Chaos Theory is more of the same rock-solid stealth gameplay seen in the previous two iterations, without so many profound updates in the mix; not that this is a bad thing, as long as you’re not expecting any particular innovation and you loved the other games in the series you should enjoy it immensely.
In fact, it’s quite possibly the best Splinter Cell game, as it fine-tunes the gameplay to the highest extent, while sticking to the tried-and-true formula that works so well; and looking better than ever with crisp, shiny graphics, which are probably some of the best you will find from its generation.Once again, you’ll be sneaking, crawling and climbing around your environments, picking locks and shooting out lights; sticking to the shadows and disabling or just avoiding your enemies. It’s all the stuff you’ve seen before, but Chaos Theory handles each encounter with exceptional proficiency. The areas are designed carefully to cater to different types of players, and while the level design is always noticeably linear, this is one game where that suits the style perfectly. Having the route to your destinations crafted for you ensures that each encounter will be staged in the most satisfying and effective way possible, whether you intend to silence your enemies or simply sneak past them. The game takes you to various places around the world as usual, and thanks to the graphics engine, everywhere looks pretty, and creeping around in the shadows has never been so fulfilling.
I’ve praised the graphics twice already because I actually do consider them to be great. Yes, I am saying a game from 2005 still looks great. While the PC version is noticeably better than its Xbox counterpart, (both of which I have played through and finished) both of them just look really nice. It’s mostly the shadows; they are kind of exaggeratedly dark in a way that these areas wouldn’t be in real life, and it not only looks very effective but actually contributes to the gameplay, because once you’re in shadows, you’re almost invisible. This makes coming out of that darkness and approaching an unsuspecting foe actually seem plausible because in the previous Splinter Cell games (and indeed, the one after this) you could still completely see Sam even while he is apparently concealed in shadows; which always made it quite humorous to me when someone would walk right past me without seeing a thing, even though I’m lit up like a Christmas tree.
This doesn’t happen in Chaos Theory, though it’s still strange how nobody sees the three bright lights on his forehead. It’s not just the effective shadows though, but also the shading effects on characters and the environments can look really impressive, especially on the first level where rain is pouring down over everything and it all glistens with realistic wetness. I am not saying the visuals in Chaos Theory are on par with anything new, I am merely saying it’s extremely impressive for its generation and some of its qualities still hold up as pleasing to the eyes. At times, Chaos Theory looks like an early Xbox360 game rather than a late Xbox game.
A truly skilled Covert Agent should never leave unnecessary casualties, and this is the mindset in which you should intend to play Chaos Theory. Sure, you usually have the option to kill everyone, and often killing or incapacitating someone is easier and quicker than sneaking around them. But the satisfaction of the gameplay comes from completing a mission by only killing the people it’s truly necessary to kill. This is how I always play it, and how I recommend everyone with patience should do too, it’s just a whole lot more fun and immersive, and if you try it yourself you’ll see what I mean.
You now have the ability to hack certain devices wirelessly. This makes gathering intel and completing your objectives a breeze, and overall just makes the whole game a lot easier, whether that’s a good or a bad thing depends entirely on your preference. For example, to get through a retinal scanner in the other games, you had to grab someone and push their head into the scanner and then dispose of the body without being seen by anyone else. In Chaos Theory, you can just plug your gear into it remotely from the safety of the shadows, 20 feet away at the other end of the room, and hack it wirelessly. However, I liked this new feature. While making your objectives considerably easier, it decreases the body count that you usually have to create in order to get through certain areas, and in turn makes Sam seem like a much better and more experienced agent.
You can also do a number of new moves, like ’split jumping’ up a wall and staying up near the ceiling, introducing you to the knack of letting go and drop-kicking someone in the head (which is amusing even when you’ve done it a million times.) You can also grab people while hanging off ledges and poles, and you have a combat knife which you can use to stab people in the back. Ragdoll physics make a welcome appearance to the series, showing off most when you throw people off cliffs and over rails to dispose of them, or even just when you’re firing off a well placed silent shot to the head and watching them immediately slump to the ground.
The game has some rather cheesy humour in it this time around for no conceivable reason. Characters sprout some rather cringe-worthy banter which seems really forced, and this includes some video game references too just in case you we’re hoping they wouldn’t be present. There are a few smile-inducing lines Sam says when interrogating people, but they are the good points in an otherwise futile attempt to bring some comic relief to the series. If one thing should be said about the lines though, it’s that they’re all delivered with the top-notch voice acting we’ve come to expect from the series. There is definitely a lot more banter in this addition to the series than any time before it, and it does allow for some pleasant character development, which gets two big thumbs up from me.
The last great game in the series before Splinter Cell: Double Agent reared its average head, or the new game was announced which looks to be so far from how Splinter Cell should be they may as well just call it something else and be done with it; Chaos Theory is an endeavour back into that brilliant, dark stealth gameplay, but refining it slightly and adding a few neat little extras to make it feel fresh. Despite some cheesy humour, and the significantly lowered difficulty level which will definitely be a con for some people, Chaos Theory is a rousing success on almost every level, and the most well-rounded and fun Splinter Cell game to date.
Played on the PC and Xbox.
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