For my tastes MGS 4, Splinter Cell is lacking the strong secondary characters, the elements of government conspiracy, such a heightened fear of nuclear destruction, and the giant a-bomb throwing mechs that make MGS so awesome.

MGS by a country mile. Splinter Cell 1 and 3 were fantastic, but MGS really takes the cake. Of course, they are pretty different games, so it's difficult to directly compare the two.

Probably the biggest gripe I have about Splinter Cell is that it feels a lot more linear with fewer options to me. It has more of a puzzle feel while MGS definitely has more of an action game feel.

And to those who say MGS doesn't offer any stealth elements, try playing on the hardest difficulty. I believe prior to MGS4, it results in an instant game over if you get spotted. And in MGS4, try getting the Big Boss emblem. 0 kills, 0 alerts, 0 healing items, 0 special items, unable to buy non-lethal ammunition from Drebin, and you have to beat the game in under 5 hours on Big Boss Extreme difficulty.

@rocketpig: I think it's weird that you claim to be a big shooter fan, so you like Splinter Cell, then talk about how you hate MGS4 for having large sections that you played as a shooter, while you like Splinter Cell because it forces you to be more stealthy because of limited ammo.

Metal Gear was released in 1987, Thief was released in 1998.

Anyway, I've only played the demo of the first Splinter Cell and while I did like it quite a lot, I still prefer MGS. I'd say it's mainly due to the series's story but I suppose it's also better in the sense that it's not taking itself so seriously. Of course serious games are often fun but I find MGS better as a whole.

I think MGS has a better story and more interesting characters, while Splinter Cell actually focuses more on gameplay. You're pretty much dead if you're discovered.

Metal Gear Solid without a shadow of a doubt

Splinter Cell for me. I prefer gameplay over cutscenes.

"imitation is the highest form of flattery" so I am going with metal gear solid 4 as the greatest stealth game of all time. I played splinter cell on the original xbox and was wowed by it, but after the many crappy follow ups (2-3 and double agent) I have no problem admitting the truth and that Metal gear solid is the definitive series as far as stealth is concerned.

People keep saying Splinter Cell gets average reviews. I haven't gone to Metacritic or anything, but the reviews I've seen were always in the 9/10 area. I prefer MGS, but SC is great too. I have both complete series.

why even troll

And Castle Wolfenstein - the true pioneer of the 2D stealth genre - was released in 1981. However, Metal Gear Solid was one of three games responsible for reinventing the stealth genre in 1998. (The other two were Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and Thief: The Dark Project.)

As for the people who keep bringing up reviews, what reviews are you looking at? From Metacritic:

93 Splinter Cell
93 Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
94 Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
(Double Agent sucked, but it was from a different developer.)

Sometimes I wonder if the Splinter Cell haters played the horrible PS2 version. Personally I'm not a fan of either series; I've only played the original Splinter Cell (Xbox version) and MGS2 (PS2 version). Neither one held my interest long enough for me to finish them, and I finish almost every game I play. The stealth genre just isn't for me.