GENRE
	Stealth
	DEVELOPER
	Ubisoft Montreal
	PUBLISHER
	Ubisoft
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1
	CONNECTIVITY
	no
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Chaos Theory is the third iteration in the popular Splinter Cell series. Gamers have come to expect a lot out of Sam Fisher. The first game essentially redefined the stealth action genre with its overwhelming emphasis on hiding and using lighting to your advantage. Since then, Ubisoft has put together two more collections of levels for Sam Fisher to sneak around in, each time upgrading the already superb stealth engine. The latest game is, technically, the best so far, but the series is quickly being sapped of its appeal by the rapid release of sequels.

visuals

Lighting is the staple of the Splinter Cell series. Chaos Theory complements the dynamic lighting with a full graphical experience. Ubisoft has taken the graphics to their peak with beautiful, wonderfully detailed character models, lush outdoor environments and ornate indoor locales, and many small nuances one wouldn’t normally expect in an average game.

The lighting is perfect as usual. Shadows dance realistically when cast by a flickering flame. Flashlights and spotlights cast their beams across the landscape, perfectly illuminating the objects they pass over. The visibility meter is still present and useful as ever. It gauges how visible Sam is depending on how far into the shadows he’s standing. As usual, lighting plays one of the biggest roles in driving the gameplay, setting the mood, and making the game look beautiful.

Everything else is impeccable. Character models are well animated, showing expressions realistically and moving like humans. Everything is fluid, crisp, and detailed. Plants sway in the breeze, walls have cracks, and water shimmers and ripples appropriately. All the effects are top notch-—pretty particles, big explosions, and solid models. The whole package pushes the GC and is a very aesthetically pleasing product.

audio

The sound is appropriate to the environments, and it often sets the mood for the gameplay. The music, although good, is not the best part of the game. The excellence in the audio department is far and away the voice acting. The actors for all the characters in the game do a stellar job giving personality to their characters and driving the espionage world forward. Although Sam Fisher just misses the coolness of Solid Snake, his voice actor does a fine job in creating a hardened master of stealth with the character. The voice work is spectacular. Sound effects are all up to par as well with accurately recreated weapon noises, appropriate footfalls for certain situations, and ambient sound such as radio static, crickets, running water, and creaking. The overall aural experience is satisfying in Chaos Theory.

One addition unique to this title is the sound meter, which gauges how much noise Sam is making. It essentially serves the same function as the light meter-—it will indicate to players how loud they can get without alerting enemies and compromising their hiding place. It works well in measuring the varying levels of sound and is useful when sneaking up on enemies. You can listen to all of this in Dolby Pro Logic II.

gameplay

Chaos Theory is the best game in the series. However, it became clear to me that Ubisoft is abusing the franchise by reiterating it every year. Although the usual fun gameplay was in place, I found myself jaded by the experience the third time around even though I was aware that the game is technically superior in every fashion to its predecessors. This is something Ubisoft should seriously consider before jumping into SC 4.

All jadedness aside, the gameplay plays beautifully, if not a little too stealth-centric. The game is the defining title in the stealth genre, but some may feel that it places far too much focus on sneaking around, and not nearly enough on fighting. As in its predecessors, the player is not rewarded for combat—-all rewards are given based on the player’s stealthiness and use of non-lethal force.

The stealth elements have been enhanced slightly since Pandora Tomorrow by the addition of the aforementioned sound meter. The sound meter makes it a bit easier to sneak up on an enemy without alerting him to your presence. The previous two games forced the player to gauge the noise he or she was making manually instead of giving hints.

Another welcome change is Sam’s ability to gut an enemy when it has been alerted to his presence. In previous installments, players had to rely on the shoddy aiming system (which has yet to be improved) to take out an alerted enemy. Now the player can run up to the enemy and stab him should he or she slip with the controls and alert a rival character.

Sam has the usual gadgets one would expect: optic cable, night vision, rappel gear, and lock pick. A new gadget tossed into the mix is the decoder, which allows the player to hack keypads and computers for information. It’s a nice little novelty, but can become annoying if the hack is failed as it sets off alarms.

Enemy AI is vastly improved over Splinter Cell and Pandora Tomorrow. The enemies no longer meander and somehow ignore you when you’re standing very near them. They will respond to nearly every clue to your presence, and often become a nuisance with their incessant pursuit and awareness. However, that’s a good thing as that’s what drives the suspense of the game. Just don’t leave a clue in your wake, like a body or a mysteriously switched off light, or you might encounter some trouble from the guards and their friends.

The story is excessively boring as in the other installments of the series. It tends to go so overboard with the plot twists and espionage that it ends up being cumbersome and dull. It’s easily ignored as the fun is not driven by story or setting, but by the spectacular stealth mechanics. Its irrelevance is easily forgiven thanks to great gameplay.

Despite the relative lack of intense action, the game still succeeds in thrilling the player by offering sometimes nail-bitingly suspenseful areas where stealth and a lot of patience is required to pass. However, the trial and error aspect of some levels becomes annoying after a few deaths.

multiplayer

Thanks to Nintendo watching the online-gaming bandwagon sail by, this game lacks the online adversarial multiplayer that the competition gets, but Ubisoft was still able to provide gamers with a co-op mode. Using the traditional stealth gameplay along with some new tricks (such as helping each other over walls or hacking cameras so your partner can pass), the game offers a solid multiplayer experience. However, be aware that it isn’t Smash Bros or Mario Kart--the game is highly focused on the deliberating, stealth gameplay seen in the single player mode. It is unfortunate GameCube owners can’t experience the online play, but what Ubisoft has included suffices in the interim to the Revolution.

overall

Chaos Theory is a genre-defining game. Although its improvements over predecessors are fairly minimal, it offers enough to enhance the gameplay and continue to define the stealth genre. However, the entire time I played the game, I wondered why it didn’t compel me as much as I knew such a well-designed game should. I have come to the conclusion that it is because I’ve seen three of these games in the last couple of years. Ubisoft beware: the series is being over-saturated with titles. Sam needs to take a break for a couple years while the team puts together a full and complete sequel with all the fixings, perhaps for the Revolution. If the series continues to see a new title every few months, gamers like me will quickly tire of Splinter Cell, no matter how well-designed the title is. Note that I do take into account the feeling of repetition that the game evokes in the following score, which lowers it about a full point. However, if you’ve never played a Splinter Cell game, this is the one to get, and you will have a blast.

8/10