I just now finished playing through Chaos Theory in its entirety; I started playing years ago but never really got beyond the second level. For a game released in March, 2005 on the PC, I'm very surprised by how well it held up. It was by no-means perfect but it's definitely a great stealth game.
First things first, let's take a moment to appreciate just how bad the concept art image that's used when the game is loading on the PC is:
It's a bit hard to see here but, on a 1080p or higher monitor, Sam looks ridiculous. More than anything, the proportions make him look like one of those little pygmy enemies from the Diablo series.
Once I started the game, I was also surprised by how un-involved the tutorial videos were. I remember the first Splinter Cell game on the GameCube having a tutorial level and I guess I was expecting something like that. The videos do a decent job of explaining things but leave new players to kinda muddle through it. In some ways, I do like that the game does just kinda toss you into the first level very quickly and lets you fend for yourself. It assumes a level of competence that is actually somewhat refreshing. That said, the way the game starts with talk about tensions in the area of North Korea and China the switches suddenly to Peru is pretty jarring. As a narrative device, it does pay off but it's definitely not as smooth as it could be.
Another thing that I didn't remember from my first attempted playthrough was how humorous the game was. From the ridiculous accent of Captain Arthur Partridge to the conversations between the various NPC henchmen, the game definitely has a sense of humor. A conversation from a level set in Japan has 2 American guards talking about ninja is a particular highlight.. I do have to mention that the game's soundtrack is also pretty great though you only really hear the music when guards are alerted to your actions in some way. It's good to listen to but it feels just a bit wasted in its application in the game.
When it comes to the actual gameplay, Chaos Theory is a great example of how to do stealth games right. The levels aren't overly huge but the ways they're connected make sense, there are plenty of times where you have alternate approach points and the level setups work to create interesting situations and stealth puzzles. It's remains interestign and varied the whole way through. My one critique here is that you don't really need to use any of the advanced/cool moves at any point in the game (the only time I ever did a wall split was when I was testing it out, for example).
As far as what I didn't like, a lot of the accents are very cringeworthy and feel kinda offensive. The NPC models are also very limited in variety which leads to everyone from Peruvian terrorists to American mercenaries looking the same. The game is also kinda buggy in some places with conversation or action triggers not being tripped which can lead to a lot of reloading.
All in all though, this is a great game and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't yet tried it and is looking for a good stealth game. What say you, GAF? What do you guys think about it?
First things first, let's take a moment to appreciate just how bad the concept art image that's used when the game is loading on the PC is:
It's a bit hard to see here but, on a 1080p or higher monitor, Sam looks ridiculous. More than anything, the proportions make him look like one of those little pygmy enemies from the Diablo series.
Once I started the game, I was also surprised by how un-involved the tutorial videos were. I remember the first Splinter Cell game on the GameCube having a tutorial level and I guess I was expecting something like that. The videos do a decent job of explaining things but leave new players to kinda muddle through it. In some ways, I do like that the game does just kinda toss you into the first level very quickly and lets you fend for yourself. It assumes a level of competence that is actually somewhat refreshing. That said, the way the game starts with talk about tensions in the area of North Korea and China the switches suddenly to Peru is pretty jarring. As a narrative device, it does pay off but it's definitely not as smooth as it could be.
Another thing that I didn't remember from my first attempted playthrough was how humorous the game was. From the ridiculous accent of Captain Arthur Partridge to the conversations between the various NPC henchmen, the game definitely has a sense of humor. A conversation from a level set in Japan has 2 American guards talking about ninja is a particular highlight.. I do have to mention that the game's soundtrack is also pretty great though you only really hear the music when guards are alerted to your actions in some way. It's good to listen to but it feels just a bit wasted in its application in the game.
When it comes to the actual gameplay, Chaos Theory is a great example of how to do stealth games right. The levels aren't overly huge but the ways they're connected make sense, there are plenty of times where you have alternate approach points and the level setups work to create interesting situations and stealth puzzles. It's remains interestign and varied the whole way through. My one critique here is that you don't really need to use any of the advanced/cool moves at any point in the game (the only time I ever did a wall split was when I was testing it out, for example).
As far as what I didn't like, a lot of the accents are very cringeworthy and feel kinda offensive. The NPC models are also very limited in variety which leads to everyone from Peruvian terrorists to American mercenaries looking the same. The game is also kinda buggy in some places with conversation or action triggers not being tripped which can lead to a lot of reloading.
All in all though, this is a great game and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't yet tried it and is looking for a good stealth game. What say you, GAF? What do you guys think about it?
