Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Added August 31st, 2004 by Derby

Having not been overly impressed with other Tom Clancy related games such as Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, I was tentative to play Splinter Cell even after it had been out for awhile and everyone was raving about it. Eventually I ran out of games to play and I borrowed it from a friend and was pleasantly surprised by the experience. Now I’m not much for stealth, traditionally I’m more of a blatant run-and-gun style of player, but I learned the art of stealth from the venerable Sam Fisher on my Xbox. And I loved it.

The second installment was even better, in my opinion, if a little too short. The graphics were cleaner, AI was a bit better, and the levels were excellent. Especially LAX, I thought that map was probably the best one yet in a Splinter Cell game.

The third installment promises to be as good as the second and quite a bit more. Ubisoft has packed the new Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory with a bunch of new moves for our favorite black ops agent of Third Echelon. The moves I’m most excited about, that you can view in screenshots and trailers, are the upside-down grab and knife attacks. Slinking along a pipe, Sam hangs by his legs and picks up a clueless sentry, slowly and quietly eliminating a possible source of detection. Sam’s also been given a knife in order to help him kill while remaining undetected, watch him slide up behind a terrorist and quietly silence him forever. It’s a good thing Fisher was given some new tools because the AI has also been upgraded for this game, the enemies will have real life attributes, and they’ll be able to think and remember things they’ve already seen.

The graphics that were upgraded in the second installment of the Splinter Cell series have been overhauled yet again, this time around the bump maps, cut scene animations and lip-synching, are even more realistic. Rag doll physics and particle effects along with the interactive environment will make this one of the more realistic games released this year.

The multiplayer has also been tweaked a bit with added emphasis on teamwork when the spies are trying to complete their objectives. One complaint I’ve heard of the Splinter Cell games is the lack of replayability in the single player campaign, finish a map once then it’s finished. The only reason to go back and do it again is to see if you can make it without getting caught, and there’s no tracking or points awarded for pulling off a perfect mission like there is in Tenchu and Hitman. For Chaos Theory Ubisoft has incorporated multipath methods of playability in their maps, allowing players to go back and pick a different route to complete the mission. There has also been talk on Ubisoft’s site about optional side missions which sounds very interesting to me, however I couldn’t find much in the way of specifics on the nature of these missions. Maybe it will be like Without Remorse, when John Clark is undercover as a bum, killing drug dealers, and stumbles across a mugging and has to save a woman’s life at the risk of being identified, that would be awesome.

Final thoughts? Ubisoft has proven again that Splinter Cell can never lose. I didn’t have many complaints about the first and second installment. Depending on the length of the third one I think we’re looking at a very likely candidate for game of the year. If Ubisoft can keep coming up with realistic locations and threats and implements them with gorgeous graphics and flawless gameplay I don’t see why Splinter Cell won’t grow to be one of the greatest franchises Xbox will ever see.