Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (PC)

The plot of the game is pretty generic Tom Clancy, some conflict involving one or two of your usual global pressure cooker countries, and some pseudo-terrorist effort that you have to thwart. Plots aren't the strong suit of the SC games, but every other bit of the game is.

The game mostly sees you creeping through beautifully rendered environments, trying to avoid friendlies and enemies as you get to your goal. These usually include things like finding someone to kill, or finding something to steal, or extracting information. Many missions also have optional 'collection' tasks, where you have to find x of x items or things dotted around the map, these don't add much to the game really but they make the missions a little more involved, which is a good thing. To complete your missions you usually have to stick to the shadows, and stay quiet. Naturally, the light meter on the hud is back, showing how visible you are. One of the many polishes added for CT was a sound meter, which constantly monitors the ambience of the environment and how much noise you make. If you're louder than the ambience, nearby people will hear you, if you're quieter, you're effectively silent, no matter how much noise you actually make. This means in especially loud places, you can be as loud as you want. It's an excellent refinement which adds an entire new dimension to the stealth.

There are other polishes to gameplay, you now have a third viewmode, electromagnetic, which lets you see electric currents clearly - useful in conjunction with another new addition, a pistol attachment which lets you jam electronic equipment, like, for example, lights. They also changed the nightvision view to a yellow-y greenish colour rather than the black and white of previous games, it makes nightvision much nicer to use, and is an important addition as anyone who played previous SC games will tell you, you spend most of your time in night vision.
Another big addition is the commando knife, which makes Sam much more effective a fighter in close quarters. You no longer need to be behind the enemy to take him out instantly. It can also be used to puncture fuel canisters, cut cloth (like tents), or break locks. You no longer have to pick locks (it's still an option), breaking them is much faster - but much louder.

The developers wanted the game to be playable as an action game as much as a stealth game, they wanted you to be able to have great firefights, nothing is quite as exciting as when a great shootout comes together - and they tried to implement this concept, but frankly it didn't work out so well, especially not on expert difficulty. You die too quickly and aiming effectively isn't nearly as fluid as with a first person shooter.

You also have a few more... inventive.. ways to dispose of your enemies, including pulling them off a cliff, pushing them into the sea and hanging upside down from a pipe over a walkway and snapping the enemy's neck as he walks below you. The AI in CT is improved over PT, they now crack out flares in darkness and seem to co-ordinate with eachother. They talk a lot, especially when they just see a shadow dart by them or hear your faint footsteps, they become frightened and react realistically.
You also have the very refreshing option of hearing the AI speak in their native tongue, or in English. English is better for gameplay purposes, but it's great for the atmosphere to listen to them speak in their own language, though this means missing out on key information.

The level design is as diverse as ever, from a lighthouse facility to a bank, to a Japanese bathhouse, all the levels are extremely unique and look fantastic. The models also look good, they look a little plasticy and artificial (like doom 3), but they still look great. The light reflections and shiny surfaces on textures add an incredible level of realism to the environments. My machine is a 2 GHz AMD 2400, 512mb ram and a Radeon 9800. Runs flawlessly at 1600x1200.

The developers have also expanded on PT's spies vs mercenaries multiplayer mode, which played something like a glorified version of counter strike, the spies would be equipped with all kinds of fancy spy gear (but no weapons) and charged with retrieving something from somewhere, while the mercs (armed to the teeth), would have to stop them (guile vs strength). It was a great multiplayer mode which was worth the price of PT alone. Adding to this excellent multiplayer mode is the ability for the spies to use eachother - for example one spy will give the other a boost up onto a wall, then climb up his friend's body, allowing them both to get over the wall - it's pretty amazing. And there's also a co-op multiplayer campaign which feels a little more contrived and formulaic than the single player game, but is still great - all round this is probably the best multiplayer package for any game out so far this year.

Ultimately, everything added to this game is just polish, if you didn't like Splinter Cell or Pandora Tomorrow, you won't like Chaos Theory, and although this game does nothing to advance the genre and is in no way revolutionary, it is nevertheless the best Splinter Cell yet, making it pretty much the best stealth game ever made. If you're a fan of SC you have most likely already bought it before reading this, if you're undecided.. buy.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is the finest in the series so far. As always, the graphics are brilliant - the scenery and settings are gorgeous, and crucially the movements of the main character Sam Fisher are very smooth and reallistic. In particular, the lighting and shade effects are exceptional, and this combined with the graphical quality makes Sam look great.

One of the best features of the series has been the attention to detail in the behaviour and reactions of enemies. Chaos Theory takes this further than ever before, and makes each level seem like a battle against real, intelligent adversaries. They are more watchful than ever - they react quickly to any unusual sound or movement, and once alerted they remain so for longer, becoming more suspicious with each strange event. Merely forgetting to close a door behind you can set off a hunt, and if you are careless this can quickly turn into an all-out assault. If you are unlucky enough to be spotted, expect enemies to summon help, evade you by seeking cover, flank you , set off alarms, rush you head on, and shoot you with great accuracy, all working as a team. Its fantastic , and genuinely exhilarating at times.

Luckily, as Sam Fisher, you are very well equipped to survive in this dangerous world. You have a huge arsenal of moves at your disposal (some of them undeniably cool), and many parts of the environment can be used to evade, distract or attack the enemy. Your weapons also offer a huge variety of options, and this choice is only enhanced by the levels, some of which offer a very large number of alternative routes to your goals. Another great addition to Chaos Theory are Bonus Objectives (you have to find these for yourself and they give a great sense of achievement) and Opportunity Objectives (those which only become apparent during a mission and which are optional but great fun).

Above all, the reason why I love the Splinter Cell series is its realism - the environments, enemies, weapons and moves are rendered with a faithful attention to detail, and the impression you get is that this is how it could really be done in the intelligence services. Chaos Theory does this even better than the two games which preceded it (both of which are excellent), and for this reason I recommend it wholeheartedly!

Go and buy this game now, or even better buy all three, and play them in order - you will not be sorry you did!