Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

"My Theory"

Splinter Cell games are all about tactical espionage. Essentially, James Bond without the tux, the cars and the ladies. You sneak into an enemy compound, neutralize the guards (hopefully quietly), gather intel, and sabotage if necessary. You have the latest gadgets, and you receive orders and help along the way via wireless communications.

I tried the original Splinter Cell about a year or so back and never got past the training mission. I decided to write it off as another game from the spy/stealth killing genre that I was just going to get frustrated with over and over again. Besides, I only tried it because it came with a bunch of other games that I did want from someone selling off their collection on eBay.

Since then a friend of mine had moved 1000+ miles away and the only way we could keep in touch was via e-mail and XBOX live. One night he suggested I rent Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and despite my experience with the original game, I decided to give it a shot. After all, I have one of those unlimited rental passes so it was no skin off my nose to give the series another shot.

I played a little of this game by myself and then set it aside, hanging onto it to humor my friend, as he said that he wanted to play the online co-op. And later that week, we did.

I essentially learned to play this game while playing the co-op mode online. My friend showed me everything he knew, and, I came to love this game.

I not only finished all of the co-op missions with him, but also went on to do the rest of the solo missions myself. Then, understanding how Splinter Cell is played, I even went back and did the first regular mission on the original game. I certainly did appreciate the improvements in the gameplay.

This is a very realistic game. Not just the graphics, but the events, the way that enemies responded, and the whole feel of it. I don't dare say I know exactly what black ops agents do or what it is like, but I believe the people at Ubisoft who brought us this game at the very least got into our heads and delivered a very accurate representation of what we imagine it to be like.

Gameplay goes like this: you are briefed on a mission that includes some sort of infiltration. You select your gear, which can be suited toward stealth, assault or a combination of both. You have specific objectives you have to complete and guards, traps, locks, etc getting in your way of completing them. You are on 2-way with your handler during the mission, who may update objectives, provide you with info and in some cases do a little remote hacking for you. I won't spoil the story for you by going into detail, but would rather say that you are attempting to thwart corruption on an international level and trying to prevent a war by your actions.

What I liked most were the ways you could get creative in subduing your enemies. You can kill them, knock them out, stun them with flash grenades, lure them towards a wall mine, and all sorts of different combinations of doing the above and more.

Graphics 10/10. This pushes your XBOX to the limit.

Sound: You must have digital surround to truly appreciate it. It is incredible. 10/10.

Gameplay: 10/10 the best gameplay experience I have had. And this is not the kind of game that I usually play.

Replay value: 10/10 You have 3 levels of difficulty, online multiplayer with vs and co-op. The co-op mode even has an additional elite mode where your guns don't have any ammo in them and you have to use your knife. Definitely a keeper.

My theory? This is my favorite XBOX game to date (Dec 2005 is when I am writing this). I think 2 things about it: 1) Even though I usually don't play this kind of game and it was difficult at first, if the game has a "save anywhere" feature, I can handle it (previous Splinter Cell titles did not). 2) If the game is truly outstanding, it is worth playing, no matter what genre it is.

Buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/15/05