Review: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Score:
65%
Version Reviewed: MMC Game C
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So it’s the third Tom Clancy title in the N-Gage repertoire (after Splinter Cell: Team Stealth Action and Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm). Taken on it’s own, Chaos Theory lifts the 3d Engine from Jungle Storm, and mixes in the ‘stealthy’ game style from Team Stealth Action to create one of the most amazing looking games on the N-Gage… ever. Of course, the Splinter Cell franchise is a big thing for Gameloft in gaming circles. This almost simultaneous release of Chaos Theory on the N-Gage as well as platforms such as the X-Box, the PC and the Playstation 2’s of the world shows just how much Gameloft support the N-Gage.
The Look Of Lust
Let’s start with those graphics. Rather than a through the eyes first person shooter, you are watching Sam Fisher, the character you control. He’s a black ops ‘spy/agent/soldier’ who sneaks deep into enemy territories and buildings, does his job, and gets out again without being noticed. Your camera viewpoint gives you some stunning cinematic views of Sam as he climbs up drainpipes, hangs by his arms and legs from ventilation pipes, crawls through tunnels, rappels down ropes… The list of moves that the character can do is one of the most impressive things yet to grace the N-Gage. The engine looks to be a further development from the one used in Jungle Storm.
Controlling Sam isn’t as good as the graphical look of Chaos Theory – the D-Pad lets you move forward and backwards, and walk in a circle to the left or right. That’s the first little problem for me. In the preview version All About N-Gage saw, left and right let you spin on the spot. In the release version, it looks like you can’t stand still and turn, which just seems wrong.
The number pad has two functions. Keys 2, 4, 6 and 8 (the cross) control the camera position, so you can spin round Sam and see what’s around you (and don’t forget to look up for skylights and down at the trapdoors). The main N-Gage keys are ‘jump’ and ‘action/do something’ (5 and 7 respectively). One thing to note, unlike a title such as Ashen, it’s not possible to redefine any of these keys if you prefer a different control layout.
The 3d engine is put to good use when you switch cameras. Most of the time you’ll stay in the grainy looking ‘low light’ camera mode, which turns the view into a black and white picture with a lot of TV snow on it. The third camera mode (because you still have the ‘regular’ view as well) is infrared, which looks really nice, but practically is only used to try and see if some laser trip wires have been set up. So you’re constantly using this to look for traps that aren’t there…
Move Along - There's Nothing Else To See
When a 3d/first-person game is done well, they can be exceptional. And here’s the problem. Chaos Theory, for all that it looks brilliant and handles all the special and regular moves pretty well, the game itself is a bit of a let down.
That’s not to say that little thought has gone into it. There’s a plot running through the game about recovering a Decryption Key that could break any Computer Code on the planet, arms dealing, and a revolutionary army and their leader to overthrow. Where Chaos Theory is let down is in the ridiculously linear game play.
In your progression through each level, there is almost never a choice about where to go next. You enter a room through one door, progress through the room, and leaving by the only other door to move into the next room. Now there’s a good bit of variation in what the door actually is - it might be the aforementioned drainpipe, or (my personal favourite) a locked door that you have to pick with the help of your N-Gage vibrating when you get it right. But no matter how they dress it up, you’re simply moving along a pre-destined line to your destination.
If you treat each room as a standalone puzzle (how do I kill this guard, how do I sneak through all the shadows and not be seen, how do I make sure I get to the air vent and not be seen from the other end of the corridor), then you’ve pretty much got Chaos Theory worked out – a linear progression of puzzles. I mean, in real life if I started to fire a machine gun in a room, then everyone in the next room is going to hear it and either storm in, or take up defensive positions for when I walk through the door. Nope, not in Chaos Theory - they just sit around watching a computer screen.
It’s frustrating, because whenever you get seen, or killed, you’re taken back to a save point, which could be three or four rooms previously, and you have to go through those rooms again. And again. And again, till you solve the puzzle in a room that leads to an auto-save point. And if one of those rooms includes a bit of dialog on the screen between characters to advance the plot, you’ll need to sit though these scenes each time you come into that room, and there’s no way of skipping through them.
Don’t get me wrong, solving these puzzles and choosing the right moves can be a good logical challenge. It can also be highly repetitive knowing that you simply have to wait for a guard to walk past before moving up behind him to strangle him, and then crouch down and walk slowly to an air vent in the time you have before the next guard. In that sense it’s a good mobile game, great for shirt bursts of activity. I just don’t like being told how to play a game and where to go next. If Gameloft had worked on the map design as much as they have on the graphics, providing multiple routes and choices through each level, so you had to really work to make the best decisions, then it would have been a sure fire candidate to be an "All About N-Gage Recommended." As it stands, Chaos Theory looks brilliant, has good but not great controls, and poor level design.
It Takes Two To Tango
Multiplayer in N-Gage games are strange beasts. Yes the feature is pushed heavily, and it’s great to play – but they don’t make the game any better. But it is a different way of playing, and sometimes it can be really worthwhile. In the case of Chaos Theory, it’s more of the same. There are the same great graphics, and there’s almost no slow down in the 3D engine.
Of course the game play hasn’t changed when you enter Co-operative mode. It’s still moving from one room to another, trying to work out the puzzle that will let you get across to the next room. If you’ve enjoyed the solo levels, then you’ll enjoy the additional puzzling now that each character has a different set of skills. You can play either a "hacker" who can do all the interesting technical stuff, but none of the fighting. The fighting has to be left to the Assault member of the partnership.
Versus mode finally gives me what I want in a Splinter Cell game though. Guns. Lots of Guns. One of the players because the ‘intruder,’ tasked with finding a certain number of things, be it computers to hack, boxes to examine or chickens to pluck – it doesn’t matter what. The second player can take the same role (so it’s the first to get three out of four items)… or he can be a Grunt Soldier, with a high powered rifle, lots of ammo, and licence to run around making as much noise as possible till you find the intruder and empty your magazine into him. Ah, if only I could play the rest of the levels like this…
The multiplayer scenarios show up Splinter Cell’s main problem – it’s too linear in map design, and the player is afforded little choice in what to do. It’s you (and your friends) against the programmer, as opposed to the environment in the game.
Summary
A lot of people are going to disagree with me on this review, simply because Splinter Cell is a huge franchise on all the platforms and having a title like this (and looking as good as it does) on the N-Gage shows what the N-Gage is capable of. But games are meant to be fun, and I can’t find a lot to enjoy inside Chaos Theory. I definitely recommend checking out the Demo Level available to download from the N-Gage website before deciding if you’re going to buy it. Personally I think it’s a case of Gameloft putting the graphics before the game play, and the final mark of 65 reflects that.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at