Sneaky Saturday| Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

 

Image Credit: Steam

The third chapter in Sam Fisher's story one that many have claimed as being the peak of the series. This title has always been on my must play list and honestly it was 100% worth it. The story feels truly realistic with some of the highest stakes and consequences in the series. Whereas in the first and second game the consequences feel like their are only regional Chaos theory makes feel truly international. The connections to the first and second title with numerous references to Masse and Displace showing up again like they did in Pandora Tomorrow. Overall this game truly felt next gen as well if I didn't see the box art saying it released on the original Xbox I would've assumed it was a Xbox 360 launch title it truly improved the gameplay in the right ways and has insane graphics for the time. So let's dive into this review. 

(Reviewed on Xbox Series X backwards compatibility)

The Story in this game picks up a year after Pandora Tomorrow in June 2007 tensions in Asia are high after Japan formed the "Information Self Defense Force" or I-SDF as China and Korea believe this violates the post WW2 sanctions. Elsewhere we meet back up with Fisher somewhere in off the coast of Peru who's been sent to rescue a captured American programmer named Bruce Morgenholt who has been working on cracking the "Masse Kernels" from Philip Masse in the first game. We find Morgenholt was tortured to death by Hugo Lacerda's men who fight for the insurgent group "The People's Voice". Afterwards we find out Lacerda has left the fort and is onboard a cargo ship called the Maria Narcissa. We exfiltrate from the fort and board the cargo ship and slowly find clues about what is going on and to find and kill Lacerda. While looking through the ship we find funds are tracing back to the MCAS bank of Panama. After Infiltrating the bank Third Echelon is able to track a connection to Abrahim Zerkezhi the other programmer working on the Masse Kernels Upon returning to base mass blackouts strike the US Eastern Seaboard and Japan. This is where I'll leave the story but we will talk spoilers in a clearly marked spoiler section later. Overall this game starts out slowly but quickly picks up after the fourth mission leading to probably my favorite missions in the series and one of the wildest narrative filled with twists and surprises till the end. 

The story isn't the only strong point of the game either the gameplay feels like an overhauled version of the previous two games. The hud now adds a sound meter that not only tells you what your sound level is but the ambient sound level which can allow you to move faster in some places without attracting attention. Also now you have more control of if Sam kills or knocks out enemies after interogation and grabs by either pressing the right trigger to slit their throat or left to subdue them. The game also adds secondary and opportunity objectives ranging from recording a conversation to identify an unknown alias or putting trackers in weapon shipments to see who was collaborating with the organization sending them out. Overall these add to a levels challenge and make it to where you are searching every nook and cranny of a map to find them all. But fear not as if you fail a secondary it will then show up again in the next mission and change gameplay to either be more difficult or make you do something different than you normally would. The final change is the new gadgets in the title you get the OCP on the pistol which is a gadget used to temporarily disable electronics. Alongside that is the EEV or Electronically Enhanced Vision which allows you to zoom in without looking down the rifle scope and hack electronics from a distance such as PC's and keypads. Finally you get a shotgun and sniper attachment for the SC-20K rifle allowing you to dispatch enemies easier. Overall this really opens up the gameplay and gives you multiple different approaches such as being a close range blaster and tearing through the enemies or finding a vantage point and removing the enemies from afar. Each mission offers three loadouts from the player to choose from that alters your starting gadgets drastically.

The game also implements a percentage rating to tell the player how they performed this is affected by the objectives completed, times spotted, lethal takedowns versus nonlethal takedowns, and alarms. Overall the game plays smoother than its predecessors  the movement feels more realistic, bodies ragdoll instead of staying 100% rigid, gunplay can feel great if you resort to it, stealth is better than ever with all the new options, enemies react realistically using flares and flash lights to investigate dark areas. The maps truly feel catered to explore and missions can be completed in many ways one mission Sam can be captured and break free from captivity to get past a locked door and closer to an objective. There always feels to be a reward to whatever side path is checked be it more gadgets, a way past a busy area of enemies, or a vent that leads to your objective.

Finally the sound design and music are amazing high point the tracks feel truly like something out of a spy thriller. The sounds are so well done as always transitioning from one terrain type to another changes how much noise Sam makes and sounds so realistic be it a gravel roof top, hardwood flooring, or tile. The whole voice cast truly feels like they are more confident as a whole the banter between Sam, Grim, and Lambert feels so organic such as Sam being called old by Grim after talking about participating in the Gulf war while Grim was just in high school. Overall the sound team did an amazing job and Amon Tobin absolutely did something incredible with the OST.

Overall this game is going to be my first 5/5 review. The sound design and gameplay blend so well to create this strong atmosphere that you are a true global superspy. The story is well written and unfortunately very realistic as it deals with a possible conflict in Asia being ignited due to high military tensions. The gameplay feels like Ubisoft listened to what players wanted from the first two and implemented that and more. This game is truly a classic for any one and is one of the strongest most well made stealth games I have ever played I feel as though this game cemented Sam fisher as an icon of stealth right next to Snake. Thank you for reading this review spoilers will be below this paragraph so be warned if you want to go in with minimal plot details. What's your favorite spy media?

SPOILERS----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok now for the spoilers this game truly felt like a turning point in Splinter Cell and also a more character centric story giving Sam even some more moments like the betrayal by Shetland. This game is also the first Story in the series to place us in a true war zone with the Seoul missions which were terrifying but great in my opinion, the sound design really immerses the player in the carnage. The propaganda towers trying demoralize the locals and the explosion, gunfire, the screams of terror erupting intermittently, and the sound of children crying truly made me feel like I was in a warzone. The mission gets even more insane in the second half with some of the most vertical gameplay of the series and these terrifying murder drones hunting you down. The open fighting between south Korean and North Korean soldiers is also an new challenge to gameplay having to find pathways through their firing lines and seeing tanks that can obliterate you in a moments notice. Other great missions are the Bath House and Displace's headquarters both are some of the more challenging stealth levels but they rival the atmosphere of Abattoir and the Jakarta in spades making them both instant classics. This game truly provided me with my favorite experiences in the whole series. Thank You for reading!