Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

I played on: Xbox

I paid: £1.50

Available on: PS2, PS3, Gamecube, Xbox, PC

Notes: Chaos Theory was the first Splinter Cell game I played and until I started playing them for these reviews it was the only one.

Chaos Theory is the third game in the Splinter Cell series and considered by most fans to be the best. I can’t say I disagree as this is easily Sam Fisher's best adventure.

The story is fantastic. Everything feels like it carries a huge amount of weight with the consequences echoing through both this game and Ghost Recon 2. An American warship is destroyed by a North Korean missile but your boss, Lambert, thinks there is more going on than first meets the eye. Seeing this conflict over 2 games is great as you get to see it from two very different points of view.

You now have a knife which means you’re able to cut through soft material, break open locks, pierce fuel generators and of course lethally take out enemies. When in close quarters with foes you now can use LT for a nonlethal takedown or RT for a more deadly option. Getting close to enemies is much smoother as Sam will move more carefully when sneaking close to his target. Your assault rifle also has a new shotgun attachment which makes shootouts much more plausible. I found it much more enjoyable to never use this through.

As well as the light meter from previous games you also have a sound meter this time. Noise is much more of a focus with the sound meter showing both your own noise and the background noise. Levels with loud environments allow you to move faster, use more of your weaponry but make it harder to get guards' attention with distractions. 

Alarms no longer automatically trigger if you leave dispatched guards in the light. The only way any dispatched guard will lead to an alarm is another guard or camera finding them. Speaking of alarms, they no longer lead to a mission failure. With each alarm, guards will become more alert, put on additional armor, and so on so it’s still best to avoid them.

Following the great gameplay is an equally great level of presentation. Over a decade since its release, it still looks good. The same goes for the audio presentation. It’s lost its cutting edge since 2005 as it’s no longer one of the best-looking games out anymore. That being said it’s still a pleasure to look at with the lighting and soft fabric physics being the highlights.

There were both online co-op and versus modes that I’ve only heard good things about, but both are now unavailable. Similar to a lot of great online games from this era the servers have been shut down. This limited usability is a sad reality of modern gaming so just be sure to enjoy any online games you like while you can.

All in all, even if you’re not a fan of this series you should still give Chaos Theory a chance to see one of the best this genre has to offer. Needless to say, I think this deserves a 10 out of 10.

Recommendation Rating: 10 out of 10