Challenging, but very fun stealth action.
I am a big fan of stealth shooters. I really expected to enjoy this game, and indeed I did. I can't believe Gamespot only gave this game a 7.1 rating. I think they missed the mark on their review of CT. I find that Gamespot is often reasonably accurate with their reviews/ratings, but I have to wonder what went wrong here. All one has to do is look at the Critic Score listed here (8.9), the User Score (8.5), and the scores listed on other sites (8.4 was the LOWEST I saw) or simply play it for themselves to see that Gamespot muffed this one.
My thoughts on CT are only based on single player campaign mode, as I haven't played co-op or online. (But I only imagine doing so would improve my perception of CT.)
In CT you basically play as a secret agent charged with stopping the actions of America's enemies. To put it another way, you're modern day ninja - a ninja with guns, grenades, and nightvision goggles.
This truly is a stealth game because if you try to run-and-gun your way through you'll have a tough time for a few different reasons. Firstly, you'll get killed quickly. You can take a few hits, and there are medkits here and there, but running around loudly and in the light will have your health dropping fast. Secondly, you aren't given the ammo to just gun all foes down. Before each mission you're given loadout options - stealth, assault, and recommended (a compromise of the 2), but even the assault loadout will have you working with a lot less ammo than you're used to in other shooters. In-level ammo caches are rare as well. Thirdly, some levels have alarms that enemies will set off if they spot you. Racking up too many triggered alarms creates trouble that can make the level harder and/ or cause your secondary objectives to be cancelled. Finally, you aren't always authorized to kill everyone. Some enemies aren't to be killed; sometimes they're actually on your side but don't realize it because they haven't been made aware of your prescence. Also, killing civilians can result in mission failure.
So moving quietly, staying in the shadows, and taking people out without bullets is the way to go here. This makes for great stategic gameplay. It doesn't feel as contrived as it does in many shooters for 2 basic reasons. One is that while you do have primary objectives, you also have optional ones that you can choose to do or pass up. The other is that there are multiple ways to get through sections of levels. Stealth play is always good, but just how stealth is up to you. Do you choose to walk to where you need to go in the light while an enemy's back is turned? Maybe you hug the wall and find a way in the shadows? Perhaps you take a shortcut by going through that crawlspace?
You can also do fun things to get around like
- jump up on platforms to see if there is a zip line
- crawl up, then across pipes
- grab enemies from behind to interrogate them for helpful info, force them to use the retinal scanners to unlock doors, or use them as a human shield while you take out other enemies
- shoot enemies them with non lethal rounds
- knock them out with gas grenades
- blind them to the path you plan on taking by dropping a smoke grenade
and more.
The game gives you many options for gameplay, and this makes it fun while adding replay value. I found that in the first few missions I was somewhat stealth but as I got better, realized that I could be a lot more stealth. One one level I managed to never fire a single bullet, yet still has loads of fun getting through it.
As a modern day ninja you're given nightvision, electromagnetic field vision, and thermal vision which are very handy at times. In their review Gamespot criticized the lighting in the game. I think the idea is that since they give you such cool, useful goggles, they don't want to make the game too easy, so they intentionally make the lighting tough to see in. Sure, you may have to switch between different modes on your goggles quite a bit in spots, but it's so easy to do that it doesn't have to make things too difficult or tedious.
The presentation was complaind about in the Gamespot review as well. Honestly, I had no problem with it. For a 5 year old PS2 game it seemed fine. Small details are missing I suppose but overall I think it was good.
*POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT*
Skip this part if you plan on playing the game and don't want the end spoiled!
The game was about the right length, but the ending was anticlimactic, and left me wanting one more level. The last level was decent and fairly challlenging, but what the bad guy does at the end, and the way you extract make the end of the level child's play. Then that's it - game over. I guess it's not the destination, it's the journey. And indeed the journey was a blast.
*END SPOILER ALERT*
The game also has hacking and lock picking as sort of "side games". These aren't difficult, but they help keep things interesting by varying gameplay, if only briefly.
Once you get used to the controls they work great. The game is pretty difficult. I played on the easiest of the 3 settings and there were maybe 2 spots that I couldn't figure out. I admit to watching walkthroughs to solve my issues. But doing so didn't rob me of my gameplay experience because they opened my eyes up to new ways to get through obstacles which enhanced gameplay on later levels.
I've already said a lot about this game, and I could say more. In summary I'll just state that I find the stealth exploring of environments and taking out of enemies very satisfying. That's what you get in CT, which I find makes the game incredibly immersive, realistic, and fun.