Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

"A Stealth-em-up for the Stealth Loving... AND the Action Loving."

Chaos Theory is an idea scientists came up with to basically say that things are unpredictable. Even with parameters kept constant to the best of human ability, things can still happen any which way. There is no set course for the world.

I can honestly say that once you've played Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, you will FULLY appreciate this idea.

Chaos Theory is the third installment of one of Xbox's flagship series, although it did find it's way onto other consoles. Splinter Cell is credited by many as having revolutionized the Stealth Action genre, although others say it's merely more Stealth and less Action. Either way, for some years now, NSA's "Third Echelon" operative Sam Fisher, now nearing 50 years old in the Clancy universe, has settled into a nice little niche of his own and has spent the previous four years of his life sneaking, split jumping, ziplining and interrogating his way into the hearts of Stealth Gamers the world over. His latest outing expands upon the new standards of stealth and graphical realism set by his second outing in Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and delivers an experience truly worthy of the Tom Clancy name.

This time around, having previously covered Georgia and Indonesia, Sam Fisher, his boss Colonel Irving Lambert, intelligence technician Anna Grimsdottir, and field runner William Redding have set their sights on Japan, North Korea and China, with a brief detour to Manhattan. The trouble this time arises when North Korea and China object to Japan's creation of an Information arm for it's Self Defense Force on the grounds that it violates both international law and the Japanese' own Constitution, prohibiting the Japanese from maintaining an army capable of international action, and respond with shipping blockades. In defense, Japan turns to the US, requesting that they provide assistance as obliged under their post war constitution. The US sends the USS Clarence E Walsh, their most advanced naval intelligence platform, while Third Echelon receives news of a seemingly unrelated event pertaining to certain individuals involved with events in Georgia four years earlier.

If you've played either of the two previous outings, you'll already be familiar with Sam and should have little to no problems picking up Chaos Theory. Many of the controls have remained the same since the original, with only minor changes, and if you aren't familiar with them, the game includes an extensive range of training videos offering both basic control lessons, advanced tricks and general tactical advice, including "What Not To Do", shown from the perspective of a mercenary entering a room and seeing all the signs some careless player left behind. Even hardened veterans of Splinter Cell would do well to watch through these.

All the gameplay mechanics have remained true to Splinter Cell's roots. The amount of light in Sam's location is represented both graphically and in a visibility meter, so you'll know when you're invisible to the naked eye and when you're, as Lambert so brilliantly puts it, "Lit up like a Dutch brothel". New to the series is a sound meter, that represents not only the amount of noise Sam is generating himself, but also the level of ambient noise, giving you a gauge of how much noise you can make without being spotted. This makes the noise mechanic easier to understand - as now you know exactly how much cover you can get from the radios the various guards and mercenaries seem to love listening to so much.

Sam himself packs some new toys to play with. His sidearm, the much loved 5.72mm SC Pistol is now equipped with an Optically Charged Potentiator that can disable any electronic device, including lights, radios, computers and even point defense systems from a distance - temporarily, but without expending ammunition. He also packs a knife - which now serves as his primary method of intimidating guards while holding them in headlocks. The knife has other uses too - it can silently cut through fabric obstructions (like walls of tents) and can be used to break locks in a pinch (thus eliminating the need for expendable explosive lockpicks). His loyal sidekick, his 5.56mm SC-20K MAWS, in addition to firing classic gadgets such as Sticky Shockers, Airfoil Rounds, Gas Grenades and Sticky Cameras, is now able to pack a recoil-reducing foregrip, a lethal shotgun attachment, or an armour-piercing 20mm sniper attachment.

Sam's got some new goggles, too. In addition to the classic nightvision and thermal vision modes, it now has a electromagnetic tracking facility to detect active devices or other interactive objects, and an Electronically Enhanced Vision (EEV) facility that can scan objects and reveal their properties - properties such as OCP vulnerability, explosive hazards, remote accessibility (for computers, servers, etc) and more, in addition to a laser microphone that can record conversations from the other side of a window.

By far the most overhauled mechanic is the interactions. Sam can now interact with more objects in more ways than ever before. There are three different alternatives just for opening a door. There are two ways to pick a lock. Electronic Security like Keypad Locks and Retinal Scanners offer different possibilities - either you can interrogate a guard for the code, or force him to open a Retinal Scanner, or you can manually hack them - easier, but riskier, as hacking without an idea of how it works can easily lead to alarms. Computers can be accessed and even hacked directly or remotely as the need arises. Enemies open up a world of possibilities - new and more creative ways of disabling foes abound in Chaos Theory. You could sneak up behind them and grab them (preferred method of those who wish to interrogate the target), but if you want to KO in style, you can hang below them on a ledge and pull them off as you pass, or you can hang inverted from a pipe or rope above and grab them from above. If you're in a corridor, you can split jump, wait for them to pass underneath you and literally get the jump on them. You could also use gadgets - Airfoil rounds KO on impact, Sticky Shockers deliver an incapacitating shock and can disable multiple targets in water, while Gas Grenades can instantly neutralize multiple targets in confined spaces.

But without a doubt, the best new aspect of Chaos Theory, besides the improved plot(in detail, development and presentation), are the missions themselves. Each mission has numerous methods of completion and most feature optional objectives that may affect later missions. Openendedness is the name of the game here. Your first big choice (and in many ways the defining one) comes before the mission begins - when you get to choose your equipment. You are offered three configurations. One is centered around stealth and features Less-Than-Lethal gadgets like Sticky Shockers and Gas Grenades en masse, and reconnaissance devices such as sticky cameras in addition to other useful stuff such as flash grenades and smoke grenades while packing minimal lethal ammunition. There is an assault configuration that usually includes frag grenades, lots and lots of ammo, and some friendly traps such as wall mines. There is also a happy medium that packs a little bit of everything, if you like being spoiled for choice in a pinch.

Once you're actually in a level, legal/political restrictions such as not harming civilians aside, you are essentially free. Your choice between stealth and run-and-gun is limited only by your ammo and your preferences. You are usually free to set off all the alarms you wish to, but although there is no real limit to the amount of alarms you can afford to set off, enemies do become alert much quicker in Chaos Theory and will continue to patrol - alarms are rarely cancelled. Do you kill an enemy? Do you KO him? Or do you simply sneak past him? Do you shoot lights or OCP them? Do you distract enemies by throwing objects or by whistling them? Obviously, stealth is always required in some degree and the game encourages this by giving you a success rating after each mission - each enemy injured or killed, or body found, or alarm raised, or time you are identified as an intruder, or each objective, be it primary, secondary or opportunity you fail to complete, will dock you marks. Your highest score in each mission is recorded and once you've got 100%, you are truly free. As there is no real reward for getting 100%, you are welcome to run and gun as much as you want, but just beware the consequences. As they so brilliantly put it, all they can do is tell you the objectives and it's up to you how you go about it. Some missions even back completely optional objectives that do not even count for percentage - and most of these are hidden.

All of these spectacular missions are set to an equally spectacular score, an original soundtrack composed by Amon Tobin, as well as spectacular graphical style that does an excellent job of creating an atmosphere of tension.

And finally, the dialogue in this game is excellent. Sam is clearly excited about his new knife and does not hesitate in showing it off to petrified mercenaries - and his dark sense of humour that covers his fear of failure does an excellent job of keeping the player entertained. The game is full of hidden jokes and references in the dialogue - references to other Ubi games, references to Metal Gear, James Bond, and even previous Splinter Cells. Count em.

And we're nowhere near finished yet.

Chaos Theory now features a new cooperative mode that packs four exclusive coop missions for you and a friend to tackle together. Playing over splitscreen, System Link or Xbox Live, two players can assume the role of anonymous spies and work together to complete their missions. Coop introduces several new possibilities - your partner can give you a leg up to scale walls, or help you rappel down them. You will also have to rely on synchronization, and tactical cooperation to overcome the many obstacles. The coop and solo storylines intertwine briefly, but the experience is very different indeed.

And of course, Spies vs Mercenaries is back. The revolutionary multiplayer feature introduced in Pandora Tomorrow whipped up a storm among the Splinter Cell community, due largely to the way it effectively managed to pit two teams against one another, each using a fundamentally different kind of gameplay and each with a fundamentally different objective, and still have a balanced game. Things have been fixed since Pandora and now Spies v Mercs is back in full force in Chaos Theory. The idea is that the Spies have to accomplish spy-like objectives using Splinter Cell style play, such as destroying targets, hacking computers and retrieving data, while the Mercs simply have to stop this from happening using more traditional, almost First Person Shooter style play. Each has their own range of toys - Spies have night and thermal vision, smoke and flash grenades, sticky cameras, detectors to spot Mercs, and a high tech optical camouflage suit to conceal themselves in a pinch, as well as an OCP like device and chaff grenades to disable multiple electrical systems at a time. Mercs, however, as well as access to the security systems, have electromagnetic tracking (that can spot spies using thermal or night vision, or optic camo), motion sensors, flashlights, frag grenades, mines and generally more lethal devices. The game features several maps for playing on and customizable rules, as well as a leaderboard.

Well, actually, the leaderboard causes more problems than it solves. The biggest problem with any online game is that it is prone to cheaters, and the leaderboard gives them an incentive to do so. People have been known to drop out when losing competitive matches to neutralize the score, and apply last minute rule changes that force the opposing team into a disadvantageous situation, such as losing their equipment. Groups have been known to play staged matches in which one team deliberately sacrifices themselves to allow the other to rack up points (known as "boosting"). I advise you to not give too much attention to the leaderboard and, more importantly than anything, establish a Friends List of people you can trust not to cheat. Chaos Theory supports Content Download, so theoretically some of these problems may be patched, and Ubi will definitely release new maps and other features for us. Despite the bad eggs, Spies vs Mercs is a very worthwile hobby to get into. At the risk of sounding cliched, it's chaos, but in a good way.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is without doubt a must have for any Xbox owner (or, indeed, any console owner - even the NGage version of the game manages to be excellent). If you're not convinced, I urge you to at least rent the game or play a demo - and try out the multiplayer if you can. Just like in the game, where you don't fail unless there's lead lodged between your eyes, you can't write off Chaos Theory until you've experienced it not working.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/12/05