In a bygone age where “See you in Rayman 4!” had yet to morph from an innocuous sequel hook into the cruellest lie since the Trojan Horse, Ubisoft were on a hot streak that few developers can claim to have had. It's not uncommon to scoff at them now, but much of the key talent that brought us so many instant classics of this era are still there, including Chaos Theory’s very own Clint Hocking. The personal touch of developers like him has become harder to parse with Ubi’s exponential growth and shifting priorities, but it’s hard not to retain a bit of goodwill so long as at least some of those who made Chaos Theory are still there, because it’s probably the best stealth game ever made.
Contrary to what one might think, Splinter Cell’s chief influence isn’t a certain other tactical espionage stealth action series, but rather Looking Glass. It’s not hard to imagine why – to this day, Thief has better sound design than any game that isn’t either its own sequel or System Shock 2, but the need for its state of the art reverberation system stemmed out of its first person perspective. If immersion is the name of the game, nothing sells it quite like having to track where enemies are through carefully listening the same way Garrett would, as opposed to having a disembodied floating camera that can see around corners do the work for you. How does Sam’s game measure up to that, given it’s in third person?
The answer is through a different kind of genius. In Chaos Theory, every individual part of Sam’s body is affected by light/darkness independently. You might not initially notice this until you arouse suspicion by peeking his head just a little bit too far out of a crawl space into a brightly lit area, or accidentally position him in such a way that his leg’s poking out from around a corner. Even now, it’s exceedingly rare for dynamic lighting to be anything more than window dressing, and yet Chaos Theory was making full use of its potential gameplay applications when N-Gage ports still existed. It goes further than this, too. Heavily armed enemies can not only light flares, but throw them in the direction they last saw or heard you, while others can flick on a torch that they’ll point at various angles as they follow your tracks. No other stealth game can match the anxiety Chaos Theory instils as you cling to a wall and hope that the guard a hair’s breadth away doesn’t turn in your direction while he's holding a light.
It’s important to note that despite its influences, Chaos Theory isn’t an immersive sim ᵃⁿᵈ ⁿᵒ ᴴᶦᵗᵐᵃⁿ, ᴹᴳˢ⁵ ᵃⁿᵈ ᴮʳᵉᵃᵗʰ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ᵂᶦˡᵈ ᵃʳᵉⁿ'ᵗ ᵉᶦᵗʰᵉʳ ᵇᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ'ˢ ᵇᵉˢᶦᵈᵉˢ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖᵒᶦⁿᵗ. It instead opts for a middle ground between their emergent problem solving and its own predecessors’ affinity for pre-baked scripted set pieces. This may sound eclectic on paper, but it works remarkably well in terms of pacing. Relax one moment as you clamber up and down several floors of an office block in any order and through whatever means you please, but be ready the next when you have to switch the power back on and quickly scramble out of the now gleaming room as a squad of guards floods in. Granted, there’s a slight degree of inconsistency in this respect. The bank level’s famously bursting with alternate pathways to accommodate more play styles than you can shake a stick at, while the end of the bathhouse level could drive even an actual Third Echelon agent to forsake his non-lethal playthrough, but this balancing of peaks and valleys overall allows for lots of creative, freeform solutions while still ensuring that there’ll always be segments which demand your attention even on repeat playthroughs.
The fact that Chaos Theory manages to stay so engaging from start to finish without giving you any new equipment along the way is a testament to this, but other areas of the game deserve as much attention as its level design. For instance, no matter how many people are aware of how much Amon Tobin outdid himself with this game’s music, it’s still not enough. This series of chords is Splinter Cell, as much as thick shadows and green goggles, and if it were distilled into a person they would assuredly be skulking about in the dark. The extra instrumentation which dynamically fades in and out according to enemies’ alertness level (my favourite example being this absolute tune) not only drives home his talent even further, but also acts as another way to communicate important information to the player if the increasingly copious sandbag checkpoints throughout the level hadn’t already clued you in. To put things in perspective, this may be the only example of Jesper Kyd’s involvement in a soundtrack not being the highlight.
Chaos Theory’s also a beneficiary of the time when different ports of one game would have exclusive features for no particular reason. I can’t speak for how it controls on console, but I can say that adjusting Sam’s movement speed with the mouse wheel is a fantastic alternative to the standard method of protagonists instantly becoming silent as soon as they crouch (to my surprise, it doesn’t work that way in real life). Combine it with a camera that gently shifts about to give you the best possible view depending on which direction Sam is moving in and the game feels like a dream to control. On PC you also have the added benefit of being able to toggle whether enemies speak in their native languages, a bit akin to Crysis’ hardest difficulty, which despite being such a minor feature seems like a really underutilised concept.
I’d be remiss not to mention the writing as well. While it’s fair to say that Chaos Theory probably isn’t a game you’d play for the story itself, it’s equally true that it wouldn’t be so beloved if its characters weren’t so charming, including the guards, whose responses to being interrogated are not just genuinely funny but also a glaring counterpoint to the notion that this series takes itself too seriously. Few voice actors understand their characters as well as Michael Ironside gets Sam Fisher. Every delivery of his is golden, whether grumbling in response to his support team constantly bullying him for being old or in the plot’s more cathartic moments. Given both that Ironside has now dabbed on cancer a second time and his recent-ish reprisals of the role in the form of Ghost Recon DLCs, one can only hope they get him to work his magic again in the first game’s upcoming remake.
Regardless of how that turns out, it’s nice to know that Splinter Cell has some kind of future again. Bringing back something old can have just as much value as creating something new, and while asking it to be as good as Chaos Theory is probably a tall order, all it really needs to do is be good enough to prove that pure stealth games still have a place in the mainstream. Sam has saved us from WW3 several times over by now, so hopefully he can also save his genre from the plague of waist-high grass.
Hedging my bets on this one – see you in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell® (TBD)!
Contrary to what one might think, Splinter Cell’s chief influence isn’t a certain other tactical espionage stealth action series, but rather Looking Glass. It’s not hard to imagine why – to this day, Thief has better sound design than any game that isn’t either its own sequel or System Shock 2, but the need for its state of the art reverberation system stemmed out of its first person perspective. If immersion is the name of the game, nothing sells it quite like having to track where enemies are through carefully listening the same way Garrett would, as opposed to having a disembodied floating camera that can see around corners do the work for you. How does Sam’s game measure up to that, given it’s in third person?
The answer is through a different kind of genius. In Chaos Theory, every individual part of Sam’s body is affected by light/darkness independently. You might not initially notice this until you arouse suspicion by peeking his head just a little bit too far out of a crawl space into a brightly lit area, or accidentally position him in such a way that his leg’s poking out from around a corner. Even now, it’s exceedingly rare for dynamic lighting to be anything more than window dressing, and yet Chaos Theory was making full use of its potential gameplay applications when N-Gage ports still existed. It goes further than this, too. Heavily armed enemies can not only light flares, but throw them in the direction they last saw or heard you, while others can flick on a torch that they’ll point at various angles as they follow your tracks. No other stealth game can match the anxiety Chaos Theory instils as you cling to a wall and hope that the guard a hair’s breadth away doesn’t turn in your direction while he's holding a light.
It’s important to note that despite its influences, Chaos Theory isn’t an immersive sim ᵃⁿᵈ ⁿᵒ ᴴᶦᵗᵐᵃⁿ, ᴹᴳˢ⁵ ᵃⁿᵈ ᴮʳᵉᵃᵗʰ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ᵂᶦˡᵈ ᵃʳᵉⁿ'ᵗ ᵉᶦᵗʰᵉʳ ᵇᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ'ˢ ᵇᵉˢᶦᵈᵉˢ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖᵒᶦⁿᵗ. It instead opts for a middle ground between their emergent problem solving and its own predecessors’ affinity for pre-baked scripted set pieces. This may sound eclectic on paper, but it works remarkably well in terms of pacing. Relax one moment as you clamber up and down several floors of an office block in any order and through whatever means you please, but be ready the next when you have to switch the power back on and quickly scramble out of the now gleaming room as a squad of guards floods in. Granted, there’s a slight degree of inconsistency in this respect. The bank level’s famously bursting with alternate pathways to accommodate more play styles than you can shake a stick at, while the end of the bathhouse level could drive even an actual Third Echelon agent to forsake his non-lethal playthrough, but this balancing of peaks and valleys overall allows for lots of creative, freeform solutions while still ensuring that there’ll always be segments which demand your attention even on repeat playthroughs.
The fact that Chaos Theory manages to stay so engaging from start to finish without giving you any new equipment along the way is a testament to this, but other areas of the game deserve as much attention as its level design. For instance, no matter how many people are aware of how much Amon Tobin outdid himself with this game’s music, it’s still not enough. This series of chords is Splinter Cell, as much as thick shadows and green goggles, and if it were distilled into a person they would assuredly be skulking about in the dark. The extra instrumentation which dynamically fades in and out according to enemies’ alertness level (my favourite example being this absolute tune) not only drives home his talent even further, but also acts as another way to communicate important information to the player if the increasingly copious sandbag checkpoints throughout the level hadn’t already clued you in. To put things in perspective, this may be the only example of Jesper Kyd’s involvement in a soundtrack not being the highlight.
Chaos Theory’s also a beneficiary of the time when different ports of one game would have exclusive features for no particular reason. I can’t speak for how it controls on console, but I can say that adjusting Sam’s movement speed with the mouse wheel is a fantastic alternative to the standard method of protagonists instantly becoming silent as soon as they crouch (to my surprise, it doesn’t work that way in real life). Combine it with a camera that gently shifts about to give you the best possible view depending on which direction Sam is moving in and the game feels like a dream to control. On PC you also have the added benefit of being able to toggle whether enemies speak in their native languages, a bit akin to Crysis’ hardest difficulty, which despite being such a minor feature seems like a really underutilised concept.
I’d be remiss not to mention the writing as well. While it’s fair to say that Chaos Theory probably isn’t a game you’d play for the story itself, it’s equally true that it wouldn’t be so beloved if its characters weren’t so charming, including the guards, whose responses to being interrogated are not just genuinely funny but also a glaring counterpoint to the notion that this series takes itself too seriously. Few voice actors understand their characters as well as Michael Ironside gets Sam Fisher. Every delivery of his is golden, whether grumbling in response to his support team constantly bullying him for being old or in the plot’s more cathartic moments. Given both that Ironside has now dabbed on cancer a second time and his recent-ish reprisals of the role in the form of Ghost Recon DLCs, one can only hope they get him to work his magic again in the first game’s upcoming remake.
Regardless of how that turns out, it’s nice to know that Splinter Cell has some kind of future again. Bringing back something old can have just as much value as creating something new, and while asking it to be as good as Chaos Theory is probably a tall order, all it really needs to do is be good enough to prove that pure stealth games still have a place in the mainstream. Sam has saved us from WW3 several times over by now, so hopefully he can also save his genre from the plague of waist-high grass.
Hedging my bets on this one – see you in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell® (TBD)!
Definitely earns its praise as one of the best stealth games ever made. Not as trial and error heavy as the previous entries, you can finally quick save too. Most of the levels allow for several different ways to tackle them, the Panama bank being my favorite. Sound and lighting is as great as ever, especially the latter. The soundtrack is also fantastic and not what you'd expect for a stealth game.
The most impressive thing about the game though is the enemy AI. It's better than games today, which is both sad and amazing. They notice when a door is left open or has been hacked, computer's been turned on, or when a person in a conversation has gone quiet. When lights are shot out or turned off they take out a glow stick to check the area, the list goes on. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a stealth fix
The most impressive thing about the game though is the enemy AI. It's better than games today, which is both sad and amazing. They notice when a door is left open or has been hacked, computer's been turned on, or when a person in a conversation has gone quiet. When lights are shot out or turned off they take out a glow stick to check the area, the list goes on. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a stealth fix
Peak stealth gameplay. Maybe the best all-time espionage video game. It feels great to slink about in the shadows trying your best to be a ghost and Michael Ironside is effortlessly entertaining as Sam Fisher.
Ubisoft don't make 'em like this anymore.
Ubisoft don't make 'em like this anymore.
Back when Ubisoft made good games
I think if I played this when I was a kid I would have joined the military
edit: okay so I've replayed this a few times and even though I will admit that some of these missions are kind of rough around the edges (Battery is bad and there's specifically 1 room in bathhouse that can go to hell) I'm kind of blown away by how genuinely phenomenal this feels to play. Fisher controls like butter, and using the scroll wheel to control your walk speed works beautifully. You have such a tight control over your speed and movement, and every other interaction (taking out your gun, switching attachments, tapping phones, picking locks) feels as if it happens fast enough that the player can maintain a high tempo through each level, but takes just long enough that when the enemy is searching for you things become incredibly tense. This is complemented by the fucking phenomenal score. This is what makes the game to me- I'm pretty sure Penthouse is my favorite level entirely because of the song that plays in it. Chaos Theory's soundtrack conveys a ton of tension and momentum, and does an incredible job of encouraging you to do quick thinking to evade guards and de-escalate even as things get louder and more frantic. I get that stealth games as a whole tend to usually have some form of reactive music, but the composition and tone conveyed by Amon Tobin's work here is just so perfectly in tune with how the game looks, feels and plays. Wish there were more good crazy-budget stealth games
edit: okay so I've replayed this a few times and even though I will admit that some of these missions are kind of rough around the edges (Battery is bad and there's specifically 1 room in bathhouse that can go to hell) I'm kind of blown away by how genuinely phenomenal this feels to play. Fisher controls like butter, and using the scroll wheel to control your walk speed works beautifully. You have such a tight control over your speed and movement, and every other interaction (taking out your gun, switching attachments, tapping phones, picking locks) feels as if it happens fast enough that the player can maintain a high tempo through each level, but takes just long enough that when the enemy is searching for you things become incredibly tense. This is complemented by the fucking phenomenal score. This is what makes the game to me- I'm pretty sure Penthouse is my favorite level entirely because of the song that plays in it. Chaos Theory's soundtrack conveys a ton of tension and momentum, and does an incredible job of encouraging you to do quick thinking to evade guards and de-escalate even as things get louder and more frantic. I get that stealth games as a whole tend to usually have some form of reactive music, but the composition and tone conveyed by Amon Tobin's work here is just so perfectly in tune with how the game looks, feels and plays. Wish there were more good crazy-budget stealth games
You see the fluid animations that blends in with the game mechanics that is also tied to graphical elements such as shadows combined with dialouges that makes Tarantino bite the pillow in his house? That's called having soul.
Gotta give credit to Amon Tobin for making one of the best video game soundtracks of all time.
Gotta give credit to Amon Tobin for making one of the best video game soundtracks of all time.
Still possibly the best stealth game to date. I don't know why no other franchises have been able to utilize the shadow systems this well in all the years since, especially with modern tech
Chaos Theory truly defined the stealth genre (besides Metal Gear Solid) and perfected it from previous Splinter Cell titles. There's a full sense of espionage due to the many ways you can obtain information throughout each level, whilst passing through risky areas and taking down enemies. The game doesn't hold your hand, requiring you to observe your surroundings and use logic to progress easier, quicker and quietly.
The sound design is immersive and suspenseful, with music that reacts to AI behaviour and fills the atmosphere with haunting tension at times and really creates a unique characteristic for each level you're playing. Every environmental object, footstep and the gadgets you use that emit sound blends together and helps make your surroundings feel more alive and real.
Loadouts before mission initiation are selective depending on your style of play, although why would you go on a killing spree in a stealth-based game? Going loud in Chaos Theory can be very punishing towards the player. Regardless, it's nice to have options.
The sound design is immersive and suspenseful, with music that reacts to AI behaviour and fills the atmosphere with haunting tension at times and really creates a unique characteristic for each level you're playing. Every environmental object, footstep and the gadgets you use that emit sound blends together and helps make your surroundings feel more alive and real.
Loadouts before mission initiation are selective depending on your style of play, although why would you go on a killing spree in a stealth-based game? Going loud in Chaos Theory can be very punishing towards the player. Regardless, it's nice to have options.
I think this one's in the conversation for greatest games of all time. Certainly one of the best of its generation. It's remarkable what a leap there is between the first game and this one over so little time, especially considering the original already felt like it was from the future in 2002.
The first two games are essentially obstacle courses. I feel like this often gets leveled at them as a criticism, but I don't think that's a bad thing by any means--that's more or less what all stealth games are when you get down to it. What sets Chaos Theory apart is how it takes that trial and error obstacle course design and applies it to maps that are far more complicated and intertwined than anything in the first two games. There are multi-tiered buildings full of vents, pipes, and security doors providing many different paths to your goals. The game also has sub-objectives (a bit like Goldeneye's) that reward you for exploring every inch of the map. Guards are predictable and easy to manipulate--a positive. They'll also provide information about the map to you if you grab them. Nearly everything you can do winds back around into your main or bonus objectives. It's immensely rewarding.
This is also one of the Coolest games ever made. It looked unbelievable in 2005 and thanks to its meticulous lighting direction it still impresses. Only the character models remind you that this is an Unreal 2.5 game from 20 years ago. The locations you visit are hugely varied (cargo ship! Bank heist!) and I can't applaud Amon Tobin's score enough. You should get spotted in every level just to hear how the music evolves.
Some stray notes:
-There's like maybe one bad level out of the lot (Seoul 2), plus a "boss" encounter at the end of one otherwise good level that kind of blows.
-The plot is nonsense but it's better nonsense than Pandora Tomorrow. It at least feels like a proper Clancy spy thriller again, not an extended joke about airport security. They finally settle on the best version of Sam here, too--I love his cranky middle aged American banter.
-Speaking of, in general this game is really funny, minus some tiresome accent humor in some levels. Grabbing a guard nets you an instant manzai routine between Sam and his foe. He's funny without being irritating, and his politics make sense again. Remember how in Pandora Tomorrow he kept making surprisingly lefty asides? I sort of doubt Sam Fisher is anything left of Reaganite.
-Again, the score is amazing. It's one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time. If you've never heard it before, listen to it. It's one of Amon Tobin's best albums, in my opinion. I'm so sad that the bank heist music never made it onto the official album release, though...
-This game feels like an immersive sim just for different kinds of stealth builds.
GOATed game, I need stealth to make a comeback.
The first two games are essentially obstacle courses. I feel like this often gets leveled at them as a criticism, but I don't think that's a bad thing by any means--that's more or less what all stealth games are when you get down to it. What sets Chaos Theory apart is how it takes that trial and error obstacle course design and applies it to maps that are far more complicated and intertwined than anything in the first two games. There are multi-tiered buildings full of vents, pipes, and security doors providing many different paths to your goals. The game also has sub-objectives (a bit like Goldeneye's) that reward you for exploring every inch of the map. Guards are predictable and easy to manipulate--a positive. They'll also provide information about the map to you if you grab them. Nearly everything you can do winds back around into your main or bonus objectives. It's immensely rewarding.
This is also one of the Coolest games ever made. It looked unbelievable in 2005 and thanks to its meticulous lighting direction it still impresses. Only the character models remind you that this is an Unreal 2.5 game from 20 years ago. The locations you visit are hugely varied (cargo ship! Bank heist!) and I can't applaud Amon Tobin's score enough. You should get spotted in every level just to hear how the music evolves.
Some stray notes:
-There's like maybe one bad level out of the lot (Seoul 2), plus a "boss" encounter at the end of one otherwise good level that kind of blows.
-The plot is nonsense but it's better nonsense than Pandora Tomorrow. It at least feels like a proper Clancy spy thriller again, not an extended joke about airport security. They finally settle on the best version of Sam here, too--I love his cranky middle aged American banter.
-Speaking of, in general this game is really funny, minus some tiresome accent humor in some levels. Grabbing a guard nets you an instant manzai routine between Sam and his foe. He's funny without being irritating, and his politics make sense again. Remember how in Pandora Tomorrow he kept making surprisingly lefty asides? I sort of doubt Sam Fisher is anything left of Reaganite.
-Again, the score is amazing. It's one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time. If you've never heard it before, listen to it. It's one of Amon Tobin's best albums, in my opinion. I'm so sad that the bank heist music never made it onto the official album release, though...
-This game feels like an immersive sim just for different kinds of stealth builds.
GOATed game, I need stealth to make a comeback.
Crazy how Ubisoft could make stealth this fun.
I feel weird after using "Ubisoft" and "fun" in the same sentence.
I feel weird after using "Ubisoft" and "fun" in the same sentence.
I think this game is thoroughly ok all around. I think it's overall the best OG Splinter Cell game. It was a blast when it first came out and has aged kind of well.
The story is who cares you're Sam Fisher and you're cool and Michael Ironside voicing him is cool and the 2nd Iraq War era American espionage Tom Clancy shit that's happening at all times is fine but is also kind of safe and bland.
The AI has no in-between of being the dumbest motherfuckers alive and Predator-level deadly accuracy in shooting and killing you in places you'd think would be advantageous from you being seen. You can easily track enemies but their behavior patterns are some crackheaded erratic nonsense to give the game an often inflated sense of difficulty, which is especially felt when playing missions on the hardest difficulty. To really enjoy the single-player, just play on Normal. It's not pussy shit, it just feels like it was the intended experience. Playing a game like this on the hardest difficulty isn't a triumph over the game's intended challenges, it's a triumph over unpolished AI.
Hey so I'm writing this review because I saw footage of people playing the Spies Vs Mercs mode which was hype as fuck back in the day and it's mind-boggling to see this mode being played in any way today. It's so much fun and I'm shocked this kind of mode hasn't ever taken off. You should give it a try in you can find a way to check it out (just look up how to use Insignia).
The story is who cares you're Sam Fisher and you're cool and Michael Ironside voicing him is cool and the 2nd Iraq War era American espionage Tom Clancy shit that's happening at all times is fine but is also kind of safe and bland.
The AI has no in-between of being the dumbest motherfuckers alive and Predator-level deadly accuracy in shooting and killing you in places you'd think would be advantageous from you being seen. You can easily track enemies but their behavior patterns are some crackheaded erratic nonsense to give the game an often inflated sense of difficulty, which is especially felt when playing missions on the hardest difficulty. To really enjoy the single-player, just play on Normal. It's not pussy shit, it just feels like it was the intended experience. Playing a game like this on the hardest difficulty isn't a triumph over the game's intended challenges, it's a triumph over unpolished AI.
Hey so I'm writing this review because I saw footage of people playing the Spies Vs Mercs mode which was hype as fuck back in the day and it's mind-boggling to see this mode being played in any way today. It's so much fun and I'm shocked this kind of mode hasn't ever taken off. You should give it a try in you can find a way to check it out (just look up how to use Insignia).
There's a great satisfaction in a job well done. I think more than anything that is the fantasy that Chaos Theory offers- to step into the shoes of a consummate professional instead of a macho action hero. Sam Fisher is no Arnold Schwarzenegger- he won't have his face on the cereal boxes no matter how many lives he saves. But that's ok, thats the quiet life he wants. Saving the world from the shadows is just how he earns his paychecks. This whole view clicked for me in the Displace International Headquarters mission. I had just infiltrated their server room in the top floors having swept through the whole building like a phantom, touching not a single hair on the head of any guard nor lingering long enough to even be a flash in the corner of someone's eye. I knocked out lights, hacked doors, shadowed guards, shimmied along pipes, all to reach my goal. And when I reached the end undetected, you know what Sam had to say? He forgot to do his laundry before he left. It was such a moment of mundane and relatable frustration that I laughed out loud. I miss games like this man. Competence porn is something I always associated with the stealth genre, and now that it's gone silent, so has specific sense of satisfaction.
But thats enough of that tangent, I need to talk about the game itself a little. Its incredible, if the 4 star rating at the top hadn't tipped you off. One of the best stealth games I've personally ever played. There is ALWAYS a way to ghost through levels, no matter how impossible it might seem at first glance. You always have the tools, routes, and abilities to get that perfect run. The sound and light based detection combined with your incredibly fine control over Sam's movements allow for pixel perfect control of your ability to infiltrate. At no point did I ever get caught through no fault of my own, it was always as a result of my own mistakes.
So the controls are perfect, how about the stages? Welllll, there's a reason this isn't a full five stars. The level set is a mixed bag. The opening stage is by FAR the worst level in the game, set on a completely linear path with no room for experimentation, exploration or clever play. This is immediately improved upon however by the next FIVE, all of which are some of the best stealth sandboxes I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Though sadly, the remaining five are a steady downward slope, growing more and more linear and less and less satisfying with each passing stage. The North Korean missile base is FINE, but compared to the amazing run of stages prior it doesn't hold up.
Ultimately however Chaos Theory is still an amazing stealth game 18 years later, and it set a benchmark of quality that few games following it were able to meet. Hopefully, if Sam Fisher ever comes out of retirement, his next outing is even a third as enjoyable as his heyday.
But thats enough of that tangent, I need to talk about the game itself a little. Its incredible, if the 4 star rating at the top hadn't tipped you off. One of the best stealth games I've personally ever played. There is ALWAYS a way to ghost through levels, no matter how impossible it might seem at first glance. You always have the tools, routes, and abilities to get that perfect run. The sound and light based detection combined with your incredibly fine control over Sam's movements allow for pixel perfect control of your ability to infiltrate. At no point did I ever get caught through no fault of my own, it was always as a result of my own mistakes.
So the controls are perfect, how about the stages? Welllll, there's a reason this isn't a full five stars. The level set is a mixed bag. The opening stage is by FAR the worst level in the game, set on a completely linear path with no room for experimentation, exploration or clever play. This is immediately improved upon however by the next FIVE, all of which are some of the best stealth sandboxes I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Though sadly, the remaining five are a steady downward slope, growing more and more linear and less and less satisfying with each passing stage. The North Korean missile base is FINE, but compared to the amazing run of stages prior it doesn't hold up.
Ultimately however Chaos Theory is still an amazing stealth game 18 years later, and it set a benchmark of quality that few games following it were able to meet. Hopefully, if Sam Fisher ever comes out of retirement, his next outing is even a third as enjoyable as his heyday.
um dos stealth mais pika q existe
From me marathoning almost all the Assassins Creed titles (except the new rpg trilogy) earlier last year; I never felt so in the moment and intrigued to the gameplay. It feels like I got pulled out by the roots and experience a real stealth game as each action has stakes and a sense of mortality to kill, to not to kill, and who try to interrogate. I’m gonna change up my review style for this as if you’re reading this, you’ve almost likely played it before. I’ll discuss my personal playthrough
My start was rough, me getting spotted multiple times, setting alarms, and not fully grasping the controls. I ended the game with a 50%! You don’t how many times I would miss objectives and just tried my best to get out of the missions in one piece. To give an idea, the 1st mission where you’re in a bath house, your target is in a small room with 2 other armed men. There’s a vent to go into where you can crawl to the other end, eavesdrop on the conversation and interrogate your target as they enter another room alone. In my playthrough, I saw the vent that has an opening to the room, threw a flash grenade in it, opened the door and went guns blazing. I went down the bloody path too much than I should’ve at the beginning………..
Near the 2nd half of the game, I started to find my shine within the game with going non lethal as possible and get many interrogations as possible. I started to look around the environment more as the darkness and noise is can be your friend. Avoiding confrontation as a whole, except when I see an interrogation can be done, I can’t miss that!
Speaking of interrogations, this I would say is a main appeal to Chaos Theory or maybe Splinter Cell as a whole, I only played this title as I was recommended it on my list. Every time Sam Fisher speaks, it’s voiced out perfectly and makes landing a interrogation ever so satisfying. There’s some straight hilarious interrogations as well that give no real input except humor, which is greatly appreciated from this rather morbid plot.
Speaking of plot, it has mystery, suspense, and a thrill ride throughout. The story itself has no real takeaway on a personal level. It’s a story that is entertaining and stereotypical characters to go along with it. The ending was cheesy af though.
Overall, great experience and will be recommending this to others in the future. This game seems to have excellent replayability value too. Some consoles having differences except just graphics for added reason to replay! This review is way too long than I expected it to be so I’m going to end it here. I’m happy I was recommended this! Thanks Lead!
My start was rough, me getting spotted multiple times, setting alarms, and not fully grasping the controls. I ended the game with a 50%! You don’t how many times I would miss objectives and just tried my best to get out of the missions in one piece. To give an idea, the 1st mission where you’re in a bath house, your target is in a small room with 2 other armed men. There’s a vent to go into where you can crawl to the other end, eavesdrop on the conversation and interrogate your target as they enter another room alone. In my playthrough, I saw the vent that has an opening to the room, threw a flash grenade in it, opened the door and went guns blazing. I went down the bloody path too much than I should’ve at the beginning………..
Near the 2nd half of the game, I started to find my shine within the game with going non lethal as possible and get many interrogations as possible. I started to look around the environment more as the darkness and noise is can be your friend. Avoiding confrontation as a whole, except when I see an interrogation can be done, I can’t miss that!
Speaking of interrogations, this I would say is a main appeal to Chaos Theory or maybe Splinter Cell as a whole, I only played this title as I was recommended it on my list. Every time Sam Fisher speaks, it’s voiced out perfectly and makes landing a interrogation ever so satisfying. There’s some straight hilarious interrogations as well that give no real input except humor, which is greatly appreciated from this rather morbid plot.
Speaking of plot, it has mystery, suspense, and a thrill ride throughout. The story itself has no real takeaway on a personal level. It’s a story that is entertaining and stereotypical characters to go along with it. The ending was cheesy af though.
Overall, great experience and will be recommending this to others in the future. This game seems to have excellent replayability value too. Some consoles having differences except just graphics for added reason to replay! This review is way too long than I expected it to be so I’m going to end it here. I’m happy I was recommended this! Thanks Lead!
The original Splinter Cell had a lot of rough edges, but it was easy to see that smoothing those edges out could create something truly special. Thankfully, that's exactly what Ubisoft did with Chaos Theory. If Metal Gear Solid was about "tactical espionage action", then Chaos Theory is a tactical espionage thriller.
The level design is top-notch in this one. Every single stage takes you to a different part of the world, each with really fun scenarios. You almost always have more than one path you can take to reach your next objective. There's also a bit of replay value in how the game scores you on how stealthy you are, or with optional objectives, giving you reason to explore and learn the levels inside and out.
The dialogue in this game is actually one of the highlights for me. Sam Fisher is snarky and sarcasticand old. Grabbing guards to interrogate them always got a laugh out of me, as well as the banter that Sam has with his support team over the radio.
The game looks and sounds fantastic, and it kind of needs to, because sound and lighting are your bread and butter when it comes to stealth. The addition of a sound bar is ingenious, telling you how loud the current area is, and how loud you are. Sam's pistol can also temporarily disable any electronic device, excellent for creating a distraction, making darkness to hide in (without shooting out the lights), and turning off cameras.
Honestly, I can see why this game is held in high regard. I'll definitely return to replay it in the future. Deserving of the title of "one of the greatest stealth games ever made".
The level design is top-notch in this one. Every single stage takes you to a different part of the world, each with really fun scenarios. You almost always have more than one path you can take to reach your next objective. There's also a bit of replay value in how the game scores you on how stealthy you are, or with optional objectives, giving you reason to explore and learn the levels inside and out.
The dialogue in this game is actually one of the highlights for me. Sam Fisher is snarky and sarcastic
The game looks and sounds fantastic, and it kind of needs to, because sound and lighting are your bread and butter when it comes to stealth. The addition of a sound bar is ingenious, telling you how loud the current area is, and how loud you are. Sam's pistol can also temporarily disable any electronic device, excellent for creating a distraction, making darkness to hide in (without shooting out the lights), and turning off cameras.
Honestly, I can see why this game is held in high regard. I'll definitely return to replay it in the future. Deserving of the title of "one of the greatest stealth games ever made".
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory: The best of the classic Splinter Cells definitely isn't perfect, but it has mostly withstood the test of time and is worthy of yours should you enjoy stealth-action games. This is a "replay" because I played it back when it came out, but barely remembered anything from it.
The biggest issues, first: in 2023, you'll be needing to download the widescreen fix from PCGamingWiki unless you're a rare CRT fanatic, then edit an .ini file to fix the FOV. This fix doesn't help with the cutscenes which are very low resolution and now stretched, though thankfully there aren't many. I ran into a hard crash which are never fun, so be sure to quicksave often, and if you want to alt-tab while playing you have to rapidly mash tab like a dozen times before it gives up its bizarre resistance and lets you. Never seen that one before.
Other than that? You're playing Chaos Theory, baby, the Splinter Cell game. It's easy to see why the game was (and still is) praised: the lighting and sound has received a comically large upgrade from the abysmal and forgotten nightmare of Pandora Tomorrow. Sam feels like Sam again, no longer the bland G.I. Joe from the previous entry but the uniquely bulky, lumbering, iconic ninja. Every level is just ripe with stealthy potential. The plot is still pretty stupid this time around, but at least it's not just following an uncharismatic dick while he makes phone calls. Pandora Tomorrow also had many segments where stealth was impossible and you simply had to murder dozens of guys in your playthrough: in Chaos Theory, you're actually penalized for killing people unnecessarily.
The scoring system after every level is probably the biggest upgrade from Pandora Tomorrow and exactly what this series needed. It's like Sam is being debriefed and told how he could have done better out there. You'll get a knife in Chaos Theory, but if you want that 100% rating, you'll only be using it to cut through tents and pierce generators. What's great is it's entirely your call: if you don't give a shit about a single digit percentage score at the end (it doesn't hinder progress), you're free to choose the 'Assault' loadout and bring a shotgun attachment and frag grenades with you on the operation. Do you want to dodge guards, only leaving a few fellas unconscious in dark corners, or do you want an onslaught with a trail of corpses? You do you.
I played on Hard and found it to be pretty challenging, it lead to my playthrough being a longer one. There's actually a difficulty above it, which sort of sounds insane to me, because on Hard enemies see you unless you're engulfed in shadow. On your meter, it can barely move out of pitch black before they "think they saw something" and come looking. Guards pull out flashlights or flares when this happens, too, adding to the challenge and atmosphere. Unfairly, multiple times they spotted me around a corner, though perhaps this has to do with the FOV stretching and widescreen fix. Remember, kids, ABC: Always Be Cuicksaving.
I enjoyed being a stealthy lad, taking my sweet time to ensure I got the 100% (or as close as my patience would let me). I didn't like how the penultimate level has an ending that's comically difficult to sneak out of, it felt jarring and poorly done. The last level does a better job of changing the pace and still lets you be quiet should you figure out how. You can't make any narrative choices in Chaos Theory outside of doing/avoiding secondary objectives, but I could see wanting to go back and trying out a 'bring the noise' playthrough.
As of a few days ago this game is old enough to smoke and vote, but I think it manages to play like it's somewhat fresh. It looks good, it sounds good, it plays... pretty good. Again, I wasn't crazy about some levels having entire sections that felt like they belonged in a Call of Duty instead of Splinter Cell. It's not perfect, but it's good, and the universal praise this game gets is simply tough to argue with.
I recommend Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.
The biggest issues, first: in 2023, you'll be needing to download the widescreen fix from PCGamingWiki unless you're a rare CRT fanatic, then edit an .ini file to fix the FOV. This fix doesn't help with the cutscenes which are very low resolution and now stretched, though thankfully there aren't many. I ran into a hard crash which are never fun, so be sure to quicksave often, and if you want to alt-tab while playing you have to rapidly mash tab like a dozen times before it gives up its bizarre resistance and lets you. Never seen that one before.
Other than that? You're playing Chaos Theory, baby, the Splinter Cell game. It's easy to see why the game was (and still is) praised: the lighting and sound has received a comically large upgrade from the abysmal and forgotten nightmare of Pandora Tomorrow. Sam feels like Sam again, no longer the bland G.I. Joe from the previous entry but the uniquely bulky, lumbering, iconic ninja. Every level is just ripe with stealthy potential. The plot is still pretty stupid this time around, but at least it's not just following an uncharismatic dick while he makes phone calls. Pandora Tomorrow also had many segments where stealth was impossible and you simply had to murder dozens of guys in your playthrough: in Chaos Theory, you're actually penalized for killing people unnecessarily.
The scoring system after every level is probably the biggest upgrade from Pandora Tomorrow and exactly what this series needed. It's like Sam is being debriefed and told how he could have done better out there. You'll get a knife in Chaos Theory, but if you want that 100% rating, you'll only be using it to cut through tents and pierce generators. What's great is it's entirely your call: if you don't give a shit about a single digit percentage score at the end (it doesn't hinder progress), you're free to choose the 'Assault' loadout and bring a shotgun attachment and frag grenades with you on the operation. Do you want to dodge guards, only leaving a few fellas unconscious in dark corners, or do you want an onslaught with a trail of corpses? You do you.
I played on Hard and found it to be pretty challenging, it lead to my playthrough being a longer one. There's actually a difficulty above it, which sort of sounds insane to me, because on Hard enemies see you unless you're engulfed in shadow. On your meter, it can barely move out of pitch black before they "think they saw something" and come looking. Guards pull out flashlights or flares when this happens, too, adding to the challenge and atmosphere. Unfairly, multiple times they spotted me around a corner, though perhaps this has to do with the FOV stretching and widescreen fix. Remember, kids, ABC: Always Be Cuicksaving.
I enjoyed being a stealthy lad, taking my sweet time to ensure I got the 100% (or as close as my patience would let me). I didn't like how the penultimate level has an ending that's comically difficult to sneak out of, it felt jarring and poorly done. The last level does a better job of changing the pace and still lets you be quiet should you figure out how. You can't make any narrative choices in Chaos Theory outside of doing/avoiding secondary objectives, but I could see wanting to go back and trying out a 'bring the noise' playthrough.
As of a few days ago this game is old enough to smoke and vote, but I think it manages to play like it's somewhat fresh. It looks good, it sounds good, it plays... pretty good. Again, I wasn't crazy about some levels having entire sections that felt like they belonged in a Call of Duty instead of Splinter Cell. It's not perfect, but it's good, and the universal praise this game gets is simply tough to argue with.
I recommend Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.
2005 and still yet to be surpassed as the best stealth game ever made.
Seoul and Bathhouse fucking suck, but the rest is pure perfection. Sam Fisher is on peak and the soundtrack by Amon Tobin is one the greatest OSTs that has ever graced my ears.
The best the franchise ever put out, everything came together in Chaos Theory.
Starting with the gameplay, it’s tense and sharp, stealthily skulking through the dark with nothing but Sam’s goggles indicating where you are, grabbing an enemy are interrogating him for information and sometimes getting hilarious feedback.
The game holds up very well even to today’s standards, the dynamic lighting and weather physics still hold up.
If you like stealth games look no further that Chaos Theory!
Starting with the gameplay, it’s tense and sharp, stealthily skulking through the dark with nothing but Sam’s goggles indicating where you are, grabbing an enemy are interrogating him for information and sometimes getting hilarious feedback.
The game holds up very well even to today’s standards, the dynamic lighting and weather physics still hold up.
If you like stealth games look no further that Chaos Theory!
Chaos Theory a lot of the time feels like playing a horror game where you're the monster/killer, you take out all the lights around 2 guards, whistle at them to get their attention then circle around and pick one off and see the other one turn around and notice his absence before freaking out, being seconds away from him also being taken out from behind.
It feels amazing to do that kind of shit. though...if I'm being honest the real star of the game are the interrogations, they are amazing, these are some of the funniest guards I've seen in a game. One time a guard told me everything he knew without hesitation then claimed he was the biggest coward ever and told me that he pissed himself which was hilarious. Another time I saw 2 guards talking about a certain ninja that did some stuff in Georgia in 2004, one guard even claiming he was attacked by set ninja. Either way he can now claim he was attacked twice by a ninja as the second I grabbed and interrogated him he started going on about how he knew there were ninjas there and Sam was really confused by the whole thing and when threatening to kill him the guard just said that it'd be cool to be killed by a ninja. One time a guard thought the whole thing was a training exercise and Sam went along and used that as a way to get info lol.
I could go on but you really have to experience this game for yourself as it's such a huge leap forward from the first game that I don't see any reason to go back at this point.
All the annoying things from the first game have all been either fixed or gotten rid off completely and the level design has never been better. Every level is designed to be done in multiple ways, oftentimes exploring rewards you with secret entries that will make your life easier or maybe a side objective, sometimes items or just a guard with important info for you. You can do every mission without killing any guards, I think the same was true of the first one but it was clear that sometimes you kinda had to kill the guards to make your life way easier, here it's only a matter of planning ahead what you'll do as you have a lot more gadgets at your disposal to get past the guards. The game does a good job at making the game get harder as it goes with new enemy types that serve as counters to you with thermal vision, making it way harder to sneak past them but not so hard that they become annoying/unfair, the amount of turrets has been toned the fuck down from the last game where they were useless in all but one area, I think I only saw like 2 in the whole game.
I liked how you can choose to either leave or save 2 pilots from an explosion at one point despite your orders. There isn’t any reward nor do you ever hear from those pilots again but I kinda liked that tbh.
Chaos Theory in every way lives up to the hype and stands the test of the time, unlike with the og there weren’t any moments where I thought yeah this hasn’t aged well or wow this really feels like a 2000s game huh.
It’s just back to back great levels, not every level is perfect and amazing but out of 10 missions, the worst level simply being really good (bathhouse) speaks to the game’s quality. Cargo Ship and the Bank mission were my fav’s in the game as to me they felt the most open with Bank even giving you 2 ways of entering the bank itself, either through the front door or from above, repelling down from the roof.
There's some really tense moments in the game. In one of the missions I had to access a server but the door that would lead into the server was stuck due to a blackout I assume and some people were also stuck just outside of the server room. After lookin around for another way to get in I managed to find a vent that let me enter from above, once I accessed the server, seconds later the power went back on and I only had a few secs to get out so I had to use the rope i used to climb down to get back up as lights were slowly coming back on around me and those people were approaching, it created for a really tense moment where I didn't know whether or not I was gonna make it or if I would have had to restart from last quicksave (last quicksave was like 7 minutes beforehand btw). Obviously that's just an example and one that was obviously scripted to happen but there's plenty of non scripted tense moments, having guards walk past you in the dark as you think about whether you are too close to them or not, interrogating someone and seeing another guard come close to you and overhear, wondering if it'd be worth to knock the guard out now or try and move and look for a better spot to knock him out so you can deal with the other guard without having the body seen, etc etc.
I’m looking forward to trying out the coop at some point with a friend even though the way to get it to work is a bit complicated from what I’ve seen but I’ve also heard nothing but positive things about it so it’ll prb be worth the trouble. This is most definitely a game that I will come back and replay countless times.
It feels amazing to do that kind of shit. though...if I'm being honest the real star of the game are the interrogations, they are amazing, these are some of the funniest guards I've seen in a game. One time a guard told me everything he knew without hesitation then claimed he was the biggest coward ever and told me that he pissed himself which was hilarious. Another time I saw 2 guards talking about a certain ninja that did some stuff in Georgia in 2004, one guard even claiming he was attacked by set ninja. Either way he can now claim he was attacked twice by a ninja as the second I grabbed and interrogated him he started going on about how he knew there were ninjas there and Sam was really confused by the whole thing and when threatening to kill him the guard just said that it'd be cool to be killed by a ninja. One time a guard thought the whole thing was a training exercise and Sam went along and used that as a way to get info lol.
I could go on but you really have to experience this game for yourself as it's such a huge leap forward from the first game that I don't see any reason to go back at this point.
All the annoying things from the first game have all been either fixed or gotten rid off completely and the level design has never been better. Every level is designed to be done in multiple ways, oftentimes exploring rewards you with secret entries that will make your life easier or maybe a side objective, sometimes items or just a guard with important info for you. You can do every mission without killing any guards, I think the same was true of the first one but it was clear that sometimes you kinda had to kill the guards to make your life way easier, here it's only a matter of planning ahead what you'll do as you have a lot more gadgets at your disposal to get past the guards. The game does a good job at making the game get harder as it goes with new enemy types that serve as counters to you with thermal vision, making it way harder to sneak past them but not so hard that they become annoying/unfair, the amount of turrets has been toned the fuck down from the last game where they were useless in all but one area, I think I only saw like 2 in the whole game.
I liked how you can choose to either leave or save 2 pilots from an explosion at one point despite your orders. There isn’t any reward nor do you ever hear from those pilots again but I kinda liked that tbh.
Chaos Theory in every way lives up to the hype and stands the test of the time, unlike with the og there weren’t any moments where I thought yeah this hasn’t aged well or wow this really feels like a 2000s game huh.
It’s just back to back great levels, not every level is perfect and amazing but out of 10 missions, the worst level simply being really good (bathhouse) speaks to the game’s quality. Cargo Ship and the Bank mission were my fav’s in the game as to me they felt the most open with Bank even giving you 2 ways of entering the bank itself, either through the front door or from above, repelling down from the roof.
There's some really tense moments in the game. In one of the missions I had to access a server but the door that would lead into the server was stuck due to a blackout I assume and some people were also stuck just outside of the server room. After lookin around for another way to get in I managed to find a vent that let me enter from above, once I accessed the server, seconds later the power went back on and I only had a few secs to get out so I had to use the rope i used to climb down to get back up as lights were slowly coming back on around me and those people were approaching, it created for a really tense moment where I didn't know whether or not I was gonna make it or if I would have had to restart from last quicksave (last quicksave was like 7 minutes beforehand btw). Obviously that's just an example and one that was obviously scripted to happen but there's plenty of non scripted tense moments, having guards walk past you in the dark as you think about whether you are too close to them or not, interrogating someone and seeing another guard come close to you and overhear, wondering if it'd be worth to knock the guard out now or try and move and look for a better spot to knock him out so you can deal with the other guard without having the body seen, etc etc.
I’m looking forward to trying out the coop at some point with a friend even though the way to get it to work is a bit complicated from what I’ve seen but I’ve also heard nothing but positive things about it so it’ll prb be worth the trouble. This is most definitely a game that I will come back and replay countless times.
Guards in stealth games have received more ridicule than they ever deserved. It’s easy to point out how they don’t notice things real people would notice, or how they forget about intruders they saw less than a minute ago, but realism rarely makes a game more fun. If guards were perfectly astute, stealth would be nearly impossible, and the unpredictability of human behavior would make it a frustrating game of trial-and-error. Instead, they’re given a set of patterns that allow players to make plans, and sharp enough senses to only punish definite errors. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory does a great job of communicating these parameters, with a visibility meter broken into four distinct sections, and a similarly segmented noise gauge. All it takes is one look at the meters to see what gave you away, and to know what to avoid in the future. Ideally, this level of clarity would minimize the compulsive savescumming the genre is often criticized for, but Chaos Theory falls at the last hurdle with the aforementioned over-astuteness that makes these tools nearly useless. The visibility meter being broken into four sections gives the impression that as long as you’re in the darkest quadrant, you’re as good as you could be, but this is far from true. Instead, it’s a weird sort of tiered binary, where being in total darkness means guards won’t see you even when you’re nose to nose, but being one tick above that means you can be spotted from roughly five meters out, with the distance increasing from there. Since all the levels are within buildings and enclosed spaces, what this really means is that you’re either invisible or not, with the smallest missteps leading to instant detection. The sound meter fares slightly better, but sounds other than your footsteps have their own inconsistencies. Even with subsonic ammo and a suppressor, shooting windows will have guards running straight to you instead of towards the distraction. It makes the stealth system the worst of both worlds, where it’s too realistic to be much fun, but with enough unrealistic elements in such sharp contrast that it’s almost laughable. What’s a shame is that with a few patches to make the visibility meter work more linearly, and for the distractions to be more useful, Chaos Theory would be a pretty good game. While weak level design would still hold it down, it would be fun enough to where I could recommend it to stealth fans. However, this game came out before the age of post-release patches, so I’m afraid that its full potential will forever go unnoticed.
I played the original 2002 Splinter Cell back in the day on the OG Xbox and always loved how slow-paced and methodical it was as a stealth game. The next time I played a Splinter Cell game was Conviction and though it was still a nice experience, it was nowhere near as cool as the one I grew up playing. Fast forward to January 2022 and I have now played Chaos Theory! This was such a nostalgic experience for me because it felt like the first game. I really want this style of stealth to return for a new game, with heavy emphasis on interrogations, shadows, and sound. I like this game a lot!
THIS SOUNDTRACK IS SO FUCKIN GOOD
Yes, it's as good as you've read on the internet. Has one of the best video game soundtracks ever.
Mechanically speaking, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is the best and most sophisticated stealth game I have played in my life. The game gives you a ton of tools to complete any given objective, and the combination of both light and line of sight make this a game where you have a ton of options. It also has extremely strong level design, levels are much more open-ended than in OG Splinter Cell. It almost reminds me of an immersive sim at times with the amount of options, tools, and paths to completing a level. This is not even to mention the objectives that can be based on your choices in previous missions. The story, writing, and characters are all rather simple and passable outside of Sam Fisher himself who is an extraordinary badass as per usual. The story exists to serve the gameplay, and it’s good enough to not get in the way of the best stealth experience in my life.
IMO the best of the franchise. Impeccable level design allows for flexible and varied approaches, and includes some really fun set pieces. Later games tend to lean too heavily on action rather than stealth, but earlier ones are a bit more linear; this one sits in the sweet spot right in the middle.
Fuck yes, my favourite stealth game of all time. It's far from perfect and there are a lot of dumb levels (Seoul is patience-testing with that stupid tank and those dumb hover-robots), but I absolutely love the control scheme on PC and the way the enemy AI is designed.
The feeling of stalking someone from the shadows is immense - you're in complete darkness, pitch black, while someone walks past you. It sounds simple but this game does it best, you might need to play it to get what I'm on about. My favourite memory is standing completely upright on the spot and staring someone in the face, the tension was incredible and you're given more than enough tools to get your way out of any situation. The gadgets would make James Bond shit himself.
I've probably played through this at least 8 times and I usually discover some new hidden trick with the gameplay, or a secret entrance I didn't notice in a level. It's hardly Deus Ex levels of intricate but it's more than enough.
The biggest crime is a lack of modding support/level editor. We'll never know what the community would be capable of when given a character as fun to play as this rendition of Sam Fisher.
Took me a couple tries to properly get into it but now I'm obsessed. Stealth masterpiece.
The feeling of stalking someone from the shadows is immense - you're in complete darkness, pitch black, while someone walks past you. It sounds simple but this game does it best, you might need to play it to get what I'm on about. My favourite memory is standing completely upright on the spot and staring someone in the face, the tension was incredible and you're given more than enough tools to get your way out of any situation. The gadgets would make James Bond shit himself.
I've probably played through this at least 8 times and I usually discover some new hidden trick with the gameplay, or a secret entrance I didn't notice in a level. It's hardly Deus Ex levels of intricate but it's more than enough.
The biggest crime is a lack of modding support/level editor. We'll never know what the community would be capable of when given a character as fun to play as this rendition of Sam Fisher.
Took me a couple tries to properly get into it but now I'm obsessed. Stealth masterpiece.
first person at ubisoft to bring me the head of whoever designed the bathhouse mission gets to live
probably the best stealth game ever made
Probably the best stealth game ever made, simply brilliant.