Sam Fisher's back for the third time around in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, the celebrated series which brought hardcore stealth-action game play firmly into the mainstream. While there are some innovations to the tried-and-true game play, Chaos Theory really shows off the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" mantra of a solid series and proves that Ubisoft really can do no wrong with the series. For those unknowing few, Splinter Cell casts you as Sam Fisher, covert operative for a U.S. government agency known as Third Echelon. It's Sam's job to constantly go alone into hostile territory in order to protect freedom and the American way from all manner of terrorist activities and other manner of villains. Because it is one man against an army, the concept of stealth plays the biggest role in the series, where a run-and-gun action is a guaranteed suicide ticket. Chaos Theory's storyline plays out like this: information warfare has become the biggest threat to global security, and rising tensions between East Asian powers sends Fisher on a series of missions to find out just what is the source of these attacks upon sovereign nations. Splinter Cell was never revered for its story and Chaos Theory is no different. Story is there to give a reason for the game play, and for the most part the events of the story will take a back seat to the action. Control-wise Chaos Theory plays almost identically to its predecessor Pandora Tomorrow with a few noticeable exceptions. Sam has a few new moves, notably his knife which is used as his "persuasion" device (rather than the gun-to-the-head of past games) and also can cut thin material, stab enemies, etc. There is also a new vision mode, electronic detection which can coincidentally see the flow of electricity which allows you to cut power to certain objects and related activities throughout the game. A few moves have been enhanced, including Fisher's abilities will hanging or otherwise suspended on objects. He can now hang from a pipe and pull off an inverted sleeper hold and other nasty surprises for the unaware sentry. If there is one thing Splinter Cell has always excelled at it is presentation, and Chaos Theory is certainly no slouch. Regardless of what system you play on (but especially on Xbox and PC) the game is simply gorgeous with excellent animations, lighting, and backgrounds. Between such visuals as flimsy material which reacts to the character's movements and light which bends and refracts depending on the surfaces, Chaos Theory is a joy to look at. The GC and PS2 suffer a bit in this department, but compared to other titles on their respective systems they are no slouches. In the sound department Michael Ironside reprises his role as the gruff voice of Fisher, and for the most part the voice acting is done extremely well, although why every single terrorist you interrogate seems to be able to speak perfect English is beyond my reckoning. Add in impressive sound effects of the usual bangs and cracks along with well-done weather effects and you have a very acceptable sound package. Now we come to the additional features of Chaos Theory, which really make it a game worth owning (at least on the PC, Xbox & PS2): multi-player. The excellent Mercs vs. Spies multi-player scheme of Pandora Tomorrow is back and better than ever with all of the tension and team play which made the previous games' MP action so great. In addition to the versus mode is a new addition to the Splinter Cell games: Cooperative play. Playable both online and in split-screen, you and a friend play as a couple of up-and-coming Third Echelon splinter cells through a series of missions which emphasize working together to get back obstacles and the like. While the co-op missions are not as well polished as the single-player mode's are, they are an exciting time if you can get a friend together working as a well coordinated team to pull off some exciting tag-team kills from the shadows. It must be noted that it is here the GC hits a glaring weakness: NO ONLINE PLAY. Much like almost every other multi-platform game released these days, the GC gets no online love in Chaos Theory, which definitely lowers the value of it when compared to the other three versions of the game. In exchange GC owners get the connectivity feature of being able to have an off-screen radar just like in the last two installments. Whoop-de-doo I say. Sorry GC owners but you really do get hammered bad in your version when compared to the other three Chaos Theory renditions available. Splinter Cell, while it still remains a "love-it-or-hate-it" style of play, cannot be faulted for the quality gaming experience it delivers which each new rendition. Chaos Theory doesn't break the mold as much as Pandora Tomorrow did by introducing the multi-player aspect, but it does refine and establish a few new tricks which definitely make it of great interest for those interested in a little more than just twitch-based action games. If you have any other current system besides the GC it is highly reccomended you acquire one of the other versions, because the online play truly does place Chaos Theory on a different level. Alone it is still an enjoyable single-player experience, but only for rental purposes.
Other Helpful Reviews for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
This is my review for splinter cell chaos theory (scct). THe reason i think this game is because we dont see alot of games like this Mgs has to much fantasy. It really ruins the game for me. now Id like to talk about the... Read Full Review
On it's own, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory for the GameCube is definitely not a terrible game. It's generally nice to look at, with lots of great voice acting and some challenging & enjoyable stealth gameplay. But then o... Read Full Review
