Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

"Fisher is back in the third and best Splinter Cell yet."

Introduction

First of all I would like to admit to you all that I am slightly biased towards this game; I am a huge fan of the Splinter Cell series and I doubt Ubisoft could put a game out in the series that I will dislike. With that said, I will try to be objective in this review; where I see a flaw I will point it out. I may enjoy the series, but I also just enjoy good games.

Story: 9/10

The story takes place in the near future of 2007, Japan has created an Information Self Defense Force or I-SDF. This is seen as a violation of not only international law, but Japans own constitution as well. This brings rising tensions from China and North Korea, who in turn blockade Japanese shipping routes which forces Japan to call on the United States for support.

The story, as with most of the Tom Clancy library of games is well thought out and believable. As you progress further into the game the story branches out further becoming more varied and complex, but never so much that you can not follow it.

A new feature in the game is the cooperative mode; this allows you to play through cooperative missions with a friend either over Live or offline in split screen. These missions take place during, and between the single player missions and help fill out the story giving you for the first time a first hand look at what else is going on in the world while Sam is doing his part.

Game play: 9/10

If you have played any of the games in the Splinter Cell series you will know what to expect from the game play. You are Sam Fisher, field operative of the Third Echelon; using stealth and sometimes brute force you will traverse friendly and enemy territory alike to complete your objectives.

Sam is equipped with a vast array of weapons and gadgets for you to play with. The trusty SC-20K rifle returns with some new surprises, as well as the 5-7 SC Pistol which now features an OCP (Optically Channeled Potentiator) that allows you to take out lights and other electronic devices for a short period of time without wasting precious ammo.

Hacking computer systems, door locks, as well as retinal scanners is now possible and very useful. While many times you can find a way through doors without resorting to hacking them, it can be a quick and easy way through if you get the hang of it, failing to hack a system results in an alarm being triggered.

Sams' goggles are now more compact and referred to as EEV or Electronically Enhanced Vision. You can use the old favorites such as night vision, heat vision and now they come equipped with EMF (ElectroMagnetic Field) which allows you to see electrical devices while obscuring everything else. EMF is very useful for finding those pesky cameras.

Also while using your goggles you are alerted to various interactions you can take with items. Icons appear in your HUD that alerts you to these actions.

Sam now has a few new moves to take out those enemies with as well. Probably the most popular is the inverted neck snap. While hanging above an enemy Sam can hold himself using just his legs and grab an enemy by the head and snap their neck; brutal but effective.

Bash door is now a choice to you while dealing with closed doors. When used while an enemy is standing on the other side of a door, it will knock them out cold immediately. Door bashing is loud, so it is best used when there are only one or two guards in the immediate area. Breaking locks is new and very useful for those times when an enemy is strolling nearby and you do not have enough time to manually pick the lock. Thanks to Sams' trusty new knife he can break that lock in two seconds flat.

With all of these new moves, a few have been removed. Most notably the SWAT roll that was introduced in Pandora Tomorrow; also gone is the ability to shoot around a corner while keeping yourself hidden and safe from return fire. These were useful moves in Pandora Tomorrow, and they would have been welcome in Chaos Theory but we have definitely been given some very cool new moves in their stead.

Live play is back and better then ever. New moves, new gadgets make for a very fun and innovative game that are sure to have you spending hours with. Cooperative play adds a new twist to the game allowing you to play through “side missions” with a friend. Cooperative really enforces team play; cooperative is quite simply a whole new game to play.

Sound: 8/10

Sound receives a bit lower score due to the many complaints people have been making about audio glitches. Where as the game will pause for up to six seconds, generally less though.

[Reviewers note: I have not experienced this glitch myself, my Xbox is less then a year old so perhaps the people that are having this problem simply have older boxes with drives that are wearing out and can not keep up with the data streaming. The graphics, which I will get to a bit later, are very good; the graphics combined with an older Xbox probably give it the hiccups occasionally. Or perhaps I am just lucky.]

Aside from that glitch the audio of the game is pretty top notch. With surround kicking and the volume up high you could close your eyes and believe you are standing in the streets of Seoul or scaling the rooftops of Manhattan.

The music is well done and puts delves you into the mood of the game quite well. It never overpowers the ambient noise unless meant to.

Graphics: 10/10

Quite simply this game looks great, it does things on the Xbox that few games before it have done and it does them well. A few minor graphical glitches aside which it is hard to fault Ubisoft for, the graphics in this game will simply blow you away at times.

There were a few times when the graphics detracted from the game a bit, things seemed more plastic the life like; for the other ninety-nine percent of the game the graphics look amazing and are very well done.

[Reviewers note: I try to keep myself from grading graphics too highly, next month something new will come around that will make everything before it look like junk. This game looks like it could be a first generation title on the next wave of systems though; I had to give it a perfect score.]

Conclusion: 9/10

Engaging story, great game play, cooperative, and beautiful graphics make this a game everyone should at least try.

Pros:
- Story
- New twists to old game play
- Beautiful Graphics

Cons:
- Sounds issues for some people
- Some graphical hiccups
- It ends

[Reviewers note: It is hard not to give this game an overall ten out of ten, everything about this game is great even when you consider the few glitches you will run into, none of which ever stop you from playing the game though. I have to sit back for a minute and just consider that no game is perfect, no game can do everything and be everything perfectly. When you consider the audio glitches that some people are having problems with, and the fact that the graphics do, albeit only in one or two small areas, detract from the game rather then add to it – nine out of ten is a very fair score and a lot higher then I normally rate things. With that, I hope you enjoyed the review and found it helpful; thanks for reading!]

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/05