an over the top sort of story and some other ridiculousness, but that was forgivable. But since then the story has only gotten worse and the cutscenes even more inane. Basically the series has fallen victim to a sense of self importance.

SC has been decreasing in quality as Ubi tries to cash in off its franchise. It hasn't done enough to keep the quality of the titles up or to make the series unique. It also has been weak in the story department, although it has the Tom Clancy name attached. But the one thing the series absolutely nailed was co-op and online. Both of those things expanded the stealth action genre and worked very well. The online in this series is something konami should take notes from.

Both franchises have fallen victim to different demons, and I don't hold out that great of a hope for either. I think the stealth genre needs a new ip to reinvent the genre and really bring it into the next gen. I have to say that I think MGS4 is heading in the right direction by making it take place in an active war zone. This could really change things, but the same was said about outdoor environments in MGS3 and that turned out to be nothing more than choose the right camo. Also Assassins Creed did some interesting things with stealth gameplay, but that didn't work out nearly as well as it could have.

There's a reason the new splinter cell was delayed: They SHIT their pants at the MGS4 preview!

I would like to note that the original Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation is much better than the re-release on the GC under the alias of "The Twin Snakes". So for those who only played the latter, I suggest you invest some time and maybe some resources in trying to play the original installement.

Also, I don't see how people can say that the series has been going downhill when Metal Gear Solid 3 almost matches the overall matches Metal Gear Solid 1 and surpasses it in many ways. I believe they both stand equally high - especially Subsistence. I can't help thinking that those who find the game underwhelming played it with either a corrupted mindset or haven't played it properly.

Teragen said: I would like to note that the original Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation is much better than the re-release on the GC under the alias of "The Twin Snakes". So for those who only played the latter, I suggest you invest some time and maybe some resources in trying to play the original installement. Also, I don't see how people can say that the series has been going downhill when Metal Gear Solid 3 almost matches the overall matches Metal Gear Solid 1 and surpasses it in many ways. I believe they both stand equally high - especially Subsistence. I can't help thinking that those who find the game underwhelming played it with either a corrupted mindset or haven't played it properly.

Odd, everything I've heard is that Twin Snakes is an excellent port. Then again you said that the PS version of MGS is the definitive one, which simply isn't true. Even if you discount the GC port, the PC version of MGS released at the same time is still as the PS version is still superior.

And I didn't play MGS3 with a "corrupted mindset" I just happen to realize that the game relishes in its own conventions far too much. Also, its story has gotten dumber.

I loved the first MGS but the franchise has lost its luster in my eyes after MGS2 and 3. Now I enjoy Splinter Cell much more, though Double Agent was annoying. It's good to see the Ubi Montreal is back at the reins for Conviction because they created the original SC and Chaos Theory.

MGS's antics were fun for a bit but now I find them over the top and annoying. Looking at titty magazines to ease nausea? C'mon Kojima, I'm not a twelve year old. Lame. Snake is cool but Raiden more than makes up for any cool factor he has and the story has gotten to the point where I just don't care anymore and if I do pay attention, I usually get annoyed rather quickly.

In my opinion, Splinter Cell offers far superior controls and the story doesn't go out of its way to hinder itself with ridiculous situations and complexity. It's just a simple, well put together game that offers an enjoyable experience for me.