Splinter Cell Xbox Original Review

The Definitive Stealth Game

by Shadow Wave:

©2008 Ben Cadwallader

“`Splinter Cell Chaos Theory has finally hit Xbox Live Originals for downloading onto your Xbox 360′s. With it weighing in at just over 5 gigabyte to download, it has been majorly off- putting for many people.  So this review hopefully will persuade you to change your mind, as it’s truly a brilliant game.

“`Splinter Cell Chaos Theory once again puts us in the shoes of Sam Fisher, the ageing stealth soldier, working for the government’s Third Echelon division.  He once again must infiltrate, sneak, and assassinate through many environments on his mission to save the world from a terrorist action. Sam has never looked as good, using an early version of the Unreal 3 engine, which makes the stealth genre seem extremely real, especially for an original Xbox title.

Sam Fisher’s stories have never been the main focus of the Splinter Cell series, and this one is about the same, but has a story a bit closer to Sam’s personal life. Without spoiling anything, the story is built from the themes of friendship, loyalty, betrayal, and revenge.

“`The major new additions to Sam’s arsenal are his trusty knife, and his new machine gun, that has many attachments. But the main one that will be used is Sam’s knife, obviously for combat – a quick way to silence an enemy or by using it to cut through tents or material to give you a new unexpected entrance into an area. The knife works extremely well, the tap of the Right Trigger is all that’s required to attack an enemy.

“`Sam’s new machine gun has many attachments; you have a better foregrip for precise aiming, and a shotgun attachment for when you’re in trouble.  But the use of either one of these, cuts out your ability to fire all your other gadgets that are famous in the Splinter Cell series such as the V Rings, and the electro shocker.  Since this is a stealth game, you’ll tend to choose these over the use of attachments, with the exception of the shotgun attachment for a few assault pieces throughout the game.

Ubisoft have taken out one of the most criticized aspects of Splinter Cell’s previous title, Pandora Tomorrow. Where most levels were made so if you caused an alarm to be raised 3 times the game was over. This was difficult then, as an alarm could be triggered for a body you didn’t hide properly at the beginning of the level, when you’re currently close to the end.  Thankfully its 100% gone and the developers even make a few jokes about it.

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The environments vary to a much greater degree than the previous 2 titles; you will be in places such as underground caves, huge tankers, and a bank.  These environments keep the game fresh, never letting your abilities become boring as you are using them in same place over and over. As the environments change your strategies need to change. And it’s this that makes Splinter Cell keep on giving once the game is initially completed.  The game is not 100% linear; often you will get the choice of using different pathways, or entering in a different location in the building.

Chaos Theory brings a new style of multiplayer to the genre, Cooperative mode, it’s here where you can team up with a friend and complete missions that are made solely for co-op. You will not be running through Sam Fisher’s single player. Co-op is entirely new, and carries some small story elements that carry over to Sam Fisher’s mission.

You will be able to perform many new moves with a friend, such as using your partner as a ladder, or by hoisting them down vents. There is quite a large variety of new movies that cannot be done in single player to experiment with. It’s what makes this fun, and why you will be eager to drag a friend over to play some.

Co-op carries a certain difficulty though, and there will be times when you and your partner might be running up and down for no reason trying to figure something out, only to find what you needed to do was something extremely simple. It’s with this that I wish a hint system was included or something to direct you if you were stuck. But overall co-op is a great new experience and should be lots of fun for the fans, especially due to the lack of co-op in the Xbox 360 version of Splinter Cell Double Agent.

Graphically this game is amazing for its time, and still does shine above many games. It’s use of shadows and lighting really make the genre more close to home than ever.  The textures are fantastic. You will see rain bounce of Sam and the environment.  The animations of Sam and other enemies are much more fluent that previous titles, Sam’s body will finally move different depending on his movement speed. To put it simply, this is one of the finest looking games on the original Xbox, now up-scaled to HD thanks to the Xbox 360!

Sound effects in Splinter Cell are great; it wouldn’t be a stealth game if it didn’t.  There are all different types of sound effects, for movement, things you might run into, gun shots, ricochet etc. All variants are performed very well. Music is not a major thing in Chaos Theory but when it does make a show, it’s nothing fancy. Most commonly you will hear music on the pause screen, or when you cause an alert and you get your get-away music.

Overall, to make things simple, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is the definitive stealth game on the Xbox 360, it is a stronger game than it’s successor. And it is a title that should not be missed for only 1200 MS points.  If you are new to the genre on Xbox 360 and missed the original games, this is your ticket to one of the best games around! Don’t miss it!

“9.5/10

©2008 Ben Cadwallader

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